Security Sales & Integration September 2021 - 44

EXCLUSIVE!
Executive Interview
Motorola Tunes
Into Security
The reason
behind the
acquisition was to
accelerate our
growth. There are
so many different
ways Motorola
can help
Openpath at this
stage in our
business.
- James Segil
It's threefold. One, we believe in making
watching video obsolete. Today, we can use
computer vision powered by AI to drive insights
out of video security systems and tell
operators, customers, landowners what's happening
inside their facilities. Second, we want
to make the customer experience for enterprise-grade
security systems like the best consumer
devices that we all understand. We want
to make systems very easy to deploy, manage,
use and get insights out of them. Point three is,
in an increasingly on-the-go world, we want to
ensure our customers can consume our content
on a mobile device.
In terms of how some of the pieces fit, our
big foray into the physical security space was
the acquisition of Avigilon three years ago. Avigilon
brought an industry-leading end-to-end
video security portfolio, video management
systems, cameras and the analytics that tie that
together to be able to create insights, as well
as an access control portfolio. Using that as a
starting point, we added pieces to bring the rest
of the vision to fruition.
We added IndigoVision, which also brought an
end-to-end portfolio with a focus outside North
America, bringing us more international channels
and customers. We acquired Pelco, a very storied
historic brand in the industry, to bring us a portfolio
of cameras, extend our channels globally and
have a brand for customers just looking for a camera
and not an entire end-to-end portfolio. We
added WatchGuard Video to bring a mobile perspective
to our security systems, not only for law
enforcement, where we've seen a huge amount of
growth with body cameras, but also in commercial
markets. There it becomes not just a camera
that's fixed on the wall but one that gives the
video security operator perspective of what their
employees or security guards see as they move
throughout a facility or property.
With Openpath Security, we think access
control is a critical part of achieving our vision
of providing customers insights and outcomes,
not just selling them boxes. We have an access
control business in Avigilon, but for the vision
I described we seek to make enterprise security
systems have consumer ease of use and embrace
mobile convenience. We see Openpath as the
absolute access control leader in those areas and
a great fit to help us get to our destination faster.
How does the transaction fundamentally
change Openpath's trajectory?
James Segil: The reason behind the acquisition
was to accelerate our growth. There are so many
different ways Motorola can help Openpath at
this stage in our business.
As a venture-backed company, we spent a
lot of time focused on raising money, thinking
about how to hire fast and expand. As a new
brand in the market, trying to establish credibility
with customers and channel partners is also
where a lot of effort is put with our day-to-day
energies. Motorola solves a lot of those problems
right away and lets us really focus in on
our product, product development, and making
our customers and channel partners happy.
They bring us instant scale and credibility.
From a sales perspective, we now have the opportunity
to sell through and with the Motorola
salesforce and channel partners, and that is
certainly a lot larger than what we had in place.
Then, we have the benefit of their scale on the
operations, manufacturing and supply chain
side. Given some of the challenges in the marketplace
today, it is a great big brother to have
when it comes to being able to ensure we have
high-quality product manufactured really well
and available for customers.
Finally, there's the credibility the Motorola
Solutions brand brings with large enterprise
customers, which is where we were focused in
terms of moving up the food chain. Motorola
really understands how to service the enterprise
and sell big solutions that can scale and be supported
on a global level.
Motorola milestones include
early car radios; transmitting
words from the moon; developing
commercial handheld
cellphones; and revolutionizing
public safety communications.
44
Security Sales & Integration SEPTEMBER 2021
Motorola has long been ubiquitous with
communications technologies but only
recently plunged into security. Why did
the organization stand on the sidelines
so long? What prompted going all in?
Kedzierski: The legacy of this 90-year-plus
company has been providing mission-critical
communications to governments and entersecuritysales.com
http://www.securitysales.com
Security Sales & Integration September 2021

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