Brivo’s COO Unpacks the “More Than the Sum of Its Parts” Vision Following Eagle Eye Merger

The security industry closed out 2025 with monumental news: the merger of industry titans Brivo and Eagle Eye Networks, announced on December 29th. Just two short weeks later, amidst the bustling halls of Intersec Dubai, we seized the exclusive opportunity to sit down with Brivo COO John Szczygiel to discuss the exciting future forged by this strategic union.

The Dawn of a Unified Security Platform

**Asmag.com:** Can you shed some light on the recently announced Brivo-Eagle Eye merger?

**John Szczygiel:** Eagle Eye Networks will officially become part of Brivo. While the Eagle Eye brand name might be retained, all Eagle Eye personnel are now integrated into Brivo. The core focus of this newly combined entity will be on delivering a truly unified security platform. This comprehensive solution will bring together access control, video intelligence, visitor management, and intrusion detection into a single, cohesive offering, centralizing security operations across the entire enterprise. We are diligently working to create an integrated environment, bolstered by open APIs, to offer the absolute best products on the market. Moving forward, the development of video-focused and access control-focused solutions will converge more closely than ever before.

**Asmag:** When the announcement dropped in late December, my immediate thought was, “Why now?” After years operating under the same ownership and with similar go-to-market strategies, what made this the opportune moment for such a significant move?

**John Szczygiel:** Dean Drako, who has owned both companies since 2015, has fielded this question numerous times, so I’ll respond as he would. Historically, both companies needed to thrive independently, concentrating on their specific areas of expertise—Brivo in access control and Eagle Eye in video security. Our priority was to ensure that Brivo and Eagle Eye’s respective offerings were unparalleled globally. Merging them prematurely would have diverted focus from maximizing the potential of their individual product developments.

However, the industry as a whole is now unequivocally shifting towards unified platforms that seamlessly integrate video security and access control. This trend is strikingly evident here at Intersec. Furthermore, numerous burgeoning trends are creating powerful synergies. Agentic AI, for instance, naturally bridges the gap between access control and video security, demonstrating a clear cross-pollination of innovation.

Uniting Brivo and Eagle Eye as a single company also significantly simplifies operations for our nearly 3,000 channel partners worldwide. They will now interact with just one entity, whether for data security audits or technical support. In essence, the timing was impeccable to bring Eagle Eye under the Brivo umbrella. The resultant synergy promises to be “more than the sum of its parts.”

Empowering Channel Partners and Accelerating Innovation

**Asmag:** Will there be any alterations to your channel partner network? Do you intend to retain them all?

**John Szczygiel:** We have no plans to make any changes in this regard. Some of our partners specialize solely in video security, others exclusively in access control, and many offer both. They are free to maintain their current focus, and this arrangement suits us perfectly. We still see vast untapped market potential. There isn’t significant overlap between Brivo and Eagle Eye channel partners, so we can maintain our current structure and continue our momentum.

**Asmag:** Looking ahead, where do you envision the greatest potential for “the new Brivo”? What will be your primary focus areas, and which markets and verticals will hold the most importance?

**John Szczygiel:** The paramount consideration is technology. Like every player in the security industry, we must accelerate our pace of innovation as technological advancements continue to speed up. The landscape is rapidly evolving, with a constant influx of new technologies that we simply must adopt. From a regional perspective, Brivo and Eagle Eye are remarkably complementary. Eagle Eye has had a longer-standing presence in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific, while Brivo boasts stronger market penetration in North America. Our offerings also complement each other across various verticals, including enterprise security, commercial real estate, multi-family residential real estate, quick-serve restaurants, and businesses with extensive geographical distribution. This merger will unlock substantial growth opportunities in regions and verticals where only one of the two companies, either Brivo or Eagle Eye, previously held a dominant position.

A Shared Vision and Seamless Integration

**Asmag:** What aspect of this merger excites you the most?

**John Szczygiel:** The significant advantage lies in the fact that the two companies already possess a deep understanding of each other. Our journey together began in 2015, allowing us to bypass the awkward introductory phase often associated with mergers where employees from different companies are getting acquainted. We’ve long shared a combined sense of purpose and mission, and there was an underlying feeling that this merger was an inevitable progression. This inherent familiarity alone is incredibly exciting. Our sales teams recently convened for our 2026 Sales Kick-Off event, and there was an immediate, palpable sense of collective responsibility to deliver exceptional value to our customers.

**Asmag:** Was there any internal resistance against the merger within the companies?

**John Szczygiel:** Some concerns did arise, which is entirely normal. Every company possesses a distinct culture and unique operational methodologies. Having navigated several mergers throughout my career, I’ve observed that questions inevitably surface regarding specifics like policies or the platforms we utilize to streamline workflows and processes. Once these details are addressed and clarified, any initial apprehension about the merger typically dissipates. We benefit from truly excellent joint management and a unified vision, making it straightforward for individuals to coalesce around that shared objective.

**Asmag:** What can we expect from Brivo in the short term?

**John Szczygiel:** In the immediate future, expect accelerated innovation and a rapid introduction of new technologies from us. This includes advancements in agentic AI and the harmonization of data from diverse sources. Video and access control are just two of many potential domains. The overarching goal is to contextualize data and transform it into actionable insights.

This ambition is a core driver behind the Brivo Security Suite. Real-world systems often comprise a mix of proprietary modules and those from third-party vendors, perhaps for visitor management or alarm systems. With the Brivo Security Suite, the same intelligent AI layer can be applied consistently across data from all these sub-systems. This harmonization profoundly boosts operational efficiency, setting a new standard for integrated security.