Nimans' move into security and AV market its 'biggest in 20 years'

Launch of security and AV division marks distie's first move out of comms space, says CMO

Distributor Nimans has taken its first step out of the comms space with the launch of its new security and AV division.

Steve McIntyre, chief marketing officer at Nimans, told CRN that it is a "landmark" move for the distie.

"It is the biggest news for us in what must be 15 or 20 years - to go into a whole new area of business outside telecoms," he said.

McIntyre said the reason for the move was that many of the distributor's existing customers said they were buying CCTV elsewhere because Nimans did not provide it and that CCTV was an "obvious extension" to its portfolio.

"In the next five years, the CCTV market - which is already bigger than the PBX market in the UK - is set to double," he explained.

"It's an IP end-point so it's very similar to the other equipment that we sell, it plugs into a Cat 5cable, is installed in the same way and can be remotely managed in the same way.

"It was an obvious extension that we already knew a lot of our resellers were using, but it was something that we could sell to those who might not have looked at it yet.

"With the market set to double in five years, that kind of sealed the deal in that we can sell it and it's a growing market."

AV crosses over into CCTV as it needs screens for monitoring, but it also plays into the growing videoconferencing marketplace, McIntyre added.

The new division will be headed by director of sales Camilla Kirkham, who arrives at Nimans with 29 years of experience from distie Norbain.

"We're ready to hit the ground with the team we've got and they are experienced in that area and know the customer base," said McIntyre.

"We are hopeful that we can get a degree of traction, and we can see it building to be a significant part of our portfolio in the next two to three years."

Kirkham stated: "For the majority of resellers, IP CCTV and security should be a natural extension of their business and I'm looking forward to helping them take advantage of the huge market opportunities.

"We will be working with big-name brands as well as different technologies to inspire, excite and educate the reseller community, based on Nimans' renowned industry pedigree.

"The CCTV and AV markets are huge and most of our customers are already familiar with IP end-points so moving into this area is a relatively pain-free process."