Security Systems News

JAN 2018

Security Systems News is a monthly business newspaper that reaches 25,100 security installers, product distributors, central stations, engineers & architects, and security consultants. Our editorial coverage focuses on breaking news in all major se

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Head briefs MONI renews partnership with Skyline Smart Home By Spencer Ives SAN DIEGO—Honeywell held its annual CONNECT confer- ence here in November, to help dealers learn to expand their business and leverage the Honeywell's products and services. Below is a brief over- view of the event from Security Systems News' managing editor, Spencer Ives, who attended the event. Thursday, Nov. 9 The first educational session I attended was "Maximizing you Monitoring: How to Ensure Your Central Station Is Working for You," a presentation from Tony Wilson, president of CMS. Here, Wilson discussed key points and questions dealers should consid- er when looking at a wholesale central station. Companies should look at their monitoring center in terms of its people, he said, advising companies to tour their monitoring facilities. "Go visit your central station. See the people, meet the people," he said. Alarm dealers should also be looking at how the central sta- tion recruits, hires and trains its employees, as well as its process for quality assurance. There's also the level of ser- vice to consider; while a quick response is the goal in a monitor- ing center, representatives should also be courteous and polite, Wil- son noted. Disaster recovery is another key consideration. Dealers should know their monitor- ing company's policies around events—such as natural disas- ters—that may affect the station or otherwise increase alarm traf- fic. "Ask what the plans are for an evacuation," he said. APS owner Cat Fleuriet, EPS director of business development David Hood, and Custom Alarm CEO Melissa Brinkman, in the second session I attended, each gave their insight into how secu- rity companies can differentiate and better themselves by becom- ing more involved in their respec- tive communities. Fleuriet opened the session with her company's approach to community service. APS, based just outside of New Orleans, hears what its employees care about; the company asks each of its new hires about the commu- nity service opportunities that are most important to them. Helping out can, in turn, help the business too. People want to do business with a company that gives back to the community, said Fleuriet. It can also be a recruit- ment tool, Hood noted, with employees wanting to be aligned with a company that contibutes to the area. Security companies can also recognize a need in their area and fill it, Fleuriet said, such as with assisting after natural disas- ters. Gathering school supplies for children is one example she gave, stressing the importance of returning to normalcy after a dif- ficult event such as a hurricane. Hood said that EPS has been embracing community service more in the past 10 years. EPS, based around Grand Rap- ids, Mich., is a local business that is competing with national com- panies and community service can make a difference, Hood said. Companies can also get benefits out of more local involvement, such as networking. Earned media recognition, when a company gets recognized for its local efforts, can also be a valuable resource, Hood said. C o m p a n i e s c a n g e t Honeywell brings conference to San Diego Home automation market to see strong growth through 2025 PUNE, India—The global home automa- tion system market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 13.93 percent between 2017 and 2025, from $35.24 billion in 2017 to $113.82 billion by 2025, accord- ing to research firm Insight Partners based here. The report, entitled "Home Automation Market to 2025 – Global Analysis and Forecasts by Product and Networking," covers six major regions including North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa and South America. In addition to providing an overview of the global home automation system market with detailed market segmentation, the report also analyzes the current home automation system market scenario and forecasts the market up to 2025. Insight Partners found that North America is the largest adopter of home automation systems, followed by Europe, while the Asia Pacific region—with grow- ing numbers of infrastructures and increasing technological trends—is antic- ipated to be the fastest growing region. The research firm listed some of the key players of home automation system market, including Johnson Controls, Siemens AG, Legrand, Schneider Electric SE, Honeywell International Inc., Control4 Corporation, ABB Ltd., Crestron Electronics Inc., Leviton Manufacturing Company, Inc., Lutron, Ingersoll-Rand PLC and Vantage Controls among oth- ers. T-Mobile enters the home security space with Nest BELLEVUE, Wash.