Security Systems News

FEB 2018

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briefs www.securitysystemsnews.com February 2018 S e C ur IT y S y ST e MS N e WS Monitoring 18 Monroeville, Pa., adds ASAP capabilities to save time on alarm signals MONROEVILLE, Pa.—Monroeville is the first municipality in the Pittsburgh area to implement Automated Secure Alarm Protocol (ASAP), a technology designed to automate communication between alarm monitoring central stations and public safety dispatch/911 centers, Vector Security recently announced. "Every second counts in emergen- cies," said Monroeville chief of police Doug Cole. "With ASAP, we'll be able to reduce call-processing times to provide quicker and more accurate emergency response to Monroeville citizens." Monroeville receives 2,500 calls at its dispatch center monthly, according to the announcement. "Historically, its average alarm response time has been between two to four minutes. With ASAP delivering alarm notification infor- mation directly from central stations to public safety answering points (PSAPs) and public safety dispatch centers via computer rather than by phone, the municipality expects alarm response times to drop to a minute and half or less. These benefits will extend across Monroeville police, fire and emergency medical services, and Pitcairn police and emergency medical services," the announcement read. Vector Security has more than 260 customers in the Monroeville area that will benefit from improved emergen- cy response times via ASAP. Vector Security customers were among the first to go online following the December 19 launch. Vector Security also assist- ed Monroeville by helping to perform extensive testing prior to the system going live, the announcement said. "We are constantly working to pro- vide a safer environment for the pub- lic," Anita Ostrowski, vice president of central station services, Vector Security, said in a prepared statement. "We've come a long way since being the first alarm company to introduce ASAP to Richmond, Va., in 2012, and we are glad to see the technology make its way into more communities across the nation." Dynamark hires a new director of sales HAGERSTOWN, Md.—Dynamark Security Centers hired Greg Peninger as the company's new director of sales for the southern region of the USA. Peninger will oversee all sales channels of Dynamark's southern region, which encompasses states reaching from Florida through Texas. "Due to the steady growth of Dynamark's footprint, the addition of a director of sales for the southern USA was needed," Hank Groff, senior vice president of sales and business devel- opment, said in a prepared statement. interesting across a couple different vectors," Alex Haro, Life360's co-founder and presi- dent, told Security Systems News. "If you think about why people get home security, it is to protect not only the things in their house, but also the people," he said, adding that ADT Go brings peace of mind to customers outside of their homes. Haro called ADT Go the evo- lution of the ADT Anywhere offering that was discussed during CES 2017. ADT Go combines Life360's propri- etar y location technology with ADT's monitoring and response capabilities. ADT Go means a lot for the industry as a whole, according to Haro. "We really are taking the best of what Life360 has built and [are] really start- ing to disrupt home security. Instead of being this thing that's just about your house, it's really about protecting the family overall—and I think that is the long-term evolution of home security as a general industry." A large difference between Life360's app and ADT Go will be the SOS feature, where users can connect with one of ADT's monitoring agents if they need assistance. Haro said that ADT and Life360 could build more features exclusive to ADT Go, "as we fully launch this and Medical Guardian launches new system By Spencer Ives LAS VEGAS—PERS company Medical Guardian at CES 2018 launched a new product, the Freedom Guardian, a smart watch designed specifically for seniors' everyday use as well as for emergencies. "It's a smart watch for aging adults that was built with fea- tures just for them," Medical Guardian founder and CEO G e o ff G ro s s t o l d S e c u r i t y Systems News. "All of a sud- den, our average customer … is going to have a smart watch that resembles things that their kids and their grandkids have, but it's made just for them." 2018 was the first year that Medical Guardian had a booth at the Consumer Electronics Show. "We had a lot of posi- tive response to the Freedom Guardian and everybody was really curious about the fea- ture and excited about what it can do to expand the market," Gross said. "The core service of the Freedom is emergency help, which has always been our core service," Gross said, add- ing that other features support this focus. The system has GPS and Wi-Fi included, making it "much more accurate as far as location services go." The Freedom Guardian can provide the time, weather forecasts, a step counter, and a transportation tool offered through a partnership between Medical Guardian and Lyft. "Through that, at the press of a button, [users will] be able to connect with our customer care department and we can arrange for a Lyft ride for our customers," Gross said. Increasing the transporta- tion capabilities for users can help ward against other risks in the aging population, Gross pointed out. "Heart failure and falls are certainly something we focus on every day, but many are not focusing on lone- liness and depression which can kill as well. So, we're always focused on additional services that will get people moving, get them to where they want to go, keep people busy and happy, with the idea that it'll increase the balance of life," he said. Users can also set alerts on the Freedom Guardian, s u c h a s m e d i c a t i o n By SSN Staff V I E N N A , V a . — T h e Monitoring Association re c e n t l y a n n o u n c e d i t s f i r s t " T M A Te c h n o l o g y Summit," to be held March 19-21, 2018 in Salt Lake City. The event is coordi- nated by TMA's Technology Committee, which is co- chaired by Sascha Kylau, vice president of sales, Onetel Security and Steve B u t k o v i c h , C T O , C P I Security Systems. "We invite CTOs, CIOs, and IT directors of monitor- ing companies to partici- pate in the first TMA Tech Summit to learn about and discuss technology issues that directly affect monitor- ing centers," Kylau said in a prepared statement. "By attending, these tech pros will learn about the newest technologies—hardware, software and services—to run their central stations securely and efficiently, minimizing downtime and protecting them from inter- nal and external threats," he continued. "We also welcome dealers, owners, and interested par- ticipants from manufactur- ing companies," Butkovich said in the announcement. "We'll be talking about all the things that matter when TMA announces technology summit start to get user feedback and really understand how our users are using it." ADT Go will give families more options for connectiv- ity, including family location sharing, private messaging, activity history and battery life alerts. Another feature can give users information on crime in their area. The app can also let users know when family members a r r i v e a t o r l e a v e c e rt a i n areas, like their home, school or workplace. Additionally, "Driver safety alerts notify family automatically when a crash is detected, dispatches emergency services and stays on the line until help arrives as well as provides extended roadside assistance for minor accident support," according to ADT Go's announcement. ADT Go is available to con- sumers that don't have an ADT security system. " We b e l i e v e e v e r y o n e deserves to feel safe, no matter where they are, and the need to protect your family doesn't stop at the front door," Jay Darfler, senior vice president, emerging markets at ADT, said in a prepared statement. "ADT Go represents an opportunity to redefine what personal secu- rity truly means. By partner- ing with Life360, our hope is to empower more families to experience life because they feel safe." SS n it comes to technology and running and securing an effective business." Sessions and topics will include: • Intelligent apps and analytics • MPLS, SD-WAN, secure VPNs (what are they and what is best for my business) • Contact Center 2018 (speech recognition for QC, text to speech, AI, and more) • Data Storage (new stor- age options and best prac- tices for storage and data retention) • 3G, LTE, FirstNet, 5G and beyond • Next gen Linux main- frame • Cybersecurity (gap & risk assessment—It's a busi- ness issue, not just an IT issue) • Next gen firewalls and other cyber hardware tools • Data backup and recov- ery solutions • Data encryption In the announcement, T M A n o t e d t h a t t h e Technology Summit will be modeled after its Fall Operations Management Seminar. Both days of the conference will conclude with round table discus- sions of the day's presenta- tions. SS n ADT launches new mobile app, ADT Go Free D o M see page 19 Smart watch includes emergency response, transportation, and messaging capabilities Continued from page 1

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