3VR wants to help integrators provide 'security intelligence'

SAN FRANCISCO—For intelligent analytics and search solution provider 3VR, the coming year “will be very much about the channel partners,” 3VR's CMO Aisling MacRunnels told Security Systems News on Dec. 27. And 3VR will use its recently closed $17 million round of funding to invest in its channel partnerships, as well as to expand its presence in certain vertical markets and grow globally.

“Some of the regional guys have been early adopters [integrators such as SSI in California, Gilbertson in Pennsylvania and Convergint in Chicago]. They realize they can offer managed services with the 3VR platform,” MacRunnels said.

3VR sees an opportunity, she said, as more integrators look to differentiate themselves and create an RMR stream with managed services.

Integrators offering what MacRunnels called “true security intelligence” to end users will  “start to characterize the security industry and the security integrator into 2011,” she predicted.

Time is critical when it comes to security, she said, and 3VR can work quickly enough to “make video actionable.” In a very short time, a customer can scan hours and hours of video for faces, license plates, colors, objects moved, and more, and MacRunnels predicts there will be increasing demand for actionable video.

In addition, integrators can easily generate reports for their customers—and revenue for themselves—about non-time-essential information collected by 3VR analytics. Those reports might include what triggered a certain alarm over a period of time, people counting, mapping of customers in a retail setting and point-of-sale information, according to MacRunnels.

The $17 million round was led by Menlo Ventures and included Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, DAG Ventures and new investments from Palo Alto-based Focus Ventures, she said.

3VR has had a successful run, with “100 percent year-over-year growth” and the company debated whether to do another round of funding, MacRunnels said. She said the company decided that this round could be used as a trigger to expand into new markets, and invest in the channel and globally. 3VR has an established presence in the financial and retail verticals with new customers added in 2010, such as Members 1st Credit Union and T-Mobile. The company wants to expand its presence in hospitality (it added Hilton Americas-Houston in 2010), health care and in critical infrastructure. Expect to see 3VR in more cities, subways and airports, MacRunnels said.

In terms of its global goals, 3VR is currently working with the Korean government and it has done other work overseas with integration partners, notably Niscayah. “We'll be investing in a lot of training for our partners, developing special services with our partners and working on a customized basis with certain partners,” MacRunnels said. “We want to create [products and services] together and market them worldwide,” she added.