Archive: July 2014
Michael Dell makes 'multi-million dollar' investment in VMS provider Eagle Eye Networks
July 31, 2014Martha Entwistle
AUSTIN, Texas—In his first personal investment in physical security, Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Inc., today announced a “multi-million dollar” investment in VMS provider Eagle Eye Networks.“Eagle Eye is the first company in physical security where I have personally led with the investment decision,” Dell told Security Systems News in an email interview. Eagle Eye, a cloud-managed video management system launched in January by Dean Drako, an entrepreneur who...
Speco woos integrators with IP savvy
July 31, 2014Martha Entwistle
Speco Technologies, a video surveillance manufacturer based in New York, may be best known for its analog solutions, but it is well into IP-based technology these days.
Today, Speco counts 25 of the largest and most sophisticated independent integrators in the U.S as its valued resellers, with Protection 1 as one of its marquee customers.
These are relationships the Speco management team has actively pursued. And, their pursuit of integrators has just begun, they say. The company's sales, engineering,...
Centrals get social
July 30, 2014Martha Entwistle
Social media may not be a major revenue generator at this point, but third-party monitoring stations are making more use of popular social media sites to reinforce traditional sales and marketing efforts, according to a group of executives from five well known third-party monitoring companies who spoke to Security Systems News for this report.Which social media platform is the favorite for central stations? Well, no one mentioned “Thumb” or “Pheed.” And Instagram, Pinterest...
Talking keypads and panels with Karen Sullivan
July 30, 2014Leif Kothe
MEMPHIS, Tenn.—Recently named sales manager at Z-Tech Central, based here, Karen Sullivan will be responsible for managing the sales department for the company's UL-listed and FM-certified central station. She has a lot of experience in the alarm industry, and not just on the security side. Sullivan transitioned to the industry after working as a 911 manager at a PSAP call center in Athens, Tenn. After the city deconsolidated the call center, she was approached by an alarm company that installed...
Vivint creates CSO position, hires federal cyber expert Joe Albaugh
July 30, 2014Martha Entwistle
PROVO, Utah—Joe Albaugh, who today joined Vivint in the newly created position of chief security officer, brings significant cyber expertise, having previously served as chief information security officer at the U.S. Department of Transportation and also at the Federal Aviation Administration.
Albaugh told Security Systems News in an email interview that he will be “focused on converging activities across the corporate IT, product development, operations and physical security areas...
Security threats to wireless alarms?
July 30, 2014Leif Kothe
Tech publication Wired magazine may not focus too closely on alarm monitoring or residential security, but it does devote a good deal of ink to assessing network security threats, no matter what the context.
Just last month a writer for the magazine, Mat Honan, sketched a funny, dystopian picture of the connected home in revolt, commandeered by morally wayward hackers on some perverse quest for Internet notoriety. Identifiable only by screen names evoking bad 90s cyberpunk films, these lonesome code...
Security threats to wireless alarms?
July 30, 2014Leif Kothe
Tech publication Wired magazine may not focus too closely on alarm monitoring or residential security, but it does devote a good deal of ink to assessing network security threats, no matter what the context.
Just last month a writer for the magazine, Mat Honan, painted a funny dystopian sketch of the connected home in revolt, commandeered by morally wayward hackers on some perverse quest for Internet notoriety. Identifiable only by screen names evoking bad cyberpunk films from the 90s, these lonesome...
Amherst Alarm takes 'deliberate' path to success
July 30, 2014Tess Nacelewicz
AMHERST, N.Y.—Amherst Alarm, one of the nation's leading alarm companies, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. CEO Tim Creenan credits his company's long-term success to its "slow and deliberate" approach to business.
“We've kind of had slow, steady, controlled growth over the years, where we didn't, [for example], jump from 100 accounts to 10,000 accounts or something crazy like that, [which is] unmanageable,” Creenan, who co-founded Amherst in 1984,...
Security threats to wireless alarms?
July 30, 2014Leif Kothe
Tech publication Wired magazine may not focus too closely on alarm monitoring or residential security, but it does devote a good deal of ink to assessing network security threats, no matter what the context.
Just last month a writer for the magazine, Mat Honan, painted a funny dystopian sketch of the connected home in revolt, commandeered by morally wayward hackers on some perverse quest for Internet notoriety. Identifiable only by screen names evoking bad cyberpunk films from the 90s, these lonesome...
Study: Hybrid suppression systems need own standards
July 30, 2014Tess Nacelewicz
QUINCY, Mass.—A hybrid fire suppression system is a combination water mist and gas suppression system, and because this new technology is a hybrid, there is no one NFPA standard that covers it. Should there be? A recently released study looked to answer that question.The Fire Protection Research Foundation initiated the project, which is titled a “Literature Review on Hybrid Fire Suppression Systems.” The foundation, based here, is an affiliate of the National Fire Protection Association.Amanda...