Pelco Sold Off, Now Independent

I voted negative, but I hope they are successful.  I believe that success will be reclaiming the perception of being a market leader.  Anything short of that will miss the expectations of the general public.  There are few companies, in any industry, that have been successful at this type of a turn around and turning around something this big that is this far off course is very challenging.  

For every example of Apple or Marvel there are even more JC Penny's, Blockbusters, Polaroids and PanAms.  

On the positive side there is no way Transom could do worse than Schneider did, right?  So winning, I guess??

"Pelco's CEO told IPVM that Pelco's strategy remains the same, emphasizing the long term goal of being a "leader in predictive video analytics solution" as they expand their VMS, cloud and AI offerings. "

So Pelco is going to succeed by doing things they've never done well?  Keep following the same strategy that led to massive losses, lay-offs and a fire-sale?  The remaining employees livelihoods' are on the line.  Please reconsider Mr. Theolier!

I would argue that they could be successful by just returning to their knitting.   Make great Dome and PTZ cameras, specialty cameras & enclosures for marine environments, etc.  Offer excellent support.  I know the PTZ market is in decline but it still exists.  John is right, the "not from China" play will help.

My point is that Pelco's days as the center of the universe in CCTV are gone.  They are more likely to succeed if they accept this and focus on their strengths.

Pelco is now independent. While Transom owns Pelco, Pelco will be run independently.

really?  doesn’t sound like it to me...

Transom has

developed a systematic approach to value creation known as the ARMOR℠ Value Creation Process, which is an acronym that stands for Acquisition, Restructuring,Monitoring & Operations, and Return.

ARMOR is our playbook and is a collection of real-world proven methods for each stage of the investment timeline to create performance driven cultures, create and improve strategy, drive topline growth, decrease waste, improve operations, customer service and product quality, source talent, tighten budgeting and lead companies...

the CEO says that Transom was "injecting a lot of time on the operational side" and "investing into hiring to accelerate digital side of the business".

Transom is the gas station in the middle of nowhere between Schneider and their actual destination. The question is who is Transom planning to sell Pelco to in the next year or two after they apply some ARMOR.

With China becoming limited in the US, a true US vendor has an angle if they reach technology parity.

I am cautiously optimistic that with the right product management they could arise from the ashes.  I still voted neutral for sandbagging purposes.

Right now the product line is a disarray due to the need to support so many legacy products.  Being able to support legacy items and still bring into their modern products is both a curse and a blessing.  It is a blessing as they have a built in customer base and it cuts down on some of the complete rip and replace cost.  Legacy equipment support is a curse because supporting all this legacy junk makes a unnecessary hodge podge of unreliability that has tarnished the brand.  At some point they have to cut these cords and focus their efforts on new, innovative project like they used to when untethered from the need to support various dead/dying products.  Panasonic and Bosch both suffer from this curse/blessing.

i have not looked at VideoXpert lately but there may be some promise there if efforts are redoubled on development, DSSRV and Endura are put in the same category as Windows XP.  Mounts for every occasion (see the SWM-CA for a unique/great one) were one huge advantage of Pelco.  I hope that is resurrected.

I look forward to another NA manufacturer that is competitive.

Where does Pelco manufacture their cameras? 

Neutral is optimistic in my opinion.  In the analog age I loved Pelco and their tech support USED TO BE the best. This company needs a lot of improvement if they are allowed to truly be independent and bring in the right people and invest in the right technology, etc, etc they can do this... maybe.

Update: Transom Issues Announcement

Now, the acquirer, Transom has issued an announcement with the following statement:

Russ Roenick, Managing Partner at Transom Capital Group, said, “As most security industry experts know, Pelco is one of the pioneers of the video surveillance space. The journey toward creating the next great breakthroughs in video security begins today through our investment in Pelco. We have conviction that the work done over the past several years to transform the Company into a digitally-savvy security leader with innovative hardware, software, and service solutions is nearly complete. We are excited to partner with management to grow the business for many years to come.” [emphasis addded]

On the positive side, it is true that Pelco was a pioneer and it is good that they say they plan to 'partner' for 'many years to come', however, that they think the work 'is nearly complete' is totally wrong. As a 'hardware, software and service' provider they are many years and tens of millions in investment behind Avigilon, to pick the most relevant and direct competitor. Pelco can improve but Transom has to recognize that most of the work still needs to be done.

