Security Systems News - Top Stories

Four new members named to SIAC board

Rich Miller — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:36:06 +0000

Diebold’s Stroia heads group bringing 'fresh energy'

02/03/2012

FRISCO, Texas—Four new members have been named to the board of directors of the Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC), an exchange of industry veterans that brings the group "fresh energy and fresh ideas," according to Executive Director Stan Martin.

The new members, announced by SIAC on Jan. 24, are John Stroia, vice president of corporate development for Diebold; Mike Miller, vice president of Moon Security Services in Pasco, Wash.; Ivan Spector, president of Sentinel Alarm in Montreal; and Don Budden, operations manager for ADT Security in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Stroia represents the Security Industry Association (SIA) on the board; Miller represents the Electronic Security Association (ESA), and Spector and Budden represent the Canadian Security Association (CANASA).

Stroia replaces Charlie Darsch, director of corporate relations for System Sensor, who was appointed to the SIAC board in 2008. Darsch is a past president of SIA and a recipient of its George R. Lippert Memorial Award. Martin described him as "a cornerstone" of SIAC who will be greatly missed.

"He has followed every aspect of SIAC from the day we were incorporated," Martin said. "It's tough to see Charlie go, but I recognize changes are inevitable. If I need some extra advice or help, I know I can still call on him."

In exchange, SIAC is adding Stroia, an experienced national security service provider who will be beneficial to the group's long-term plan, Martin said.

"We're constantly having to adjust strategy and understand market conditions, and John, since he comes from Diebold, stays on top of those things," Martin said. "He brings us a broader perspective on those strategic decisions."

Miller, a past president of the ESA, replaces Ralph Sevinor on the board. Sevinor, president of Wayne Alarm Systems in Lynn, Mass., held his seat for a year.

“Ralph is a strong supporter of SIAC, but I know he’s got a lot of irons in the fire right now,” Martin said. “He’s been on the board several times, so he’s a known commodity and a solid resource. But I know he’s got a lot of commitments.”

Martin said Miller is also a known commodity, citing his “tremendous energy” in fundraising for SIAC and his relationship with dealers.

“I’ve worked with Mike for years,” Martin said. “He’s been a strong advocate of SIAC and I know that he wants to engage in a greater capacity in helping us raise money and promote services we provide to dealers around the country.”

Filling CANASA’s seats on the board are Spector and Budden. They replace Karen McGee, who served two years as a SIAC director, and Kim Schellenberg, a seven-year veteran.

Martin praised McGee, a past president of CANASA, for her dedication and “strong presence” on SIAC issues, while calling Schellenberg “a true professional” who is always responsive to requests for information.

Martin said the Canadian alarm industry will continue to be well represented on the SIAC board by Spector and Budden.

“Ivan was the initial CANASA representative (on the board) and has a reputation in our group as a person who can think outside the box,” Martin said. “He’s got a common-sense approach—he understands dealers, he understands municipalities. I’ve also worked with Don a lot. He’s got a great reputation in Canada as the president of CANASA, and we know he’s going to bring some fresh ideas and perspectives to our board.”

Martin said all of the new members will be tested by the economic realities SIAC is adjusting to in the United States and Canada.

“(Law enforcement) agencies have reduced budgets and are more concerned about the use of police resources,” he said. “We have to be more innovative in working with these departments. We’ve got to get better (alarm) ordinances in place, we’ve got to show compromise, and we’ve got to embrace new technology that will help us serve the community, in particular video. We’ve got to have a message that makes sense and meets the needs of law enforcement and the needs of the industry."

American Alarm expands into Rhode Island

SSN Editor — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:50:54 +0000

Integrator buys traditional security company, commercial fire business

02/02/2012

ARLINGTON, Mass.—With the acquisition, completed Jan. 26, of two Warwick, R.I.-based companies, American Alarm, which is based here, now has a physical presence in the neighboring state of Rhode Island for the first time.

American acquired Electronic Alarm Systems (EAS) and Phoenix Fire Alarm & Communications. The companies are co-located in an office in Warwick, R.I. EAS is a security company that does about 50 percent commercial work. Phoenix is a commercial fire company.

American has “had customers in Rhode Island for decades,” Wells Sampson, president of American Alarm, told Security Systems News. American acquired an office in Fall River, Mass., in 1993, and “about a third of their customers are in Rhode Island,” Sampson said. AES had provided service for some of American’s Rhode Island customers over the years, he added.

