Looking Beyond the Obvious at Sierra Monitor - Analyst Blog

Looking Beyond the Obvious at Sierra Monitor

On March 8th 2011SRMC announced financial results for the fourth quarter and twelve months ended December 31, 2010. The firm delivered record sales and record net income in both the fourth quarter and the full year of 2010. This was the fifth consecutive year of positive net income.

The firm introduced new products in each of its product lines, repurchased and retired approximately thirteen percent of outstanding shares and ended the year with a strong balance sheet and a healthy backlog. Products were installed in a number of high profile facilities including the World Cup soccer stadiums in South Africa; the Empire State building; KAUST University in Saudi Arabia; Kuwait Oil pipelines; and the roof tops of hundreds of major discount retailers such as Target and Wal-Mart.

Beyond the Obvious
As the push toward energy efficiency continues to gain momentum, building automation remains a focus for the real estate community, building owners and campuses. Large automation suppliers depend upon gaining monitor and control access to more and more devices in the building. These devices range from standby generators to window shares, from lighting to power management at the work cubicle level. When the devices lack the appropriate communication protocol FieldServer products fill the need by translating the device protocol to the building’s data back-bone protocol.

FieldServer supplies packaged protocol translation solutions (gateways) directly to building automation integrators and also through other manufacturer’s sales channels where the addition of the protocol solution adds value to the overall offering. As price pressure eases unit costs for gateways downward, the trend is for integrators to find more uses for the gateway increasing the number deployed in each project.

FieldServer also supplies the same protocol translation capabilities in formats that can be purchased by OEM’s and integrated into their offerings. The OEM products are sold under the ProtoCessor product name. As the manufacturer’s note more and more interface requirements through their sales channels they identify revenue opportunities to either increase their selling prices or position their products in a more unique manner. FieldServer’s ProtoCessor product is the fastest growing product line in the company as more OEM’s recognize the opportunity and learn that the ProtoCessor products allow a fast, reliable, route to market. FieldServer’s extensive knowledge of M2M communication protocols allows the OEM to enter a product arena that would otherwise represent high technological barriers and risks.

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