Acre’s Vision for Growth: Bolsters Leadership Team to Meet Increased Demand for Secure and Flexible

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LAS VEGAS - March 27, 2023 - Acre, a global leader providing state-of-the-art security solutions, has announced significant strategic investments to accelerate growth strategies and innovation in the fast-evolving security market.

To support sustained growth, Acre has appointed John Skowronski as President, Americas. Skowronski is a respected business executive and technology leader with more than 30 years of experience in senior leadership roles. He most recently served as President of Stanley Security North America, where he oversaw the company's operations for the US, Canada, and Mexico. Over the course of his career, he has held senior level roles with ADT, Tyco International, UTC and Stanley Black and Decker.

“The acre organization has a long legacy and a strong brand,” Skowronski said. “I see great potential ahead given its leading position in security and the comprehensive transformation process it is currently undertaking. I look forward to being part of its ongoing journey and to develop stronger operations together as a team.”

Darren Learmonth joins the company as its Chief Technology Officer. Learmouth is an experienced technology leader with a demonstrated history of product development and innovation within the security and the Internet of Things segments. A security industry expert, he has held executive roles with Nortek, HID, Assa Abloy, and Silicon Labs.

Tom Morselli joins acre as the Executive Vice President of Human Resources. A data-driven and process-oriented leader, Morselli strives to minimize friction points to drive success. With more than 25 years of experience of implementing scalable human resources programs for leading brands like Bluewolf, PulsePoint, and Kaplan, he will work to create HR strategies that support acre’s rapidly scaling, fast-paced, and collaborative environment.

Acre’s investments in innovation and personnel follow a strong year in which the company extended its presence globally and secured significant deals across the education, retail, healthcare, corporate, and proptech markets. It recently boosted its product portfolio with the acquisitions of PremiSys and SISCO.

“To put us in a better position to execute on our strategy of growth through organic and industry consolidation, the expansion of the leadership team became a top priority,” Don Joos, CEO Acre. “The addition of industry veterans, and top talent from outside the industry, provides us with a unique blend of experience and capabilities to allow us to focus on the size of the opportunity ahead of us. I am delighted to be welcoming John, Darren, and Tom to the team.”

With an increased demand for reliable, cyber-secure access control solutions, acre continues to look for opportunities for market consolidation while delivering comprehensive solutions to meet a variety of customer requirements. New mobile applications, such as ACT Mobile, and cloud-based access control offerings support demand for future-proof security solutions that are simple to scale, manage, and deploy.

To learn why global organizations, such as Google, LinkedIn, and P&G, rely on Acre to protect their facilities, people, and infrastructure, visit the company at the upcoming ISC West conference in Las Vegas at booth #20059.

About Acre
Acre is a global leader in the delivery of integrated technologies and services. Since its formation in 2012, acre has played an instrumental role in the development and implementation of security technology initiatives on a global scale. Today, the organization employs more than 500 employees in more than 25 countries. For more information, visit www.acre-co.com.

Press contact:
Rhianna Daniels
Tel: +1 813 944 7464
[email protected]

ACRE Reveals New Brand Identity

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ACRE is now acre security. New identity is the next step in a series of initiatives as company becomes a single operating entity; moves that will simplify day to day activities to support future growth and make acre security easier to do business with.

Las Vegas, NV, March 28, 2023 – Acre security today unveiled their new identity at the ISC West Exhibition in Las Vegas. The move represents acre product brands coming together to create fluid solutions that are agile and responsive to the industry’s evolving needs. With a commitment to providing the highest level of security for customers, acre security has reimagined the brand identity to better reflect their renewed purpose:

To eliminate customer risk with their expertise and experience.

The rebrand reinforces acre security’s continued commitment to providing a single, powerful solution set that aims to help customers protect what is most important to them – their people and assets.

Acre security’s new brand identity is more than just an updated logo and color scheme – this is an invitation for all employees and channel partners to embrace a new, unified approach to serving customer requirements with a single portfolio that can be delivered in Three simple ways, via the cloud, through an on-premise installation, or a hybrid approach.

“The introduction of our new brand identity is one more milestone in the evolution of acre security”, said Don Joos, CEO of acre security. “One that better positions us to serve the unique, challenging, and continually evolving needs of the market”.

Acre security will be showcasing their new brand, messaging, and suite of solutions at the ISC West Exhibition this week in Las Vegas at booth #20059.

