Genetec's Financial Performance 2009 Examined

Genetec is well known as one of the largest and technologically advanced VMS systems in the market, having grown from relative obscurity in the beginning of the past decade to a leading choice of large enterprises. The question, though, is how big is Genetec really? While Milestone continues to tout itself as being #1, what about Genetec?

As part of the Deloitte Fast 500 Technology rankings, Genetec has disclosed their 2009 revenue - totaling over $36 Million USD up from $12 Million in 2005 (see page 13 of the Fast 500 results [link no longer available]). In another Deloitte ranking, 2007 revenue was revealed at $20 Million for a 34% CAGR  between 2007 and 2009. That is pretty impressive considering it includes 2009, a poor time for the general economy and of declining growth for IP video in general.

By contrast, Milestone self reports 2009 revenue of approximately $30 Million USD. Since Genetec sells access control software and LPR solutions, these need to be factored out to compare 'apples to apples' on the VMS software side. However, VMS software is clearly the overwhelming majority of Genetec's sales.

Who's bigger? They are likely quite close depending on how you specifically segment the category.

Of course, both companies remain relatively small compared to the legacy DVR providers (even after discounting for the higher per channel costs of appliances vs software licenses). However, if the growth rates of the VMS providers continue at anywhere near the rate they are going, it will not take that many years for these companies to be the biggest in the overall market.

Finally, of course, the market remains fractured between many many players in various regions.