It wouldn’t be CEDIA Expo season without a little mergers and acquisitions activity right on the heels of the show, eh? And that’s exactly what we have in the form of a major software shakeup.
D-Tools and Portal.io have merged, bringing together two of the custom integration industry’s best-known business software platforms. The combined company will be led by G Paul Hess, who continues as CEO of D-Tools. Portal.io founder and CEO Kirk Chisholm joins D-Tools as chief product officer, overseeing product vision and strategy across the combined portfolio. Portal.io COO Josh Willits will serve as head of Portal.io, continuing to lead that business unit.
For integrators, the immediate message from the companies was simple: nothing changes overnight. Customers will stay on their current products, terms, and support teams, with no forced migration and no announced plans to sunset any existing product.
The longer-term implication is more interesting. D-Tools and Portal.io are not just combining two proposal tools. They are bringing together two platforms that have grown into core operating systems for many integration businesses, spanning sales, design, quoting, project management, procurement, scheduling, service, and client-facing proposal workflows.
D-Tools brings nearly three decades of experience serving residential, commercial AV, security, and low-voltage integrators. Its portfolio includes D-Tools Cloud, a SaaS platform for growing integration businesses, and D-Tools System Integrator, the enterprise-grade deployment used by larger and more complex operations.
Portal.io, founded 15 years ago, built its reputation around fast, polished, client-facing proposals, a managed product catalog, and a product experience designed around how dealers actually sell. The two companies have also been connected for more than a decade through Portal.io’s managed product catalog integration with D-Tools SI.
Together, the companies say they will continue supporting three distinct products: Portal.io for speed, simplicity, and proposal presentation; D-Tools Cloud for broader operational workflows; and D-Tools SI for enterprise-scale integration businesses. Rather than folding everyone into one platform, the stated goal is to match integrators with the software that fits how they already run. (We’ll see how long that remains the case, for efficiency’s sake.)
In a LinkedIn post following the announcement of the merger, Hess framed the move around the phrase “Let’s Build Together,” calling it “an invitation, not an announcement.” His point was that the merger is not only about D-Tools and Portal.io, but also about integrators, manufacturers, distributors, buying groups, and the broader channel that has shaped the industry around them.
That cultural framing is promising to hear. Software consolidation can make customers nervous, especially in a business where proposals, product data, purchasing, labor, service, and project timelines all live inside these systems. Hess addressed that directly, saying the combined company does not intend to “show up now and tell integrators what they need.” Instead, he positioned the next phase around removing friction, making repeatable processes easier to manage, and giving integrators clearer insight into their businesses.
Product data will be one of the most important pieces of that work. D-Tools operates one of the industry’s most comprehensive product data catalogs, with specifications and pricing from thousands of manufacturer and distributor suppliers. Portal.io brings its own extensive managed catalog. Combining those assets could strengthen one of the less glamorous but most critical parts of the integration workflow: accurate, current information that supports quoting, specifying, ordering, and project execution.
The merger also arrives as AI becomes a more serious conversation in business software for the channel. Portal.io was early to market with an AI proposal builder, while D-Tools has been investing in AI across its platforms. The companies say they intend to apply AI across the integrator workflow, from selling and designing to managing and executing work.
That will likely be where the merger is judged over time. The industry does not need AI for its own sake. It needs tools that reduce duplicative efforts, make product and pricing information more reliable, simplify handoffs between sales and operations, and help owners understand where time, labor, and margin are really going.
With CEDIA Expo 2026 approaching, the timing gives D-Tools and Portal.io a very public stage to explain what comes next. The companies will exhibit separately at the show in Denver, and Hess encouraged attendees to visit either booth and share what they want the combined team to build.
For now, this is a continuity story as much as it is a consolidation story. The products remain in place. The teams remain in place. But the product vision now sits under one roof, with a broader catalog, a larger integrator network, and a clearer mandate to build software around the way the channel actually works.