However, these acquisitions bring American a new branch office, 30 employees and a new GM, Henry Guzeika Jr., whom Sampson called a “seasoned, high-tech sales expert.”

“We’re going into Rhode Island with a growth strategy,” Sampson said. He said the company is “looking for double-digit growth in terms of new customers in the Rhode Island branch. We’re looking to expand sales, and grow our technical services team.”

Terms of the deal were not released. However, Sampson said the acquisition includes “several thousand new accounts.” American Alarm has 190 employees and, with this purchase, will have revenues “around $26 [million] to $27 million annually,” Sampson said.

Sampson said his brother, company COO and CFO Lou Sampson, dealt “with all negotiations, preparation and planning for the closing.”

Sampson said branch managers will be working with the new Warwick office to “bring a lot of efficiencies we’ve developed for our other branches—operational, computer systems and process for quality and for managing details” to the new branches. And, he said, Guzeika will be sharing best practices, particularly as they relate to the sale of mesh network radios and smartphone-controlled security systems, to other American Alarm offices.

The deal brings the number of branch offices to five. The company’s headquarters/central station is here, and there are offices in Worcester, Mass., Randolph, Mass., and Windham, N.H.

Tom Mitchell, who was co-owner and general manager of AES and Phoenix, will stay on as a consultant for the company for six months. Henry Guzeika Jr. is the son of EAS’ founder, the late Henry Guzeika.

The former owners were interested in finding a buyer who, like them, “would care for the employees, customers and the community,” Sampson said. “That’s the strength of the companies and the strength behind the opportunity for combined growth of the two companies.”

McGinn, Smith indicted on fraud charges

Tess Nacelewicz — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:19:38 +0000

The new charges come just weeks before the alarm industry investors go on trial in civil court for alleged Ponzi scheme

02/01/2012

ALBANY, N.Y.—Security industry investors Timothy McGinn and David L. Smith—already being sued by the Securities and Exchange Commission on a claim they bilked investors of at least $80 million in a Ponzi scheme—now are facing criminal charges that could send them to prison for years, if convicted.

A New York grand jury last week indicted McGinn, 63, and Smith, 66—the founders of an investment firm based here that conducted dealings in the alarm industry—on 30 counts that include mail, wire and securities fraud and filing false tax returns. One count, which alleges conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison. The indictment also seeks $8 million in forfeiture for the alleged offenses.

The indictment contends that from about 2006 to 2009, the pair devised a scheme to mislead investors in order to obtain money to “enrich themselves.” McGinn spent misappropriated funds on thoroughbred racehorses, alimony, his homes in New York and Florida, and for country club memberships in Ireland and the United States, among other expenditures, the indictment says. Smith spent ill-gotten money on his homes in Orchid Island, Fla., and Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and country club expenses, among other things, the indictment charges.

The pair used such means as the U.S. mail and interstate wire transfers to conduct their fraudulent activities, violating federal law, the indictment charges.

The indictment was returned on Jan. 26 and announced by Richard Hartunian, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York.

McGinn, who served as CEO of IASG from 2003 to 2006, and Smith appeared in court on Jan. 27 and entered pleas of not guilty. Each was released on $100,000 bail after being required to surrender their passports, according to court records. Attorneys for the pair could not be reached for comment by Security Systems News’ deadline.

Hartunian issued an email statement to SSN that said, “The victims of this fraudulent scheme run the spectrum of investors—from young first-time investors looking to build an investment portfolio to elderly people looking to safeguard their nest egg. They include a church school fund, a retired soldier, a retired nurse, a state employee, and a college student; some investors lost their entire life savings. All of them believed in the viability and safety of the securities being sold by the defendants. In reality, they were sold nothing more than a bill of goods.”

McGinn and Smith are scheduled to go to trial March 15 on civil charges lodged against them by the SEC in the spring of 2010. The SEC seeks recovery of the pair’s “ill-gotten gains” and civil penalties.

McGinn and Smith are the founders of the McGinn, Smith & Co. investment firm. That company is now in receivership after the SEC seized Smith’s and McGinn’s business and personal assets and accused the pair and their company of defrauding investors.

