Datacom Marks 20 Years with New Offices, Products
NORTH LIMA, Ohio -- The former location of Datacom Inc. on Woodworth Road here was getting a little cramped, especially after the communications and electronic-access company took a whole new business line under its wing.
In February, Datacom moved to newly renovated offices and manufacturing space at 11757 Market St., a move that its principals say has helped connect what normally would be two distinct business segments – data communications and commercial door fabrication.
“We started with cabling and phone systems,” recalls Shawn Campbell, president of Datacom. In 2000, the company began its business line with closed-circuit television installation and service. Several years later, Datacom added access control systems – such as card readers and code punchers for security doors – to its product mix.
Then, two years ago, Datacom Vice President Jeff Rowlandson came on board and suggested developing a doorframes and hardware business – CR Commercial Products – that could fit with the security and access control systems the company sells. “Jeff came from a door frames and hardware company that didn’t want to go down the road of access control,” Campbell says.
That opened an opportunity for the business partners to develop an entirely new service: commercial doors and frames that are fabricated and pre-wired with access-control devices. “It allows the product to be pre-wired before it goes out the door, so there are a lot less issues,” the president notes.
Often, access-control systems are installed either early or late during a construction phase, Campbell says. This sometimes makes it difficult for the contractor because additional work would likely be required once the access unit and wiring job are finished.
“It’s easier for the general contractor because he doesn’t have to worry about patching the holes we blow in his drywall or concrete,” Campbell says.
So far, the company has sold a handful of the units completely wired, but there’s an expectation that demand for pre-wired doors will increase, Rowlandson says.
“We just did a job at Trumbull EMS – a multipurpose project at the sheriff’s office,” he says. “It was a job where the frames were fabricated here and all the electronic hardware was pre-installed by the Datacom installers. So, the contractor just had to swing the door and plug it in.”
Campbell describes this side of the business as more “slow than sure” at the moment. “We’ve done four so far. General contractors seem to like it. It’s just a matter of getting to the next job.”
CR Commercial also fabricates and supplies traditional heavy-duty metal frame doors that are not pre-wired for any commercial business, Rowlandson says. The company has also delivered doors for commercial projects such as the Tyler Mahoning Valley History Center, Eastern Gateway Community College and the ValleyCare Northside Medical Center addition in Youngstown.
Since CR Commercial was formed in June 2012, the business has hired three salesmen and project managers, two fabrication and warehouse employees, and one accounting professional, Rowlandson reports. Combined, Datacom and CR Commercial employ 16.
Meantime, Datacom continues to increase its closed circuit, access- control and communications network business, Campbell reports.
“We pulled a million feet of cable last year,” Campbell says, referring to network installations. “We’ve been involved in a lot of the security upgrades in a lot of the area’s schools. We sell to just about everybody outside of residential.”
Sophisticated CCTV camera systems today can detect motion in, for example, a parking lot. “Once it picks up motion, it’ll start zooming in,” he notes.
Some customers install closed circuit television systems so they can detect someone or something in a parking lot, Campbell relates. However, systems are much more sophisticated today and are able to actually track a vehicle leaving the lot if it’s within sight of the camera.
“There was one incident in which a person’s tire was slashed. The incident was caught on camera and it tracked the person to his car and followed him out of the parking lot for a quarter- mile,” Campbell says.
Such technology enables a camera to zoom to just 30 feet from behind a vehicle or in front of a vehicle, Campbell says. “I always ask a customer, ‘Do you want to see somebody in your parking lot? Or do you want see who is in your parking lot?’ ” he says.
And, Rowlandson notes, his company has delved into other markets that the customer is driving, such as cell phone and wireless communications. “Whatever kind of technology is out there, we’re trying to get into it,” he says.
Pictured: Jeff Rowlandson is vice president of Datacom; Shawn Campbell is the company's president.
Editor's Note: This story first appeared in the June edition of The Business Journal.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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