I am sat here busy packing for IFSEC 2018 and trying to focus on this month’s gossip. Here it is for your delight.
Let us start with Andy Alexander. He has just joined Frankie at Security Dynamics as their Northern Regional Sales Manager. Andy has been in the industry for some 19 years, or so, having first started with VCL (now Honeywell of course) in 1999. He did a few years with Johnson Security and more recently was working with Redvision. Good luck bud.
Chris Valentino is back, but not only in the industry he is also back with IC Realtime (now known as IC Plus) where he left in 2014. He went to work with Western Digital whom seem to work closely with IC Realtime, so perhaps he never really left? Except on closer perusal he didn’t go to work for Western Digital, but Western Union – a very different company. Wonders what difference a word makes.
Melvin Goodin has told me that Ivor Smith has finally joined him at Medway Security Wholesale Ltd! Starting in May. Now I worked with Melvin and Ivor. Melvin was over at Gardiner’s but he left very soon after I joined MVD (and I am sure that had nothing to do with me!). However Ivor was our technical support manager, in fact I found some old photos of Ivor just the other day so thought, shall I? and yes I have, here is a picture of him all those years ago. Look at the size of that monitor lol.
Wavestore have appointed Barry Vincent. Yes, I know there are a few Barry Vincents in the industry however this Barry was was the European Account Director for WebWayOne. He worked for 14 years for Telefonica Digital where he was a Senior Business Development Manager and has also been a Corporate Account Manager for BT. Reporting to Wavestore’s Sales Director, Simon Shawley, Barry will provide local support for distribution and installer partners of the company’s Linux based video management software.
Now we can’t go a month without someone new joining DVS and this month it is Chris Woods, he was a managing director at Security Connected Ltd and iBox Logistics Ltd for some 14 years.
Harvey Williams joins the door entry product company Aiphone as their new UK Sales Manager. Harvey is a seasoned sales professional whose career in electronic security spans 29 years. He’s been in sales management roles for a number of well-known manufacturers.
CSL have appointed Josh McClean and Ian Halliwell to their fire and security sales team. Josh McClean takes up the position of Sales Executive Yorkshire, North East and Scotland. Josh joins from NSI Gold company ESS Security where he managed the service and fault department. Ian Halliwell also joins as Sales Executive North West, Midlands and Wales. Ian worked for a national installer, focused on contract sales for intruder, fire, CCTV and access control systems. Earlier, he was an Internal Account Manager for one of the UK’s leading Alarm Receiving Centres (ARCs).
Company news
Canon have acquired Briefcam the video review and search software company. No surprise if I’m honest here as these guys seemed to work closely with Milestone who are already owned by Canon. Trevor Matz, BriefCam President and CEO, said: “The acquisition will allow BriefCam to continue to deliver industry leading video content analytics solutions, while remaining a standalone company within the Canon Group. The opportunity is a testament to the innovative technology we have built, the outstanding team we have assembled, and the rapidly growing business we have created.”
And let me update you on Arecont Vision. Now they are saying the company is in the process of negotiating an asset purchase agreement with a partner. “Turnspire Capital Partners, a New York private equity firm, is that partner.” To facilitate the agreement, Arecont Vision filed for chapter 11 restructuring. They are also saying “Arecont Vision is not going out of business. Instead, this route allows the company to quickly reorganize and emerge free of the debt burden that has weighed heavily on us for the last few years, without impacting our customers. We will have a clean balance sheet, and new, committed owners who will invest in accelerated new product development and fund future growth. This will also allow the company to make bolder decisions focused on the future of our business, instead of maintaining the status quo. This is very exciting for all of us”. Arecont Vision has undertaken key strategic initiatives that began in mid-2017 and which continue in the current year. We’ve already delivered on many of these actions, including changes to our executive leadership, launched updated programs to better support our sales partners, and announced an expanded product portfolio under our Mega and Contera brands. These efforts are focused on enhancing customer engagement, accelerating growth, and optimising our business processes to better address the needs of the market.” They expect the sale to be completed within 60 to 75 days. They will continue to operate in the normal course of business, with financing secured from existing lenders, and expect no interruption of our operations, manufacturing, sales, or support. Customers are unlikely to notice any change. “No layoffs are planned, and employees will receive their wages and benefits as before. Our own vendors and suppliers will be paid in the ordinary course of business.” So now you know!
