Interesting move. Is there a limitation on the versions of Milestone that Lenel VARs can use? Some of the higher-end Milestone versions require training.
Milestone / Lenel Resell Partnership
Published Apr 04, 2017 01:06 AM
Lenel has never found success in video management.
Nearly a decade ago Lenel OEMed an OEM of Milestone. Now, in an equally uncommon move, Lenel will resell Milestone.
Inside the note, we examine Lenel's challenges and what this agreement means for Lenel, Milestone and VMS competitors.
Deal Overview
There are 2 key parts to this deal [link no longer available]:
- ***** ***** ***** ** ********* ********* ** Lenel's ****.
- ********* **** ******* ***** **** ******* integration **** **** *****.
Problems ******
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Competitors ******
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*** ***** *** *********** (*.*., *****, FLIR / *****, ***.) **** **** likely ****** **** ** ********* ***** access ******* ********* **** *****, ****** in **** ***** ***** ***** ** the *********, **** **** **** ****** choice.
Positive *** ***** *** *********
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***** *** ***** *********** ********* ******** (*.*., ***** ******** *****, ***** **** *** Care). *******, ***** *** ******** ***** steps (*.*., ***** ********* ******** *******) *** **** ** ******* **** in **** *********.
Comments (15)
Brian Rhodes
Apr 06, 2017UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Apr 06, 2017This is interesting to me in that we're a Lenel house and move a small amount of Milestone. If our Milestone discounts were greater through Lenel due to our volume this would get us away from buying software through distribution.
SD
Shannon Davis
Apr 06, 2017We are a Lenel and Milestone dealer as well. Lenel video has been my biggest complaint with Lenel. 90% of tech support calls to Lenel is with their video product. What I don't understand is why hasn't Lenel over the past 10 years hired rockstar video engineers to develop their own platform that fully integrates with Lenel. I am not a ISC but I can only imagine how many new VMS systems are at the show. So why and the heck can't Lenel get on board with this. Lenel is a fantastic access control product other than their high software prices and SSA prices but the video is horrible. This is just my opinion but if they don't change their go to market strategy they could find themselves nearing end of life in less than 10 years. Very few other products do the high end integrated systems as Lenel but that is not the entire market share. I talk to many other integrators that are use another platform and they are ripping out Lenel all the time which is sad because Lenel is such a robust product. Other than the video portion it JUST RUNS...
JH
John Honovich
Apr 06, 2017I am not a ISC but I can only imagine how many new VMS systems are at the show.
0, -1, -2?
I am joking somewhat but there are not many new VMS systems coming out these days and, to the extent that they do, they are more consumer / SMB focused.
For the typical higher-end Lenel customer, there are maybe a dozen VMSes that are mature and functional enough to even consider.
Shannon, given you are a Lenel and Milestone dealer, do you like the move or?
SD
Shannon Davis
Apr 06, 2017I am not sure yet. Will mainly depend on pricing especially when it will come to the software support agreements. These two companies have some of the highest prices for continued support which is why in my opinion will really start to struggle down the road.
SD
Shannon Davis
Apr 06, 2017We always talk about how much cool stuff these systems will do but only a small percentage of customers actually use these features. Most of the time they don't because many options are so expensive.
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #2
Apr 06, 2017Shannon:
I think you hit the nail on the head. All the bells and whistles make for a great presentation. In reality, the end-user rarely ends up using them. But, if they are willing to pay for them.......
U
Undisclosed #3
Apr 06, 2017Finally Microsoft, Amazon and Boeing can toss out LNVR.
SD
Shannon Davis
Apr 11, 2017That's funny. When a customer says Lenel can't do what we want I always bring up those three users. Especially the 1000 cards reads at once with Microsoft.
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #4
May 09, 2019Curious for those with experience since 2017, how has this integration between the two manufacturers panned out? Is it a solid solution? Relatively easy to program? Is the interface for Lenel still archaic or would you manage AC and Video via Milestone?
SD
Shannon Davis
May 09, 2019The integration between the two systems hasn't changed a whole lot, especially how you do the integration. Having Milestone as the main interface has gotten a little better. There are more alarms that can be used. If you want maps then Milestone is the way to go as Lenel's maps are still really bad. The OAAP integration of Milestone into Lenel is still a pain in the ass. I haven't tried with Lenel 7.5 yet but my guess is it isn't any better. Any time you add cameras to the Milestone you have to run the configs again on every client so Lenel know what cameras you have added to the system.
I am actually really disappointed as to how this all went together. There is no "Free" integration of Milestone into Lenel. Sure you don't have to buy the Lenel camera licenses but you still have to pay for the "Data Conduit" license in Lenel. If your integration is big enough and depending on the customer and depending on your Lenel RSM they will waive a big portion of the data conduit license, but depending on the size of the Lenel system that license has an MSRP of $5K to $16.5K.
If the integration installation of the two were simple and straight forward, which I would think almost 2 years into this would be just the simple click of the mouse on an installation package I would feel much better. It doesn't matter which integration you do either, both are excruciatingly painful IMO. You still have to use the clunky Lenel Video Video viewer interface for the OAAP integration.
On another note, Lenel has repeatedly said they aren't developing Lenel video anymore and they want customers to move away from Lenel, Milestone preferably, they have come out with a Lenel video web module. Unfortunately at this point you can't view the Milestone video in that yet. I'm guessing in another revision this will happen as this is also supposed to happen in the "Monitoring" module at some point.
Anyways just my two cents.
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #6
May 10, 2019Right about the time you were posting this, I happened to be a guest in a regularly held development meeting going over the new features and fixes for the Lenel integration with Milestone. One of them was cleaning up adding cameras and clients, making it a lot easier and more automatic than editing files. It also appears this is a very active, long-term development project so I would think it will just keep getting better. Not saying all your issues are fixed, but encouraging to know the commitment to it long-term by Milestone.
SD
Shannon Davis
May 10, 2019I have heard that too but what I was told this should have already been done. Better late than never I guess.
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #5
May 09, 2019So, in light of the S2 acquisition and Magic Monitor, how does all this get reconciled?
Does anyone talk about a plan for this going forward?
JH
John Honovich
May 10, 2019Update: April 2019, LenelS2 announced:
10-year agreement for LenelS2 to distribute Milestone products globally. The companies had a previous agreement for North America.
The previous agreement was the topic of this original post.
At the same time, S2 announced its new VMS platform VRx.
Our understanding is that VRx and Milestone XProtect will coexist but it will be interesting to see if, over time, as VRx matures, what moves LenelS2 makes to favor its own offering.