Security Systems News is a monthly business newspaper that reaches 25,100 security installers, product distributors, central stations, engineers & architects, and security consultants. Our editorial coverage focuses on breaking news in all major se
Issue link: https://ssn.epubxp.com/i/382621
www.securitysystemsnews.com VOLUME 17, NUMBER 10 OCTOBER 2014 ■ $7.00 COMMERCIAL & SYSTEMS INTEGRATORS ■ Advanced Cabling Systems makes a buy in Arkansas PAGE 16 ■ ESCO scores major school district project PAGE 17 FIRE SYSTEMS INSTALLATION ■ Chinese manufacturer sets up shop in Canada PAGE 26 ■ Sprinkler advocates excited about legislative action in NY PAGE 26 MONITORING ■ Getting over objections to mPERS; will this tech come of age? PAGE 28 ■ Video verifi cation education on stage at CEDIA PAGE 30 RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS ■ ADS account acquisition in home state PAGE 32 ■ A new ADT partner will yield even more partners for ADT PAGE 32 SUPPLIERS ■ DVTEL is all about 4K PAGE 37 STATS .......................................2 HOW I USE MY SYSTEM ..........6 SPECIFICALLY SPEAKING ......10 EDITORIAL .............................13 QUOTED .................................42 AD INDEX ...............................42 FIVE QUESTIONS ...................43 UP-AND-COMING YOUNG LEADERS Meet the '20 under 40' Class of 2014 See page 18 PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT Biometric offerings highlighted See page 41 Envision gets $3m fi nancing SAFE buys Safeguard DTT set to hire 100 By Leif Kothe WASHINGTON—Concerned about fair, reliable and accurate transmission of alarm data, the ESA and the Alarm Industry Communications Committee are urging the FCC to support net neutrality. By Martha Entwistle SAN RAMON, Calif.—In a deal that brings it 300 employees, $1.5 mil- lion in RMR, 25,000 customers, a guard business and a central station, SAFE Security, based h e r e , h a s acquired the alarm business of Safeguard S e c u r i t y, a super-regional that's been family owned for more than 50 years. "The Safeguard acquisition is the beginning of a new era," Paul Sargenti, SAFE Security CEO and president, told Security Systems News. He added, "It's the fulfi ll- By Tess Nacelewicz PEORIA, Ariz.—A new $3 mil- lion private equity loan will allow Envision Security, a small door-knocking company based here, to keep many of its accounts in house so it can build RMR and grow. "It's exciting," Envision founder and CEO Darryl Johnson told Security Systems News. "You always see write- ups on the b i g c o m - panies that were able t o r a i s e capital, but you don't see many about the little ones that were able to do it." The mezzanine loan came from San Diego-based Hun- tington Capital, a private equity firm providing debt and equity fi nancing to lower middle-market companies. The loan stands out for a couple of reasons. One, said Johnson, is that "we were able to raise this capital without any in-house accounts, which is the unique part. That's very rarely done." Also, Envision, founded just three years ago, is a door- knocking company. William Lynch, investment manager at ProFinance Associates, a San Diego-based broker-dealer fi rm that represented Envision Door-knocking company succeeds in securing funding without any in-house accounts ment of a long-term plan to get the company more operationally equipped to manage our customer base." Sargenti declined to discuss terms of the deal. SAFE Security does about $37.5 million in revenue, has $4.1 million in RMR and 117,000 accounts. It has a central station here in California. SAFE will acquire all divisions of Safeguard, based in Scottsdale, Ariz., except for two specifi c businesses. It will continue to use the Safeguard name. This summer Sargenti told SSN about some new initiatives for SAFE that included establishing branch offi ces. "Adding vertical competency is only one of the things Safeguard does for us," Sargenti said. Look for SAFE to continue to add more locations around the country, particularly in regions where SAFE has minor satellite offices and a high density o f c u s t o m - ers. How and w h e n t h o s e e x p a n s i o n s will take place w i l l d e p e n d upon "which opportunities arise," Sargenti said. SAFE has many customers in Arizona. "It's our second or third- largest regional market," he said. SAFE see page 35 LEGISLATIVE see page 9 By Martha Entwistle LOS ANGELES—DTT Surveillance, a manufacturer and integrator of video surveillance solutions that underwent a major expansion last year, is in the process of hiring 100 new employees. "We've already hired 18 to 20 people who will start on Sept. 8. Most of the [new hires and future hires] will be o u t s i d e s a l e s people who will be based around the country," DTT CEO Sam Nafi cy told Security Systems News. Many of those sales people will be dedicated to DTT's larger QSR chain customers. "Someone with three to four QSRs can be dealt with by inside sales people who work remotely, but once you get a customer with 50 to 100 QSRs, DTT see page 17 you need a much more experi- enced sales person that can be in front of the customer," Nafi cy said. The sales people will "rein- force and add fuel to the fire" in that segment of the business, where Nafi cy says the company has "carved out a nice niche" and has a "lim- ited competitive landscape." DTT, which has $2.4 million in RMR right now, has experienced very rapid growth over the past several years. It's still-impressive growth this year does lag behind previous years. "As the bucket gets bigger, it's hard to keep up the 50 percent growth," Nafi cy said. "Our CAGR over the past seven ENVISION see page 34 Sargenti of SAFE calls deal 'fulfi llment of long-term plan'; Safeguard's Jennings intends to pursue speaking, mentoring opportunities Security and 'Net neutrality' Darryl Johnson Paul Sargenti John Jennings ESA and AICC get involved, petition FCC Fast growing video surveillance provider says it needs more sales people to work closely with national accounts customers New hires will "add fuel to the fi re." —Sam Nafi cy, DTT