Axis buys 2N audio company

STOCKHOLM—Axis Communications on May 30 closed the purchase of 2N, an IP intercom manufacturer based in Prague, Czech Republic. The company has sales offices in Miami; Chieri, Italy; and in the Czech Republic.

Terms of the deal were not announced.

Axis said 2N is the leading global provider of IP intercom. In addition to IP intercoms for door communication and emergency calls, 2N makes IP public address systems and M2M products.

Audio and intercom are important components of an intelligent security system, Fredrik Nilsson, Axis VP Americas, told Security Systems News in an email interview.

"We believe that the value of the different sub systems that exists at the end customer (retail store, airports, schools, cruise ships) increase if they are properly integrated and intelligent. The best way to accomplish that is via intelligent IP edge devices, for example network cameras, access control, audio, intercom," Nilsson said.

"There are [North American] integrators that use both Axis and 2N today, that will continue to do so. There are systems that integrate 2N and Axis as both products are open and that strategy will continue."

2N has 200 employees and “well-established sales channels through electricians and telecom installers as well as lift manufacturers, which can serve as a complement to Axis present global sales channels,” Peter Lindstrom, Axis VP new business said in a prepared statement.

The 2N brand will remain, and operate as a subsidiary of Axis. The two companies will collaborate on sales and R&D.

Lindstrom said the companies will work together to “accelerate the convergence from analog systems toward IP intercom and develop new opportunities.”

2N says its products are compatible with Onvif, Milestone, Cisco, Bosch, Avaya, Alcatel-Lucent “and many more” and that products comply “with the most stringent international standards such as ISO, TÜV, UL, CE.”