As we get ready to close the door on another year, the time has come to reflect on the news and events that shaped our industry in 2016. While most people will remember 2016 for the unprecedented and vitriolic campaign that saw Donald Trump elected as the 45th president of the United States, for the security market, it will likely go down as the year as the year of the mega-merger as some of the industry’s biggest players joined forces. Of course, industry M&A transactions were not the only stories that grabbed headlines in 2016, as various technology and business trends also garnered significant attention throughout the year.
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In what has become an annual tradition at SecurityInfoWatch.com, here’s a look a back at the 10 most read stories of 2016 and their impact on the industry.
1. The ADT-Protection 1 merger and its impact: With the advent of smart home technology and re-entry of big cable and telcos into the alarm industry in recent years, analysts have speculated about how an acquisition of ADT might alter the landscape of the market. Now they will have an opportunity to see if the prognostications are correct, as the residential security giant was acquired by an affiliate of private equity firm Apollo Global Management in February and is in the process of being combined with what was its main competitor at one time, Protection 1. In addition to the residential market, the merger could also have a substantial impact on the commercial side of the business, which SecurityInfoWatch examined in a story posted during the ASIS conference in September.
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2. The AlliedBarton-Universal merger and its impact: While much of the consolidation within the security industry has centered on equipment manufacturers and service providers, the guard services market also seen its fair share of market upheaval – culminating in May when AlliedBarton and Universal Services of America announced they would be merging. AlliedUniversal is now the largest security company in North America and is expected to generate approximately $4.5 billion in total annual revenues. Analysts said the impact of the merger is not only about bringing the firms’ respective guard services divisions together, but also being able to provide customers with a complete solution that includes both services and equipment.
3. Nuvico closes its doors: In late July, SecurityInfoWatch and Security Dealer & Integrator (SD&I) magazine broke the news that video surveillance products supplier Nuvico was ceasing operations. In an exclusive interview, Matt Bischof, who spent more than seven years with the company, attributed the company’s decline with a cost-cutting decision made several years back to use an OEM product that failed to deliver the level of quality its customers were used to.
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