SDM 100 Security Integrators 2009 Released

SDM Magazine has released its annual Top 100 Security Integrators 2009 ranking. SDM summed up the year with 4 words: "Weak economy, intense competition." Note: compare to last year's report and the URLs to the 100 companies.

SDM's statistics do not match the overall tone or generally accepted path of the market. For instance, SDM reports over 30% more new systems were started in 2009 than 2008 (i.e., 71,066 vs 53,474) and total gross revenue increasing.

A major discrepency seems to the for the #1 listed company - ADT who SDM estimates had more than 20% revenue growth (from about $1.5 Billion in 2008 to $1.9 Billion in 2009). However, this does not seem to make sense, as our ongoing coverage of Tyco/ADT clearly reports significant revenue declines in their security system integration business across 2009 ( for example our updates on ADT's Q3 2009 and Q4 2009 revenue declines).

While we understand some industry professionals use this list as a resource in what integrators to work with, we advise caution in using the statistics or financial estimates made in the SDM report.