Additionally, interested parties can learn more about acre security’s exciting rebrand here!

About acre security:
Acre security is a global leader in the delivery of resilient digital and physical security solutions for every business. Keeping your people, premises, and data safe is as important to us as it is to you. We protect your valuable assets with a single portfolio of cloud, on-premise, and hybrid solutions.
Acre security offers a broad array of solutions including access control, visitor management, intrusion, workplace, transmission and connectivity solutions – all hosted in a way that suits you. Since 2012, we’ve focused on advancing security initiatives to deliver tailored, robust, and future proof solutions to tens of thousands around the globe. Working across banking, education, healthcare, pharmaceutical, retail and more, we give our customers peace of mind that their data, offices, and employees will stay safe. For more information, visit www.acresecurity.com

About Triton:
Since its establishment in 1997, Triton has sponsored ten funds, focused on businesses in the industrial tech, services, consumer, and healthcare sectors. The Triton funds invest in and support the positive development of medium-sized businesses. The 49 companies currently in Triton's portfolio have combined sales of about EUR 16 billion and employ around 104,000 employees. For more information, visit www.triton-partners.com

For further information, please contact:

acre security
Ross Wilks
Tel: +44 7341 129343
[email protected]

Group Triton
Fredrik Hazen
Tel: +46 709 483 810

Press contact
Rhianna Daniels
Tel: +1 813 944 7464
[email protected]

A Heartfelt Thank You

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Today, our Founder Joe Grillo begins the transition of his role as CEO to the next generation of leadership. While he may have joked about retiring for some time, we never actually thought it would happen. But today, he’s closer to closing the book on this significant and impactful chapter.

It isn't easy to retire from a company that you've helped create, nourish, and grow for more than ten years. Joe has been instrumental to our success, not only from a business perspective but in his effort to instill strong values, provide a clear sense of purpose beyond profits, and build a culture that has allowed our team and our company to flourish. 

As we reflect on Joe's history within the security industry, we are inspired and proud to be part of his evolution as a leader, industry evangelist, and trusted voice. The success of ACRE has created tremendous value for all of us, including our partners, who have been able to realize growth, and our customers, who are better equipped to address evolving security risks through the deployment of ACRE technologies.

Joe built a career that went beyond what he had envisioned for himself and the industry. There are so many highlights, but here are a few we feel are worth noting:

  • At ACRE, Joe's deep knowledge of the security and access control businesses resulted in strong operating results, 11 successful acquisitions, and the unification of unique brands under one umbrella.
  • Joe spent more than 40 years with leading high-tech brands across the globe. 
  • He established ACRE in 2012 as Principal and CEO, focused on developing the company's position as a leader in the access control industry with an eye on rapid organic and acquisitive growth. And grow we did…
  • Under his leadership, ACRE has grown to a company with close to $300 million in revenue and more than 500 employees worldwide.
  • Joe was one of the founders and president of HID.
  • He led the effort to sell HID, which Assa Abloy acquired in January 2001.
  • As ASSA ABLOY’s Global Technologies Division President and CEO from 2003 to 2008, Joe successfully transitioned its HID Global, Besam, and Hospitality business units through acquisitive growth and improved financial success. 
  • He was instrumental in launching the Global Technologies Division while a participating member of ASSA ABLOY’s Management Board since 2001.

How's that for a career? 

But there's more beyond the strategies, deals, and business successes. Joe has been a trusted mentor to so many of us and has always taken the time to share his knowledge and insights to ensure we can be as successful as possible in our daily roles. He's contributed significantly to the modernization of the industry and given his time to causes outside the business's day-to-day operations. He's wildly popular at events like ISC West, where you can't go five minutes without hearing someone call his name (Hey! Joe!) He's also never been one to shy away from the spotlight, which has made him a favorite contact of journalists across the globe.

We're honored to be part of this organization that you built, and we are truly grateful for your dedication that made ACRE what it is today.

Joe, here's to relaxing Wednesday afternoons by the pool with an umbrella in your drink and Mondays that don't start until 10 a.m.

The ACRE team

One Show, One Team, One ACRE

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We were excited to have the opportunity to attend ISC West 2022 in Las Vegas last month, and we're so thankful for those that came to visit with us at the event. It was a busy few days for us, so there's a lot to cover. While nothing is quite like being live and in person, here's a short recap of a few of our exciting experiences.