Some of the problems for my company using Pelco, were their products performed poorly, took longer to setup and were absolutely dreadful when used on a third party VMS like exacq, milestone, avigilon, etc...

If they can just make some cameras that perform well, easier to setup and can be used on other VMS platforms they'll have made a huge turnaround. Them wanting to focus on analytics is deeply concerning. Talking about cooking a 5 course meal when they can't even make a PB&J sandwich. Grrrrrrrrr pelco...

Make cameras.

Make cameras in America.

Make fairly priced cameras in America.

Make cameras that work WELL on as many open platforms as possible

Provide AWESOME tech support

The brand might have a 2nd chance if they focus on what integrators and end-users need.

With nearly 400 votes, some observations on the Pelco poll results:

Overall, not good but I thought it was going to be much worse. Looking at the polling for the Qognify/OnSSI deal, that was bad with an ugly 15 postive, 27, neutral, and 57 negative.

Also, a moderately bullish sign, for Pelco, integrators were modestly net positive with a 34 /37/29 breakdown compared to manufacturers who were net negative with a 26 / 28 /45.

Pelco still has a lot of work and Transom needs to be willing to dedicate the money and time to make that happen but overall there seems to be receptivity to a turnaround if Pelco can put the work in.

I wonder if the Verkada is referring to Pelco when they say their slaying Dinosaurs.

I voted positive with a bit of trepidation.  They were late to the IP game and hurt them badly but they knew their analog and their software devs were good (before schineder, a lot of us left/layed off) The have the manufacturing knowledge to make great product and Clovis is still low-overhead.  Maybe it is time to start making cameras in america again :-)

I will watch them closely!

As long as the thought of being a competitor in the Surveillance industry is met with strong intentions, I think this could work! I give it a thumbs up. There is lots of work to be done to make the Pelco name and product great and competitive agin. It would be great to see the Pelco brand thrive again. Wishing all involved the best of luck! 👍

Can anyone offer a compelling reason to specify Pelco at this point?

As someone who had positive experiences with Pelco in the past, I would honestly love to see a rebound.  Alas, I can't see how it can happen.  They would have to find a key area, like cameras / mounts, and just focus on that.  If they try to remain a total solution, there's just no way they'll ever recover.  

The odds are most definitely against them, but as we saw at the Masters golf tournament this year, everyone loves a good comeback story.  That said, I'd feel much better betting on Tiger Woods than Pelco.

We had pelco ceo visit us- to try to end around a rip and replace- we asked him how his plans compare to Genetec and he said he really was not familiar with their offerings. Our jaws dropped.

I actually think Pelco has been steadily improving the product lineup over the past two years. VideoXpert works well and is relatively easy to set up, the cameras are very good, and Optera, the multi image camera, is excellent.

The Tech Support is on par with most companies these days but seems to be (unfairly) held to the standard that Dave McDonald set years ago and is just not sustainable in today's economy.

Now that they're out from under big corporate Schneider, I'm excited to see what the future holds.

PELCO reminds me of the Dodge truck line in the Late 80's Early 90's their new truck body styles coming off the line looked old when they were brand new. NO ONE WAS BUYING THEM!     

PELCO has a lot of bad publicity and reputation to put behind them.    If PELCO could cure cancer they may have a shot of getting back into the VMS market.

I loved using PELCO for many years back in the analog days but haven't seen anything exciting from them in a long time.

I wish them all the best with their new owners, hopefully they have enough in their tanks to make it back to the top of the heap.  PELCO certainly has a long uphill journey ahead of them with lots of competition ahead of them with years of experience and success's in this market.

I think Pelco lost its chance to remain relevant many years ago. Yes they were pioneers, but they did not remain innovative enough to keep leading the pack. They have way to much restructuring pain ahead of them not to mention catching up to do.

"Pelco's CEO told IPVM that Pelco's strategy remains the same, emphasizing the long term goal of being a "leader in predictive video analytics solution" as they expand their VMS, cloud and AI offerings. The company also said that they remain committed to being an end-to-end provider, including manufacturing cameras (not made in China)"

In my opinion the statement above goes to show just how out of focus they are. Industry leaders in Video Analytics, VMS, Cloud, AI offerings, and they want to be the end-to-end provider? Sorry, but I don't see a streamlined vision here. I see a company struggling to remain relevant in an industry that has already left them behind. This is only my personal opinion on this subject. My opinion aside, I truly wish them the very best.