Archive: October 2013
Honeywell donates more than $250,000 in protective gear and cash to fire departments
October 31, 2013SSN Staff
COLORADO SPRINGS, Co.— Honeywell has honored the work of firefighters who battled blazes around Colorado Springs in 2012 and 2013, giving more than $250,000 in protective gear to six volunteer departments, and cash donations to others, Honeywell announced Oct. 30.
The companies who received donations fought the Waldo Canyon fires in 2012 and the Black Forest fires in 2013.
Honeywell employees gave to the Honeywell Humanitarian Relief Fund to support Colorado Springs in the aftermath of the...
Habitec revamps central, moves HQ, implements mobile initiatives
October 30, 2013Leif Kothe
HOLLAND, Ohio—Additional space is only one of the benefits of Habitec Security's move, last week, into its new headquarters here. The new facility's upgraded infrastructure will also enable the full-service security company to roll out more new mobile initiatives, according to Pat Ehrsam, director of operations. “[Habitec President John Smythe] has pushed us to be much more technological than we actually were before,” Ehrsam said.“We set up a support group here to work with...
Video verification a priority for new CSAA president Hauhn
October 30, 2013Leif Kothe
VIENNA, Va.—Establishing the Partnership for Priority Video Alarm Response as a standing committee within the Central Station Alarm Association will be a top priority for recently elected CSAA President Jay Hauhn. “It is my intention to work with the PPVAR leadership and hopefully bring PPVAR into the CSAA,” Hauhn, CTO and VP of industry relations at TycoIS, said. “That is the No. 1 thing that I will be focusing on for the first several months of my tenure.”Hauhn, who...
Pivot3 gets $14m infusion
October 30, 2013Martha Entwistle
AUSTIN, Texas—Pivot3's new $14 million credit facility will propel the storage provider's move into bigger deals that involve “thousands and thousands of cameras,” Olivier Thierry, Pivot3 CMO, told Security Systems News.The funds will “drive the channel partnerships” for those bigger deals, Thierry said, which in turn will create “sustained profitability [for the company], which is what we're really after.”Pivot3, which makes converged storage and compute...
Ascent Capital's largest stockholder sells half of his preferred shares
October 30, 2013Leif Kothe
Some intriguing financial news out of the Monitronics/Ascent Capital camp. Ascent Capital Group's largest direct stockholder, media mogul John Malone, recently sold half his preferred shares—worth $32.7 million in cash—back to the company, according to a news release from Ascent Capital. The divestment comes nearly three years after Ascent acquired Monitronics in a $1.2 billion deal.
Malone, who sold 351,734 shares, now owns the same number of Series B shares, plus 198,540 Series A shares,...
Shaw joins Tech Systems Inc
October 30, 2013Martha Entwistle
Sharon Shaw, who is well known in the security industry as an evangelist of managed services, a skilled trainer and director of education, has taken on a new role at Tech Systems Inc, an Atlanta-based systems integrator.
Shaw was formerly president of Integrator Support, and director of education for PSA Security. (She's also part of my TechSec Advisory board. )
Here's a link to a story I wrote about Tech Systems Inc. in January. TSI appears to be a great fit for Shaw's skills. She told me she was...
This Blog's on Fire (And Other Stuff)
SAFE Security acquires thousands in accounts, RMR
October 30, 2013Tess Nacelewicz
The good news keeps on coming from SAFE Security. I just wrote recently how the San Ramon, Calif.-based company—celebrating its silver anniversary this year—has doubled in size. Now, SAFE has announced this week that it has acquired more than 16,000 accounts, representing $650,000 in RMR.
The new accounts are CastleRock Security residential and commercial alarm monitoring subscriber accounts.
“These accounts fit very nicely into our U.S. and Canada footprint,” Paul Sargenti,...
Security alarm helps police nab repeat robber
October 30, 2013SSN Staff
NEWTON, Mass.—A Boston man has been found guilty and deemed a habitual offender for breaking and entering into a home here and stealing more than $500,000 worth of jewelry and art, Boston.com reported Oct. 29. A home security alarm helped police catch the thief.
When George Correa and unidentified accomplices broke into the home in 2009, Correa tried to disarm the home's security system by ripping it from the wall, the news report said. But the alarm went off, calling police who found Correa's...
DTT lands $60M credit facility
October 30, 2013Martha Entwistle
LOS ANGELES—DTT Surveillance, which announced in July that it would open a new office in Las Vegas, hire 500 new employees and enter two new vertical markets, now has $60 million to expand on those plans.“It's fuel for the fire,” Sam Naficy, DTT president and CEO, told Security Systems News. “We've had strong growth in our core hospitality space and our two new vertical markets—specialty retail and the convenience store space, which we launched in July—have done...
AvantGuard Monitoring launches 'hero' recognition program
October 30, 2013SSN Staff
OGDEN, Utah—AvantGuard Monitoring Center operators who go above and beyond to ensure customers are safe and satisfied will now be honored as part of the company's new AG Hero program, according to a recent release.
The company says it wants to recognize the human factor in a business that relies heavily on technology, noting that its employees are working to help strangers.
“It would be a shame for us not to recognize this fact, and that it's our operators who are, in many cases, quite...