JoAnna Sohovich

Sohovich is a company executive who has held positions in several of its business divisions and a former Naval officer. As president of Honeywell Security & Communications for the Americas, she will report to Ron Rothman, president of Honeywell Security Group.

From the release:

“JoAnna brings an accomplished leadership background as well as years of experience growing multiple Honeywell businesses,” Rothman said in a prepared statement. “I look forward to working with JoAnna, as we continue to introduce innovative, new products and build on the great legacy that began many years ago with the ADEMCO brand.”

Sohovich previously held positions in Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions (ACS), Honeywell Aerospace and Honeywell Specialty Materials. Most recently, Sohovich was the vice president and general manager of Commercial Control Systems, a business within Honeywell Environmental and Combustion Controls.

Sohovich served as an officer in the United States Navy and holds a bachelor’s degree from the United States Naval Academy and a master’s in business administration from Santa Clara University.

“I’m honored to lead a business with such a rich history in the security industry, and one that has long been regarded as a leader in intrusion technology,” Sohovich said in a prepared statement. “There are exciting new developments in this industry that will greatly shape the way today’s homes and businesses are secured, and I’m looking forward to working with our dealers and integrators to help usher in these new technologies.”

Honeywell Security & Communications supplies security and fire controls, sensors and alarm communications products designed to help security dealers design end-to-end solutions for a wide range of residential and commercial customers.

I’ve got a call into Honeywell requesting an interview with Sohovich.

This story included something interesting that my story didn’t touch on, some quotes from ABI research about partnerships between home security providers and telcos. His story quotes an ABI analyst saying the company who partners first, will win the race. Further, he identifies uControl’s rivals as iControl and 4Home.

Sam Lucero, an analyst for New York-based ABI Research, said cable companies are under pressure to increase revenue by delivering new services, and reselling home security is a natural fit.

“In addition to a new revenue stream, it creates an incentive for customers to stay with their provider,” Lucero says. “The more services you get from one provider, the less likely you are to go through the hassle of switching.”

Lucero ranks uControl as a front-runner, but he said it will be challenged by a handful of rivals, including iControl Networks Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., and 4Home Inc., which is based in Sunnyvale, Calif., and backed by Verizon Wireless.

“They’re are all relatively small privately held companies, so the test will be who can establish partnerships with the big cable and Internet service providers first,” Lucero says. “To succeed, you’ll have to be part of substantial networks.”

UControl says it has signed deals with three regional telecommunications players and three national players, whose names will be disclosed as they begin offering home security this fall.

While I think Luceros’ take is interesting, when I was reading this story, I thought of InGrid (which is now called Lifeshield and has taken a direct-to-consumer tack) which was talking up partnerships with cable companies a couple years ago. Here a story I wrote about that in 2008.

As far as I know, InGrid only announced partnerships with regional cable companies, not national cable companies. However, those partnerships did not succeed the way InGrid had anticipated, and as I mentioned above, InGrid now Lifeshield is now going direct-to-consumer.

There are a variety of reasons why previous go-rounds with cable companies didn’t work out. UControl, for example, says that it wasn’t ready to partner with cable companies until recently. It is just now ready to offer cable company partners the support and platform they need to succeed in security.

I’m not trying to insinuate that partnerships with cable companies won’t work. There seems to be a strong argument that they can work. It does seems to me that he who partners first may not necessarily win the race.

Alarm.com, a provider of wireless and web-enabled security and activity-monitoring technology, says the new alert is perfect for parents who want to know if their kids didn’t arrive home from school at the expected time.

The alerts (via email or text message) are sent to alarm.com customers and can also be useful for “monitoring the arrival of of housekeepers or pet sitters as well.”

Customers can also be notified if their system is already disarmed when a scheduled time frame begins.

From the story:

The proposal for Qualified Target Industry and Quick Action Closing Fund money was originally on the Palm Beach County Commission’s Aug. 17 agenda, but was removed because the incentive contract is still in negotiations between the company and the county, Palm Beach County Economic Development Director Sherry Howard said.

Although the deal isn’t finalized, Tyco and ADT appear likely to leave their offices at 1 Town Center Road to find a building that’s a better fit, Howard said. The company is also weighing relocating to Texas or New Jersey, where it also has a corporate office in Princeton.

The story quotes an unnamed source who says that ADT is “negotiating a lease deal at 1501 Yamato Road, which formerly hosted a Washington Mutual Bank operations office.”

That’ office is in the neighborhood of some of Tyco’s other offices.

I called ADT spokeswoman Ann Lindstrom and she confirmed that ADT is currently in the process of negotiating a lease for “a building near our current location in Boca Raton,” but noted that until those negotiations are complete, and a final determination has been made, “it would not be appropriate to provide further details.”

She did say that “Tyco and ADT are constantly looking at alternatives available in the real estate market to assure we operate our business in the most cost-effective and space efficient way possible. This includes asking municipal bodies for economic incentives to retain our presence in Florida.”

I asked if possible relocations were related in anyway to the Broadview acquisition. Lindstrom said that prior to the Broadview acquisition, ADT had “undertaken a strategic review of its real estate needs for the next 3 to 5 years. This review indicated that for ADT to continue to grow and meet the needs of customers, capacity would need to be added at the corporate headquarters.”

The salesman had gone, but told my son he’d stop by again later.

