Archive: July 2008
Tyco acquires last major Sensormatic franchise
July 31, 2008SSN Staff
BERMUDA--Tyco on July 25 announced it had acquired the last "major" Sensormatic franchise for $81 million.
Sensormatic Security Corporation operates in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. It was granted a franchise from Sensormatic Electronics Corp. in the 1960s, many years before Tyco acquired Sensormatic in 2001.
Sensormatic is a provider of retail security solutions that are sold through ADT and other Tyco partners.
Under the original franchise agreement from the 1960s, SSC could sell, install...
Samsung Techwin ends relationship with ADSS/Samsung 360
July 31, 2008L. Samuel Pfeifle
CARSON, Calif.--In a move the company says is a major commitment to the North American market, Samsung Techwin has ended its distribution and marketing relationship with Advanced Digital Security Solutions, which sold the products under the Samsung 360 brand, and will now service the North American market through its direct subsidiary Samsung Opto-Electronics America.
This, said David Smith, executive vice president with Samsung Opto-Electronics and the former vice president of marketing for Pelco,...
Equity firm to buy AlliedBarton
July 31, 2008L. Samuel Pfeifle
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.--The Blackstone Group, a large private equity firm, announced this week an agreement to purchase guarding firm AlliedBarton, the third largest in the United States, for a reported $750 million.
Sellers MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings, another equity firm, paid $263 million for the company in 2003. However, in the meantime, the company purchased Rentokil Initial's U.S. guarding operations in 2006 for roughly $75 million. A New York Times report puts AlliedBarton's 2007 revenues at...
Siemens buys MAC Systems
July 31, 2008L. Samuel Pfeifle
BUFFALO GROVE, Ill.--Siemens Building Technologies announced this week the acquisition of MAC Systems, a security systems integrator based in Canton, Mass., and serving the greater New England area. MAC, founded by Bob McMenimon in 1981, specializes in access control and security management, and employs 60.
"This indicates that we're continuing to identify those parts of the country where we see better than average potential for growth," said George West, vice president and head of Siemens Building...
Kessler joins Imperial Capital
July 31, 2008Martha Entwistle
NEW YORK--Well-known security industry analyst Jeff Kessler joined Imperial Capital this week as a managing director. Imperial Capital is a full-service investment group based in Los Angeles, with offices here and in San Francisco.
"Jeff has a proven track record as an industry expert in security. Clients and prospective clients will be happy that we have someone like Jeff on our team," said John Mack, Imperial Capital's head of M&A. Mack is the former head of Protection One and CEO and founder of...
Industry loses veteran Mike McGrath
July 31, 2008Leischen Stelter
BOCA RATON, Fla.--Mike McGrath, an industry veteran and the Florida sales and marketing director for COPS Monitoring, died on July 5 at the age of 66 following a long battle with cancer.
"Mike was hired to run our sales and marketing force in Florida and shortly after he came over [following COPS' acquisition of Central One Monitoring in June 2006], he started his battle with cancer," said Jim McMullen, president of COPS Monitoring.
Despite his illness, however, McGrath remained dedicated to his...
Mace hires new CEO (and you probably know him)
July 31, 2008Martha Entwistle
Big news coming out of the Mace camp today: They've hired Dennis Raefield, who lately came out of retirement to run things for Reach Systems and who's got a resume in the industry as long as my arm (and I've got long arms), to be the new CEO. Their last CEO was not an industry guy (and you may remember what happened to him), so this is a real signal that Mace is serious about their security operations, especially in combination with their hire of Devin Benjamin.
No link, but here's the press release:
MACE...
SecureConnect offers RMR for access control
July 31, 2008Leischen Stelter
CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill.--Disappointed by the lack of recurring revenue potential from access control installations, Mike Simon, owner of Stand Guard, a small security integration firm based here, recently developed and launched SecureConnect Systems, a Web-based service that allows end users to control and oversee their access control and security systems.
"We're a dealer and installer, too, so we know what dealers and customers are looking for," said Simon. "Dealers were getting burnt out by managing...
Worst ever reference to the DHS
July 30, 2008Martha Entwistle
Okay, maybe I'm feeling a little salty today, but for some reason I just couldn't let this article pass without comment.
Does it have anything to do with security? Um, not really. Actually, it's about protecting your lawn from pests. However, bear with me as far as reading the opening paragraph:
Most of us have heard of the Homeland Security Act. This legislation protects us from undercover plots to undermine security at home and abroad. Homeland Security agents watch for subversive influences...
A costly lesson in double checking
July 30, 2008Daniel Gelinas
Here's an article that emphasizes how important it is for security and monitoring companies to have good data entry people as well as systems designed to double check information. A woman who had been a loyal ADT customer for four years received a message on her answering machine that her alarm had been activated and police had been dispatched. The only problem? Police never showed up. ADT had the wrong physical address for this woman. But, as the article points out:
The company may not have known...