ADT acquires Proximex

LAS VEGAS—ADT made news two days before ISC West with the April 4 announcement of its acquisition of Proximex, a well-known physical security information management (PSIM) manufacturer.

John Kenning, president of ADT Commercial, said the deal is part of ADT Commercial's evolution and “stated goal of becoming a leader in the managed services space.”

Speaking with Security Systems News at ISC West, Kenning and Jack Smith, president of Proximex, emphasized that ADT will own, but not operate Proximex. Smith will continue to run Proximex, and will retain his 40 employees, branding, and its relationships with customers, manufacturers and vendors.

“Proximex will remain agnostic and independent,” Smith said. How will the two companies ensure that there's no conflict? “We'll put the proper firewalls will be put in place,” Kenning said. “Competitive information will not be passed back to our ADT sales organization. That's Jack's and my credibility at stake...We're not going to do that.”

Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., and founded in 2004, Proximex's flagship product is Surveillint, which brings together and correlates information from multiple security systems into a simple interface, making that information more useable and actionable.

Kenning said ADT bought Proximex because it's “what the industry said was the best,” adding that a number of ADT's large customers are already using the product.

Smith, who's known for having invested in a number of companies—notably Hotmail—said ADT will offer Proximex, quite simply, “cash—additional resources.”

Proximex will benefit from ADT's “market reach, increased level of services and their partners,” and investments from ADT will be used for R&D and pre-sale and post-sale support, he said.

“We'll be a stronger company. This will enable us to continue to do what we do at the core, and we'll be able to remain agnostic. We're not just working with one hardware vendor, we'll tie in all disparate systems and remain Switzerland in the business,” he said.

“The plan is for more aggressive growth right away.”

Kenning said ADT would have a Proximex demo up and running at its Integrated Solutions Center in Colorado, and at other facilities as well, by April 15.