Finally! Profits From IP Video

By Jay McCall, Business Solutions magazine

It’s been three years, but this VAR is finally seeing IP video surveillance sales take off and is projecting 33% revenue growth this year.

To truly understand SiteSecure’s current success in the physical security space, it’s important to first understand a little bit about its roots. Following Sept. 11, 2001, Wharton-Smith, a large, privately held construction company that works with commercial and environmental agencies such as water and waste-water treatment plants, recognized that physical security was going to become a major focus for its customers. Wharton- Smith spun off SiteSecure in February 2003 with four employees, none of whom had experience in the security industry. Two of the original members, Vice President Craig Bowman and former President (more about the former part later) Andy Bowman, were civil engineers employed by Wharton-Smith. The two brothers, plus a field engineer and a salesperson, had enough combined knowledge to be dangerous. “We started out focusing exclusively on water and waste-water companies, which were mandated by the federal government to perform vulnerability assessments,” recalls Craig Bowman. “Each utility company had to conduct its own study and develop a plan to fix any problems. It initially looked like this was going to be a lucrative opportunity, but the initiative quickly lost funding and wasn’t mandated, which put us in a tough position.”