September coming already! I wonder, will the children go back to school? Will we get to start our Security TWENTY events again? The jury is still out, I am afraid, but we will keep you posted and will return to live events as soon as it is safe to do so. However our virtual event is going really well, over 10,000 visitors so far. If you have not visited it, then now is your time, we have just added some new exhibitors. Take another look and see if you can see who has joined us.
Anyway, have you seen that Pelco have been sold again! However this time Motorola have acquired them for a mere $110m. This by the way is thought to be double what they sold for last year so that’s quite a nice bit of profit for Transom who bought them then. Apparently Motorola are going to continue to leave Pelco brand to trade and will be putting the blue back into Pelco! They will move the factory from California to merge them with the Avigilon one in Texas. So that’s Motorola becoming one of the big boys in our industry now that they own three companies namely Pelco, Indigovision and of course Avigilon. Will they stop there? I don’t know; but I suspect not.
Talking of Pelco, Tom Rockliff has joined them as an account manager, leaving Johnson Controls (which includes TYCO Security Products) after having been with the group since 2001 and joining Steve Harrison, their new Sales Director as I mentioned last month. Talking of Johnson Controls they have announced that they have acquired the remaining stake of Qolsys Inc, a residential and commercial security and smart-home manufacturer, after owning a majority since 2014. Qolsys in the language of these announcements ‘enhances Johnson Controls global innovation platform delivering next generation security and smart building solutions’. The Qolsys founders and leadership team will remain in Silicon Valley (San Jose, California) taking places in Johnson Controls’ global intrusion business.
I see that Robin Gill has joined Vicon as the UK sales manager working alongside Andy Cassidy. Robin has been in the industry for a long time, as you may know (since 1977 I believe; not as long as me, mind you, but close). Robin has spent most of his career at Norbain where he worked also with Andy, and recently he was at Cortech Developments, the building, fire and security systems software firm; which he left in January. He has since had a trip to Australia and is now back; so welcome back, Robin, does this mean that Andy is Batman? I mean, the dynamic duo are back in town?
You may also know that John Reid has left Comelit and joined Dahua. John has been in the industry since 1998 (so he’s just a baby) where he joined VCL; ah, the good old days. He has done time with Norbain as well as Mayflex, plus he has been working for other manufacturers. John is looking after the North apparently.
John Hunter has become a Director at Secureshield. I remember John from my bonny Scotland days when I ran Modern Alarms out of Edinburgh; he was my competitor back then. Then I joined Baxall and he became my customer! He of course was working for Scotshield in those days. Talking of Scotland, Chris Pickering has joined Hanwha Techwin. Chris was with Avigilon and started in the industry with Stanley Security back in 2006.
Tony Wedgwood has joined Impro technologies as International Business Development Manager (BDM). Impro is part of the massive Assa Abloy group and Tony said: “ASSA ABLOY have a unique position with complimentary products that cover all elements of access control. The Access Portal provides a powerful progressive platform with Mobile Key Credentials, Contactless Biometrics, Cloud based (ASaaS) and remote management possibilities.” Access Portal a solution ready for the new normal.
360 Vision Technology has appointed Effie-Mae Sims as Sales and Marketing Executive. She joins the company from an account management and marketing background at Tavcom Training and so brings on board industry knowledge, and digital marketing experience.
Briefly; Phil Prichard has joined DVS as their BDM for West Midlands so welcome Phil.
Now we all know it’s going to get difficult for some of you as you find yourselves without a job. Bear in mind that we are here to help if we can; we have done a deal with both Zitko and SSR to help you. The guys are populating our jobs page with vacancies, and we have set up applicant clinics where they can offer you help with writing you CV, updating your social media profiles and help you (via a zoom meetings and workshops) to be interview ready. You need the edge so hopefully we/they can help you get that by using these tools. Just email me if you are looking for help.
And finally my old mate Andy Graham rang me to tell me that he is hanging up his hat and retiring, but then he said well sort of …. Barry Johnson his business partner is taking over the business whilst Andy tries to improve his handicap. He wanted me to tell you that his email address won’t change nor will his phone number so if you want a chat, just contact him. I asked him for a pic and he sent me this one which is him in a golf buggy of course with the one and only Big John Daly, he went further and told me “he gave me that shirt which fits me but I didn’t want those trousers!”
