Versaterm continues buying spree with Komutel acquisition

Versaterm Public Safety this week announced the purchase of Komutel—a provider of call-handling solutions for emergency call-takers—as the latest addition to the Versaterm portfolio of public-safety software solutions that are designed to enhance the emergency-response process, according to company CEO Warren Loomis.

“We have a really well-defined strategy, and this is another piece to the puzzle,” Loomis said during an interview with IWCE’s Urgent Communications.

Buying Komutel marks the sixth acquisition made by Ottawa-based Versaterm since December 2020, when the Banneker Partners private-equity firm purchased Versaterm, Loomis said. During the past two years, Versaterm has sought to acquire firms that can add functionalities that complement Versaterm’s existing computer-aided-dispatch (CAD) and records-management-system (RMS) offerings, he said.

Other companies acquired by Versaterm during this period have been JusticeTrax, SPIDR Tech, Adashi Systems, eJust Systems and TechVoice. And Versaterm “expects to acquire other industry-leading technologies in the coming months,” according to the press release announcing the Komutel deal.

Komutel adds key call-handling capabilities to the Versaterm portfolio, according to Loomis.

“Everything that we’re trying to do with acquisitions or building technology is defined as anything five minutes before our platform to five minutes after,” he said. “Our core platform is CAD, RMS and mobility, so we’re looking at everything that would happen five minutes before to five minutes, and everything in between.”

“Bringing in Komutel is really going to help us achieve that five minutes before CAD, particularly for the call-taker. We’re not just looking at providing CAD and integrating to an existing 911 system but perhaps integrating that 911 system from Komutel inside our core product, providing a different user experience for the call-taker. So, when that citizen calls in for help, everything is very integrated—a nice common platform and screen—and just flows right through to dispatch.”

Although further integration of Komutel is on the development roadmap, Komutel’s solutions also will continue to be sold as standalone products that maintain their existing branding—the approach that Versaterm has taken with its other acquisitions, Loomis said.

“We’re not selling [the Versaterm portfolio as a suite at the moment],” Loomis said. “We’re still selling it as a house of brands, where you can buy one component or you can buy them all. What it’s going to give them is that end-to-end feel and the support, so the police department doesn’t have to be the integration point between two software vendors any longer; we’re the one [integration point].

“We will still sell the products independently, but we provide a much higher user satisfaction and system capability when it’s all integrated as one.”

One particularly attractive characteristic of Komutel is that its solutions are designed to work in an IP-based next-generation 911 (NG911) environment, Loomis said.

Komutel CEO Richard Poulin also cited his company’s preparation for the expected transition of 911 centers from legacy systems to the NG911 architecture.

“Our company was built to provide 911 call-takers the most advanced tools to receive, record, transfer, dispatch and manage the millions of emergency calls placed each day,” Poulin said in a prepared statement. “In recent years, Komutel has developed new solutions for 911 call centers in the nationwide transition of analog 911 to NG911. We look forward to continuing our growth trajectory with Versaterm and supporting their emergency-services customers across North America in the years ahead.”

Komutel will be a division of Versaterm Public Safety, but Loomis said there is no intention to downsize the personnel at Komutel.

“This is about growth and bringing more value into the customer’s eyes,” Loomis said. “This is not a merger where we’re looking at hacking and saving money. We’re actually looking at investing more and growing more.”

No financial terms of the Komutel acquisition are being released, Loomis said.