Resolution Products, a manufacturer of wireless security solutions and connected home products, announced on Wednesday that it would be merging with ipDatatel, a developer of cellular and internet communication devices for the security and home automation industries. Veteran technology industry executive Robin Pederson will become chairman of the combined company.
Resolution Products offers a broad range of wireless technologies that enable security dealers to improve their business operations. Its flagship platform is Helix – a full range, wireless security system that connects to monitoring centers and the cloud over IP or cellular links. ipDatatel provides solutions that upgrade existing, out-of-date alarm communications systems, leveraging a variety of IP and cellular communicators coupled with a robust network architecture used for central station reporting and interactive services.
Resolution Products CEO Brian Seemann says that one of the unique aspects of this merger is that they will essentially be combining companies who approach the market from different perspectives.
“We’re integrating a service function, which ipDatatel excels at, and the hardware function (in Resolution Products), which is distinctly different from the majority of the market,” Seemann explains. “The majority of the residential security market is a service provider in partnership with a hardware company and doing an integration between the two companies and making the best kind of collective product that they can, so you have this kind of constellation of partnerships. It’s just distinctly different to put two companies together in the same place so that service plus hardware is altogether in the same company and all in a single solution and I think that, in the end, that’s going to be the beautiful thing about this.”
The combined organization will help dealers by focusing on reducing account creation costs, increasing recurring revenue and reducing attrition rates. Together, their products and services provide dealers with a platform to service and retain accounts as well as takeover existing products and services in a unified, secure communications environment.
“From kind of an internal position and even an external market view, our two companies are very complementary. What one of us is good at, the other one isn’t and where Resolution doesn’t have something ipDatatel does,” Seemann adds. “From a market view, you’ll see a convergence of our products and the first product and, actually the spear point of the collective company, is having ipDatatel’s secure smart services on our Resolution Helix security system.
“Nowadays, consumers are filling their homes with the latest DIY home automation technology such as the Amazon Echo with Alexa and Nest smart thermostats/cameras,” Russell Vail, CEO of ipDatatel, said in a statement. “The merger of Resolution Products and ipDatatel will bring these homeowners or renters a suite of solutions that connect legacy alarm systems, new installations and DIY automation in a simpler, more intuitive way. Additionally, the technology will be less expensive and faster for the installer to both set up and maintain.”
However, Seemann emphasizes that the companies will continue to sell and market their existing product lines to ensure that their respective dealer clients are supported.
“Both of our companies have a very wide footprint in terms of the different types of products we have,” he says. “For example, on the Resolution Products side, we make compatible sensors, translators, interactive gateway modules which are communicators similar to ipDatatel’s. All of those products talk to other manufacturers’ systems so there is a wide footprint we will continue to have as a collective company which serves many different dealers, even if they’re using competing control panel solutions.”
Ultimately, Seemann admits there will likely be some consolidation of their respective product lines where there is overlap, such as with Resolution Products’ interactive gateway modules and ipDatatel’s cellular alarm transmitters (CATs) and broadband alarm transmitters (BATs), but moving forward the merger will help the combined company to have a more well-rounded product portfolio.
“From the standpoint of product development, going forward and building out of the lines, the Helix system is really front and center to our products and it’s much more than a control panel, it’s really a platform solution,” he says. “What you’re going to see in our product development is the filling out of our Helix line as we build more and more solutions around that line that will serve many different points in the market, be it the light commercial space and small- and medium-sized businesses or deeper into home automation, but it will be primarily driven off of Helix as a platform and not just a point solution.”
Finally, Seemann says that having the added support provided by integration of the two companies will enable them to more easily help dealers walk customers through the complete system sales process and really broaden their horizons when it comes to taking advantage of Internet of Things (IoT) market.
“To the rank and file, mainstream security dealer, there is a lot of movement at the edges of our market and a little bit of uncertainty with what is going on with the Internet of Things world and how it impacts the security world,” Seemann says. “We think that our solutions actually provide a strong positioning for the mainstream security dealer to participate in the IoT space or connected homes because we are taking advantage of and leveraging the internet infrastructure, which is different from many service and hardware manufacturers in the security world today. All of the moving parts of IoT within the home are somehow either immediately or eventually connected to the internet, so if all of the systems within a house are fundamentally on the internet and all of the major innovations and movements and connection points are internet- and Wi-Fi-based, then we’re right at the heartbeat of that.”
About the Author:
Joel Griffin is the Editor-in-Chief of SecurityInfoWatch.com and a veteran security journalist. You can reach him at [email protected].