The SEC contends that from 2003 to 2009, the pair diverted funds into financially troubled entities (some in the security alarm industry) and also into their own pockets and to pay for such expenses as “strippers and go-go dancers” on McGinn’s You Only Live Once cruise ship business.

The SEC lawsuit initially stated that McGinn and Smith had defrauded investors of at least $80 million. But that figure has now climbed to $136 million, with as many as 900 investors victimized, according to the Albany Times Union newspaper.

Many of the counts in the criminal indictment focus on McGinn’s and Smith’s involvement with two security companies that generated alarm contracts: Firstline Security Inc. of Utah, and Integrated Excellence Inc. of Georgia.

According to a news release from Hartunian’s office, the pair “raised money from investors in connection with a loan of $2.4 million to Firstline Security.” That summer-model company ended up getting sued by ADT Security Services in 2007 for allegedly breaching its dealer agreement, and it filed for bankruptcy in 2008, according to the indictment.

“The indictment alleges that the defendants knew that Firstline was facing litigation with its dealer, but did not disclose that to investors, or tell them when Firstline filed for bankruptcy and defaulted on loans. Instead, the defendants directed that investors receive $2 million of lulling payments by transferring money from other entities controlled by McGinn and Smith, and their firm sold approximately $600,000 of one of the Firstline investments without any disclosure of the bankruptcy or defaults,” the news release said.

The indictment also alleges that McGinn and Smith “raised about $1.2 million from investors in connection with a loan to benefit Integrated Excellence,” the news release states. “The indictment alleges that the defendants knew that the payments received from the loan were not sufficient to pay investors, but they directed that investors receive lulling payments by transferring money from other entities controlled by McGinn and Smith.”

Illinois alarm industry helps quash onerous proposals

Tess Nacelewicz — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:20:36 +0000

Ordinances to get communities into the fire-alarm monitoring business fizzle after industry raises concerns

02/01/2012

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill.—The security alarm industry scored two significant victories last week in an ongoing battle in this state over public entities monopolizing fire alarm monitoring, according to the head of the Illinois Electronic Security Association.

“It’s been a great week for the Illinois alarm industry,” Kevin Lehan, executive director of IESA, based here, told Security Systems News. He said that after the industry raised concerns about the government stifling free competition in the market, proposed fire-alarm monitoring ordinances in the communities of Elk Grove Village and Elgin were set aside.

Elk Grove Village on Jan. 24 agreed to scrap an ordinance which, when first proposed, would have mandated that all new commercial businesses—and existing businesses replacing or doing significant upgrades to their fire alarm systems—have wireless fire alarm systems that would connect directly with the village’s emergency communications provider, Northwest Central Dispatch.

And in the city of Elgin, a similar ordinance requiring businesses to connect to that city’s PSAP (public safety answering point) was tabled indefinitely on Jan. 25, Lehan said.

“My opinion is that as long as it’s on the table, it’s not doing harm to the industry. If it should ever come off the table, we’re going to be there to express our opinions,” Lehan said.

He praised both communities for heeding industry concerns, and said stakeholders now plan to talk to community officials about ways to provide them with the safest, most cost-effective fire monitoring solutions. “I think any time the free market is allowed to play out, that’s going to be a benefit for the [commercial] business owners as well as our industry,” he said.

The IESA has been in the forefront of the industry’s fight, ongoing for several years now, against public municipalities and fire districts taking sole control over fire alarm monitoring in this state. The public entities say that would be safer, but the industry denies that and says fire districts and towns just want the revenue from monitoring fees.

Five security companies, including ADT Security Services, have taken the Lisle-Woodridge Fire Protection District to court over the issue. That federal lawsuit is pending. The case is being watched by the industry nationwide because it could have implications for other states.

In the proposed Elk Grove Village ordinance, ADT was to partner with Northwest Central Dispatch in providing the wireless service for $81 per month. The initial ordinance proposal said new businesses and existing ones replacing 50 percent or more of their fire alarm systems would be required to directly connect to the village’s mesh radio network.

But after security alarm companies and business owners protested to village officials about the mandate for what Lehan termed “a government-created monopoly,” the wording of the proposal changed before the Jan. 24 meeting of the Elk Grove Village board, according to a videotaped version of the meeting.

“You were told this is a mandated requirement,” Mayor Craig Johnson told a group of about 40 representatives from security companies and local commercial businesses who attended the meeting. But he said the mandate was mistakenly included in draft language, and that complying with the ordinance would be voluntary.

