Firstline expands into Silicon Valley

ANAHEIM, Calif.—Spurred by customer demand and the opportunity to expand its local business, systems integration firm Firstline has opened a third location in San Jose, Calif.

This is a “strategic move that will enable us to support our current client base in the area and also grow our client base,” Steve Morefield, Firstline company founder, told Security Systems News.

Firstline has had clients in Silicon Valley “for decades,” but it had previously used subcontractors to service those clients. Now it can provide Firstline “engineering, design and service locally,” Morefield said.

Firstline has been expanding rapidly in the past year. In August the company expanded its headquarters here in Anaheim and moved to a larger office in San Diego.

In 2014, Firstline did $15 million in revenue, up from the $14 million Morefield projected in August. The company has a two-year goal of $25 million in revenue. It is a moving target, however. “When we get to $25 million, the goalpost will move again,” he said.

Although service is a “tangible part of the business and a substantial part of the revenue,” Morefield said the company's service business is “an ongoing conversation” rather than a   sole reliance on service contracts. “We work with our clients with engineering and upgrades, [we do the] head end if they add new locations. We're the integrator they come to,” he said.

“We have six engineers on staff, a high ratio to the total employee count [of 55 to 60] and our engineers work with customers directly,” Morefield explained.

Firstline works in banking, health care, high-rise homeowners associations and retail. “We anticipate our vertical markets to be very busy this year and for several years to come in San Diego, Anaheim and San Jose,” Morefield said. “We're looking to hire service and installation technicians and looking to hire another engineer.”