My son knows a little bit about ADT. At least he knows that ADT is a security company. And I’ve gone to enough ADT events to have some ADT swag around the house. There’s definitely one pretty nice ADT duffel bag. And, I’m pretty sure that’s what he used to keep his track stuff in last spring.

And, he also knows that I work for Security Systems News, and I’m sure he gave the sales rep lots of information about that.

So my son handed me this flyer when I got home.

It lists all the the equipment (including three emergency buttons, the value of which is “priceless”).

The installation is $99 and monitoring is $40.99 per month with automatic withdrawal from my checking account. There’s a three-year term. I can get two-way voice and cell back-up, but additional charges apply for those.

During the month of August I can get one free key remote ($125 value.) I expect that offer will expire at midnight on August 31, 2010.

I’m also urged to “ACT NOW” because the free systems are limited to the first four homeowners in the ‘hood. My residential certificate is #1805.

What do you think the chances are that this ADT dealer is going to STOP selling $99 systems after they sell four in my neighborhood? Now we all know better than that, don’t we?

One thing I did like about the leave-behind material, is the sales rep gives you a number. You check the company Web site–and see that the rep is licensed to work for this company.

Simple thing, seems like a good idea.

So, I was wondering when this ADT door-knocker was going to come by again. Having done a little door-knocking myself a few weeks ago, I thought we could shoot the breeze about doors.

6 p.m., 7 p.m, 8 p.m. — my door-knocker doesn’t return.

What deterred my door-knocker? Maybe he could tell we weren’t a good prospect? Maybe he’s not a fan of Security Systems News? Or, could it be that he gave away four free systems in the neighborhood and wouldn’t give any more away?

Now the last time I visited my cousin was before I started working as a reporter in the security industry. So this time I looked at the landscape with a different perspective.

Little did I know when I headed out for a run, I was venturing out into a security mecca. It was like a security sightseeing tour. I had my iPhone with me, so I took some pictures to share. Enjoy!

Bay Alarm

ADT

Baskin and Baskin

This one's gonna have to be replaced at some point, Brink's Home Security

Pacific Alarm System

Post Alarm

He was properly licensed, with ID, and uniform, but a homeowner, “who doesn’t like solicitors” put a BB gun to his head and led him off his property, all the while yelling that the salesman was going to “get shot over selling this stuff.”

Jeesh, What about a simple: “I’m not interested.”

The good news is that the homeowner was arrested. Here’s the story.

If you guessed ADT, you’re right.

We’ve never met in person, but I’ve spoken to P. Gray many times on the phone, and he’s provided excellent legal analysis for Security Systems News on a variety of legal stories.

While I’ll miss having him as a legal analyst for SSN stories, congratulations to P.Gray on his new post.

Here’s the official press release.

I saw this story online this morning, it’s from an Andalusia, Alabama newspaper, and it’s about an APX Alarm employee, a law student named Jay Sallan, who went to a local city council meeting to challenge the constitutionality of that city’s ordinance which bans door-to-door sales. The ordinance dates back to 1968.

According to the story, the employee came to the meeting, armed with court decisions which he said show that the town may restrict door-knocking, but it may not ban the practice outright.

Sallan asked the council to strike the ordinance and, in the meantime, he asked the council to grant an exception to APX to let them knock doors until a new ordinance could be approved.

The mayor of the town said the ordinance had not been reviewed in many years, if ever, but promised to review it in a timely manner. It’s unclear from the story if APX was granted the exception the employee asked for.

From the story:

[Mayor] Johnson assured Sallan that the council will review the ordinance and bring the local laws in line with court rulings.

“And we’ll do it in a timely manner,” he said.

Johnson explained to the council that there are a number of things they can do in crafting a new ordinance to limit door-to-door solicitation.

“You’ve heard of a do not call list, we can craft our ordinance with a do not knock list,” Johnson said.

I’m working on a story called “Door-knocking done right” for a special report that will be in our October issue. When I was visiting APX headquarters earlier this month, I learned about the very extensive licensing and permitting processes the company goes through to get permission to knock doors in municipalities throughout the country. It’s a complicated and time-consuming process for sure.

APX’s VP of operations Lindsay Grauling and her team spend hundreds of hours researching local ordinances and processes. Sometimes, her staff members told me, you’ll get two different answers from people in the same municipal office. It can be a challenge to even find out what the local rules are.

It may be a hassle, but it’s gotta be done. It’s only right that any business should abide by the local ordinances, however complicated or arcane they may be. And they can challenge them if they want too.

Companies need to make sure they’re abiding by the ordinances before they start knocking—instead of after they get nabbed breaking the local laws—something that seems to so often be the case with door-knockers.

If the local community severely limits door-knocking, that’s something door-knockers need to respect. That’s door knocking done right.

How ever this particular ordinance-challenge turns out, it seems to me that this APX employee did his homework and is going about the process in the right way. My guess is he’ll make a good attorney too.

John Kenning, president, ADT North America, Commercial today named Jeffrey S. Bean to the role of group vice president, commercial national accounts for ADT North America.

Jeff Bean

Most recently, Bean was vice president of ADT’s largest vertical sector, Retail National Accounts Sales and Operations. He joined ADT in 1987 and held a number of positions including director of national accounts, regional general manager and regional vice president with ADT.

From the release:

“Jeff brings a 30 year track record of success to this role and has a solid foundation for helping us continue to enhance our culture of customer service while growing this very important part of our business. His dedication to the industry and to serving our customers is beyond compare,” Kenning said.