“We encourage businesses to use this technology but we don’t require them to use the technology,” Johnson said. “This board does not want government coming into my home or place of business and telling me what to do.”

But Lehan at the meeting asked the board not to adopt the ordinance even with the word “encourage,” saying that could discourage competition.

He said that when an AHJ (authority having jurisdiction) “encourages you to go with a specific provider, there’s a certain pressure right there.”

He instead urged village officials to work with industry stakeholders and “we can provide you with the highest level of service based on whatever parameters you would like.”

The board ended up not voting on the ordinance and agreeing the village would work with the industry, but did approve having the village itself switch to a wireless fire alarm system through ADT.

Speco aims to 'up its game' with new IP line

Tess Nacelewicz — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:21:15 +0000

Eight new cameras starting at entry level

02/01/2012

AMITYVILLE, N.Y.—Speco Technologies is aiming to “up its game” with IP with a new line of eight “OnSIP” cameras launched on Jan. 16.

It’s not Speco’s first venture into IP cameras, said Todd Pinnell, product engineer for Speco’s IP line. However, the company’s older line (Speco IP or SIP) “was too bulky, technically not there … too expensive to produce,” he said.

The SIP line, introduced about five years ago, was also proprietary, whereas the new OnSIP line is ONVIF-compliant (hence the name).

Speco, which made a major investment in R&D last year, “had to re-engineer the cameras to cut costs while maintaining quality,” Pinnell explained.

“A year ago we had three or four engineers, now we have close to 10,” he said.

Pinnell said the line ranges from an entry-level IP camera to ones with more functionality. Four of the new cameras are 2 megapixel; others are standard resolution. They’re all dual codec (MJPEG and H.264). Some of the cameras can record at the edge, while others have multi-profile streaming.

Pinnell and Laura Mastroberti, Speco’s director of marketing and communications, both say the cameras’ two-way audio is a differentiating feature.

“It’s Speco’s mission to manufacture products that prevent crime from happening,” Mastroberti said. Everyone makes products that capture, record and review, she said, but Speco’s cameras and DVRs stop crime by two-way audio, by sending messages, and by enabling lights to go on.

Speco introduced a new line of hybrid and megapixel-compatible DVRs at ISC Solutions in November. The OnSIP line of cameras is the first run of SKU, Pinnell said. “There will be more at ISC [West] time,” he said.

Speco envisions this line as helping dealers migrate from analog to digital cameras, but the company is not moving away from analog quite yet. “We recognize that IP is where it’s all moving toward,” Pinnell said.

Speco has developed educational materials for end users “so they understand the applications that are available,” he said. For installers, there’s tech support, new online training webinars and instructional “video vignettes.”

Three alarm companies fighting Tucson disclosure plan

Tess Nacelewicz — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:33:58 +0000

Invasion of clients' privacy cited, but AzAA calls proposed rules 'standard stuff'

02/01/2012

TUCSON, Ariz.— Three local alarm companies are protesting ordinance revisions that would require them to provide their customer lists to city police, calling it an invasion of their clients’ privacy.

The owners of Tucson Alarm, Young Alarm and Advanced ProTechtion have taken Assistant Police Chief John Leavitt to task for his proposal, which the City Council is scheduled to consider later this month. The revisions would also require every alarm holder to pay a $20 annual registration fee and provide city police with their name, address and phone number.

Roger Score, the owner of Tucson Alarm, said he is concerned that police will press alarm companies for information beyond customer lists, including pass codes and keypad codes.

“I have customers who expect me to keep their names confidential,” Score told Security Systems News. “I am following my constitutional right to protect my clients’ information.”

Maria Malice, president of the Arizona Alarm Association (AzAA), said the group has been working with Tucson police on revising the city's 2004 alarm ordinance and that the changes are “standard stuff.”

“They’re not trying to do anything that any other city doesn’t do,” she said. “If you pull (the ordinance) from Phoenix, it says the exact same thing. If you pull Scottsdale, it says the exact same thing. … They’re not asking for pass codes, they’re not asking for keypad codes, they’re not asking for a payment history.”

Malice said the alarm registration would help Tucson police offset some of the costs they incur when responding to false alarms, and give them information that might help reduce those dispatches.

