AMAG Technology recently announced that it has entered into a technology partnership with video surveillance solutions provider Salient Systems. As part of the agreement between the two companies, AMAG will offer Salient’s CompleteView Video Management System, PowerProtect NVR Server Platforms and TouchView Mobile Video Apps under the Symmetry brand.
John Kenning, North American CEO and head of global technology for G4S, AMAG’s parent company, said one of the main reasons behind their decision to partner with Salient was due to customers asking for a much tighter integration between the Symmetry access control platform and their video system, which he said is really where the market is heading in general.
“As we’ve continued to look at the marketplace and what our customers are demanding, it was very natural to look at enhancing our own offering from a video standpoint,” said Kenning. “It doesn’t mean that we won’t continue to have an open platform and have open APIs to other technologies or partners like we do today, but really what we’re trying to do is have a very integrated, complete offering. We looked at Salient as being an up and coming provider. They have some very large customers that they are rolling out to today and we thought it was a very natural fit.”
Although AMAG had an existing OEM video solution, Kenning said partnering with Salient will help the company keep up with the rest of the marketplace by providing a more robust offering to customers.
“I think from a solutions standpoint, it is going to help us and we will be able to, I think, leapfrog some of our competitors with this solution and how we build it,” added Kenning. “The other thing it will do is force us to continue to be open and have a much more open platform to other providers also, so there will be tight integration and standardization but we know as we do this we’re going to have to remain open to our other partners.”
In some vertical markets, Kenning said it was very important that the company be able to leverage the Symmetry brand as it will enable them to offer a one-stop shop for security. In addition, Kenning believes that this partnership will raise AMAG’s profile in the industry when it comes to video.
“In the SMB and mid-sized marketplace where they don’t have a large purchasing organization or security staff to be able to go out and do the research that some people will at ISC West, it’s important to have the one-branded product and kind of offer that one-stop shopping,” said Kenning. “Also, we know from Salient’s development and R&D work, we’re going to have a product that is industry-leading, versus where we really were in the past which was industry-trailing. We were not leading with video, we were following with video and now we think in this partnership that our OEM product, our private label product will be leading the marketplace.”
Aside from tighter integration with their access control system, Kenning said existing AMAG customers that adopt the Salient video solutions can expect to see several benefits such as, improved ease of use through a new graphic user interface and enhanced standardization.
