By Steven Sachoff, editor
BANBURY, UK—The Westminster Group, a designer of integrated security solutions based here, has expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of the UK-based risk management and close protection specialist Longmoor Services.
ROT TERDAM, The Netherlands— Unisoft Total Services, a Dutch system integrator, has deployed an IP-based video surveillance system comprising megapixel cameras from IQinVision and and Milestone’s XProtect video management platform for a group of Dutch merchants, which, if successful, could be rolled out to hundreds of shops in the city.
The project, which currently involves 20 shops in central Rotterdam, links store owners directly with police, with the aim of combating an increase in robberies in the commercial district.
IQeye megapixel cameras installed in the businesses are connected to Milestone’s XProtect system. In the event of an attempted robbery or other incident, shopkeepers can press a button that activates the cameras, establishing a live feed that is directly transmitted to the police control room. In the event of an alarm, police units are immediately sent to the store. If the thieves are not caught on site, police can track their movements via city street cameras.
The system will be evaluated over a period of several months, after which it may be rolled out to hundreds of shops in the area.
The deal is worth up to GBP 2.4mln, with an initial consideration of GBP 389,210 to be satisfied by the issue of 894,735 Ordinary Westminster shares valued at 43.5 pence on the date of completion. Two additional performance-based payments will be made, calculated on 50 percent of net profit in each of the two years following completion, up to a maximum aggregate additional payment of GBP 2mln. The sellers can opt for either cash payments or new Ordinary Westminster shares.
Established in 2005, Longmoor operates from its London headquarters and satellite offices in the Netherlands, South Africa, Brazil and Malaysia. The company bills itself as an expert in international and homeland security consultancy and training.
The acquisition of Longmoor is part of
a strategy to broaden Westminster Group’s security base while bringing onboard an additional source of regular, reliable revenues, according to Westminster CEO Peter Fowler. While Westminster has developed a “huge quote bank” in its focus area of deploying electronic security in niche areas in niche parts of the world, Fowler explained that you “don’t secure a major contract worth several million pounds every week.” The Longmoor acquisition will help to even out troughs and peaks in Westminster’s revenue stream, he said.
Longmoor is a good fit with Westminster, Fowler said, because its activities dovetail nicely with those of Westminster while not stepping on any of the business the company currently does. “They’re very much a training and close protection-type business and their income stream is more spread out and regular, with training courses and things of that nature,” explained Fowler.
Westminster’s business model, which is based on the establishment of a comprehensive agent network in the places around the world where its business is
focused—Africa, the
Middle and Far East and South America—lends itself well to leveraging Longmoor’s services, said Fowler.
As an example, Fowler pointed to a recent Westminster contract to
Peter Fowler
supply baggage scanning equipment to an African airport. That client wanted training and support for the people who would be using the sophisticated equipment. “ Longmoor could supply that for them after we deliver the technology.” In the past, Westminster handled similar client requests by passing such business on to other companies. “In that
respect, it was lost revenue,” said Fowler.
Going forward, Westminster will continue to look out for acquisition opportunities based on a similar strategy. Fowler said he currently has two or three targets in mind, businesses that “broaden Westminster’s scope while also delivering regular income and allowing for cross-fertilization” of business opportunities. SSNE
C&C Salzgeber deploys IndigoVision at Vienna Zoo
VIENNA—Video surveillance is synonymous with security. More and more, it’s also being used for business intelligence. C&C Salzgeber, an IT and systems integration firm based here that is moving increasingly into the CCTV world, has done projects in both those areas. One of its most
recent projects, however, is a unique deployment
David Salzgeber
that’s not keeping watch over people, but pandas, rhinos and penguins.
The project came about when the Vienna Zoo went looking for a scalable video surveillance system for an animal behavior research program that could deliver high quality footage while being run on the zoo’s existing network backbone. To deliver that, C&C Salzgeber turned to the Edinburgh-based IP video and alarm management specialist IndigoVision.
After working on a number of multi-camera projects with various management systems, C&C’s director, David Salzgeber, found there
By Steven Sachoff, editor
LONDON—Don Cameron has been named the new president of Niscayah Ltd., the UK unit of the international security systems provider Niscayah Group.
A UK businessman with extensive general management and sales and marketing experience in I T and telecoms, Cameron has a background in business development, having worked within both large corporations as well as start-up companies.
Cameron will comes to Niscayah UK from Mobiqa, a provider of bar-coded tickets for mobile phones, where he served as sales and marketing director. His previous experience includes managing director and CEO roles for IT service businesses such as Intergraph, Plaut Consulting and ICL Fujitsu.
could often be problems with managing systems with 30 or more cameras. In search of something that could efficiently handle the bigger installations his company was working on, Salzgeber said he came across IndigoVision. “I saw that the topology of IndigoVision was very good,” Salzgeber said. “They have multicasting, unicast-ing, audio, good compression —the system is just very good.” The result has been a four-year partnership between the companies.
At the Vienna Zoo, IndigoVision’s Control Center video management software controls fixed and PTZ cameras which monitor animal enclosures throughout the facility. Researchers can control the cameras in real time and view live and recorded video from any of the enclosures. As the software is licensed on a per seat basis free of charge, researchers have deployed 10 workstations across the zoo at no extra cost. Recorded video is also copied onto external hard disks so students can analyze video remotely on their own laptops installed with Control Center.
The cameras and highly sensitive microphones are connected to IndigoVision’s 8000 transmitter/receiver modules, which compress
See C&C on page 12
Bucking economy, Pristis posts record 2008 results
By Steven Sachoff, editor
TALLINN, Estonia—Despite the global economic downturn, the Pristis Group, a pan-Baltic security system integrator based here and with operations in Latvia and Lithuania, posted record results for 2008, thanks in part to rising revenues from services.
Pristis’s revenues topped EEK 300mln for the first time ever last year, reaching EEK 305mln (EUR 19.5mln), an increase of 7 percent from the previous year. Revenues were up in all three countries in which Pristis operates.
Preliminary profit figures were up 25 percent year on year to EEK 18.5mln (EUR 1.2mln).
According to Pristis Group CEO Andres Kiil, the 2008 results were positively influenced by strong growth in services, rentals
and maintenance, which accounted for 16 percent of the company’s total revenues last year. Going forward, Kiil said the company would continue to focus on boosting service revenues this year. “In 2009, we are aiming to increase total revenues from services by 15 percent,” he said. “If our plans are achieved, service revenues will account for close to 30 percent of total revenues [this year].”
CCTV and fire detection were two other
Andres Kill
areas of solid growth for the company last year, Kill said.
With the credit crunch, interest in Pristis’s rental service increased in 2008. “Customers chose more often the long-term
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