“They don’t really know how many alarm systems they have out there right now in their city, because they don’t have a permit system,” she said. “They don’t know how many there are, so they don’t really know what the true false alarm rate is. They don’t know if it’s one per user or 10 per user.”

Leavitt said the police are only looking for basic information that will help officers respond to alarms safely and efficiently.

"(Score) is trying to make it look like this is some big info grab for intel, and it's not," he said. "We need to know the name, address and phone number for safety reasons for the officers who are responding. … We need to be able to contact people inside in case there's a problem."

The city would also use the lists provided by the alarm companies to bill all customers for the $20 registration fee, Leavitt said.

"The alternative would be to require each one of the alarm companies to bill their own customers for $20 to remit to the city," he said. "(The companies) don't want to do that, so we worked with them and we said give us your lists and we'll send the bill ourselves. That was at the request of the alarm companies."

Leavitt said false-alarm fines would be assessed differently under the revised ordinance. The fine for the first offense, which he said is currently $300, would be waived. The fine for a second offense would be $100, but it would be waived if the customer completed an alarm user awareness class. Fines for subsequent false alarms would be $100, rising to $200 with the eighth violation. The changes would also shift the processing of false-alarm fines to the city instead of having them handled by the courts.

"Our goal is not to collect money on violations," he said. "Our goal is to get registration and compliance."

Score disagreed and questioned Tucson's approach for reducing false alarms, saying it would be more effective to put the onus on alarm companies instead of customers.

"The city doesn't want to eliminate the problem, it wants to escalate it (for revenue)," he said. "All it will be for is to invade people's privacy. (The revised ordinance) is a direct attack on people just trying to keep a burglar out of their house."

Score said he will continue to fight the ordinance changes and the city's requirement that alarm companies be licensed, which he said violates state law. He said he had never complied with the licensing provision of the 2004 alarm ordinance, but did so in January because the city had started to enforce it.

“I’m licensed by the ROC (state Registrar of Contractors),” he said. “The city can’t require a license of me.”

Leavitt said Tucson Alarm, Young Alarm and Advanced ProTechtion were the only three alarm companies in the city that hadn’t been licensed as of 2011.

“They’ve all complied now,” he said.

Security industry seeks access to disaster areas

Tess Nacelewicz — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:19:02 +0000

Proper credentialing key for security personnel to access emergency zones to restart critical security/life safety systems

02/01/2012

IRVING, Texas—In the aftermath of a tornado, hurricane, flood or other disaster, the security and life safety systems of everything from homes to banks to medical facilities need to be quickly restored to aid in the recovery.

But without official procedures in place to ensure they have the proper credentials to enter emergency zones, critical security industry personnel may be unable to gain access to rewire and restart their customers. How to establish such credentialing procedures was the topic of a webinar this week jointly sponsored by the Security Industry Association and the Electronic Security Association.

“I urge [everyone] to begin the process in their own state of having these procedures adopted,” said Keith Elliott, president of the Mississippi Alarm Association (MAA) and one of the speakers at the Jan. 31 webinar, titled “First Responder and Security Industry Access to Disaster Areas.”

Elliott added: “This is not a federal program but done state by state, and each state is different in its requirements.”

Elliott said Mississippi and Louisiana are the only two states that have adopted standard operating procedures that provide security personnel and others access after a natural disaster or other crisis.

But he said he believes efforts will be made this year by the Department of Homeland Security’s Emergency Services Sector Coordinating Council to urge other states to adopt standard procedures modeled on those adopted by Mississippi and Louisiana. The Texas-based ESA is a member of the council, which also includes law enforcement, fire service, medical personnel and other first responders.

Elliott said efforts to adopt credentialing standards already are under way in Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Minnesota, and in Houston and Dallas.

The Mississippi Alarm Association is actively involved in an advisory council in that state which will help educate business groups there, including the security industry, on the process of securing credentials to enter an emergency area, Elliott said. Requirements for such credentialing include background checks, he said.

Although Mississippi’s most recent natural disaster was Hurricane Katrina in 2005, “each year in the summer and fall we anticipate a hurricane season that could impact our business and residential customers [who have security or life safety products or are monitored by a central station],” Elliott said.

After a hurricane or other crisis, he said, “we want access to these impacted and affected areas to rewire and restart our customers. … Access to those areas is key to our economic survival, and therefore access to emergency zones controlled by police, sheriff’s deputies and other first responders is an issue.”

