In August, South Korean video surveillance manufacturer IDIS finalized its acquisition of Costar Technologies; however, instead of the Costar brand fading into the background, the company actually increased its presence at the GSX show in Dallas with a relatively large booth near the front of the show floor.
Many are asking, just what is the plan for Costar moving forward? Security Business magazine had the chance to sit down with Mike Rose, who has been VP of Sales and Marketing for Costar for the past 17 years, to get the lowdown.
Tell us more about the background of the IDIS acquisition of Costar.
Rose: If we go back 18 years to when I started with Costar, IDIS has been our core technology provider during that entire time. It was not
exclusively them, but we have sold the IDIS product branded as Costar for the whole 18 years that I've been here. So, our technologies are the same platform.
IDIS making a decision to consolidate the brands is going to be very good for the customers and the integrators, because it means they lose nothing – everything they have bought from Costar, can now can also have IDIS plugged right in. We can put one on top of the other and they are going to work the same as they've always worked.
I've been through mergers that have had a lot of collateral damage. This is one of those mergers where everyone says, why didn't this happen 10 years ago?
So, if the products are forward and backward compatible, do you prefer integrators use IDIS or Costar?
Rose: This is one of the few mergers that really has no product justification. Nobody is sitting in a room saying, “we don't want that [product line] anymore, so those customers are just out of luck.” Instead, the decision is which product should we to ship, IDIS or Costar – those are the decisions that are being worked out now. Whichever way we go, it would be like choosing between a Chevrolet or a GMC.
Is the Costar brand ultimately going to be replaced by IDIS in North America?
Rose: In fact, there is an IDIS America, and they have been here for 10 years selling the brand, and they've been successful in certain verticals and segments. IDIS, being the company they are, could have come in and taken [the Costar brand] away, but I think they respect our market and brand equity. Costar has been more successful in other verticals, like the larger system sales, and for the larger integrators selling that system approach, so they stayed out of certain channels as the Costar name grew and flourished.
That said, the IDIS name as a global brand is much bigger than Costar will ever be, so logic would dictate that you will see a lot more of IDIS going forward [in North America].
Does Arecont have any brand equity left?
Rose: They've had a lot of challenges, but there is still brand recognition there. There's a split – some love, some hate, and that’s known. Frankly, the equity left in that brand and what [IDIS] wants to do with it is a big decision that has not yet been made. Even though [Arecont Vision] was once a dominant, pioneering company, there are now probably 30 manufacturers out there that make multi-head cameras, although IDIS actually does not have an offering in that space as of now.
IDIS has the best fisheye in the market, in my opinion, but they have not focused their attention on that multi-head space. They know it is very crowded.
The strength that's left [with Arecont Vision] is back-end integrations. [In its heyday], everybody wanted to write Arecont integrations, and those integrations have deep roots.
What kind of integrators make up Costar's dealer channel in America?
Rose: We really focus on customers that are in the national account space and large, super-regional integrators. There's no question that we're strong in the national account space and working with those partners that we've already established, we're going to grow that business.
What is the messaging to the channel from Costar and IDIS, and what should we expect, say in March or April of next year when ISC West rolls around?
Rose: You will see a lot. You will see a stronger sales group and more resources than ever. You will see more products and a wider breadth and depth of offerings. There will be more opportunity to voice customer feedback, because now we are sitting at the table with the IDIS engineers.
But that's what’s to come. The short-term message right now is there is no change. What you are buying today, you will be able to buy tomorrow. No customer should be afraid of anything they bought from Costar.
Paul Rothman is Editor-in-Chief of Security Business magazine. Email him your comments and questions at [email protected]. Access the current issue, full archives and apply for a free subscription at www.securitybusinessmag.com.
