Hills will foray further into the world of fire detection after the company has announced it will partner with UTC Fire & Security.

The UTC range includes fire panels, smoke detectors, sounders, speakers and heat alarms for both residential and commercial markets.

Hills chief executive David Lenz said it made sense to go down this route to take advantage of product synergies and emerging technologies.

“There is enormous potential to provide smart, one-stop solutions by linking the technology between various Hills product divisions,” he says.

“It will give Hills the advantage of being a complete solution seller – anything that monitors, on any application or any platform can be provided by Hills.

“Hills and UTC have a long association. UTC has been a leader in the fire detection market for a very long time and is a well-known and highly respected name across the industry.

David says Hills was already a dominant player in the security industry and fire detection was complementary to the current Hills offering.

“It is a great opportunity for Hills and for all of the integrators who install our security systems, to benefit from an added income stream.”

Hills and UTC expect to launch the new product range in January 2017.