Bob McVeigh, chairman of the ESA’s Industry Affairs Committee, who moderated the webinar, asked Elliott what type of places might need the services of security personnel after a disaster.

Elliott said places that needed assistance after Katrina included banks, medical facilities, schools and casinos.

In Mississippi, he said, credentialing to enter disaster areas is done on a color-coded tier system. “The first tier is first responders,” he said. “Our business community is within Tier 3, titled ‘rebuilding and repopulation.’ We would receive vehicle place cards and letters of access.”

Among the speakers was Roger Roehr, principal of Roehr Consulting, who said that anyone entering an emergency zone must be responding to a demonstrated need, have the requisite capabilities to respond, and have the proper credentials.

McVeigh said information discussed in the webinar would be posted on the ESA’s website: www.alarm.org.

Healthcare = growth vertical for Alarm & Suppression

Tess Nacelewicz — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:56:10 +0000

The upstate N.Y. company finds hospitals a source of ongoing projects

01/31/2012

GLENVILLE, N.Y.—Hospitals have proved to be a strong vertical for Alarm & Suppression Inc., a full-service fire company based here.
The healthcare sector has been adding jobs nationally and has been a bright spot during the economic downturn, according to a recent report in The Wall Street Journal.
In upstate New York, hospitals are continually renovating and expanding, providing ongoing work, Brad Nelson, project engineer/senior technician for Alarm & Suppression, told Security Systems News.
“There does seem to be a lot of healthcare work going on right now,” Nelson said. And he said that while Alarm & Suppression works in almost any type of vertical, its experience in healthcare facilities has made it “increasingly good and very efficient in that type of environment.”
Two facilities that Alarm & Suppression has been working with are St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany, N.Y., and the Albany Stratton VA Medical Center, Nelson said.
He said Alarm & Suppression, which he described as a “mom-and-pop type of alarm company” founded about two decades ago and now with about 20 employees, started working with St. Peter’s about seven years ago. The hospital has a Notifier by Honeywell alarm system and Alarm & Suppression is a Notifier distributor, so it was hired to do the hospital’s inspection, testing and maintenance, he said.
But at that time, Nelson said, the hospital also was “starting a multi-year master facilities plan, so right away we started getting contracts for new projects inside the hospital.”
Alarm & Suppression started work at the Stratton VA in 2008, doing a large project that “was a total gut of the old fire alarm system and a total brand-new install with the Notifier equipment,” Nelson said. One of the challenges, he said, was that the Veterans Administration had “a very specific voice evacuation sequence they wanted to happen, and there was a lot of equipment that needed to be installed to make that happen.”
The project finished in 2010, but Nelson said Alarm & Suppression continues to be involved with ongoing renovations at the hospital and “we’re also doing a new nuclear medicine building behind the hospital.”
At both facilities, Nelson said, Alarm & Suppression has installed graphics computers made by Notifier that can display the entire floor plan of each hospital with a click of a mouse and can zoom in on any detector.
“The graphics computer is one big thing that’s definitely a trend we’ve been seeing,” Nelson said.

Pilot shows smartphone potential

Tess Nacelewicz — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:16:19 +0000

HID: Other applications in the works

01/30/2012

IRVINE, Calif.—With the announcement today of the completion of its smartphones-as-keys pilot project at Arizona State University, HID officials hope more integrators will begin to investigate how NFC-enabled smartphones might fit into their access control offerings in the future.

Saying this project is just the beginning, Karl Weintz, VP business development, mobile access, for HID Global, said eventually smartphones will be able to “be used as a reader not just a credential.”

The well-publicized ASU project was the subject of an hour-long educational session at the ASIS show in September. The pilot involved 27 students and five staff members, 14 doors with HID iClass SE readers, four offline Sargent locks, various smartphones embedded with HID’s Secure Identity Object (SIO) technology (Apple iPhone 4s, Samsung Androids and RIM Blackberry Bolds) and service plans from Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. In the future, the same technology could be used for cashless payments at the school dining halls, for parking and more, Weintz said.

HID’s parent company, Assa Abloy, completed a similar pilot project with Clarion Hotels in Sweden, and more projects with enterprise clients are underway in North America. In addition, at the recent Consumer Electronics Show, HID’s sister company, Yale Locks, and Verizon demonstrated a residential solution using phones to unlock wireless locks.

