By Donny Jackson

Motorola Solutions this week announced that it has acquired IPVideo, which created the HALO smart sensor that can be used to monitor air quality and detect gunshots, motion, “abnormal noise” and the use of an “emergency keyword” that could spur a response.

John Kedzierski, Motorola Solutions’ senior vice president of global enterprise sales, noted that the myriad capabilities of the HALO smart sensor are particularly valuable in locations where cameras are not appropriate as a physical-security tool.

“HALO is a smart sensor that can be cloud-connected to drive insights and intelligence for your facility, and it’s a multi-purpose security sensor that … tells you about what’s happening inside a facility or a safety space that’s not a camera,” Kedzierski said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications.

“That’s very important, because you can’t put cameras everywhere. You can’t put cameras inside a restroom or a hospital room or inside a hotel room. There are many areas where privacy is a primary concern, but it doesn’t mean that you don’t want your physical-security system to understand what’s happening in that place.”

Motorola Solutions has been a reseller of the HALO smart sensor for years, so its sensor data already is integrated into Motorola Solutions’ systems, according to Kedzierski.

“With our HALO product, we have integrations into our radio-communications portfolio, as well,” he said. “Using our tool called Orchestrate, you could have an event in the physical-security system that automatically sends an audible or text alert to a communications device, such as a MOTOTRBO radio or our WAVE push-to-talk application on a smartphone, so you can close the loop and actually drive an action.”

Such integrations are expected to be enhanced with the purchase of IPVideo, which is the latest of 11 acquisitions that Motorola Solutions has made in the physical-security space within the last six years, Kedzierski said.

Mahesh Saptharishi, Motorola Solutions’ executive vice president and chief technology officer, said the IPVideo acquisition is an important step to enhance Motorola Solutions’ vision to deliver end-to-end physical security to entities such as schools, hospitals, hotels and other enterprises.

“With its powerful sensor capabilities, HALO extends our end-to-end physical security offering by integrating a non-video threat detection product into our safety and security ecosystem,” Saptharishi said in a prepared statement. “We see this as an opportunity to introduce additional detection solutions that help our customers protect people, property and places.”

IPVideo President David Antar echoed this sentiment.

“We are excited to join Motorola Solutions and look forward to strengthening the innovative solutions we deliver to our customers,” Antar said in a prepared statement. “Together, we will continue investing in and building upon Motorola Solutions’ leading safety and security ecosystem, equipping customers with advanced ways to protect their people and enhance their operational insights.”

A Motorola Solutions spokesperson confirmed that the IPVideo deal has closed, but no terms are being disclosed at this time.

In recent years, Motorola Solutions had been on a buying spree, acquiring more than a dozen companies that have helped drive the vendor giant’s impressive growth. However, Motorola Solutions had not purchased any companies in 2023—a fact Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown noted during last month’s conference call with investment analysts, although he indicated that the company has continued to look for good opportunities at the right price.