Residential video centerpiece of new Texana dealer program

DALLAS—Sean O'Keefe, industry veteran and CEO of Dallas-based Texana Security says he'll spend his time at ISC West this year doing two things: checking out residential video products, and recruiting installers for his new dealer program, the centerpiece of which will be the Videofied residential video offering.

“Video is becoming one of our major plays and we think that's the way it will be going for the next several years,” O'Keefe said.

O'Keefe just began offering the Videofied system at the end of 2009, but he said he's very interested in “the product from the law enforcement side. Police certainly like the idea that we verify the alarm before dispatching police.” From his discussions with law enforcement, he said, “we see some consideration on their part for the potential of making those [video verified] dispatches a higher priority.”

O'Keefe said he believes this system will go a long way toward addressing the false alarm problem and will also help with the apprehension of criminals.

Not only does the video capture an image of an intruder, because it's not an audible system, criminals are not scared off by an alarm. With these types of systems, “there have been many more apprehensions than in the past.”

Videofied CEO Keith Jentoft said he's working with launching the product with several super-regionals including Bay Alarm, Safeguard Security in Phoenix, ASG, Per Mar, as well as national players like Stanley. For companies without their own monitoring capabilities, he's hooking them up with existing central stations that already take Videofied. O'Keefe, however, is the first to launch a dealer program with the Videofied product.

The dealer program has been in the works for about 18 months. “We're looking for quality dealers who are interested in a short learning curve for how to sell and install new technology. We'll subsidize the price of the equipment and provide monitoring here,” he said.

O'Keefe “has been a fan of Videofied for a long time,” Jentoft said. “He's got a huge perspective; he's worked with us on the residential offering.” Noting that O'Keefe is one of the executives who helped get Brink's Home Security off the ground in the early '80s, Jentoft said, “Sean's [launched new residential offerings] before and he knows how to do it well.”