Securadyne acquires Intelligent Access Systems

CARROLLTON, Texas—Securadyne Systems took a giant step toward becoming a national integrator with the acquisition, announced today, of Intelligent Access Systems (IAS), one of the most successful and rapidly growing regional integrators in the country.

Securadyne now has $70 million in revenue, 300 employees and 16 branch offices in the Southwest, Southeast and the Northeast.

IAS, based in Garner, N.C., was founded in 2004 by Ron Oetjen and specializes in integration for critical infrastructure, health care, and higher education vertical markets. Its three-year growth rate (2009-2012) was 66 percent, with revenues of $16.7 million in 2012, up from $10.1 million in 2009.

It has 65 employees and does business in Raleigh, N.C; Richmond, Va.; Pittsburgh; Canton, Ohio; Atlanta; and in Florida, in Tampa, Jacksonville and Ft. Lauderdale.

“Any time you can align yourself with a company like Intelligent Access, it's going to create growth,” Securadyne CEO and President Carey Boethel told Security Systems News.

Initially, the deal will bring growth in the energy sector. “IAS is a market leader in that sector,” he said. Also, Securadyne branches are located in several areas where energy clients reside.

“That's the short-term growth opportunity,” Boethel said. He praised Oetjen as a innovative leader and said the addition of IAS positions Securadyne as a “thought leader in the industry.”

In 2014, Securadyne will likely move into four new markets through organic expansion, Boethel said. The company is looking at Providence, R.I., some other markets in the South, and Oetjen has plans underway to expand into Cincinnati, Ohio. “These are mainly customer pull-through growth opportunities. … Growing [our organization] along with our customers is a great way to do it,” he said.

Securadyne does work globally and nationally now, but its work in the western U.S. is through partnerships. “You can expect us to grow westward in coming years. The business plan is to build a national security systems integrator,” Boethel said.

Why did IAS agree to be acquired? Oetjen said his business partner wanted to retire, so he began looking at several possibilities, including new debt to finance buying him out. A shared vision is the reason Oetjen settled on being acquired by Securadyne.

“Their vision is similar but bigger,” Oetjen said. He noted that IAS has been “a Southeast company” but “Carey's vision is national.”

The two companies share a disciplined approach, and an interest in innovation and cloud computing, Oetjen said.

“IT IQ is big for us; we've been investing in it for the last four years. We've done a lot with Microsoft and CompTia and [other] network training,” Oetjen said.  “What I found out is that they [Securadyne] were traveling down the same path. The two organizations are very like-minded.”

Oetjen will serve as senior vice president of Securadyne. He'll continue to run the former IAS business and take on some cloud computing initiatives at the corporate level. “I've been telling our employees and customers it will be business as usual for the most part for me. Our strategic goals are still intact,” he said.

Securadyne experienced organic growth of 21 percent from 2012 to 2013, excluding two acquisitions in 2012, according to the company.

This is the fourth and largest acquisition for Securadyne, which was launched in February 2012 by Boethel and Pamlico Capital with the acquisition of SecureNet.  In September 2012, Securadyne acquired SURV, a Boston-based systems integrator. In September 2013, it acquired Advanced Control Concepts of Carrollton, Texas.

Securadyne and IAS are both PSA Security owners. Both Oetjen and Boethel are former Security Systems News “20 under 40” honorees. Oetjen was a member of the Class of 2010 and Boethel was a member of the Class of 2009.