Subscriber Discussion

Has Mercury Hardware Turned Access Control Into The Trunk Slamming Of Burglar Alarms Of The Late 90s?

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Shannon Davis
Apr 01, 2017
IPVMU Certified

Here is some food for thought... Has Mercury Hardware turned the Access Control industry into the Burglar Alarm, door knocking, telemarketing, black eye of the late 90's early 2000's. In my opinion they have. I grew up in the burglar alarm industry learning from some of the best. You know, back when everything, and I mean everything, had to be hardwired. The only wireless was a portable panic button. Then towards the end of the 90's companies made a fortune selling alarm contracts and admittedly I was one of them who made some good money as well. Difference being I cared deeply about the security of my customers and the QUALITY OF INSTALL. Well some time has passed since then and now Mercury has made the access control industry an open standard. In a general statement that is wonderful. If a customer is not happy with a software platform they have the option to switch to one they like that better serves their needs. Of course this is usually because their security company cant service their system properly or they don't keep in touch with their customer. The problem is, yes it may seem like a better software, you know really flashy and current, but does it do what the customer wants and most importantly does the Integrator installing the new software know what they are doing. Right there is my problem with this. Too often these days every Tom Dick and Harry thinks they can start a new security company and make a lot of money. Sure that is possible but what about when the system doesn't work or the customer has some really specific needs or even dare I say what about the security of these customers. I would venture to say that over 40% of "So Called Integrator's" out there have no clue how to solve these typically complex problems or even care about the security of their customers. To most of these companies, "I will call TRUNK SLAMMERS", they are all about the all mighty dollar. 

The IP camera industry is just the same with ONVIF. IP cameras have become a commodity these past few years and it is really hard to compete with a camera that is normally just $125 and now this week, and of course this is every week, on sale for $75. Now I am not trying to complain here but often times the customer sees the vast difference in price for the lesser products, full of bullet holes I might add, even though they truly know that if they pay a little more in the long run they will save money not having to replace faulty equipment and knowing what they purchased was what they needed and it was installed correctly. 

Anyways this is just a thought about the current state of the security industry. Please forgive any typos or grammar errors. I know this will spark much debate from vendors and integrators. My intention here is to bring about conversation of the current state of the security industry. 

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Marty Calhoun
Apr 01, 2017
IPVMU Certified

I started in the industry in 1975 and everything you just said is 100% dead right and I could not have said it better. People starting security businesses with a background of installing ADT $99 dollar specials has given this whole industry a black eye!

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Apr 01, 2017

What about people installing $50 cameras and $300 NVRs?  No black eyes?

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Shannon Davis
Apr 01, 2017
IPVMU Certified

Oh believe me you are 100% right there. This discussion for me is more towards the access control part of our industry. I am just wanting to get other "Integrator's" points of view.  The IP video revolution is just as bad. Every time you go to a show there is some new IP video company trying to peddle their low cost product to the masses. I understand competition is good but at what point does it hurt our industry. The main difference with IP video is it has fewer moving parts than access control if you will. I am also a firm believer that the Hikvisions of the world are no good for any of us and nothing anyone can say will change my mind on that. 

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Undisclosed #4
Apr 02, 2017

I voted this post Disagree and Funny because the irony made me.

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Brian Rhodes
Apr 01, 2017
IPVMU Certified

I think laying the blame of reduced margins at the feet of Mercury is wrong.

Mercury sells nothing to end users.  Mercury partners are the ones who set the price, and many/most of those partners are dealer brands.  So this means the dealers are the ones who ultimately set the price. 

Mercury sells hardware to a business channel unwilling/unable/not interested to design and manufacture door access hardware on it's own.  Are we ready to blame those access market partners for a lack of shrewdness or skill in producing controllers and I/O modules?

I personally think it's way too strong to say Interchangeability (of any form) is the root cause of eroding margins.  

Rather, the fact that access control, like CCTV cameras, and mechanical door hardware has been available in the market for decades renders it subject to commodification.  

