SGS, BHS, G4S prepare industry for 'evolutionary leap forward'

IRVINE, Calif., IRVING, Texas, and BOSTON--Brink's Home Security announced on Dec. 4 it had implemented a total deployment of Secure Global Solutions' new monitoring software solution, stages, across all of its accounts. Goldberg said the agreement with BHS displays the power and reach of the stages system. "Brink's Home Security has converted a hundred percent," he said. "So we have one point three million accounts being monitored at Brink's Home Security on our software already." Equipment and software were installed in two Brink's Home Security facilities--Dallas and Knoxville, Tenn.--where the company's monitoring operations are located. Databases were integrated, tested, and activated in just eight weeks. Rob Trotter, senior vice president and chief information officer at BHS, said he appreciated the smooth, trouble-free manner in which the complex, company-wide switch to stages was handled. "I just have to say ... it's one of the best experiences I've ever had," Trotter said. "We needed to be off of our platform that we were on, that we'd been on for 20 years. We started looking at the options on that and we found that the stages product gave us more flexibility," Trotter said. "It's easier to integrate into current and future systems. And the adaptability, in the future, to allow us to add new products and services much easier than we could with our old platform." SGS vice president Hank Goldberg said he was excited about what stages will bring to the industry. "The fundamental issues are, number one, it's an advanced application that's browser based. Which means that there's only one application to maintain," Goldberg said. "Most of the applications that have grown up in the industry are actually pieced together little bits of application and are difficult to maintain. So we have a much lower cost, which we reflect in a much lower price." Goldberg would not go into specifics of pricing, but said stages is "extremely cost-effective, not only to purchase but to maintain." Despite the lower cost of ownership and maintenance, Goldberg insists stages is not just another piece of software, but is instead a powerful new tool that will revolutionize the way the industry monitors, allowing all user types to interact with one easy-to-use, Windows-like application. "It is exceptionally high-performance ... It's very elegant," Goldberg said. "It isn't a quantum leap, it's an evolutionary leap forward." On Nov. 18, G4S, known in the United States more for its guard division, Wackenhut, and its access control and video solutions division Amag Technologies, announced it had reached a global agreement for deployment of stages in all of their central stations throughout the world, except the United States. G4S is the world's largest security company, employing more than 500,000 employees.