Tag: AICC

The Alarm Industry Communications Committee recently opened its sixth annual communications survey, which asks about monitored accounts using POTS, VoIP digital dialers, as well as other technologies used for transmitting alarm data. AICC started conducting the survey in 2012 because there was a lack of data on communication paths, according to AICC chair Lou Fiore. “The idea is to figure out what communications is in use, from the premises to a central station,” Fiore told Security Systems...

BETHESDA, Md.—Thomas F. Smith, 96, an industry veteran who worked with CSAA and AICC, passed away on March 21. Smith graduated from Gonzaga College High School and the United States Naval Academy. After serving in World War II, Smith founded Security Inc. in Bethesda. Smith served as CSAA president from 1989 to 1991. He received ESA's Morris F. Weinstock Person of the Year award in 1987. He is survived by his wife, Patricia, brother, Karl Smith, five children, 12 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren,...

WASHINGTON—The recent FCC ruling on net neutrality appears to give security professionals a “level playing field,” but it remains to be seen if it will fully satisfy the industry, according to Lou Fiore, chairman of AICC.“For the services we use on the open Internet, it's good news that our traffic will be unblocked and unthrottled; it won't be slowed down. It's mainly for video that we need the higher speeds,” Fiore told Security Systems News.“The threat was the...

CSAA recently posted on its site about the matter of net neutrality, as well as sending out a message from Alarm Industry Communications Committee chair Lou Fiore concerning the topic. Capitol Hill has various items up for consideration on net neutrality, according to Fiore. “Our goal at this point is simply to let Congress know we are here again and what our needs are as primarily small businesses. At some point legislation will move forward, probably as a rewrite of the Telecommunications...

WASHINGTON—Concerned about fair, reliable and accurate transmission of alarm data, the ESA and the Alarm Industry Communications Committee are urging the FCC to support net neutrality.“To ensure the continued effectiveness of the alarm systems protecting millions of Americans, alarm data must be transmitted accurately and promptly from the end user premise to the central station along the entire communications path,” Lou Fiore, AICC chairman, wrote in a letter to the FCC.Net neutrality...

VIENNA, Va.—The Central Station Alarm Association has launched a pair of surveys, one dealing with the proposed “Alarm Monitoring Model Licensing Act,” and another with industry compensation practices, according to separate news releases from the CSAA. With respect to the proposed legislation, CSAA takes the position that a nationwide licensing bill would help monitoring companies with national or regional footprints combat some of the burdens associated with obtaining proper licensing...

AT&T's 2012 announcement that it would phase out 2G service left most in the alarm industry, well, unfazed. With wireless technology, such changes come with the territory. Moreover, it's not the alarm industry but the mobile phone industry that dictates network “sunsets.” As Lou Fiore, Chairman of the Alarm Industry Communications Commission, put it in a recent conversation: “As long as you go cellular, there is no endgame here.” A few months after the initial announcement,...

SecureWatch 24's new Fusion Centre in Moonachie, N.J., has a new tenant: Monitor America. That's the name of the company that will be operating the 25,000-square-foot central station at the facility, which served as an emergency command post for police and municipal officials after Hurricane Sandy. Jay Stuck, chief marketing officer for Monitor America, said the company “brings together virtually all existing alarm and hosted video services available today, including video analytics, in one...

YARMOUTH, Maine—A mandate for security businesses to have an in-state office to operate in Delaware would be superseded by legislation awaiting consideration by Congress, according to Lou Fiore, chairman of the Alarm Industry Communications Commission.The Delaware Attorney General's Office issued a mandate on June 10 that all security businesses operating in the state must have a registered agent in accordance with a state statute. A security business is defined as “a person or entity...

OAKLAND, Calif.—AT&T's move to partially disable its 2G service here at the end of August got the attention of California Alarm Association members, but the frequency blackout did not affect operations in the field, according to CAA Executive Director Jerry Lenander.AT&T, which announced on Aug. 3 that it would phase out its 2G networks nationwide by 2017, temporarily shut down its 850 MHz frequency on 16 cell towers in Oakland after city officials notified the company that the towers were...