Security Systems News

JUN 2015

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www.securitysystemsnews.com June 2015 SeCuRITY SYSTeMS neWS CommerCial & systems integrators 22 briefs Alarm Systems/Falcon joins Honeywell Security as new authorized dealer MELVILLE, N.Y.—Honeywell welcomed Alarm Systems/Falcon Security as a Honeywell authorized security deal- er. For 43 years, the locally owned and operated company has provided security solutions in the Bay of Quinte region, the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville, Kingston and surround- ing areas in Ontario, Canada. Alarm Systems/Falcon Security has served more than 10,000 residential and commercial customers in the agricultur- al, industrial, education and retail indus- tries. The company designs, installs and monitors custom security solutions, offering personalized consultations, life safety, remote services, home automa- tion, energy management and alarm monitoring services. It also profession- ally inspects fre alarm systems. North American Video opens new Wash. offce BRICK, N.J.— North American Video (NAV) has opened a new offce in Everett, Wash., which is centrally located within the state's primary gaming area. "While NAV has operated a small offce in Arlington, Wash., for a num- ber of years, we decided that in order to provide the highest quality service, we needed a larger facility based in an area that is conveniently situated to where our customers are located," Dan Scroggins, director of sales and market- ing for NAV, said in a prepared state- ment. The new location is fully staffed with a team of technicians. It has a large warehouse that enables staging of large gaming projects, as well as a state-of- the-art demo room. DTT Surveillance moves new HQ to Las Vegas LAS VEGAS—DTT Surveillance, a pro- vider and integrator of one video sur- veillance and loss prevention technol- ogy, announced that is has moved its offcial company headquarters from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. DTT opened its doors in Las Vegas in July 2013. The space accommodates a signifcant portion of DTT's staff includ- ing loss prevention, customer support, IT, installations specialists, human resources and applications engineering teams. Critical sections of DTT's business will remain headquartered in the Los Angeles offce, including fnance, mar- keting, sales administration and infor- mation technology. PSA-TEC: How to adapt and thrive Vista goes to Florida By Martha Entwistle WESTMINSTER, Colo.—The subtitle for this year's "State of the Integrator" panel discussion at PSA-TEC was "Adapt or Die." Despite the foreboding-sounding subtitle, the panelists' outlook was decidedly optimistic—for some integrators anyway. Panelists agreed that independent integrators who do not embrace changing technology and update to service- centric business models will not survive, but Jorge Lozano, president of systems integration firm Condortech, pointed out why independent integrators are ideally suited to adapt and thrive. "We're nimble … and this is the time for nimble companies," he said. If you look at govern- ment regulations, the threat of cyberhacks and new technology as opportunities, Lozano said, "the horizon looks good." Cybersecurity made easy for integrators By Martha Entwistle INDIAN SHORES, Fla.—Vista Security & Investigations, a Toronto-based frm, is opening a new offce here on the Gulf Coast this month. The business will help sup- port Vista Security's regional and national account cus- tomers, but the new office is mainly focused on fnding new business and building its own client base in the area, according to Doug Benaman, a limited partner in the new Florida-based business. Vista Security was estab- lished in 1999 and is co-owned by Rob McKnight and Domenic Todaro. Benaman is an industry veteran who has worked in the security industry for 30 years. He joined Vista in January. The Florida offce will spe- cialize in commercial security with a "main focus on large commercial," Benaman said. Vista Security in Toronto has 550 employees, 500 of whom are security guard personnel. Down the road, the Florida offce will probably add secu- rity guard personnel services to its offerings but not in the frst year. Benaman believes there's "a lot of growth potential" for a systems integration company on Florida's Gulf Coast because there are fewer competitors in the area. The potential customer base includes "the industrial presence, in the Tampa/St. Pete area and in the Miami area there is a wide array of business, there's a lot of commercial possibilities there," he said. Benaman has hired an opera- tions manager, Bill Lyons. He plans to hire sales people, initially in Tampa, Orlando and Fort Myers. Benaman said the company is in discussions to acquire a bank of 100 to 200 commercial accounts in Florida, so that the company will have an imme- diate customer base to begin working with. Manufacturers Benaman has worked with in the past and expects to continue work- ing with include Panasonic, Kantecg, Axis, Exacq, FLIR Systems and Honeywell. SSN The panel discussion was mod- erated by Bill Bozeman, PSA Security CEO, and included Lozano, Brent Franklin, presi- dent of Unlimited Technology, Ron Oetjen, SVP of Securadyne, and Christine Lanning, presi- dent of IST. It took place May 5 here during PSA-TEC, a weeklong conference that is attended by inde- pendent integrators of all sizes and includes more than 100 classes and panel discussions. O t h e r s p e a k e r s agreed with Lozano. R o n O e t j e n s a i d Securadyne's growth strategy involved acquisitions and organic growth and, this year, the com- pany invested in a consulting division. However, the company's growth strategy is not etched in stone: "Leadership is willing to talk about [the best ways to grow and overcome obstacles] and rewrite the book if we need to," By Martha Entwistle WESTMINSTER, Colo.—Part of every integrator's cyber- security strategy right now should be a very basic step, confguring 802.1x on exte- rior cameras, according to Andrew Lanning, co-founder of systems integration frm IST, which is based in Hawaii. "It's a really simple way to increase the security of the solutions you're putting out there," Lanning said. Confguring 802.1x will not prevent every breach, but it's an important part of a "lay- ered defense," he said. Lanning led an education- al session on May 6 at the PSA-TEC conference. Called "Insider Edge: One integra- tor's path to a cyber-hardened solution," Lanning's presenta- tion centered on a protocol called 802.1x, which has been around for a long time, but is rarely used by integrators. The protocol authenticates the device and is built into most cameras. It's free and it takes little time to confgure, and yet almost no one uses it, Lanning said. The only cost associated with configuring the pro- tocol is a commercial-grade managed switch. It's a small expense, he said. Integrators should educate themselves and their technicians on 802.1x. Without it, "you leave yourself wide open to really simple hacks,"he said. Lanning suggested inte- grators consider the follow- ing questions: "If you sold a customer a device, did the confguration, changed the password, set the frame rate, but didn't configure 802.1x, have you done your job? And, if that customer is breached and you have not set up 802.1x, [will your installation] be defensible in court?" "That's why I did it. I can sleep at night," Lanning said. SSN C. Lanning Oetjen said. Lanning said it's important to realize that top company execu- tives "don't know it all."She uses "the collective knowledge base" of information she gathers from a number of sources such as PSA Security and ASIS groups from outside the security industry. She also seeks mentors "who I want to mimic or emulate … that has been extremely helpful to us." Bozeman asked the panelists which vertical markets the companies work in and which are the most proftable. Unlimited Technology "takes a team approach in attacking new business opportunities," send- ing out staff members who best understand the particular verti- cal, said Franklin. "They need to understand who [the customers] are, how the business works, what the challenges are." Oetjen said Securadyne "encourages sales teams to become experts in one of the six vertical markets we've identifed." In terms of proft margins, Oetjen said the "data center market is the strongest margin-wise" and they have to follow a number of regulations. "No. 2 is easily power and utility companies. No. 3 is the oil and gas guys … but that market is the most volatile. Everything is tied to the gas price," he said. IST works in a lot of verticals including local, county and state govern- ment; DOD work; and top com- mercial companies in Hawaii. As a small company, IST relies heavily on manufacturers for required training and certifca- tions, Lanning said. The company has also started to do "lunch-and- learns and user-group meetings Brent Franklin PSA-TEC see page 24

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