So Fresh and New

ACRE leaders David Sullivan and Kim Loy had the pleasure of discussing the future of ACRE with several journalists and analysts at ISC West. They highlighted new ACRE innovations, the #OneACRE transition, and what the year ahead holds for our ever-growing organization.

Innovations Abound

At ACRE, we have an extensive portfolio of products and services designed to help our dealer partners build new revenue streams while ensuring the end-users we work with have access to the advanced solutions they need to ensure comprehensive security processes. We put some of our favorite access control solutions, AccessIt! and DNA Fusion, on display for our visitors to view throughout the conference and offered a new demo of one of the upcoming products that we expect to be highly valuable across the ACRE portfolio: ACT Mobile!

We Have a Winner

ACRE's Chief Product Officer, Kim Loy, was inducted  into both Security Sales & Integration's “2022 Hall of Fame” and the Security Industry Association's “Women in Security Power 100 List.”  Both recognitions celebrate those who have served as role models and shown leadership in the security industry. We can think of no one more deserving of these honors than Kim, who has made a difference in so many of our careers. Congratulations, Kim!

Live and On Stage

ACRE's Chuck O'Leary joined Paul DiPeso, Rich Lyman, and Security Systems News Editor Paul Ragusa to discuss myths about the cloud and answer the most prominent cloud questions of a few of our peers and stakeholders at our Q&A panel "When to Cloud and When to On-Prem."

Joey St. Jacques, Director of Global Business Development, Feenics, an ACRE brand, also had the chance to take the SIA stage to give an overview of the cloud in the physical security domain and discuss the benefits of ACaaS at the “Cloud or Server-based? Which Offers the Best TCO? An End User’s Perspective of How to Determine the Best Total Cost of Ownership” session. 

So many sessions, so little time! ISC West was just the tip of the iceberg of a year full of exciting opportunities for ACRE. To keep up with what's to come, visit us here.

Intelligent Security, the ACRE Way

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Here at ACRE, we are always looking for innovative ways to connect with our team, customers, and dealers. Earlier this year, we hosted our first-ever virtual Dealer Days meeting to connect with our diverse dealer network. With close to 300 attendees on both days, we were able to share insights from ACRE leadership, discuss expanded programs with technology partners, learn from ACRE’s product management about the latest technology highlights, and an exclusive sneak peek into new products coming soon, while also networking (virtually) with one another.

We broke down the 2-day event into focused sessions: day one was for dealers who support the Access It! product line and day two was for those that support DNA Fusion. We also introduced new solutions into the portfolio, including Feenics, a cloud-based enterprise-class access control system. Our main message to the market is our continued focus on the customer. Our world-class support and customer service teams are readily available to help end-users and partners understand their ACRE solutions and ensure they are getting the most ROI out of their investment. 

The future of ACRE is now. We build a brand of intelligent security solutions that simplify how we operate and protect our customers. We are dedicated to expanding our product portfolios with more advanced software solutions and deeper API strategies to grow our integrations and partnerships. We continue to be laser-focused on commercial applications and offer various products and services to accommodate. Although we are generally the best fit for medium- to enterprise-level accounts, we have solutions for all types of client deployments. In addition, we will be evaluating additional strategic mergers and acquisitions of technology, vertical markets, and other key solutions.

On the product side, we shared some recent innovations and ongoing plans for the following platforms:

  • Introducing ACT Mobile - ACRE’s latest move to mobile is coming soon! We are building a white-label app platform that connects your digital universe with one single user experience. From security to deliveries to where to eat, ACT Mobile Platform will bring it all together, allowing our partners to easily design and deploy custom apps within their organizations that meet industry standards and individual security requirements. Some of the critical features with ACT Mobile include push notifications, standard command and control features for your access system, private/public distribution channels, auto-updates for software and bug fixes, streamlined area approval workflows with multi-level approval, advanced video integrations, and the ability to work across all ACRE brands with a unified app experience.
  • Razberi Technologies - ACRE continues to offer these powerful servers bundled with our ACRE software platforms to enhance ROI. We also focus on cybersecurity and investing in different ways to layer built-in and automated protection to the devices.
  • Access It! - The most recent version of Access It! included powerful features and functionality, including its auto-update, incremental site search, single-sign-on for more security, bi-directional integrations, passwordless authentication, 64-bit encryption, and expanded APIs. Learn more about Access It! version 9.0
  • DNA Fusion - With the latest version of DNA Fusion, users can now get Windows 11 support, integrate with new technologies, enhance searching within SQL search builder, and quickly schedule tasks and pull reports.

