The combination creates a stronger technology partner for residential, commercial AV, security, and low-voltage integrators, bringing together the complementary strengths of D-Tools and Portal and leading the industry into the next generation of business software behind one team and one product vision.
D-Tools, Inc. and Portal.io announced that they have merged, uniting the two most widely used software platforms serving residential and commercial integration, audio/video, security, and low-voltage professionals. Together the companies give integrators a portfolio of purpose-built products that scale with their business, from their first proposal through enterprise deployment, and come together with a single purpose: to build the next generation of software integrators use to run their businesses.
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“Bringing D-Tools and Portal.io together gives our industry something it has never had before: the most established platforms in custom integration, now backed by one team.”
G Paul Hess continues as Chief Executive Officer. Kirk Chisholm, founder and CEO of Portal.io, joins as Chief Product Officer, with responsibility for product vision and strategy across the portfolio. Josh Willits, Portal.io’s Chief Operating Officer, will serve as Head of Portal.io, continuing to lead the Portal business unit.
The industry’s largest integrator network, and a decade of partnership
The merger brings together the largest network of integrators in the industry, from single-operator shops to enterprise teams with hundreds of users. That scale gives the combined company a broader and more representative view of how integrators work and what they need from software.
The two have been partners for more than a decade, since Portal.io’s managed product catalog was first integrated into D-Tools SI, and neither has grown by targeting the other’s customers. D-Tools has spent nearly three decades building the breadth and scale integration businesses need across design, sales, project management, and procurement. Portal.io has spent 15 years understanding how dealers sell and turning that insight into software they love to use. Integrators are better served by one team investing in those tools than by two teams solving the same problems twice.
A portfolio for integrators at every stage
The combined company offers three purpose-built products, each designed around a different way integrators run their businesses. Rather than force every customer into a single system, both companies will continue to support each platform and match the right software to each integrator’s needs.
Portal.io: speed, simplicity, and a client-facing proposal experience that wins the job, developed and supported by the team that built it.
D-Tools Cloud: depth across the whole operation, including sales, system design, proposals, project management, scheduling, and service.
D-Tools System Integrator (SI): the enterprise-grade deployment for the industry’s largest and most complex operations.
Nothing changes overnight. Every customer continues on their current product, at their current terms, with the same support team. There is no forced migration, and no plans to end-of-life any product currently offered.
Product data, and building for an AI-native industry
D-Tools operates one of the industry’s most comprehensive product data catalogs, with complete specifications and pricing from thousands of manufacturer and distributor suppliers, and Portal.io brings its own extensive managed catalog. Accurate, consistent, current product data is critical to an integrator’s day-to-day business, and combining the two improves that accuracy and strengthens specification workflows across the portfolio.
Both companies share a conviction that AI will reshape how integrators sell, design, manage, and execute their work. Portal.io was first in the industry with an AI proposal builder, and D-Tools has been investing in AI across its platforms. Together the teams intend to apply AI throughout the integrator workflow, making complex business processes faster, easier, and more intelligent.
Leadership
“Bringing D-Tools and Portal.io together gives our industry something it has never had before: the most established platforms in custom integration, the integrator communities that have grown up around them, and the most complete product data, now backed by one team. Kirk has spent more than a decade obsessing over what integrators need from software, and Portal.io reflects that in every detail. Together we get to build the next chapter for this industry as one team.”
G Paul Hess, Chief Executive Officer, D-Tools
“Portal.io was built on one idea: understand dealers better than anyone, and build software they love to use. We have known and worked with D-Tools for more than a decade, and what has always been clear is how aligned we are on what integrators actually need. In a world of AI, an integrator should be able to run their entire business on software that is powerful, beautiful, and intuitive all at once. If you had to hand-pick two companies to deliver on that, it would be D-Tools and Portal.io.”
Kirk Chisholm, Founder, Portal.io; Chief Product Officer, D-Tools
“Portal.io changed my business, from proposals in Word and spreadsheets to dynamic proposals that close bigger deals faster. Bringing the Portal and D-Tools teams together gets me excited about what they will be able to build next for dealers.”
Everett Katzen, Springboard Automation
“We use Portal.io for the speed and quality of our proposals, and we’re excited about the possibilities that come from bringing D-Tools’ capabilities into the same ecosystem. Seeing these two teams come together under one roof is the best of both worlds for our business.”
Aaron Cowden, Fusion Audio + Video
Serving the broader low-voltage market
The combined company serves integrators across the residential, commercial AV, security, and low-voltage markets, and will continue to expand into the commercial and international communities where both see growing demand. Existing relationships with distributors, buying groups, and industry associations continue and will be strengthened.
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