GVI Security has a new partner

CARROLLTON, Texas—GVI, which terminated its 11-year relationship with Samsung in December, announced on March 7 a new partnership with LG Electronics.

“This replaces that relationship,” Steve Walin, CEO of GVI Security, told Security Systems News.

“The best analogy I can think of is that Samsung and LG are like Coke and Pepsi, they're both Korea-based global businesses. LG is a $50 billion business that competes head-on with Samsung. They make mobile phones, TV screens, appliances, air conditioning, and they're also in the video security business,” he said.

GVI will represent LG's video surveillance line in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. This represents LG's first entrance into the North American market with LG-branded products.

“They've done it everywhere else, but not here,” Walin said.

Walin said that LG has a new corporate mandate to increase its B2B business, “and as part of that they identified security as a big growth industry, and to make it a very big business, they have to operate in North America under their brand.”

The timing of the deal “worked extremely well with the termination of the Samsung relationship,” Walin said. “They approached us and asked us to do for them what we used to do for Samsung Electronic.”

In the last year of the Samsung-GVI relationship, there were some conflicts, so how does GVI know that those conflicts won't arise with LG?

“We signed a three-year agreement with LG with renewal provisions and the idea is that we will be the only provider of LG product in the market,” Walin explained. “That's contrary to what Samsung decided to do in the last year of the 11-year relationship,” he continued. LG will not have employees or anyone other than GVI Security selling its products in North America. “That was where the problem [arose] with Samsung, they wanted to sell the product themselves as well, and that created confusion in the market,” Walin said.

Walin said part of GVI's responsibility will be to “advise LG about what the market requires in the way of security solutions ... and you'll be seeing them respond to those requirements.” They've got a “significant team in Korea in R&D and engineering that is listening to us and developing products,” he said.

Walin said he's happy to announce this partnership after a “nine week lull after we finished up with Samsung. GVI is alive and well. We're financially sound and now we resume our global brand business now with LG.”