What If Axis Acquired Genetec?

I am looking forward to those making the case AGAINST such an acquisition. Explain why you think Axis and Genetec would be better off financially by remaining independent.

Financially I think it would hurt Axis - whilst probably helping Genetec. Axis have numerous small VMS and solution partners that may be local to a regional market. The Axis cameras work well and usually are quite simple to integrate creating lots of unusual and bespoke ways of selling Axis cameras.These players will move away from Axis as they will feel that they are going to start to compete with Genetec for the 1st time.

Milestone - still have a lot of projects and activity with Axis cameras included. Milestone sales people will probably walk away from any Axis involvement because of the fear that Genetec will pick up business and sensative price information.

Many hardware solution providers - such as Indigo Vision for example, in an attempt to appear truly open platform have integrated Axis cameras into their possible solutions. They will view the newly formed giant as a competetive solution partner and so will probably move into a closer relationship with Sony. (who actually may benefit from this possible merge - theres a thought to consider).

Consultants love the open platform message. They like market leaders to work with. I have aleady had calls from consultants unsure of who to work with now because of what happened with Milestone and Canon. So I guess there is a great opportunity for a mid sized open platform VMS to make a name for themselves.

So, if I'm reading your post correctly, you're saying that Axis needs Genetec? Why? I'm sure they sell plenty of products to non-Genetec users.

I think you're overreacting.

More on-point to this discussion (and as a nod to JH), I believe that the business case for independent omnipotent VMS' like Genetec and Milestone is ever-shrinking.

DVRs and NVRs are nibbling away at the lower end of their customer base by offering many of the features and capabilities once reserved to VMS'. Higher end clients are, I believe finding that focused products are a better fit for their needs than be-all, end-all products (Jack of All Trades, Master of None).

It also used to be that if users wanted to replace a camera with a newer one, they found that they had to upgrade their VMS to accomodate the new camera. ONVIF progress, though thought of as glacially slow, is nonetheless progress. More and more, cameras can be replaced without having to upgrade the VMS.

In the same vein, I believe that a substantial percentage of end users don't participate in what has been traditionally the VMS manufacturers' source of continuing revenue: upgrades. I believe a substantial percentage of users buy the VMS with whatever support term is included in the initial purchase and see little need to pay for continuing support.

Companies like Avigilon can sell their VMS at a lower profit point because they make money on their cameras.

Focused VMS' that concentrate on specific verticals are better-suited to meet the needs of those verticals whereas omnipotent VMS' typically either don't offer the same fit or worse yet, have too many features that specific verticals find useless and make the VMS more complicated than it needs to be.

For those reasons, I think independent VMS manufacturers will have an ever-tougher time increasing their revenue and especially their bottom line.

The whole point of a VMS is the broad support of many cameras and independence of any integrators or camera manufacturers.

Tyco killed Exaq and Cannon killed Milestone and possibly ONSSI. The only untainted major open platform VMS right now is Genetec and I don’t think they will sell.

What would be the advantage of Axis purchasing Genetec? Take this concept to extreme and evaluate what will be accomplished if every camera manufacturer will have their own VMS? We will end up with free VMS with their cameras and reduced integration to the competitive products, the open platform concept will be history.

As an integrator, I will not pay a license fee for a VMS that is tainted by either other Integrators or Camera manufacture and there is plenty of that going around.

Genetec, Please don't sell out!

I am against any such acquisition.

The market needs a good VMS player that remains unattached from a camera company and agnostic about the type of cameras it uses.

If they have that much cash floating around, Camera companies should avoid trying to buy VMS companies and develop any VMS on their own. However, that is a time consuming, risky venture and may not suit smaller camera companies.

Mergers and acquisitions are ONLY for shareholder benefit, rarely the customers.

There are more VMS sales opportunities for Genetec by being open to all camera companies and/or developing products for them.

Any time you take sides in this crazy business, you tend to lose (as a manufacturer) potential customers. As an integrator you have to take sides to survive but you can still lose significant opportunities.