I talked to a distributor today that was nervous about selling cameras to me directly. He said he has to go through an integrator. He said the last time he went around an integrator, they all showed up at his office with pitchforks and other torture devices, and he almost lost his job.

On the surface, I understand that manufacturers and distributors can't support trouble tickets with these things, so they insulate themselves with integrators that provide a service along with the hardware.

But for an end user that is well versed in his/her (microaggression?) system and knows the cameras he/she wants .... if a distributor feels comfortable selling direct to that specific customer, why is that an issue?

I have support from my VMS provider (via certifications and license status)

I have support from my Windows admins within the enterprise

I have on-site VMS certified personnel full-time

I have Bicsi certified cable contractors on-site full-time

The integrator we keep on-site helps alot with Access Control, but has done literally zero on our camera systems, other than fill hardware orders, and license key renewals.

Why shouldn't I be able to buy my hardware directly?

Final question.... what's more controversial... this topic or John's Furgeson topic?