Cisco Systems is getting into the security surveillance market with the acquisition of a small company called SyPixx Networks
In a move to promote a convergence between IT security and surveillance cameras that act as the eyes of security professionals who defend physical perimeters and corridors, Cisco Systems said it was planning a $51 million acquisition of SyPixx Networks Inc., a privately held maker of video surveillance software and hardware that lets existing analog video systems operate as part of an open IP network.
The acquisition may not be the last in the physical security space. Cisco is launching a new business unit to create products that integrate security infrastructure, said Marthin De Beer, vice president and general manager in Cisco’s new and emerging technology group.
Founded in 2004, SyPixx is based in Waterbury, Conn. and has a development office in Carlsbad, Calif. The company makes technology that can transmit video, data and audio over IP and fiber optic networks.
Cisco is looking to add intelligence to video security systems so that they do more than simply record and play back an analog history of events.
Most of the video systems used today are analog, which limits where and how video can be viewed. Digitizing video using the SyPixx technology will make video accessible at any time from any place, so watchers can respond to, investigate and resolve incidents as they happen. That will help companies install and control new security applications and make live and recorded video more valuable to customers, Cisco said.
While it is difficult for companies to access and analyze much of the analog video surveillance footage available to them today, "When you make it digital, it becomes a snap to pull up relevant content," De Beer said.
If you can digitize all video, you can record it, timestamp it and instantaneously get access to video across the IP network much more efficiently than having to send an actual tape, said De Beer. It also lets people coordinating a disaster halfway across the country to get live video feeds from cameras connected to an IP network, so they can see what is happening; security professionals need not run to a central surveillance booth to screen images. SyPixx offers encoder technology that allows existing coaxial-connected video cameras to digitize their feed to an IP network.
Cisco says it believes the video surveillance market is a good fit for the company, which has traditionally sold IP routing and Ethernet switching equipment to large companies. For one, it is already likely the provider of networking equipment to the companies that use video surveillance.
In addition, it makes sense for businesses that have already embarked on consolidating their networks to decide to carry all of their corporate data and voice traffic over an IP network. Cisco also provides storage area networking gear, which is essential for customers who must store all the video.
Cisco hopes to use the SyPixx technology to shake up the video surveillance industry, which is still dominated by proprietary, analog surveillance technology that is inefficient and hard to manage, De Beer said.
With Cisco’s backing, SyPixx technology could be used to marry physical surveillance with the IP networking, so that video data is available anywhere at any time, and can be searched and reviewed rapidly.
SyPixx is the solution that allows Cisco to insert into the market and manage legacy analog video as well as digital IP solutions in one environment, De Beer said. Eventually, customers will move to totally digital IP, he said.
SyPixx will be housed in a new business unit that Cisco is calling the "Converged Secure Infrastructure Unit,” which will be part of Cisco’s Emerging Markets Technology Group and be headed by De Beer.
Cisco is further looking for ways to add more physical infrastructure technology to the secure infrastructure unit. The company is working on some technology internally, but De Beer did not rule out acquisitions in other physical access technologies like door locks.
The company said it plans to keep on all of SyPixx’s 27 employees. Today, those workers are spread between two locations in Waterbury, Conn., and Carlsbad, Calif. When the acquisition closes, which is expected to happen by the end of April, Cisco says it plans to relocate the employees on the East Coast to the Carlsbad facility.
We are going to take a comprehensive look, not just at video … We want to make the network the platform for physical security, De Beer said. Integrating physical and logical security is the Holy Grail for many senior corporate security executives. However, the goal has been elusive.
Video, like VOIP (voice over IP), offers Cisco a new way to appeal to companies and to increase the demand for network bandwidth and follow-on applications, said Jon Oltsik of Enterprise Strategy Group.
The acquisition is still subject to regulatory review and shareholder approval. Cisco expects it to complete within 60 or 90 days, the company said.
Cisco expects to close the acquisition in its third fiscal quarter ending April 28th. Upon close of the transaction, SyPixx’s video surveillance products will be part of a new business unit in Cisco’s emerging markets technology group, reporting to De Beer. "As the world has changed over the past five years, people have become aware of the need to move the surveillance technology that is in place to a more scalable system," says De Beer of the reasoning behind Cisco’s first foray into the market for converged physical and IT security.
"As Cisco develops its enterprise strategy, this is another foot in the door," Oltsik said.