Milestone Acquired by Canon

Surprise of the year...

This now leaves the fight in between Genetec & Avigilon for the top spot! Interesting news.

Not sure if Canon deserves this and can make the most out of it, but surely will bring their surveillance hardware business in limelight now.

Seems like the VCs needed the exit more than Milestone. Though the press release from Milestone seem to indicate that the founders will remain with the company till the transition! No one knows what happens post acquisition!

Following the completion of the acquisition, Milestone’s management will remain in place and they are committed to making this transition a success.

Even if Milestone remains 'independent' from Canon's IP cameras, certainly they will not be independent from a financial perspective.

Large conglomerates like Canon do not buy companies as hobbies, they expect certain levels of revenue and profits to be met.

This is likely to impact / constrain Milestone's flexibility / aggressiveness in expansion, driving down prices and launching new features.

So how do you think this would affect the VMS that use Milesone as a base like OnSSI for example?

Wow is right. Working for a Milestone house this is both exciting and concerning. I hope they are able to retain their vision for the product.

I would expect development of tighter integration with Canon cameras; I wouldn't see that as negative favoristism. It would just make sense. As long it does not come at the cost of degraded integration with other brands. For the short term I would think Canon would be smart enough not to pull something like that.

The news hit me this morning almost like when AOL bought Time Warner; quite a surprise. (When I told my co-workers who hadn't heard yet about AOL buying Time, I had to argue with them it wasn't the other way around.) Canon may have bought Miletone as a segway to get their cameras into markets other than Europe.

Is Canon really a "not respected" brand of cameras? Or just not as popular as other rbands. Most of the people I've seen commenting on them seemed to like them. Problem is they were all in Europe.

Hrmmm, wonder what's next.... Polaroid buys Verint?

A former Milestone engineer recounts the origins of Milestone, in light of the Canon deal.

Cisco missed the boat!!

I see this as a bad move. Milestone's core strategy is in jeopardy. Why why why?? Cannon? are you serious? Phew! Thats a new 'milestone' for Cannon! :)

John -

I'll bet that nobody in your Acquisition Prediction contest picked this combination. I wonder who will be next to be acquired.

Milestone's lack of cyber-security clue has kept them off my list of interesting VMS solution providers. Canon, like all the other big Asian camera manufacturers, could presumably be heavy hitters in the IP camera space, if they cared. Or they could just foist off their broadcast-grade analog gear and assume soneone stocks enough Grandstream encoders to make it work. It certainly is good to know this happened so the next time someone tells me Axis is the 10,000 pound gorilla I can remind them of yet another giant Asian company they are competing with.

Interesting results from the Poll..!!

I am one of the 30 (so far) that think this partnership will strengthen Milestone.

How? I don't know! One would like to think that both parties clearly see the value in Milestone as an open Platform. With Canon sitting on a bunch of cash this is an excellent investment for them even if there are no concrete plans for the partnership. Although it appears Canon see oportunity the surveillance industry. Who would not.....there is only a hand full of players. A company like Canon with its arms around the globe experienced and eager to diversify further, is an ideal candidate to take on the challenge.

I'm guessing a figure closer to US$1B was paid for the acquasition, which is a drop in the ocean for Canon. Why watch Milestone be acquired by another party?

I think your emotions played a roll in the poll folks, as in "oh no.... our precious Milestone has been acquired. What are we going to do now??? How could you do this Milestone???" ....VOTE=weakens

I too thought this for all of one second. Then I thought "you dummy....this can only strengthen Milestone.

Who knows what deals Canon are into globally and the influence they have that will benefit Milestone. Canon has a huge medical division. No doubt hospitals are or will be built by the 100's in China. Perhaps with Canon's influence Milestone will get those projects?? Pure speculation ... I know!

Let's not forget that given Milestone is an industry leader it still only has 8.7% of the market. This is a delicate position where the company needs to look over its shoulder constantly for an aggressive move by a compeditor.

This acquisition puts Miletone in a much stronger position with their 8.7% share. They are now able to make strategic decisions quickly if forced to do so, to protect and grow their share, now with the help of their "new best friend!"

IMO, no what how you view this deal it strengthens Milestone as a company tremendously. "Bottoms up"

Does this mean the JDS lawsuit is finished or just not taken seriously?

This is indeed a very good move for Canon who lacked tight recording support for their own 'good' IP camera line. Instant benefits for Canon I see

1. They don't have to hire a bunch of smart-as people to work on specialized VMS / hardware recording.

2. They don't have to create something from scratch to compete in one of the fastest growing industries (surveillance). They would have the support of industry's mostly used &/ liked VMS platform.

3. By a 'relatively small' investment, they have marketed their own brand awareness within industry, where I think they have a very low footprint but vast ambitions.

For Milestone, this is a good move too of course, since they will have a 'super cash injection' for their own growth.

It has been my experience that acquisitions of this type (expansions of scope) lead to an initial fall in efficiency and effectiveness in the acquired company. It remains to be seen whether the economies of scope anticipated by Canon are achieved over the next several years as the two cultures attempt to merge.

Also important to add, that Canon cameras are really good. With many advanced features, including embedded analytics. And brand awareness is very strong, because of consumer origin. For customer, who is not familiar with security market, this brand will be easily preferable. We had many projects together brought to us by Canon. Interesting to see if we get any from now. Co-marketing activity is already suspended from their side.

Anyway, maybe good move for Canon, will see.

Genetec responded to our request for comment, noting:

"Genetec views this development as a considerable strategic advantage, and further emphasizes the importance of our role as a truly independent and open software manufacturer."

As I said on Twitter:

I am not sure who's happier today, Milestone or their VMS competitors....

— IPVM (@ipvideo) June 13, 2014

Clearly, though, this is the theme Milestone's truly 'independent' rivals will emphasize now.

just imagine a super low cost mass-selling high-tech IP camera and VMS system which has some backdoors built-in by the manufacturers...