SKIDATA expands in seven countries

The international market leader in access management is steadily expanding its market presence and is growing strongly. In addition to new subsidiaries in Brazil, India, Uruguay, Malaysia and Turkey, the taking of a majority stake in its American distributor Sentry Control Systems will also expand the presence of SKIDATA in the US market significantly. The strengthening of the presence in Australia is another point in the expansion. These measures underline the international growth strategy of SKIDATA, which now has 1,000 employees worldwide.

SKIDATA continues to expand its international market leadership in access management. In addition to new offices in Brazil, India, Uruguay, Malaysia and Turkey, as well as a new joint venture in Australia, the access control expert is also becoming the majority shareholder of its American distributor Sentry Control System, which is headquartered in Van Nuys, California.

"With the new locations, we can expand our leading market position in key growth markets and strengthen the cooperation with our customers directly. Our customers benefit from a comprehensive range of solutions from a single source," says Hugo Rohner, CEO of SKIDATA, about the surge in growth. The SKIDATA companies cover the entire range of expertise - starting with marketing, consulting and sales, and planning and project management including installation and start up, and continuing through to competent service and customer care.

SKIDATA, founded in Austria in 1977, is now operating in over 90 countries with 10,000 installations, 22 subsidiaries and 3 joint ventures. Last year, it was possible to increase the personnel count to 1,000 employees. In order to continue its growth, SKIDATA is looking for employees for a variety of different business areas, for example, in the areas of Research and Development.

SKIDATA strengthens its US business

Sentry, an independent, family-owned company, acted as distributor of SKIDATA's parking solutions in California, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Maryland. A total of 40% of SKIDATA installations in the US were made by Sentry. Sentry offers a very successful installation and service business and introduced many interesting products into the American market such as the only solar powered parking space occupancy sensor ‘frogparking.’

The participation of SKIDATA in Sentry strengthens the already close relationship between the two companies. SKIDATA benefits from the business contacts and Sentry's strong service organization; Sentry benefits from SKIDATA's experience and know-how in major projects and their international accounts. "We are very proud that SKIDATA and Sentry can take this path together. Sentry has an exemplary service organization and is well-known in the market as a leading solution provider for parking technology," said Hugo Rohner.

About SKIDATA

SKIDATA is an international leader in the field of access solutions and their management. Almost 10,000 SKIDATA installations worldwide in ski resorts, shopping centers, major airports, municipalities, sports stadiums, trade shows, and amusement parks provide secure and reliable access and entry control for people and vehicles. SKIDATA places great value in providing solutions that are intuitive, easy to use, and secure. The integrated concepts of SKIDATA solutions help clients optimize performance and maximize profits. SKIDATA Group (www.skidata.com) belongs to the publicly traded Swiss Kudelski Group (www.nagra.com), a leading provider of digital security solutions.