Our fire detection and suppression technologies protect a variety of premises, including homes, commercial buildings and industrial sites, and are sold under our trusted brands, including Autronica, Det-Tronics, Edwards, Fireye, GST, Kidde and Marioff. Our security products are sold under top-tier brands, including Interlogix, LenelS2, Onity and Supra. Our security solutions range from advanced physical security solutions, including access control, video surveillance, key management systems, electronic locks and mobile credentialing for a range of commercial applications, including corporate, healthcare, government, hospitality, education, real estate, property management, industrial and automotive, to intrusion monitoring and life-safety solutions for the residential market. Our technology includes web-based and mobile applications enhanced by cloud-based services.
Our fire and security service offerings include audit, design, installation, system integration, repair, maintenance and monitoring services. These solutions, primarily sold under our Chubb brand, complement our fire and security products. Chubb has a network of skilled technicians and 24/7 monitoring centers providing continuous support for customers in a number of countries across the world.
We sell our fire and security products and solutions directly to end customers, including governments, financial institutions, architects, building owners and developers, security and fire consultants and homeowners, as well as through manufacturers’ representatives, distributors, dealers, value-added resellers and retailers. Key purchasing factors considered by our fire and security customers include route to market, quality, innovation, brand loyalty, price and performance.
Our Fire & Security segment had net sales excluding inter-segment eliminations of approximately $5.5 billion in 2019 and, as of December 31, 2019, RPO of approximately $1.2 billion.
Competition and Other Factors Affecting the Carrier Business
As a global business, our operations can be affected by a variety of economic, industry and other factors, including those described in this section and in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors.”
Carrier is subject to significant competition from a large number of companies in the United States and other countries, and each competes on the basis of price, delivery schedule, product performance and service. The geographies in which we sell our products, solutions and services in the HVAC, Refrigeration and Fire & Security segments tend to have a large number of local companies. We believe that Carrier is one of the leading equipment manufacturers in each of its addressable segments and that our portfolio of strong brands, together with our ability to provide comprehensive solutions in state-of-the-art building, refrigeration and industrial systems and services, make us a supplier and business partner of choice.
HVAC
Competition in HVAC equipment includes many international, regional and local companies, the largest of which include Daikin Industries, Ltd., Gree Electric, Ingersoll-Rand PLC, Johnson Controls International PLC, Lennox International, Midea Group and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, among others. Contracts are typically awarded or negotiated on the basis of price, product availability, delivery schedule, product performance, product line breadth, brand reputation, design, technical expertise and service. We focus on technical innovation to produce sustainable solutions, which provide our customers with higher efficiency and lower operating costs. We believe that our ability to innovate in anticipation of regulatory requirements is a key advantage in HVAC equipment, and we leverage, both directly and through our local distributors and joint ventures, our knowledge and expertise in our own equipment and controls to sell our portfolio of services to customers. We regularly offer incentives and training, such as credits/discounts for offering promotional pricing and contract terms on our products, to our distribution partners to purchase and sell our products to ensure an adequate supply of our products.
Refrigeration
Competition in refrigeration includes multinational companies, including Ingersoll-Rand PLC, Daikin Industries, Ltd. and Panasonic Corporation, as well as numerous regional and local companies. Sales depend heavily on product performance, efficiency and reliability, as well as service and support. We believe that our track record of technical innovation in producing environmentally sustainable solutions for precision temperature