Milestone Systems Acquires Connex International, Inc.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, November 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

Global business to incorporate dedicated resources for training and certification

Milestone Systems, the open platform company in IP video management software (VMS), is purchasing all outstanding shares of the surveillance training, certification and consulting company Connex International, based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Milestone was already a majority stakeholder in Connex from an initial investment in July 2010.

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For years the Connex teams have set up, managed and performed Milestone channel partner training in many languages with proven success across all regions. In recent years, Connex has added rigorous certification testing and documentation of Milestone Solution Partner integrations with the XProtect^® open platform, such as access control, analytics, geo-spatial positioning, video synopsis, 360° camera view de-warping, network video storage and more.

Milestone is now fully investing in these dedicated resources, supporting the need for continued education in the physical security sector to further enable the trend from analog to IP technology. Training the partner channel in open platform IP video skills creates value for everyone in the industry: increasing technical expertise differentiates system integrators in the market and most importantly, ensures that they deliver the best solutions to customers.

"Our international ecosystem of competent distributors and resellers is key to the Milestone strategy for continued growth. To further accelerate, globalize and align our efforts to strengthen the training of this ecosystem, Milestone has decided to fully acquire and include Connex in the core of our business operations," says Lars Thinggaard, President and CEO, Milestone Systems, and continues:

"As a key component in our pursuit to serve the clients of the future, Milestone will continue to invest significant resources in the Milestone Knowledge Program and the teams driving our global training concepts to market. The full inclusion of Connex into Milestone is a testimony to this strategy. Their services support Milestone partners in delivering the most competitive, well-designed and high quality solutions in the industry."

The aim for the initial transition in Q4 of 2013 will be to continue the existing training operations while building out the global capacity including plans for launching self-paced online certification courses for channel partners. In addition to the Milestone Knowledge Program, the professional consulting services provided by Connex to key Milestone partners will be incorporated into Milestone's core business framework.

About Milestone Systems

Founded in 1998 and privately held, Milestone Systems is a global industry leader in open platform IP video management software, according to IHS Inc. (formerly IMS Research). Delivering powerful surveillance that is easy to manage, reliable and proven in thousands of customer installations around the world, Milestone technology supports flexible choices in network hardware and integrations with other systems. Sold through partners in more than 100 countries, Milestone solutions help 'video enable' organizations - managing risks, protecting people and assets, optimizing processes and reducing costs. For more information, visit: http://www.milestonesys.com