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A month for ­spending

Well, this past month or so has been an interesting one for the security industry as a glance at our news section will show. It seems there is a serious amount of consolidation in progress in the industry, with some well-known brands being bought or merged.

Starting with the big one, Reditron is in the news again, this time it has been bought by Regal, which will merge its own IPSS into Reditron to form a rather large distributor. Details were still sparse at the time of writing, but Hi-Tech Security Solutions will be able to provide more information on this deal in the August issue after a chat with the decision-makers involved. Interestingly enough, Regal was not the only big name after Reditron, but it emerged as the winner.

We should see some interesting competition in the mid to upper tier of the market going forward. One has to wonder how some of the other larger distributors will take the news and if this could prompt a few additional acquisitions or mergers in the future.

And this month we also say goodbye to GSC Systems. Well, it is not goodbye as such, because GSC has been bought by IDS (Inhep). The buyout will expand GSC’s market and its potential R&D budget, while giving IDS a step up into the access control market with a respected product with a long track record. GSC is one of those quiet companies that seem to surprise everyone with the success it has had over the years. It looks like a good move for both parties.

Then we have LAW Holdings buying a stake in AIS, giving it a larger footprint in the security world, including areas like biometrics and access, although more on the IT side of security.

And let us not forget last month’s news that Bytes bought Brand New Technology. You will notice an article in this issue talking about Bytes now having the Lumidigm distribution for Africa and the Middle East. Africa may not be ready for a biometrics boom just yet, but the security market in the Middle East is looking really good – as you will note in our report back on the Milestone partner event in Abu Dhabi.

On the international front, Tyco Security Products has bought Exacq Technologies, a growing VMS provider. While the deal looks like a win for both parties, readers of IPVM.com will note there is some consternation in the market about the deal. Fortunately for local users, Exacq is not a major force on the African continent, which means there is potential for Tyco to use its muscle to establish it.

And, lest we forget, we have just been through another IFSEC SA. Be sure to check out our review in the next issue. However, from travelling around various stands, it seems that there are still a couple of companies sniffing around for acquisitions. I guess it depends on who wants to sell and whether the buyers are prepared to spend what they need to. I do not think there will be too many dull moments in the security industry over the next few months.

Andrew Seldon, editor

andrew@technews.co.za

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