Acadian Monitoring Services receives UL 2050 designation

LAFAYETTE, La.—Acadian Monitoring Services, based here, announced June 11 it had received the highest designation for central station monitoring from Underwriters Laboratories. The 2050 National Industrial Security System Monitoring certificate specifies Acadian meets the standards required to monitor facilities operated by government contractors and integrators who are engaged in security system installations for which a National Industrial Security System certificate has been issued by the Department of Homeland Security or Secret Service.

There are over 3,000 UL listed central stations in the United States, and of those 3,000 only nine have chosen to undergo 2050 certification.

According to Acadian operations manager Nick Bearb, UL 2050 designation speaks loudly to Acadian's current and future customers. “We wanted our dealers to know, and everyone that we do business with, and everyone that we will possibly do business with in the future, that we will put every tool in the shed, so to speak, that we can in order to give them the ability to do business as they need without working with their hands tied behind their backs,” Bearb said. “If they want to go after government contracts, I didn't want our central station to be somewhat of a limiter to their ability to perform.”

The certification process started over a year ago when training, documentation and infrastructure upgrades were carried out. These upgrades were followed by a six-hour audit by a certified UL inspector. According to UL section manager for alarm certificate service Peter Tallman, who created UL 2050, the certification displays a whole new level of service available from Acadian. “When we issue a certificate in this National Industrial Security Systems category … it is, in effect, a declaration saying 'We looked at the monitoring station, it meets the requirements, the staff knows what they're doing, and we're maintaining it, and we're checking all that stuff,'” Tallman said.

Tallman pointed out that with advances in signal transmission, today's monitoring centers need not be near the location they're monitoring. “The monitoring station could be hundreds, or thousands of miles away and still do the monitoring. Well, the problem we faced was how do we qualify for this service company in Bath, Maine, say, this monitoring station that is in San Diego? So we had to introduce a category to establish a qualification means for these distant monitoring locations … [Seeking UL 2050 designation] was really a choice for Acadian to demonstrate they have the knowledge to do this, that they have the ability to process signals, and thus, the service company in Dead Lizard, Arizona, sending signals to them doesn't need to verify all the details of their operators' skills, because they've demonstrated that through this.”