Some Orange County technology companies that make surveillance cameras, equipment and components are seeing demand rise in the wake of the Boston bombings last month.
“There has been an uptick in inquiries and projects,” said Vance Kozik, director of marketing in the IP Surveillance division at Fountain Valley-based D-Link Systems Inc.
The company, which makes networking gear, surveillance cameras and storage products, saw similar spikes following the mass shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut and the Aurora movie theater in Colorado and as far back as 2001 after Sept. 11.
Its Taiwan-based parent, D-Link Corp., sees about $1 billion in annual revenue but doesn’t break down sales for its subsidiary here. The Irvine unit has annual sales split between the business-to-business and consumer segments.
Security cameras at local businesses in downtown Boston played a key role in identifying suspected bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokar Tsarnaev.
The pooling of images from local businesses is a newer trend in law enforcement and has even been dubbed the “voluntary network of little brother.”
Large cities, such as New York and Chicago, have pushed the shift. Atlanta has plans to invest more than $50 million in the next five years to install and link some 10,000 cameras across the city, similar to efforts in Baltimore and elsewhere.
A new report from Englewood, Colo.-based market tracker IHS Inc. forecasts global sales in the video-surveillance equipment market to rise to $20.5 billion in 2016, up 114% from $9.6 billion in 2010.
Much of the growth is pinned to the transition from analog to large-network IP surveillance systems, which can analyze numerous cameras and images, but “terrorism events like the Boston bombing can drive increased government spending on security,” according to the report.
“Anytime you have an event that triggers fear, there will be a surge of people going out to buy stuff,” said Sailesh Chittipeddi, chief executive of Irvine-based Conexant Systems Inc. “That will be a temporary surge. The fundamental demand is still going to be the growth of small businesses.”
Conexant designs, develops and sells “chip sets,” or chips and related software embedded in video surveillance equipment, smart TVs, PCs, fax machines and set-top boxes, among other products.
The company’s emerging audio and video segments accounted for about half of its $135 million in revenue last year.
Santa Ana-based Iteris Inc., which applies video detection to a broad range of traffic-management applications, could see an indirect benefit from the larger trend.
“The use and expansion of surveillance cameras are expected,” said Iteris Chief Executive Abbas Mohaddes. “The overall use of video for surveillance and security indirectly helps the use of video detection.”
Wind Farm Sale
Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc. has completed the sale of its Providence Bay wind farm in Canada to Leader Resources for $406,000 and the assumption of about $1.1 million in debt.
The sale, first announced in March, is part of Quantum’s long-term plan to exit unprofitable renewable-energy sectors and refocus efforts on producing natural-gas storage tanks, its primary source of revenue.
Quantum also has deals lined up to sell a 1-megawatt development project in the Bahamas and two 10-megawatt wind farms in Canada.
One megawatt can power about 1,000 homes.
Quantum will take a loss on the sale of the wind farms, which were part of its renewable-energy portfolio.
It acquired the land as part its 2010 buy of Toronto-based Schneider Power for $20 million. Schneider remains a subsidiary of Quantum.
Games Galore
Blizzard Entertainment Inc. Chief Operating Officer Paul Sams has joined forces with noted game designer Warren Spector to establish the Denius-Sams Gaming Academy at the University of Texas at Austin.
Spector, who created the Disney Epic Mickey series and Deus Ex, and Sams, a 17-year Blizzard veteran who runs global business operations, will serve as part-time instructors at the academy, billed as the first video game program in the country led and taught by gaming industry execs.
Only 20 students will be accepted into the program’s inaugural class, which begins in the fall of 2014.
Blizzard has an office in Austin, where it handles customer support and some operations for its battle.net online gaming network.
Chris Casacchia can be reached at casacchia@ocbj.com