While the Yale/Verizon solution is a residential application, Weintz said it’s the kind of technology that could be useful in the future for commercial applications. A building with wired readers on the perimeter of a building could have smartphone/offline lock solutions on interior doors, where a wired solution is cost-prohibitive. This would provide a cost-effective way to “provide visibility” about who accesses those interior doors and when, he said.

Weintz said many integrators mistakenly believe you “need to have Wi-Fi or Zigbee networks to make [solutions like this] work, but you don’t,” Weintz said. “All you will need in the future is a battery-operated lock with NFC and a smartphone with NFC and a wireless carrier network such as Verizon to carry back [information] to the head end—that’s the future we’re building toward.”

HID will tweak the way its readers and phones interact and alter the design of some phone applets as the result of findings from ASU—such as ensuring the phone works as a credential even if it’s out of power.

Although a lot of customers and partners are waiting until more NFC-enabled phones are in use before seriously exploring this technology, Weintz said NFC phones soon will be ubiquitous.

"There are rumors that the next iPhone will have NFC. There are currently 26 different handsets available and NXP is predicting that there will be 70 different handset models in 2012, with Gartner Group predicting over 120 million NFC phones," he said.

Simpson Security Systems finishing $7m prison job

Tess Nacelewicz — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:38:51 +0000

Integrator says profit margins still good on bigger jobs

01/25/2012

ALEXANDRIA, La.—Shrinking profit margins, a common lament among integrators, are something Keith Simpson, CEO of Simpson Security Systems, says he’s experienced on smaller commercial jobs, but larger projects remain nicely profitable for his company.

Why? There’s less competition for “true integration” jobs, Simpson told Security Systems News.

“You don’t get today [what you used to get] for an eight-camera job,” Simpson said. “There’s a broad range of competition for those jobs.”

For major projects—like the $7 million Federal Bureau of Prisons job that Simpson started at the end of 2009 and is now finishing in Aliceville, Ala.—there are fewer integrators out there who are qualified to do the work, Simpson said.

For these kinds of jobs, Simpson bids on the project with a general contractor, electrical contractor or with the end user. Those reviewing the bids are not just looking for the lowest bid, he said.

“They’re held accountable for the fire and security, so they want someone who has the [expertise and proper licensing], manpower, the funding, bonding and warrantees [and the ability to complete the job on time],” he said. “We have competition, but we don’t see the magnitude of competition that we do on smaller jobs.”

In business since 1991, Simpson Security is an independent $8 million company with 70 employees, eight of whom are dedicated to engineering and software development. It has its own central station and offers live video monitoring. It does a lot of work for the Department of Justice and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and in a variety of commercial vertical markets.

The Aliceville project is a new minimum-security prison, the seventh federal detention-center job Simpson will have completed. It has done several other county and state centers, he said.

It’s what Simpson calls a “true integration, where you take 13 or 15 systems, put it on one platform and custom-write the software for the customer.”

Simpson installed the fiber-optic backbone for the system, which includes fire, video and access control, MATV (cable), intercoms and paging, voice and data, perimeter fence detection, a phone system, a DVR with 5 terabytes of storage, a programmable logic controller (PLC) with custom-designed touch screens, and a command-and-control center with six 50-inch flat screens.

“Everything works off the backbone and it’s 100 percent redundant,” Simpson said. “If a node goes down in one building, another one takes over. It’s a completely self-healing loop,” he explained.

Of particular note are the 13 touch screens, the same kind used in U.S. Navy submarines, Simpson said. “The entire software package is custom-made and is a very complicated application,” he said.

In addition, the fence, “is audio done over fiber optic … they’ll know within five seconds if someone touches or is near the fence, and they’ll know what zone and where to respond,” Simpson said. “If someone taps the fence with a pencil, it will sound like someone’s cutting it with a chain saw inside the facility.”

Simpson’s brother, Kevin Simpson, is the company’s CFO. “He is still in the process of closing out the year. When the final figures are in, he thinks 2011 will be our best year yet,” Keith Simpson said. “Gross sales are up and the margins are way up. And the outlook for ’12 and ’13 is positive as well.”

Simpson Security does about 100 integrated systems a year, and “we try to do one or two large projects a year. We bid on four large projects and I think we’ll get two or three of those this year,” he said.