Fishers video surveillance firm adding jobs

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. is offering Fishers-based Qumulex $935,000 based on its plans to invest $1.4 million in its video surveillance and access control company and create 55 jobs by 2026.

Fishers-based Qumulex is a cloud-based, Internet of Things technology and software company formed in 2018 to help commercial clients enjoy some of the same features already found in residential video surveillance and access control systems. Tom Buckley, a co-founder and the company’s vice president of sales, said the first version of Qumulex’s browser-based platform will start shipping in the next two months.

“We’re inspired by Ring doorbells and Nest,” Qumulex President and co-founder Dan Rittman said. “They’re convenient and really easy to use with mobile interfaces, but those are residential solutions, and they haven’t penetrated the commercial space.”

Rittman said business owners who have already invested thousands in a security system are frustrated now by the fact that their at-home doorbell cameras can provide easier access to better pictures.

Qumulex’s 21 employees are now working to offer those companies a mobile app and browser-based software that modernizes legacy cameras and access controls by transitioning them to an entirely cloud-based or hybrid system.

If surveillance is all about tracking where someone has been, then Qumulex’s founders are hoping the trail of successful companies they’ve left in their wake will instill confidence in the new brand.

The company’s eight founders have been building transitional technology products and selling them to commercial security systems dealers across the nation for 30 years. Buckley said Qumulex has ties to successful video conversion companies, like Truevision and Integral, from as far back as the late 1980s.

In 2005, Qumulex’s cofounders launched Exacq Technologies. The company, which focuses on security and surveillance video management systems, was named one of IBJ’s 10 fastest-growing private companies in 2012 and 2013.

Later that year, Switzerland-based Tyco International Ltd. saw Exacq was on track to generate $75 million in revenue in 2014 and quickly bought the company for $150 million.

Though they’d like to replicate Exacq’s trajectory, Qumulex’s founders have tempered their expectations. Nick Ball, a co-founder and vice president of finance, said everyone is trying to keep in mind the fact that Qumulex’s software subscription based model won’t see the same revenue as Exacq’s primarily physical systems. Still, the company is seeing evidence of growth.

After having annexed more and more space in the Indiana IoT Lab, Rittman said Qumulex is looking to strike out into its own building before the end of the year.

“When you’re making money hand-over-fist with an existing product, it’s hard to get the motivation and the perseverance to start something new. But, the world is going to the cloud. We all know it is, and video security will get there,” Rittman said. “With Qumulex, we saw an opportunity to lead it.”