Diebold buys systems integrator Antar-Com

August 19, 2004 NORTH CANTON, Ohio - Diebold Inc. continues with its steady acquisition pace in the electronic security marketing, buying a systems integrator late last week, one of several deals the company has completed in recent months. On Aug. 13, Diebold bought Antar-Com, a White Plains, N.Y.-based systems integrator with $27 million in revenues in 2003 and 100 employees. The company is known for designing and installing enterprise-level security systems. For Diebold, this transaction represents one of five deals completed this year. And analysts covering Diebold expect its acquisition pace in the electronic security market to continue. “There’s still a lot of room for them,” said Tony Manocchio, research analyst for Midwest Research in Cleveland. “It’s a highly fragmented industry and there’s more opportunity to make acquisitions.” On the security side, Antar-Com represents the largest acquisition for Diebold since it purchased Mosler, a company that dissolved three years ago. Over a few years, Antar-Com has experienced tremendous growth, with business growing from $10.5 million three years ago to $27 million today. Tracy Brusca, vice president of business development for Antar-Com, credits the company’s solid engineering of jobs for the company’s growth. Antar-Com was a privately held company, owned by Isac Tabib and Dan Putnam. Both Tabib and Putnam plan to remain with the business. The purchase price was not released. Richard Baggot, vice president of Diebold’s Electronic Security and Currency Systems Group, said Antar-Com’s customer base of Fortune 500 companies appealed to Diebold, along with the level of the projects they complete. “They’re heavy into working with architects and engineers, that contractor market,” said Baggot. “It’s a space that’s appealing to us.” For more on this story see the September issue of Security Systems News.