A Year in Review
The Top 10 SDM News Stories & the Top 10 Integrator Stories of 2017
This year the editors compiled the top stories of the year as featured in SDM’s various e-newsletters. Below are the top 10 stories as featured on our website and delivered to you through SDM e-news and Today’s Systems Integrator e-news.
SDM E-News Top 2017 Stories
The industry is changing fast, and this year was a year of adjustment and adaptation. Familiar names in the industry made top news for spinoffs, acquisitions, lawsuits and forays into areas such as smart home. Here are the top five stories from 2017 from our SDM e-newsletter.
1. SDM 100 Report
Since 1991, the SDM 100 Report has been ranking U.S. companies that earn their revenues from the sale, installation, service and monitoring of electronic security systems — such as intrusion and fire alarm, access control, video surveillance, and related low-voltage systems — to residential and non-residential customers. The objective of this list is to measure consumer dollars gained by alarm companies, in order to present an account of the size of the market served by the 100 largest security providers. SDM 100 firms are ranked by their recurring monthly revenue (RMR).
2. ADT Named 2017 SDM Dealer of the Year
Being around for more than 140 years, ADT is no stranger to the security industry, yet despite holding the No. 1 spot on the SDM 100 since the ranking’s inception, this is the first year ADT was named Dealer of the Year. Find out about the new management approach, the support of the latest in analytics and other back-end technology, and a customer-first mantra the company adopted that led SDM to choose ADT as its 2017 Dealer of the Year.
3. Honeywell Sues to Block Alarm.com, Icontrol Merger
Although Alarm.com settled the Honeywell suit and closed its Icontrol acquisition in March, Honeywell initially sued to block the merger. The controversy seems to have been about how the smart home market is defined, but in the end, the two companies seemed to come to an agreement.
4. SAFE Security Wins Lawsuit Against Alder/Alarm Protection Technology
In an 8-0 decision, a federal jury found Alder Holdings (also known as Alarm Protection technology, Alarm Protection Technology Alaska, and Alarm Protection Alaska) liable on all four of SAFE’s causes of action, including false association, unfair or deceptive trade acts or practices, misappropriation of trade secrets and defamation, entering a judgment for just under $1.5 million in compensatory and punitive damages to the plaintiff, SAFE. Alder maintained the evidence at the trial did not support the verdict.
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5. Honeywell to Spin Off Homes & ADI Global Distribution, Transportation Systems Units
Honeywell announced the results of its comprehensive portfolio review, including its intention to separately spin off its Homes product portfolio and ADI global distribution business, as well as its Transportation Systems business, into two stand-alone, publicly-traded companies.
The following stories rounded out the Top 10 SDM news stories:
http://www.sdmmag.com/articles/94136-adt-settles-with-3-security-companies-in-deceptive-sales-lawsuits-for-55-million
http://www.sdmmag.com/articles/93996-ads-wins-appeal-stops-patent-troll-targeting-security-companies
http://www.sdmmag.com/articles/94449-best-buy-to-make-bigger-push-in-smart-home
SDM’s Top Security Integrator-Focused 2017 Stories
2017 was an active year in the security field, with several top trends starting to take off, from AI and robotics, to cyber security and more. As security integrators try to figure out how to capitalize on these new developments, we take a look back at the top five stories as featured in our exclusive e-newsletter, Today’s Systems Integrator.
1. HID Global to Acquire Access Control Provider Mercury Security
The No. 1 most popular story last year involved the merger of two major companies in the security space. More than that, Mercury has partnerships with most of the other manufacturing players, so security integrators were very curious what this will mean for them and their customers.
2. Most Popular Brands Among the Top Systems Integrators
Security systems integrators are always curious about what their peers are buying and selling in terms of products. As we do each year, SDM asked each of the 2017 Top Systems Integrator companies to disclose the top manufacturers and top distributors that earn their business, based on volume purchased. The resulting lists demonstrated that these integrators rely on a wide variety of suppliers that offer a wealth of resources.
3. NextGen Wins SDM 2017 Systems Integrator of the Year
It is always with great anticipation that we unveil the winner of our SDM Systems Integrator of the Year distinction, and this year’s winner generated quite a bit of interest. With organic growth from $0 to $33 million in just four years; an “out-of-the-box” business model that treats each customer as unique and a culture that feels more like a family than just a place to work, NextGen demonstrated what a successful model of a “next generation” company can look like.
4. Tyco Brand to Take on Johnson Controls Identity
2016 and 2017 saw some very large mergers and acquisitions (from HID/Mercury to ADT/P1 to Johnson Controls/Tyco, and more), and many of our integrator readers were curious about what happens next. So when Johnson Controls announced to customers their plans to transition the brand identity of Tyco businesses, including Tyco Integrated Security and SimplexGrinnell, to Johnson Controls, it generated quite a bit of interest.
5. How to Succeed in the Top 5 Access Control Verticals
More and more, integrators — and manufacturers — are designing for or specializing in a few key vertical markets. Last January we took a closer look at five of these: Corporate, education/campus, healthcare, utilities/critical infrastructure and multi-family residential.
The following stories rounded out the Top 10 integrator-focused news stories:
https://www.sdmmag.com/articles/93963-convergint-technologies-acquires-integrated-security-systems?id=93963-convergint-technologies-acquires-integrated-security-systems
http://www.sdmmag.com/articles/93511-state-of-the-market-video-surveillance