—T-Mobile in early November announced its entry into connected home security with the T-Mobile Nest security pack launching on November 10 at T-Mobile stores nation- wide. T-Mobile was also selected as the exclusive cellular backup provider for the Nest Secure, the announcement noted. "At Nest, we believe that there's no one-size-fits-all solution to feeling safe," Tom vonReichbauer, chief business offi- cer at Nest, said in a prepared state- ment. "So we designed Nest Secure to be modular and remain on guard to give people the confidence and peace of mind that it will always be working, even if there's a power or Wi-Fi outage. With its reliable and continuously expanding LTE footprint, T-Mobile provides that critical cellular backup connection." The T-Mobile Nest security pack includes: The Nest Secure alarm sys- tem, with a Nest Guard base with key- pad, motion detector, alarm and cellular backup service, two Nest Detect motion and open/close sensors, and two Nest Tag key fobs, and a Nest Cam Indoor security camera with Nest Aware service, providing intelligent alerts and 10 days of continuous video recording. By Spencer Ives DALLAS—MONI Smart Secu- rity on Dec. 11 announced a renewed relationship with Sky- line Smart Home Protection, based out of Los Angeles. Start- ing on Jan. 1, 2018, Skyline will begin selling exclu- sively for MONI. "We're really excit- ed about it and it really comes at a good time for us—to start off the year with a great new partner," Jeff Gardner, CEO of MONI, told Security Systems News. "One of the things that drives our revenue growth at our com- pany is the strength of our dealer program, so … adding a dealer with the prominence of Skyline and the size of Skyline will send a great message." Skyline was previously a MONI dealer, from 2010 to 2014. Gardner said that increased advertising and pub- licity for the MONI brand, as well as MONI's sales training opportunities were among fac- tors that drew Skyline back to MONI's dealer program. "We're just thrilled to get them back," Gardner said. "I am thrilled to be partner- ing again with MONI," Edwin Arroyave, CEO of Skyline, said in a prepared statement. "It has always been important for Sky- line to align itself with partners who understand the value and importance of technology and innovation, while consistently providing the high- est levels of customer service. MONI shares these values and I could not be more excited to be renew- ing our relationship. I look forward to the opportunities ahead." Skyline was found- ed in 2004 and offers home security products and services, such as interactive and home automation, mobile apps, video monitoring and energy manage- ment products. The company currently has more than 80,000 smart home customers across more than 30 states. "They're going to be one of the largest dealers in the MONI program," Gardner said. Skyline is "the largest dealer partner that we've recruited since I've been here, and I've been here just a little over two years," he said. "I'm hopeful that Skyline will be the first of many new dealers that we add to our program in 2018," said Gardner. SSN By SSN Staff DALLAS—Parks Associ- ates recently announced new research showing that 22 per- cent of U.S. broadband house- holds plan to buy a voice-con- trolled smart speaker with per- sonal assistant in 2017, noting that consumer interest in voice innovations continues to grow as the voice-first ecosystem expands into new categories, products, and interactions. The international research firm will explore this IoT mar- ket trend, and others, when it hosts its 12th-annual CON- NECTIONS Summit: IoT and the Smart Home on Jan. 9 at CES 2018 in Las Vegas. The Summit features mul- tiple sessions on driving mass-market adoption of smart home products and solutions. Topics include partnership opportunities, the impact of voice on the user experience, and advances in AI and data analytics. "It's still early days for the voice-first market, but rapid early adoption of products like smart speakers with personal assistants, at 12 percent of U.S. broadband households by year-end 2016, demonstrates the need and demand for a nat- ural and easy-to-use interface," Dina Abdelrazik, research ana- lyst, Parks Associates, said in a prepared statement. "Natural language processing for voice technologies happen in the cloud, so real-time updates can be made quickly once con- sumer realities unfold." Abdelrazik will moderate the session "Voice Control: Improving the Smart Home Experience" on Jan. 9, a ses- sion that will explore the potential for voice as the pri- mary user interface for the smart home and the data and intelligence needed to improve the consumer experience. Join- ing Abdelrazik on the panel are the following speakers: Aaron Emigh, CEO and co-founder, Brilliant Inc.; Jim Hunter, chief scientist and technology evan- gelist, Greenwave Systems Inc.; Miles Kingston, GM, Smart Home Group, Intel Corp.; Todd Mozer, CEO, Sensory Nana Murugesan, VP and GM, Services and New Business, Samsung Electronics America; and Mark Spates, Product Lead for Smart Home, Google. SSN Voice playing a larger role in the home Jeff Gardner Ho N eywell see page 25 www.securitysystemsnews.com January 2018 SEC ur IT y S y STEMS n EWS Residential s ystems 22 residential s ystems

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