Behind the Scenes of March Networks’ & VIVOTEK’s Merger

March Networks and VIVOTEK recently announced the merger of VIVOTEK’s branded business (OBM) with March Networks. In the following Q&A, Net Payne, chief sales and marketing officer, March Networks and VIVOTEK, brought SDM behind the scenes to discuss the organization’s priorities, opportunities, integration challenges and more.

SDM: What are the biggest priorities for the combined organization over the next 12 months?

Payne: Our biggest priority is making sure customers and partners see our combined value quickly, without disruption. That means maintaining continuity in the teams, products, support relationships and platforms they already rely on, while starting to bring the combined strengths of March Networks and VIVOTEK together in meaningful ways.

Over the next 12 months, our focus is on three areas: first, making integration easy for customers and partners; second, accelerating product innovation across cameras, cloud, AI, analytics and enterprise video management; and, third, expanding our global reach in a way that helps partners grow. This isn’t about forcing change for the sake of change. It’s about giving the market more choice, more scale and a stronger end-to-end portfolio across cloud, hybrid and on-premise environments.

SDM: What specific market opportunities are possible now that March Networks and VIVOTEK are operating together?

Payne: The opportunity we see is the ability to serve a much broader set of customer needs with a more complete solution portfolio. March Networks brings deep expertise in enterprise video management, business intelligence, analytics and large multi-site deployments. VIVOTEK brings a strong global camera portfolio, AI capabilities and direct-to-cloud video technology.

Together, we can support customers who want a fully integrated end-to-end solution, as well as support customers who need flexibility across cloud, hybrid and on-premise environments. That’s incredibly important in markets like retail, banking and transportation, where customers are managing complex operations and need video to do more than simply record events.

This also creates new opportunities for our partners. They now have access to a broader portfolio, stronger global coverage and more ways to solve customer challenges than ever before.

SDM: How does this merger position the company differently against competitors?

Payne: It gives us a stronger position because we are combining scale with specialization. Many customers today are being asked to choose between very hardware-centric providers, very cloud-centric providers or highly customized enterprise platforms. We believe the market needs a more flexible approach to meet everyone’s unique needs.

The combined organization brings together enterprise-grade video management, advanced cameras, AI analytics, cloud services and business intelligence. That allows us to meet customers where they are, whether they are moving aggressively to cloud, maintaining on-premise infrastructure or operating in a hybrid model.

The other important difference is our partner ecosystem. We are not moving away from partners. We are strengthening the value we can bring to them.

SDM: Was this merger primarily driven by global expansion goals, customer demand for more unified platforms or something else?

Payne: It was really driven by all of those factors, but the larger theme is growth. Customers are asking for more connected solutions, more intelligence and more flexibility in how they deploy and manage video. At the same time, the industry is becoming more global and more competitive, and scale matters.

By bringing March Networks and VIVOTEK together, we are combining complementary strengths. March Networks has a strong enterprise software, analytics and business intelligence foundation. VIVOTEK has a broad camera portfolio, strong AI and imaging expertise, and direct-to-cloud capabilities. This combination allows us to move faster, innovate more broadly and support customers and partners across our markets around the world.

SDM: What have been the biggest integration challenges so far?

Payne: Any time you bring together two global organizations, the biggest challenge is going to be alignment. You have different teams, different processes, different regional strengths and different go-to-market approaches. The key is to be deliberate and not try to change everything at once.

We are focused first on the areas that matter most to customers and partners: product continuity, support continuity, roadmap clarity and commercial alignment. There is a lot of work happening behind the scenes, but our goal is to keep the experience simple and consistent for the market.

The good news is that the businesses are highly complementary. That makes the integration work very practical. We are not trying to make two identical companies fit together. We are bringing together strengths that naturally expand into what we can offer.

SDM: The merger is focused on growth rather than cost-cutting. How difficult is it to integrate two organizations globally without restructuring or layoffs? How are March Networks and VIVOTEK navigating this?

Payne: It requires discipline. The easiest thing to focus on in any merger is cost. That is not the intent here. For us, the intent is to grow.

We are bringing together two organizations because we believe the combined business can do more for customers, partners and the industry. That means protecting the capabilities that made both companies valuable in the first place: the people, the product expertise and innovation, the customer relationships, the technical support and the regional knowledge.

