Convergint acquires FSC

SCHAUMBURG, Ill.—In addition to beefing up its presence in Eastern Canada, Convergint Technologies' Dec. 2 acquisition of Future Security Controls (FSC) brings new managed services capabilities, a specialized monitoring center and new federal government clients.

“We were looking for more representation in Eastern Canada,” Dan Moceri, Convergint CEO, told Security Systems News. “We've been working with Sam for many years. We know him [and FSC] well.” FSC was founded by Sam Shalaby in 1982.

Convergint, an international integrator based here, has about 1,600 employees and does about $300 million in business annually. About 20 percent of Convergint's revenue comes from its work in Canada.

FSC has 40 employees and annual revenue that falls between $8 and $12 million, Moceri confirmed. It is based here in Ottawa and has a second office in Toronto. The monitoring center, which FSC refers to as its control center, is located in Ottawa. 

All 40 FSC employees will join Convergint, as will Shalaby. “Sam will have a very active role going forward. In addition to being GM in Ottawa, Sam will lead the expansion of the managed services business,” Moceri said.

Convergint has done managed services in the sense that it has custom-built managed services offerings for many of its enterprise customers where “we built an operations center that we manage for them,” Moceri said. He has watched the development of managed services offerings with interest. “As the model has become more popular, …we see an opportunity,” he said.

He said he's particularly intrigued by how FSC's control center is integrated into its managed services offerings. 

FSC offers a managed services package to its government and commercial clients. They “essentially take over the client's operation remotely for card access and video, and [the center] is UL-approved so it's very robust,” Moceri said. He noted that all of the control center staff is experienced in managed services and that FSC invested a lot in building its managed services business.

Shalaby previously spoke to SSN at length about how it developed its managed services business.

This week, Shalaby told SSN that becoming part of Convergint will give him the opportunity to “take FSC to the next level, where I always wanted to take it.”  

He said he's looking forward to “evangelizing managed services across the company. …[and offering managed services] to all Convergint branches across the U.S. and Canada.” He anticipates this will give FSC's proprietary managed services offering new status once it's available in all of Convergint's markets. 

Convergint has been on the acquisition trail since it received an investment from KRG Capital in Sept. 2012.

The FSC deal is Convergint's third acquisition this quarter. In September it moved into Florida with the purchase of Qualified Systems Contracting.

Last month Convergint acquired ICD Security Systems in China.

While Convergint will continue to invest in organic growth—the company averaged an impressive 21-percent growth rate right through the recession. It will also continue to explore acquisitions to “fill out other geographic regions within North America. [And because] we're very active on the IT side of the business, we may look for more IT-related skills in a potential acquisition as well,” Moceri said.