Everything that we do here at ACRE falls under these three pillars: Customer-First Mindset, Support, and Collaboration. We look forward to another great year with our partners and welcome any new opportunities to work with additional innovators in the industry. Please reach out to your ACRE representative HERE to learn more about all the products and services available to you.

The Lastest is Here! DNA Fusion 8.1.1 is Now Available

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Introducing DNA Fusion 8.1.1! We are excited to announce that the newest version of DNA Fusion is available now. Let’s take a look at how the latest release can benefit you! 

DNA Fusion 8.1.1 Benefits

The new update improves several features while also adding new abilities to the DNA Fusion solution. Customers will find that the update improves auto-reactive door functionality. For example, when a user presents a deactivated card to an activation door reader, the user is granted access instead of needing to badge a second time to gain entry. 

The update adds the ability to promote 1501 panels to 1502 or 4502 panels; it supports the added integration for the Inovonics Mobile Duress Integration and support for the true 64-bit card numbers. It has improved support for date/time formats when running with Non-US date/time settings, and the Mercury Driver has been updated to 4.7.1.31. 

8.1.1 also moves scheduled commands like downloads, batch files, and reports to the driver, so the front end no longer has to be open for scheduled items to run. It includes Windows 11 support, improvements to the SQL search builder, and searches across tenants. 

This is a significant update, and we hope you are excited about some of these new features. Thank you for your continued support; please enjoy the latest software release!

DNA Fusion 8.1.1 is available now. To learn more about these solutions, visit our website. 

ACRE Dealer Days Announcement

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New year, new opportunities, and we are excited to announce the ACRE Dealer Days 2022  virtual meetings! Dealer Days is an exclusive virtual conference where ACRE brands will gather to network, have interactive sessions, exciting giveaways, and more. We will be discussing ACRE solutions like Access It!, DNA Fusion, and the dealers that support and sell these innovative solutions. 

We have made it easy for you to attend one of two days for your specific product interest. Whether you are focused on selling and supporting Access It! (Tuesday, February 15th) or DNA Fusion (Wednesday, February 16th), we've got a great day-long program planned to get you the latest on product advancements, sales tools, and what's to come to help you grow your business and create a safer, more streamlined future. 

We are thrilled to have you come to learn, network, share strategies and unlock all the features and innovations around these platforms. 

Schedule of events: Pick the date and time that works best for you!

  • Tuesday, February 15, 2022, | 10:00 am-6:30 pm (CT) - Dealers Focused on Access It!
  • Wednesday, February 16, 2022, | 10:00 am-6:30 pm (CT) - Dealers Focused on DNA Fusion

Register Here

Glancing Back: ACRE’s Year in Review

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No matter where you were in 2021, we all shared some very similar experiences to what we experienced in 2020 — ones that redefined the way we worked, lived, and supported each other. This year, for ACRE, we continued to highlight our resilience as an organization, our ability to adapt, and how we came together as the team we now refer to as One ACRE.

Going into 2021, we had clear objectives for our organization. Following the previous years, our overarching goal was to drive organic and acquisitive growth while delivering trusted, reliable, and enterprise-ready solutions for our customers and partners. We aimed to drive innovation across our brands, grow and foster our teams, and improve operational efficiency. Here is a look at how we achieved our goals:

Growth

In March, ACRE was acquired by the European investment firm Triton. Triton has delivered the industry expertise and additional capital to support ACRE’s continued innovation and proven buy and build strategy. Over the past nine months, they have actively supported us by investing in the growth and development of the company. Their industry expertise and international network have further strengthened ACRE’s position as a leading global provider of intelligent electronic security solutions. We are beyond happy to be part of the Triton organization.

And only one month following Triton’s purchase of our company, we delivered on our promise of continued growth via acquisition. We purchased Time Data Security (“TDS”) based in Dublin, Ireland, to strengthen our product portfolio and increase our geographic reach. TDS, which delivers cloud-based visitor management, life safety, and access control applications, has benefitted by leveraging our existing reseller channels and end-users to help grow this business globally. 

And we didn’t stop there. We closed the book in 2021 with the acquisitions of Feenics and Matrix. Feenics brings cloud-based access control solutions to our rapidly growing network of global customers while also expanding its portfolio to support the growing demand for cloud-based security solutions. Matrix enables us to expand the addressable market for the company’s technology portfolio, offering customers a broader breadth of reliable, integrated access control and video surveillance technologies designed to meet evolving business and security requirements.