Our approach is to integrate where it creates value and maintain continuity where continuity matters. Customers and partners should continue to work with the people they know, while gaining access to a broader solution portfolio and stronger global organization.

SDM: March Networks and VIVOTEK historically used different go-to-market approaches, with VIVOTEK selling mainly through distribution and March Networks selling direct to its integration partners. What challenges come with unifying a direct-integrator model and a distribution-led model?

Payne: The challenge is making sure we respect both models and do not disrupt what already works. March Networks has strong relationships with integrators and enterprise customers, particularly in complex multi-site environments. VIVOTEK has built a strong distribution-led model with broad global reach. Those models are different, but they are also complementary. The opportunity is not to force one model onto the other. The opportunity is to give partners more ways to participate and give customers more ways to buy, deploy and scale. That requires clear communication, channel discipline and strong regional execution. We need to make sure partners understand where they fit, how they benefit and how the combined portfolio helps them grow.

SDM: What steps are being taken to ensure a seamless transition for customers during integration?

Payne: Continuity is one of the most important parts of the integration. Customers and partners will continue working with the same trusted teams, brands, support organizations and platforms they know today. We are being careful not to create unnecessary disruption. Existing customers should see a broader set of options becoming available over time.

On the product side, we are also focused on thoughtful integration. March Networks has already had experience supporting VIVOTEK cameras, and now the opportunity is to deepen that integration through closer collaboration between R&D and support teams. The objective is to make the combined portfolio stronger without making the customer experience more complicated.

SDM: What does success look like for this merger one year from now?

Payne: Success means customers and partners are seeing clear value. That could mean broader product choice, easier access to solutions, stronger technical integration, better global support or new opportunities to grow their business.

Internally, success means our teams are aligned around a clear roadmap and working together effectively across regions. Externally, it means the market understands who we are: a stronger global video intelligence company with the scale, portfolio and partner ecosystem to compete and grow.

A year from now, I would want customers and partners to say the transition was smooth, the value was clear and the combined organization made it easier for them to solve real business and security challenges.

SDM: You mentioned, in speaking about the merger, that “global scale matters in the video space.” Why is scale becoming increasingly important in security?

Payne: Scale matters because the expectations placed on video systems have changed. Customers are no longer looking at video as a standalone security tool. They want video connected to business systems, analytics, cloud services, AI, compliance workflows and operational decision-making. To deliver that, you need more than strong technology. You need investment in R&D. You need global support. You need cybersecurity expertise. You need manufacturing and supply chain strength. You need a partner ecosystem that can deliver consistently across regions.

You also need flexibility by design. Large enterprise customers often have complex environments with thousands of locations, different infrastructure needs and evolving business requirements. For example, when a major bank acquires another institution and needs to bring hundreds of new branches onto the same video platform quickly, not every provider can support that kind of scale, speed and complexity.

That is where March Networks is especially strong. Our solutions are designed to scale across on-premise, hybrid and cloud environments, giving customers the flexibility to modernize at their own pace while still moving quickly when business needs change. Whether an organization is expanding, consolidating or standardizing globally, we can help them bring new sites online efficiently and reliably.

That is why scale is becoming so important. It is not just about being bigger. It is about having the resources, reach, flexibility and proven enterprise expertise to innovate faster, support customers globally and keep pace with where the industry is going.

SDM: Anything else you would add about the merger and its implications for the industry as a whole?

Payne: I think this merger reflects where the industry itself is headed. The market is moving toward more intelligent, connected and flexible video solutions. Customers want choice. Some are moving quickly to the cloud. Some need hybrid environments. Some will continue to require on-premise systems for operational, regulatory or infrastructure reasons. The video security companies that succeed will be the ones that can support that full range of needs while continuing to innovate in AI, analytics, cybersecurity and cloud services.

For March Networks and VIVOTEK, this is about building a stronger platform for growth. For the industry, it is another signal that scale, intelligence and flexibility are becoming essential. Video is no longer just about what happened. It is about helping organizations understand what is happening, why it matters and what to do next.

https://www.sdmmag.com/articles/105471-behind-the-scenes-of-march-networks-and-vivoteks-merger