Hackett Security acquires Avery Security

ST. LOUIS—Hackett Security's acquisition of Avery Security will bring a number of retail customers likely to be interested in Hackett's video monitoring and other services, according to Michael Hackett, CEO and president of Hackett Security.

The acquisition, announced Aug. 2, “was a good deal for both companies businesswise and will be a great deal for [Avery's former] customers,” he told Security Systems News. Those customers include a number of “chain accounts, fitness businesses and fast food stores.”

Hackett Security is based here and Avery in neighboring Wentzville, Mo. Hackett declined to reveal terms of the deal, but he said the acquisition was a cash purchase.

Hackett is a Videofied dealer and also a FLIR dealer. He said he likes Videofied for its “easy installation and the great information [it provides in] verifying alarms.”

He uses FLIR's thermal cameras in “combination with VideoIQ” which he says is “great for letting you know if someone is out in a big car lot at 4 a.m.” Thermal imaging is ideal “for the verification piece, to let you know someone is there [in a location they shouldn't be] and for early warnings when someone crosses the analytics line.”

Hackett is also excited about offering new customers Z-Wave technology through DMP products so that customers can “connect with and control” their homes and business remotely.

Hackett's customers include banks, casinos and government entities. About 75 percent of its business is commercial.

In addition to its headquarters here, Hackett has offices in southern Missouri; Alton, Ill.; Chicago and in Arizona.

The Avery deal was Hackett's 18th acquisition. Hackett said he is actively seeking more. He is looking for companies that are in locations where Hackett Security has customers, but no branch offices. Those locations are Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana and Kansas, he said.