In a market with little innovation, with huge 'grudge purchase' consumer sentiment, should re-sellers expect the same margins they made 10 years ago selling the same product?

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Michael Miller
Apr 01, 2017

I don't think it is fare to say that "Mercury has made the access control industry an open standard".  I think a better statement is Mercury has given the industry a open OPTION for access control and I think this is a good thing.  

From an installer perspective all of my techs have to learn one hardware platform which makes training and support much easier while making us much for efficient which equals more profit.

The lack of education and barriers for entry have enabled Trunk Slammers IMO.   

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
Apr 01, 2017

I don't think Mercury has anything to do with access control becoming a trunk slammer industry. I think it's a result of competition and people being forced to get into access control because the video margins have eroded and the alarm margins are not there anymore. I see a lot more trunk slammers selling non mercury access control. I mean the big 6 mercury partners are all pretty restricted dealer networks (Avigilon, RS2, Honeywell Pro-Watch, Lenel, Open Options, Genetec). I really don't see those manufacturers signing up trunk slammers especially considering Lenel and Pro-Watch both require the dealer to send techs to and pay for training. 

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Undisclosed Integrator #3
Apr 02, 2017

I would also have to disagree.  Mercury just makes the boards and their product is rock solid.  We have hundreds of them out there and haven't had one issue with the hardware.  If Honeywell took Mercury panels panels and sold them with that horrible Winpak like they sell Hikvision at rock bottom prices then you could talk about that.  So I don't think Mercury has anything to do with it. 

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Shannon Davis
Apr 02, 2017
IPVMU Certified

Well you can use Mercury hardware with WinPak. I didn't even know WinPak was still being supported but it is. I have a customer using WinPak with the new Honeywell Mecrury boards that replaced old N1000 boards.  So yes they are using them together. 

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Brian Rhodes
Apr 02, 2017
IPVMU Certified

When WinPak is sold, it is sold with proprietary hardware that is not Mercury.  

This is largely because other Honeywell access uses Mercury (ie: Honeywell Pro-Watch Access Control Profile).

I'm not even sure you can buy Mercury panels for use on new WinPak systems.

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Shannon Davis
Apr 02, 2017
IPVMU Certified

That's what I'm saying. I have a customer that just had new Honeywell Mercury panels put in less than a year ago. Their latest panels are not proprietary as the old ones were. 

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Undisclosed Integrator #3
Apr 03, 2017

I think the Honeywell 123 might be a contractors hardware but Mercury?  I think not.   I am certified in 2 systems that use Mercury and both required training and a dealership.  Many of the top tier access systems out there use Mercury and none of them can be purchased at ADI or where the so called trunkslammer would buy their equipment.  It's definitely not readily available.  

I also can't see how being "open" means anything?  It means something for Mercury since the software guys can use their hardware.  Also those same guys can build on a rock solid hardware platform and not have to manufacture some crap of their own.  In all these years I have never installed a job or had somebody come to me and say "OK we want to change".  I cant say it's even a selling point when we are proposing a system.  Why would I tell my customer that they can switch to another software platform if they don't like what I'm selling them?  It never comes up and never mentioned.

Access control is still one of the areas where we can still charge a premium since there isn't much competition from these types of people in our area. 

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Chris Hendrickx
Mar 16, 2018

I know I'm reviving a very old post, but part of this may be partially the end users not dedicating the time to understanding their system properly. We have over 1000 access points in our system and had I not gone to the same training my VAR has and dedicated myself to study of access control terminology and concepts our system wouldn't be anywhere near as smooth as it is.

Get your end users educated on their system and the benefits they can derive. We now have built integrations to our cafeteria, where employees can use their cards to payroll deduct meals, supplies where employees use their card to borrow/return tools and equipment, parking access (open a gate just like you do doors) and meeting attendance (swipe on a reader in the meeting and you are marked as attending the meeting). There are more integrations to come and our system grows almost every day. It's only possible when you have a technically savvy team at both the end user and integrator side of the equation.

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