The IDS Story
Making smart building solutions easy.
Who We Are
IDS is a trusted third-party integrator, delivering smart building solutions and services to contractors and enterprise clients. We bridge the gap between advanced IoT technology and real-world installation challenges, ensuring seamless integration and optimal performance. Our expertise spans project management, controls design, commissioning, system startup, security enhancements, and energy efficiency upgrades, all tailored to meet unique client needs. By designing, installing, and integrating customized smart solutions, we help capture high-fidelity data that enhances building efficiency, safety, and long-term performance. With a proven track record, IDS simplifies deployments, supports contractor partners, and enables businesses to achieve their operational goals.
Founder Story
About a decade ago, as the smart building industry began to take shape, we identified a critical gap between those who sold the systems, those who installed them, and those who used them. To bridge this divide, we created a service company dedicated to providing the technical expertise needed to support stakeholders in setting up these complex systems.
Our first project, a seven-week on-site effort, gave us a deep understanding of smart building systems and their potential. We quickly recognized the lack of industry standards and leveraged our expertise and hands-on experience to develop processes that made IoT deployments faster, easier and more accurate. Our commitment to raising standards earned the trust of clients, leading to larger, more complex projects.
Today, as the smart building industry has rapidly evolved, we’ve tailored our services around energy, security, and deployment to better optimize building efficiency, safety, and performance. With millions of devices deployed across various industries, we have established ourselves as the leading experts in scaling sophisticated smart building systems. Some of the world’s most recognized brands trust us to roll out their programs because we consistently deliver exceptional results.
Culture
At IDS, we believe our unique culture is the foundation of our success. By embracing authenticity and transparency, we foster a strong sense of community within our team, where collaboration and mutual respect are prioritized. This approach enables us to build stronger, more meaningful connections with our clients, cultivating trust and ensuring that every interaction reflects our commitment to excellence.
Our mission is to create a culture that attracts, develops, and retains top talent for the long term. We empower our employees to think creatively and take initiative, fostering a dynamic and innovative workplace where growth and success thrive. Together, we are redefining how smart building technology drives value and growth for our customer’s businesses.
If you’re interested in being part of a dynamic team, check out our Careers page.
Leadership
 |
Derek Davis (CEO) Derek is a founder of IDS and currently holds the position of CEO, where he enjoys keeping the teams aligned and encouraging everyone to be their best. With over 20 years of experience in the IoT industry, Derek has established himself as an expert in the field, having successfully built three companies that offer solutions and services to the smart building industry. Thanks to his diverse background and extensive experience, Derek possesses a unique perspective, which enables him to tackle industry challenges with creativity and innovation. Outside of work, Derek is an avid outdoorsman, spending his free time exploring the trails of the Appalachian Mountains and enjoying the Florida waters with his wife, Kylee, and their beloved dog, Sadie. |
 |
Richard Gedmin (COO) Rich focuses on forming a strong management team and setting the direction for IDS to remain at the cutting edge of Smart Building Technology. He facilitates the development of a cohesive team with the goal of reducing emissions in the commercial real estate industry through the use of LED lighting and controls. Rich also provides guidance and support to team members to foster professional growth and help them meet their full potential. Rich leads by example in planting native flora to provide habitat and resources for native fauna, encourage others to employ common sense principles to reduce individual ecological footprint and reducing single-use plastic consumption. |
 |
Derek Publicover (CCO)
Derek joined IDS in 2022, with more than two decades of experience with lighting, controls and IoT technologies, where he held leadership roles in Product Management, Marketing, Operations and Sales. Derek is currently responsible for Sales, Marketing, and Commercial strategy with a focus on expanding IDS’ solutions for existing and new customers, while maintaining its stellar reputation for excellent service. Derek spends his off hours running on trails in the parks near his home in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and skiing. Not in Ohio. |
IDS provides smart building solutions and services for industry players and enterprise companies. We are trusted third-party integrators who assist our partners and end-users with the technical expertise to ensure smooth and precise deployments. Our team of experts apply their vast experience to design, install and integrate smart solutions that fit each client’s unique needs, and capture the high-fidelity data necessary to optimize building efficiency and meet business goals. As a tech-enabled service provider, we stand alone by offering broad IoT deployment support, real-time reporting and accurate asbuilt documents.
Founder Story
About a decade ago, when the smart building industry was just getting started, we noticed a capability gap between the people who sold the systems, the people who installed them, and the people who used them. To fix this, we created a service company to fill the void by providing technical expertise to stakeholders seeking help setting-up these complex systems.
Our first project took about seven weeks of on-site work. By the end, we gained a thorough understanding of how a smart building system worked and what it could do. We also saw that industry standards were lacking, so we applied our expertise and the insights gained from hands-on experience to develop processes that made IoT deployments faster, easier and more
accurate. As clients saw how hard we worked to improve the standards, they trusted us with more and more projects of increasing size, scope and complexity.
As the smart building industry has quickly grown, we have setup millions of devices using a wide range of protocols and are now seen as the leading experts in deploying sophisticated, smart building systems at scale. Some of the biggest brands in the world choose us to roll out their programs because we are simply the best at what we do.
Leadership
Derek Davis (CEO)
Derek is a founder of IDS and currently holds the position of CEO, where he enjoys keeping the teams aligned and encouraging everyone to be their best. With over 20 years of experience in the IoT industry, Derek has established himself as an expert in the field, having successfully built three companies that offer solutions and services to the smart building industry. Thanks to his diverse background and extensive experience, Derek possesses a unique perspective, which enables him to tackle industry challenges with creativity and innovation. Outside of work, Derek is an avid outdoorsman, spending his free time exploring the trails of the Appalachian Mountains and enjoying the Florida waters with his wife, Kylee, and their beloved dog, Sadie.
Richard Gedmin (COO)
Rich focuses on forming a strong management team and setting the direction for IDS to remain at the cutting edge of Smart Building Technology. He facilitates the development of a cohesive team with the goal of reducing emissions in the commercial real estate industry through the use of LED lighting and controls. Rich also provides guidance and support to team members to foster professional growth and help them meet their full potential.
Rich leads by example in planting native flora to provide habitat and resources for native fauna, encourage others to employ common sense principles to reduce individual ecological footprint and reducing single-use plastic consumption.
Derek Publicover (CCO)
Derek joined IDS in 2022, with more than two decades of experience with lighting, controls and IoT technologies, where he held leadership roles in Product Management, Marketing, Operations and Sales. Derek is currently responsible for Sales, Marketing, and Commercial strategy with a focus on expanding IDS’ solutions for existing and new customers, while maintaining its stellar reputation for excellent service. Derek spends his off hours running on trails in the parks near his home in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, and skiing. Not in Ohio.
Culture
At IDS, we strongly believe that our distinctive culture is the key ingredient to our ongoing success. By embracing authenticity and transparency with both ourselves and others, we foster a strong sense of community within our team and establish genuine connections with our clients that cultivate trust and respect with every interaction.
Our goal is to promote a company culture that not only attracts and develops top-tier talent, but also retains them over the long term. To achieve this, we prioritize encouraging our employees to think creatively and take initiative, which leads to a dynamic and innovative workplace that fosters growth and success.
While we are deeply committed to our work and take pride in providing exceptional service to our clients, we believe that taking time away from the office enriches our personal lives and enables us to be better friends, family members, and colleagues.
Here are snapshots of our lives outside of work. We hope you enjoy!