Archive: March 2006
Full house at IP Institute
March 30, 2006Martha Entwistle
LAS VEGAS--Latecomers who want to attend the first ever IP Institute at ISC West next week are out of luck.
This full-day educational program has sold out--twice.
"It is somewhat unusual for conference sessions to completely sell-out, but I believe the demand for IP training is so great, that it necessitated that we add another and that one sold out," said Beth Blake, ISC West public relations director. "We have a waiting list for future dates," she said.
Offered for the first time this year, the...
Survey respondents sound off on NBFAA name change
March 30, 2006Martha Entwistle
YARMOUTH, Maine--Should the National Burglar & Fire Alarm Association name stay or should it go? The NBFAA will announce the verdict at an ISC West press conference next week; this week, however, the majority of respondents to a Security Systems News survey expressed this opinion: Stay, stay, stay.
Fifty-one percent of the 149 people who responded to the survey said the NBFAA should not change its name; 35 percent favored a name change and 14 percent were not sure.
One respondent called the NBFAA...
CIA moves headquarters, central station location as part of facility upgrade
March 30, 2006L. Samuel Pfeifle
FISHKILL, N.Y.--Commercial Instruments and Alarm Systems Security, a full-service security company serving residential and commercial accounts and doing fire installation, has nearly completed a total upgrade of its facilities. The administrative offices moved here from Poughkeepsie at the end of 2005 and CIA's central station and showroom were scheduled to transition in the middle of April, after Security Systems News went to press. In total, the move will be from 5,000 to 8,000 square feet.
More...
ARC develops IP alarm reporting as broadband use surges
March 30, 2006Erin Zwirn
EUCLID, Ohio--American Response Center teamed with Bosch in March to offer an Internet monitoring technology product that adapts alarm panels to report over IP, as more residential and commercial locations convert from phone lines to Voice over Internet Protocol.
American Response Center has worked with its dealers for more than two years on ways to offer a transition to VoIP technology. "We were looking at products that our dealers could plug in and get the signal out," American Response Center...
Smith introduces new dealer program
March 30, 2006Martha Entwistle
PASEDENA, Calif.--After two years of planning, industry veteran Tony Smith will announce a "no-hold-back, no-guarantee" dealer account-funding program next week at the ISC West trade show.
Called Security First AlarmGroup, the dealer program has been in the works for a while. "It's taken us more than a couple years to put this together because [the financing is not] traditional. We wanted to be able to tell the dealer that we're committed to him for at least five years and that we have the funding...
New Brink's office in Motor City
March 30, 2006Martha Entwistle
MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich.--"Spread too thin" with only one Detroit-area branch, Brink's Home Security on March 14 opened a second office to meet the growing demand for home security systems in this market.
"We're looking forward to being able to manage the volume [of work] and excited to be up and operating," said Joe Gregart, newly named general manager of the 3,700-square-foot office at 25215 Dequindre, in Madison Heights.
About half of the staff from the original Detroit-area office in Livonia joined...
Schwab protects its own
March 23, 2006SSN Staff
NEW YORK--The brokerage firm The Charles R. Schwab Corp. has invested $2.68 million since 2003 "for security systems and equipment" to protect its chairman and chief executive officer, Charles R. Schwab, the Associated Press reported.
The yearly breakdown for Schwab's security services looks like this: $307,022 in 2005; $2,000,315 in 2004 and $309,966 in 2003. "The amounts don't include portions of the home security system installation that Schwab paid for personally," the report said.
An "independent...
Henry Bros. CEO sees second year of rapid growth as validation
March 23, 2006L. Samuel Pfeifle
SADDLE BROOK, N.J.--Henry Brothers Electronics, a systems integrator trading on the American Stock Exchange, reported 42-percent growth YTD for the year ended Dec. 31, 2005, with revenues of $42.2 million. With a current backlog of $16 million in business, Henry Bros. is forecasting 2006 revenues of $45 million to $48 million, with an operating margin of six percent.
This represents the second straight year of more than 40-percent growth. The company is now roughly four times larger than when it...
Atlas Security Service goes from "good to great"
March 23, 2006Erin Zwirn
SPRINGFIELD, Mo.--Full-service security company Atlas Security Service and its UL-listed central station, the Alarm Control Center, moved into new digs in late February for the first time since the southwest Missouri company opened in 1962.
The move was facilitated by a lack of sufficient space at its previous location. "You name it, we needed it," Jim Wade, president at the company said. The company's parking lot couldn't even accommodate its entire staff, Wade said.
Not only has the move gained...
CSAA leaders present in Mexico
March 23, 2006SSN Staff
MEXICO CITY--A panel of U.S. central station executives from the Central Station Alarm Association will speak about trends for central stations in Latin America during the Expo Seguridad Mexico 2006 conference and trade show held April 26-28 at Centro Banamex in Mexico City.
The panel, made up of John Murphy of Vector Security, Thom Helisek of Vector Security, Lou Fiore of L.T. Fiore, Bob Bonifas of Alarm Detection Systems, and Ben Dickens Esq. of Blooston, Mordofsky, Dickens Duffy and Prendergast,...