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enel Systems, a part of UTC Building & Industrial Systems, recently announced a migration path for users of legacy access control systems from CASI. With so many of these systems still in use, the company's decision to end-of-life the products has been met with its fair share of anxiety and uncertainty; however, Lenel is confident the tran- sition will be as painless as possible for its VARs and end-users. SD&I; recently caught up with Tom Welham, vice president of access and video sales in the Americas for Lenel and Interlogix, to discuss this transi- tion. Welham has more than 20 years experience — beginning with CASI- RUSCO — holding various sales and product management positions at GE Security and Lenel. Here's what he had to say: What emerged as the major concerns of dealers and end-users when you announced the eventual end-of-life of CASI legacy access control solutions, and how are you addressing those concerns? Welham: End-users are understandably concerned about continuing to provide a high level of service to their corporate com- munity, while protecting major investments in complex legacy systems that often span across countries and continents. Our Value Added Resellers (VARs) are concerned about maintaining long-term relationships with our shared customers. That's why we have created a comprehen- sive plan to smooth the migration path from legacy CASI systems to the feature-rich Lenel OnGuard platform to directly address the concerns of our partners. What is Lenel's roadmap leading to the end of these systems, and how will you ease the transition and make it painless for those who still service and use them? We are communicating frequently with our VARs and end-users — and we have listened closely to what they had to say. As a result, our migration plan has shifted to reflect this feedback. An example was our decision to extend support for legacy Picture Perfect and Facility Commander Wnx systems through 2020. This helped to ease concerns of press- ing migration deadlines, plus it allowed end- users to stay within budget cycles. We are offering remote firmware flash updates for controllers, in-field SIMM chip replacement and panel retrofits using Mercury hardware to take full advantage of the OnGuard fea- ture set. Lenel offers its open systems to customers through hardware that is supported by more than 20 access control software companies and through software that interfaces with more than 100 third-party partners and more than 200 products. Plus, we are offering free licensing of OnGuard software for end-users on a System Support Agreement (SSA) pro- gram. Our goal is to make this process as flexible and painless as possible. L 52 www.SecurityInfoWatch.com | SD&I; | Februar y 2014 MANUFACTURER 1-ON-1 By Paul Rothman Get the strategy for Lenel's VARs and end-users direct from the source Lenel on the Legacy CASI Migration "We are communi- cating frequently with our VARs and end-users — and we have listened closely to what they had to say," explains Tom Welham, vice presi- dent of access and video sales in the Americas for Lenel and Interlogix. "As a result, our migra- tion plan has shifted to reflect this feed- back." SDI_52-53_0214 Manufacturer 1on1.indd 52 2/4/14 12:38 PM