Tech Data beefs up physical security business

Tech Data has been dipping its toes into the physical security market, but now it’s taking a giant plunge in. The distie has launched a new business unit in the U.S. and just announced distribution deals with five physical security and network test equipment vendors to help VARs get into this market.

While this means more competition for the traditional security dealer, who now has to get up to speed on the IP side of things, it’s good news for the VAR that wants to expand into new areas of business – and possibly quite stable, lucrative areas.

After all, security is a market that isn’t going away – there will always be a need for security products, as there will always be a need for people who know how to integrate those products. Because, it’s also a market where there’s really no room for error – if the technology isn’t integrated properly, there can be some pretty serious consequences. So qualified technicians who know what they’re doing will always be in demand.

In the past, though, the market was held back by the slew of proprietary products out there – vendors wanted to be the “be-all-end-all,” which actually had the effect of limiting the market. Now, however, more of the technology is open, and there’s a need for integrators to pull it all together.

Tech Data’s Physical Security Specialized Business Unit now has agreements with Digimerge Technologies, Lorex Technology, On-Net Surveillance Systems and Videolarm, which offer up everything from digital video recorders to monitoring systems to IP cameras to network infrastructure testing.

Lorex, for example, offers pre-packaged solutions for small and mid-sized businesses, while Digimerge is more into high-end solutions.

The real opportunity here is to help customers bridge the gap between the analogue and digital worlds. This shift has already taken place in the telephony world, as VoIP phones and Skype have become much more commonplace. Now, the same thing is happening with security and surveillance.

There were a lot of growing pains associated with the shift to IP telephony. But for VARs, this latest shift – from analogue to IP-based security and surveillance – will be an easier one to deal with, since most customers already have the network infrastructure in place. It’s just a matter of getting that network up to snuff to get the best performance possible.

Tech Data’s expansion of its physical security business is dealing with this issue by providing network infrastructure testing solutions through its latest distribution partnerships.

While there are specialized security distributors in Canada, having a big IT player step in (even if it’s in the U.S. at this point) should have a significant effect on the market – especially if other disties follow suit.

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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Vawn Himmelsbach
Vawn Himmelsbach
Is a Toronto-based journalist and regular contributor to IT World Canada's publications.

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