This year, one of our primary goals was to bring the industry’s best technology innovators into our network of brands. We have accomplished that; however, we are not pumping the breaks there. We will continue onward.

Impact

We delivered beyond our expectations for 2021. To list a few highlights, razberi Monitor won a 2021 Detektor International Award. ACRE Chief Product Officer Kim Loy was honored as one of the Top 50 Women in Technology and was named a top Women at the Frontline of the Industry. 

This year, we leveraged the power of our team to offer new services and products that redefine security. Vanderbilt International launched its new ACT Kit Builder to help partners build the correct access control solution based on specific project needs. Open Options released a new DNA Fusion recertification option that enables customers to take it at their own pace. And RS2 introduced razberi bundles to deliver integrated, easy-to-deploy solutions for security environments. 

Collaboration

We created a variety of conversations — from training to specific product features. Our marketing teams worked diligently to provide partners and customers with the information and support needed. As a team, we made the most out of another challenging year, turned it into an opportunity, and continued to accelerate forward. 

As technology leaders, our day-to-day work is more collaborative than ever before. We constantly brainstorm, connect, and work with our cross-functional teams to find the best solutions and drive results. We’ve identified areas we can further improve on as we build out our team, and we are looking for new ways to communicate effectively as more and more of our workforce is remote.  

Looking Ahead

We don’t know what the future holds, but we know that there are great things in store (and indeed some more acquisitive growth!). We’re incredibly thankful for our customers and partners, and team. Here’s to another year of collaboration, creation, and more growth in 2022!

Throwback Thursday: The Challenges of Securing a City

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The Open Options and City of Belluve Success Story

Bellevue is the fifth-largest city in Washington, with a population of about 120,000, and is the high-tech and retail center of the Eastside. The city spans more than 31 square miles between Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish and is short of the Cascade Mountains. The population is consistently growing and regularly becoming more diverse. 

The Challenge

The City of Bellevue quickly grew during 2005 and soon saw the need to expand its government facilities and overall security. Being a high-tech city, Bellevue had several requirements for sharing data across other business applications and integrating existing video and intercom systems for a well-rounded approach to security. They were using a Kalatel CCTV switch to monitor video and a Commend intercom system for communications. The goal was to interface these systems into the access control interface seamlessly. Other challenges facing the city were controlling several banks of elevators, parking control, and securing the prisoner transfer area of the police department and jail. 

The Solution

Open Options teamed up with Guardian security of Seattle, WA, to propose a comprehensive security solution that addressed all of Bellevue’s needs. The city implemented Open Options’ Universal ASCII Driver (UAD) to pull together both video and intercom communications. The initial access control project consisted of over 100 reader doors secured with Open Options open platform hardware. Open Options and Guardian worked with Bellevue’s IT department to ensure shared NT security across the network. They use OpenDX to share personnel data across the Active Directory and DNA Fusion database to eliminate redundant data entry. The entire project comprises all city departments, including PD and jail, across three buildings and continues to grow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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On behalf of the Open Options and ACRE Family, we want to wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving! 

Before we all take a break this week to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends, family, and loved ones, we want to send a quick message to let you know how much we appreciate your support and partnership. As you know, the ACRE family of brands continues to deliver global security systems for access control and intrusion detection as well as innovative video solutions with a communication networking and intelligent appliance portfolio. Our comprehensive solutions provided by ACRE’s family of companies (Open Options, Vanderbilt, RS2 Technologies, ComNet, and Razberi) help secure the highest valued assets of large and small customers operating in the private and public sectors. 

We are so thankful that we get to work with and support security professionals like yourself. During the week, the ACRE global and regional offices will remain open from Monday, November 22nd to Wednesday, November 24th providing world-class support from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT. Our offices will be closed in observance of Thanksgiving on Thursday, November 25th, and Friday, November 26th. 

Just as a friendly reminder, calls placed after hours, on weekends, or holidays are handled by our automated answering service. Follow the instructions to leave a message and callback number, and a representative will return your call as soon as possible. Please keep in mind any email directed to technical support may not be answered until offices reopen. *Additional charges may apply for phone support after hours and on holiday.

Thank you, and have a great Thanksgiving holiday!