Earlier this month, Motorola Solutions announced its latest acquisition of Ava Security. In this article we take a closer look at the deal and see how it benefits all.
Earlier this month, Motorola Solutions
announced its latest acquisition. This time it’s Ava Security, a U.K.-based global provider of cloud-native video security and analytics. In this article we take a closer look at the deal and see how it benefits all.
The acquisition solidifies Motorola Solutions’ position as the No. 5 biggest company in the security industry, according to asmag.com’s
Securtiy 50 ranking based on companies’ revenues from equipment sales. Motorola Solutions made US$927 million in such sales in 2020. The company already has the following video surveillance and access control brands under its umbrella: Avigilon,
Pelco, Envysion, Openpath and
IndigoVision. This time it acquired Ava Security, which is headquartered in London and has teams in the U.S., Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Australia and Poland. Ava Security has 150 employees,
Mutually beneficial
Speaking with asmag.com, John Kedzierski, Senior VP and GM of the Video Security & Access Control Organization at Motorola Solutions, explained how the deal was mutually beneficial.
“This acquisition reaffirms Motorola Solutions’ commitment to being a leader in end-to-end video security, expanding our portfolio and extending our global reach by empowering enterprises with flexible, intelligent video security solutions based in the cloud. With Ava, Motorola Solutions can offer enterprises the flexibility to deploy intelligent video security solutions with minimal on-premise equipment, while also allowing them to leverage their existing security infrastructure investments,” Kedzierski said. “For Ava, joining the Motorola Solutions team gives them access to a larger customer set and provides a broader set of resources and capabilities that enhance the combined offerings available to our customers.”
Further, Kedzierski said Motorola Solutions’ portfolio would be strengthened with Ava’s addition. “By adding Ava to the portfolio, we have a best-in-class set of solutions that bridge on-premise systems and server-less cloud systems across both video security and access control, allowing us to meet customers where they stand today,” he said. “We will continue to invest in both our on-premise and our cloud-based solutions, as well as hybrid solutions such as Avigilon Cloud Services that bring convenient cloud management capabilities to on-premise systems.”
Open and integrative
Ava is known for being an open platform. According to their website, their cloud VMS integrates with Ava’s own cameras as well as those that are ONVIF-compliant. According to Kedzierski, this is a special advantage.
“One of Ava’s core differentiators is how they are bringing an open platform market to cloud video security. The platform allows customers to leverage their installed base of cameras, as well as integrate with other physical security applications, sensor platforms and more. This fits well with our approach to the market at Motorola Solutions, and how Openpath has remained an open platform post acquisition is a proof point for this,” Kedzierski said. “The ability to leverage existing cameras in a cloud-based system is a critical differentiator in helping our customers transition to the cloud.”
Potential of cloud
Needless to say,
cloud has gained a lot of momentum in security, and the trend is expected to continue. A recent report by Novaira Insights on cloud trends in video surveillance in the U.S. and Canada reveals that in this region, there has been a gradual transition in the past decade to using the cloud for both management of surveillance cameras and for storage of the footage they generate. The study further cites that the Covid-19 pandemic has played a role contributing to an acceleration of this transition, with 53 percent of respondents indicating the pandemic has accelerated their organization’s cloud strategy related to video surveillance, and 69 percent thinking that in the next two years, their organization will move to managing or storing more of its video surveillance data in the cloud.
This has further prompted Motorola Solutions to expand its cloud offerings. “Cloud adoption continues to accelerate as more industries look to streamline their security operations by using cloud solutions that offer enterprise-grade video security and require minimal infrastructure and support,” Kedzierski said. “We see strong markets for on-premise systems, hybrid on-prem/cloud-managed systems, and pure cloud systems for years to come. We will keep investing in our Avigilon on-prem and hybrid platforms as we grow our pure cloud Ava and Openpath offerings.”