Bosch on Wednesday (July 5) announced plans to acquire Paladin Technologies, Inc., one of the largest security systems integrators in North America and a highly regarded security and life safety solutions companies.

The deal complements Bosch’s 2015 acquisition of Climatec, LLC, with more than 1,000 associates in the U.S., according to the joint announcement, which comes one day after the companies signed corresponding agreements to make the deal official.

Both companies agreed to keep the purchase price of the acquisition private.

Climatec is part of Bosch Building Technologies and offers energy efficiency, building automation, security, and life safety solutions across the U.S. market, one of the largest and fastest-growing markets for Bosch Building Technologies.

Paladin Technologies employs about 1,500 people across 35 locations in Canada and the U.S. with projected 2023 sales approaching $400 million, according to the joint announcement. The acquisition is subject to approval by the relevant regulatory authorities.

Why Bosch Acquired Paladin Technologies

“Energy efficiency and security needs are driving factors for the modernization of commercial buildings, particularly in the North American market,” says Christian Fischer, the deputy chairman of the Bosch board of management, who is responsible for the company’s Energy and Building Technology and Consumer Goods business sectors.

“These long-term trends have contributed to the growth of our subsidiary Climatec, which has significantly increased its sales and workforce since we acquired them in 2015,” he said. “We want to continue Bosch’s success in the delivery of these vital services in the region, and helping make buildings greener, smarter and safer.”

Paladin went on a spree of acquisitions in 2021 and became one of the largest integrators in the industry that year, drawing attention from SSI and its competitors as it continued to grow.

Bosch Building Technologies is part of Bosch’s Energy and Building Technology business sector and reports 17.4% growth in its energy and commercial building and building services portfolio in 2022.

“The acquisition of Paladin Technologies enables Bosch Building Technologies to significantly expand its system integration business in North America by entering the Canadian market and increasing its US operations,” says Thomas Quante, president of Bosch Building Technologies, in the joint announcement.

“Paladin Technologies and Climatec have exciting opportunities to collaborate and bring comprehensive offers to our customers, building upon their respective market positions, strong brands, highly experienced leadership teams and the tremendous industry expertise of their employees,” he says.

Bosch Building Technologies offers building automation, security, life safety and energy efficiency services in the U.S., with offices in Arizona, Texas, Nevada, California, New York and New Jersey.

“I’ve always respected Bosch’s long-term business focus, its over 100-year reputation for innovation and its private ownership structure, in which the majority shareholder is a charitable foundation,” says Ted Reid, CEO of Paladin Technologies. “We’ve also been impressed by the success of Bosch’s building services growth in the USA and look forward to succeeding together as we build upon our shared values of innovation, teamwork, and the development of our people.”

Paladin Technologies is part of the Paladin Group of companies founded in 1976 in Vancouver. It has 18 offices across Canada and 17 U.S. locations, including in New York, Texas, California, the Southwest, Pacific Northwest and Midwest regions.

The company’s portfolio includes video surveillance, access control and intrusion detection as well as network infrastructure, monitoring and advanced audiovisual solutions.

“It was clear from our first meeting that our companies share a common customer- and employee-focused culture with a tremendous passion for delivering safe, secure, and efficient building solutions,” said Mauro Lima Vaz, Senior Vice President of Bosch Integration Business for North America and CEO of Climatec.

The New DICE has introduced a patented Matrix SD-WAN platform with AI VPN connections to the site, cyber security, automated site network mapping, and registration of all devices on a private network.

The company says this new service includes tunneling and full network management for cameras, NVRs, alarm panels, and other devices with built-in cyber security site isolation and automated AI VPN credentialing.

As a new installation process, this means that there is no need for dealers to manage networking and no NAT rules need to be created to connect any device at the client site. There is no need to open ports, firewall hole punching, port forwarding or any other networking procedure.

Matrix AI VPN maps the network and automatically registers all devices, including the cameras, bringing them all online. Users name the camera and create zones in the automation software.

“We’ve made this scalable, allowing registering and managing tens of thousands or millions of sites,” said Avi Lupo, co-president of the company, in a statement. “Matrix AI VPN is SD-WAN technology, built into the Matrix automation platform, giving an AI VPN architecture to any user without investing in VPN hardware or network engineers building VPNs to each site. The big advantage is that we’re taking the workload off network technicians and making it easier for dealers to offer networked video and other services.”

Dealers can access Matrix AI VPN through central stations with Matrix Interactive. Central stations can add Matrix Interactive Video without needing to change their current automation software, according to the company.

“This is a game changer for the industry,” added Lupo. “Alarm companies can now easily compete and offer network services and isolated camera networks. Keep in mind that our AI VPN works with any automation software and any network device where DICE is the network or SD-WAN solution.”