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NEWSWIRE
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Inside Diebold: Co. brushes off buzz, focuses on building security |
By Rhianna Daniels - 04.29.2008
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CANTON, Ohio--Inside Diebold's world headquarters here, there is little noticeable concern, talk or attention given to United Technology Corp.'s $3 billion bid to buy the company. Instead, a steady stream of employees focus on core job tasks and promote the positive work environment, its strong focus on people and its drive to build business in the security market.
Diebold expects to announce its financial results this Wednesday -- a delayed and much anticipated filing in the wake of UTC's unsolicited offer to purchase the company. If UTC is successful, the two companies would make a powerhouse in security -- Diebold's security integration arm has substantial presence in the retail and financial verticals, while UTC owns Red Hawk, a security integrator that has substantial brand recognition in the banking space, in addition to products lines Lenel, Onity and Guardall, to name a few.
Of course, Diebold is bigger than security -- ATMs make up a bulk of the company's business; voting machines make up a "very small portion," and software builds the rest of the enterprise's offerings.
Even so, "security services are becoming a bigger and bigger part of the market," said Rod Reese, director of business development and business planning for the global security division.
The company was launched in 1859 by Charles Diebold as a safe manufacturer, but it was the Chicago fire of 1871 that bolstered the company's reputation for quality -- although more than 1,200 buildings burned to the ground during the blaze, 878 Diebold safes survived, each with its contents in tact.
Reese said this reputation for quality and service is what the company continues to try to bring to the market. With new technology offerings, such as biometrics and a new focus on IT services, service becomes the differentiator.
"We believe we are a growing company," he said. "We are expanding our technologies and services so that we can take these things to our customers."
Reese said there are opportunities in applications that reside on the network and turning the information from these sensors into management information. He said "it is also absolutely necessary to provide logical security to protect that network" and Diebold has developed a logical security group to address this client need.
Although Diebold is mostly known for its integration work in the financial and retail sectors, Dennis Moriarty, senior vice president of the global security division, developed an initiative to focus on the government and enterprise markets.
Brad Stephenson, vice president of the physical security group, said the company "is ready to play in that space. We are investing in the right communications and the right people -- it all starts with relationships. We are building this from the ground up."
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