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16 CommerCial & systems integrators www.securitysystemsnews.com TycoIS sues ISC and ISC countersues Former SST employees Catagnus, Pichola and Richman at center of lawsuits By Martha Entwistle TOMS RIVER, N.J.—Claims of trade secrets stolen, employees poached and counterclaims that Tyco is trying to run a much smaller competitor out of business fll two lawsuits—one fled by Tyco Integrated Security at the end of May and a counterclaim fled by Integrated Security & Communications on June 24. At the center of the lawsuit are three former employees of SST: Thomas Catagnus, John Pichola and Joel Richman. SST was the platform for ADT (now Tyco Integrated Security) to launch into the systems integration business. ADT acquired SST in April 2008. Integrated Security & Communications is a $15 million systems integrator based here. Michael Thomas, a Honeywell vet, launched ISC in 2007. Catagnus, Pichola and Richman were laid off by Tyco in 2012. They now work for ISC. In a suit fled in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Tyco alleges that the three men violated non-compete and non-solicitation agreements; that they stole is maligning ISC in an attempt to drive ISC information such as "business and sales strat- out of business. "This action is a transparent anti-competitive egy, product cost structure, pricing models, customer lists, new prospective accounts attempt by Tyco [which has revenues of $1.8 [and] sales data"; and that they've poached billion] to crush a small, innovative competitor [which has less than $15 million in revenues]," employees from TycoIS. Tyco said that it was alerted to problems the counterclaim says. One of the main issues in the earlier this year when the company lawsuit is when the three men's "noticed that a number of its key non-compete agreements with Tyco personnel were resigning in order expired. Tyco said it's three years and to … join a competitor, ISC." ISC said it's six months. "Ultimately … Catagnus, Pichola ISC said that the men have also and Richman, with ISC's full knowlhonored a two-year non-solicitation edge and support, have used the milagreement. lions of dollars that TycoIS provided "Defendants have not done busito ensure that they would not solicit ness with and do not intend to TycoIS' customers and employees to J. Nogues create a competitor less than 10 miles from do business with Tyco's customers except as permitted by [law]," the suit says. TycoIS' doorstep," the lawsuit alleges. In a statement provided to Security Systems The headquarters for TycoIS is in News, ISC CEO Michael Thomas said, "Any Princeton, N.J. In its counterclaim, ISC denies all allega- former TycoIS employees who have reached lAwSuIt see page 17 tions of wrongdoing and alleges that TycoIS Security Specialists Mesh in Madison Capital Fire & Security building out new opens new offce AES Intellinet network By Martha Entwistle that that's brought us a fair amount STAMFORD, Conn.—With rev- of business," Budinoff said. enues up 28 percent over last year, "We are booked literally Security Specialists, a systems through the summer with school integrator based here, has work," he said. To stay opened a second offce in on schedule, Security Hartford, Connecticut. Specialists had crews "Hartford is a big working while school growth area for us, with was in session, startthe insurance business ing work in the late and schools," Daniel afternoon and workBudinoff, president of ing until "10 or 11 at Security Specialists, told night." Daniel Budinoff Security Systems News. The projects are "I've been saying for years I standard access control and wanted to [open an offce there]," IP-camera systems, many using Budinoff said. In January, he hired VideoIQ products, which have a general manager who lived near built-in analytics. In addition, Hartford to open the offce. the company is installing "more In business since 1978, Security barrier gates in parking lots, and Specialists has 30 employees. Part turnstiles have become a market of the recent spike in revenues for us as well," he said. has come from school projects Budinoff said he does not see prompted by the school shooting the school work—which he's tragedy in Newtown, Conn. last done in both public and private December. schools—stopping anytime soon. The company has always done "The phone continues to ring," a lot of school projects. More he said. work with existing customers and "[Unfortunately,] you can't referrals has driven even more protect against that kind of incischool work. dent, you can lower the risk. … "My offce is 20 minutes away You certainly can't eliminate the from Newtown. It's sad to think risk," he said. SSN By Martha Entwistle MADISON, Wis.—Capital Fire & Security, an integrator based here, has built out a new mesh network in this market and it's expecting the adoption to accelerate as it launches a campaign to let current and new customers know about this new offering. "We believe we can take care of all of the Greater Madison area," David Koenig, partner in Capital Fire & Security, told Security Systems News. Capital began the instal- "[The network] is a natural for the fre business." —David Koenig, Capital Fire and security lation of its AES IntelliNet network about a year ago. It installed the head end and connected it to its monitoring center and then installed the radios in a chain of pizza parlors throughout Madison. That installation "created the core of the network." Since then Capital has been "selling some radios to customers and making some strategic placements in client locations [to build out the network]," Koenig said. As it prepares to make a major push David Koenig selling this monitoring service, it will prioritize its fre customers, but will sell the system for alarm systems as well. AES makes "a fire-rated transmitter and one that is not, but it's a natural for the fre business because it can replace the dual POTS line requirement. That makes it a no-brainer," Koenig said. Koenig said that after customers learn about how the network operates "and learn that they can save money and have a higher degree of security, it's a pretty easy sell," he said. SSN august 2013 sECuRItY sYstEMs NEWs briefs Securadyne employees help out OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.—After the May 20 F5 tornado ripped through Moore, Okla., Securadyne Systems' employees from the integrator's branch location in Oklahoma City as well as employees companywide assisted with the cleanup efforts. On June 19 Securadyne Systems had 18 volunteers from branches in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Dallas working on the recovery effort in Moore. One of Securadyne Systems' own employees was directly affected by the storm. Tracy Simon, an enterprise account executive in the Oklahoma City branch, spearheaded the effort to work with the Help Moore Rebuild disaster relief organization. Simon's home was damaged during the tornado and her daughter's middle school was completely destroyed. At the relief organization's headquarters, the team was briefed on the types of jobs available throughout the Moore area. The Securadyne team helped cleanup a huge debris feld scattered with the remains of homes destroyed in the nearby neighborhoods. After the work was done, the group toured the areas of damage. "The most touching and challenging part of the visit was the stop at the Plaza Elementary school makeshift memorial. Plaza Elementary took the brunt of the tornado's fury on that fateful day and a number of children and teachers lost their lives. The day of volunteering reinforced the importance of giving back to our communities, which is a central component of our company's core values," according a company statement. MSA gets HIS award LOUISVILLE, Ky.— Honeywell in July recognized New Jersey-based MSA Systems Integration as its 2012 HIS Integrator of the Year. MSA Systems Integration is a full-service security company providing access control, intrusion, IP-based video surveillance, visitor management and perimeter protection systems to organizations across 10 vertical markets including education, government and healthcare. In 2012, MSA Systems Integration saw strong year-over-year sales growth of Honeywell's Pro-Watch security management system and MAXPROVideo Management System. "This award recognizes the commitment our employees have to delivering high quality customer service and highlights our longstanding partnership with Honeywell," Jim Hennessy, president of MSA Systems Integration, said in a statement.