because we’re there in contact with people—with the initial permit application, the initial registration fee, and helping to process that piece of it,” Martin said. “In a partnership, we’re willing to help. But clearly we need to draw the line when it comes to collecting fees.”
Security industry consultant Lee A. Jones of San Clemente-based Support Services Group feels the Lexington ordinance is indicative of a trend of law enforcement giving back responsibility where it is due.
of the municipality’s license renewal process. “We are not interested in removing the responsibility of obtaining the initial permit, just the responsibility for renewing ... We’re obviously wanting to relieve ourselves of that burden,”
Bates said.
SIAC executive director Stan Martin said there was a blurring of responsibility. “This is kind of like sending Ford Motor Company the registration and speeding ticket fines. Certainly, the industry has accepted helping the police department—
By Daniel Gelinas, associate editor
LEXINGTON, Ky.—Alarm companies doing business in Lexington-Fayette County have been pushing for change lately. Ordinance No. 56-2005 has been on the books for four years now, but according to some, is in dire need of revision.
According to KBFAA area director Jeremy Bates, of Sonitrol Lexington, there are a number of issues with the ordinance, but of primary concern is the industry’s required involvement in administration
Municipality vs. industry?
Who should administer the county’s permit renewal process?
Reliance Protectron partners with
Blackline GPS
KENTUCKY see page 27
By Daniel Gelinas, associate editor
CALGARY, Alberta—Reliance Protectron Security Services, the second largest security provider in Canada, in May teamed with Blackline GPS Corp., a technology manufacturer of security, tracking, and monitoring devices. Through the partnership, retailers—and eventually Reliance Protectron dealers—will be able to offer a full suite of vehicle monitoring, tracking and theft-recovery services to end users in Canada and the United States, to be monitored by Reliance. The first solution under the partnership is the Escort Entourage CIS and is due from Blackline through retail outlets in July.
According to Reliance Protectron vice president of marketing and business development Patrice De Luca the partnership broadens the borders of the traditional security channel and shifts the focus of protection to the end user.
“We’ve always considered that monitoring assets—whether they were mobile or fixed assets—if emergency dispatch was concerned, that was core business to us,” De Luca said.
Blackline president and CEO Clark Swanson agreed. “There’s a convergence that’s happening for sure. ... Industries that are saturated are looking for creative growth,” Swanson said. “They’re all saying, ‘I can attach other services.’ ... Security companies are doing the same thing. So now you can have total peace of mind.”
The appeal of the Blackline/ Reliance Protectron solution does not stop at stolen vehicle recovery, according to Swanson. The customer can monitor the vehicle in real time using a web browser or Blackline’s BlipPlus mobile application for smart-phones. The end user can also review six months-worth of cached vehicle history, including location, time, heading and speed, providing value for the driver wanting to review trip logs, and peace of mind for the concerned parent wanting to monitor a young driver. SSN
ESX enlists recruits
By Daniel Gelinas, associate editor
TAMPA, Fla. and LANCASTER, Pa.—The Electronic Security Expo this year was to feature a new, cutting-edge, half-day education program, entitled the
and W underway toward more interactive video and audio, access control and monitored services. The timing of this was just perfect.”
Security Partners vice president
ESX Next Generation Monitoring Boot Camp, on Monday, June 22, from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Baltimore Convention Center. Sponsored by
SureView Systems, the boot camp aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the opportunities and requirements for launching next generation monitoring and remote management services.
According to SureView Systems executive vice president Matt Krebs, “there’s a large movement
Kerry Egan, one of the confirmed panelists for the session, believes “doing [the bootcamp] at ESX is important because ESX was created to be more the educational segment to the trade show idea in the industry. ISC East est are more of a product line intro.” Why is a boot camp for next generation monitoring important? “The idea of remote managed services is going to give dealers the opportunity to, in fact, double the recurring revenue
Kerry Egan
that they are used to getting per customer,” Egan said.
Waste Management Security Services director of physical security operations and systems Sarah Conley, another boot camp panelist, feels the opportunity to participate in, and help grow, the industry is invaluable. “We believe very strongly in both the CSAA and the NBFAA, and the fact that they’re providing this forum for education and networking is very valuable,” Conley said.
Krebs assured boot camp recruits they could expect to walk away empowered. “If I’m a boot camp attendee, and I want to get into this interactive world, when I walk away, I’m going to have a pretty good idea of how I’m going to get there.” SSN
CSAA multilingual training
VIENNA, Va.—The Central Station Alarm Association on April 29 announced its Central Station Operator Level I course is now available in Spanish and French.
Developed in a partnership with the Asociación Latinoamericana de Seguridad (ALAS), and CANASA, the course now extends its reach beyond the English-speaking security industry.
According to ALAS director of operations Víctor Alarcón there is a real need for education and standardization in areas where English is not spoken. “The Latin American security industry and central stations, in particular, are in great need of education. They want to become more professional and deliver a better service to customers,” Alarcón said.
KORE, LoJack SCI partner
FORNEY, Texas and ATLANTA—KORE Telematics, a digital wireless services provider, and LoJack Supply Chain Integrity in early May announced a partnership in which KORE will provide GSM wireless services to power LoJack SCI’s advanced supply chain monitoring and security solutions for the global transportation industry.
Alex Brisbourne, president of KORE, says the driver behind the partnership is KORE’s ability to provide globally available connections for a wide range of applications. “The key essentially is the ability to connect remotely located devices over the cellular infrastructures,” Brisbourne said.
decided to move into Canada, they met with some significant resistance because Canadians are so protective of their identity. Dealers were very reluctant to climb on board with a program that would see their accounts monitored in the United States,”
O’Grady said.
Monitronics VP marketing & market development Mitch Clarke feels the alliance is indicative of industry resilience. “We’re very excited that amidst a downturn economy, we’re still finding ways to grow,” Clarke said. “We
There were some perceptions issues within the dealer and subscriber communities,” Soo said. “In Canada there were a handful of central stations that we spoke to who had a national presence, didn’t compete with their dealers and also provided a very high level of response. That was our criterion moving forward, and that was what got us together with Lanvac.”
Lanvac general manager Bert O’Grady said the Monitronics alliance was a perfect fit for both companies and offered a powerful synergy. “When Monitronics
By Daniel Gelinas, associate editor
DALLAS and OTTAWA— Monitronics, one of the United States’ larger monitoring companies, has entered into a strategic alliance with Canadian third-party monitoring firm Lanvac, which operates a hot redundant network of five centrals across Canada, to improve its dealer program north of the border.
According to Patrick Soo, Monitronics’ director of Canadian operations, the strategic alliance made sense for both organizations. “We were monitoring our accounts out of the U.S. ...
Monitronics, Lanvac offer
Canadian monitoring
SureView announces Immix/Digital Acoustics integration
TAMPA, Fla.—SureView Systems announced May 26 it had successfully completed the integration of Digital Acoustics two-way audio suite into Immix, the company’s automation software platform.
“Like a lot of things in the security industry, technology and products are end user-driven, and what we’re seeing is a huge spike out in the field of end users requesting two-way audio capabilities through a central station environment,” SureView executive vice president of sales Matt Krebs said.
Bill Thorpe, president of Atlanta-based Remote Systems Solutions, claims the new, integrated Immix saves time, makes his company’s job easier, and improves performance. “We use the platform as a dashboard. When we’re looking at a site that gives us an alarm, we can pull it up, look at the video, use the video appliances, use the audio appliances—it’s all right there on the head-end screen. It’s very intuitive for our officers, and with the nature of what we do, that’s very important,” Thorpe said.
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