The news that 2 under performing companies, Vicon and IQinVision are merging, is surely evidence that life is getting tougher in the Video Surveillance business as prices fall and niche opportunities evaporate due to the majors steadily increase their range. World demand is strong but it is skewed by high demand in China and Asia, where local products dominate. Demand in developed markets is running at about half the rate. As a result of these factors, a very significant number of manufacturers are falling below the minimum economic size to operate efficiently and cannot finance from cash flow the ever increasing cost of developing cutting edge products and heavy marketing costs. New investment would be the best solution for those with promising products provided they have time to negotiate a satisfactory deal. Merger is more practical but it requires a strong synergy and little product and/or geographic overlap if the union is going to be […]