Netwatch, the visual monitoring company, has launched a new global monitoring company after the merging of four monitoring companies, with the backing of global private equity firm The Riverside Company.
The newly formed company, Netwatch Group, unites UK based Onwatch Multifire with Netwatch (Ireland), CalAtlantic (United States) and National Monitoring Center “NMC” (United States). It will protect hundreds of thousands of sites in the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East and Africa, including governments, transportation, critical infrastructure (utilities, communications, energy), manufacturing, education, stadiums, finance, retail and residential.
Netwatch Group will be based in Carlow, Ireland; its North American headquarters will be in Lake Forest, California with satellite offices in Boston, New Jersey, Dallas, Houston, and Chicago. The company’s UK headquarters will be in East Sussex. The company’s monitoring centres will be connected by the Netwatch proprietary CRATOS technology platform.
David Walsh, co-founder of Netwatch, will serve as the CEO of the new group. David Walsh said: “There is increased demand for visual monitoring from enterprise customers, driven by the continuing evolution of technology and advances such as AI, Deep Learning, 5G and IoT (Internet of Things). The combined strengths of Onwatch, NMC, CalAtlantic and Netwatch – all leaders in their respective geographies, means that we can immediately deliver industry leading proprietary technologies in proactive visual monitoring to hundreds of thousands of clients who rely on us to protect lives, assets and business operations. We will specialize in providing risk management, business continuity, security and life safety services to clients across the world. We create a fearless environment for our customers and we will continue to innovate in pursuit of this quest. We have ambitious growth plans to expand our global footprint which we will achieve through organic growth and further acquisitions.”
Peter Gould, Managing Director and Founder of Onwatch Multifire will continue to lead as the Managing Director in East Sussex and lead the combined Netwatch and Onwatch Multifire activities in the UK. Crowborough based visual monitoring and fire company Onwatch Multifire also has offices in the City of London, Rochester, Newport and Sunderland.
Peter Gould says: “I am really excited to be leading Onwatch Multifire and the team into a new phase of growth and development, drawing on the combined strength from three industry leading companies from around the world. In addition to having the experience of Samir and David at the helm with the backing of Riverside, we are perfectly set for our journey and taking full advantage of the clear transitions in the wider market. Combining everyone’s strengths and CRATOS, our market leading monitoring software, we will have the ability to continue to redefine, at a much larger scale, the electronic security and life safety services market within the UK and beyond.
Samir Samhouri will serve as the chairman of the board for the new group. Samir Samhouri is former Chairman and CEO of Xtralis, the fire and security detection product firm. Xtralis was sold to Honeywell in 2016. Samhouri has been appointed Chairman of Netwatch Group and will be one of the company’s investors.
