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8 june 2017 www.securitysystemsnews.com 2017 Monitoring Source Book Continued from page 7 P e RS growth over the past five years, and one that has a variety of uses including lone workers and children. Fall detection has become a more integral part of business, Bangerter pointed out. "Five years ago, it was kind of 'It's good if you have it,' but there weren't any out that really were reli- able. Now … you have to have fall detection, a fall detection pendent [or] device, to be a successful PERS company." The technology for fall detection has gotten better in recent years, Bangerter said, "but, at the end of the day, there's no way to, 100 percent of the time, detect a fall." Fall detection is not the only technology being brought in. Adams added that there is additional functionality built into Wearable Health Solutions' units that assists caregivers but doesn't need interaction from the end user, such as tracking and geofencing. "What the new technology has done is it's opened up the industry for us, so it's not just for elderly people," Adams said. Geofencing is a recent development in the mPERS space, Adams said, and it has opened up new markets, such as for people with Alzheimer's, dementia or autism. "It's great for latchkey kids also," Adams continued. "Latchkey kids come home from school, they come inside a predefined geofence, which is the perimeter of the house. When they get home, it sends a signal to the parents that the kids are home." The PERS market has been rapidly changing over the last five years, according to Herranen. "People actually interested in personal safety devices, or devices providing them inde- pendence longer, are actually younger. So, that means that the average age of the traditional PERS system owner is nowadays younger than it was five years ago," she said. Several trends are driving the market, according to Herranen. "When more and more people are interested in PERS or mobile PERS … that also means that the importance of ease of use, and ease of installation and ease of integration grows," she said. Another trend is toward understanding wellness, and being more proactive. Connectivity is an important part of aging-in-place, accord- ing to Baskin. "For a senior, one of the important things is keeping them from being isolated," he said. "A senior that is feeling lonely, isolated and depressed could be in just as much danger as a senior feeling chest pains." Currently for Nortek Security and Control, communication to caregivers comes in the form of notifications, but that could change in the future, according to Herranen. "Looking for- ward, we see an opportunity to increase that communications channel to be more encompassing … maybe even thinking of integrating a video [element]." PERS technologies are being infused with more technology that could be a benefit in the future. Some people are using all of the technologies put into PERS devices and some are not, Adams noted. "As time goes on, more and more people will be utilizing these features and functions that we're putting into these devices. So, we think it's important to have those features and functions ready so when the population starts shifting, it's there for them," he said. Bangerter said: "We're overdesigning the base … of our devices right now for our future, to add future features very easily." Adams also underlined the importance of simplicity in mPERS and PERS devices to better fit the senior user. "What we give them is a medical alert system … [that] just has one button, and that's an emergency button," he said. "You've got a simple device for a user, and that's all you want them to have—you just want them pushing a button in the event of an emergency. And you've got a more involved device that the loved ones can look at. It's the same device, but they're going to be looking at more involved data," Adams said. Personal emergency response systems should fit into every consumer's life, according to Bangerter, "Every person in the U.S.A. should have a mobile PERS at some point. And then, just the same, every person should have an in-home PERS solution." Companies in the security space will be well poised to take advantage of where the connected health market is headed, according to Baskin. "Alarm dealers that are already in the home, putting in security systems, … they are sitting in a position to be able to then also provide connected health. As these solutions become more robust, they will begin to more and more require professional installation," he said. SSN Free webcast! Sponsored by: Thursday July 13 • 2 pm ET Standards in Evolving Technologies Webcast Series Brought to you by: www.securitysystemsnews.com/webcasts There's no charge to register. Sign up online today!