Tag: ASAP

PITTSBURGH—Users of monitored home and business security alarms in Montgomery, Ala. will benefit from faster, more accurate emergency response as the city becomes the latest municipality to implement Automated Secure Alarm Protocol (ASAP), a technology designed to automate communication between alarm monitoring central stations and public safety dispatch/911 centers. Vector Security, a full service security provider based here, assisted the city by helping to perform extensive testing prior...

PROVO, Utah—Vivint in late September started planning its ASAP to PSAP adoption.“Vivint was told from this point it is typically four to six weeks before going live with the first PSAP,” Amy Becht, Vivint director of central stations, told Security Systems News. The ASAP program increases the speed and accuracy of transmitting alarm information by sending it digitally from the central station to the PSAP.In the short term, the program does not affect much of Vivint's account base....

BALTIMORE—CSAA presented its first Public Sector Award to Bill Hobgood, project manager, public safety team in the IT department for the City of Richmond, Va., for his work with the ASAP to PSAP program. “Over the past several years, Bill has worked tirelessly to promote and implement ASAP, a program that increases the efficiency and reliability of emergency electronic signals from central station alarm companies to Public Service Answering Points (PSAPs),” said CSAA president Pamela...

WARRENDALE, Pa.—When Jason Bradley was named director of central station operations for Guardian Protection Services in April, he said implementing the Automated Secure Alarm Protocol program would be high on the agenda. Just a few months into his tenure, that objective has been realized, with the company going live with the program in Richmond, Va., where the company has a strong account base.It's a critical first step toward broader implementation in other PSAP-ready jurisdictions, Bradley...

RA'ANANA, Israel—NICE Systems recently announced the launch of NICE Inform Version 6, which enables Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) to evaluate the quality of service delivered across an entire emergency incident, according to a company statement. The solution offers value to public safety organizations by supporting the evaluation of single calls as well as complete incidents, including the processing of multimedia input, such as GIS, video and CAD screen. This helps PSAPs and security...

SAN ANTONIO—United Central Control is switching to SGS' Stages for its central station automation, giving UCC dealers expanded access to mobile applications and improving efficiencies to reduce alarm-processing errors, company officials told Security Systems News.UCC President Teresa Gonzalez said the wholesale monitoring provider, based here, took two years to determine which automation software would be best for its 500 dealers.“We needed to look at where we are headed with our rapid...

Checkpoint Systems, a global supplier of loss-prevention products and solutions for the retail industry, announced earlier this month that it was negotiating the sale of its CheckView integration and monitoring business. On Monday, the buyer was ID'd: Platinum Equity, a California-based private equity firm, which will make the deal for $5.4 million. In a blog Tuesday, Seeking Alpha analyst Brenon Daly called the deal “one of the more financially lopsided divestitures we've seen in some time....

YARMOUTH, Maine—After big strides in 2012 that put an array of technical and logistical challenges behind it, the Automated Secure Alarm Protocol is getting closer to reaching “critical mass” nationwide, according to ASAP proponent Ed Bonifas.Bonifas, co-chairman of the Central Station Alarm Association's ASAP Program Committee, said implementation is getting easier for public safety answering points and alarm companies as the program evolves. Six PSAPs were participating by the...

It's the season of spin. But no matter how you slice it, the opening paragraph of last week's commentary by Hank Clemmensen, president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs, isn't a ringing endorsement of central stations. “I always had supported remote station monitoring for my city's fire alarms, both because I believed it would provide faster notification and because I believed central stations always take too long,” wrote Clemmensen, the fire chief in Inverness, Ill., on...

What are central stations doing to keep up with times—and the competition—when it comes to technology, reducing false alarms and other issues of importance to the industry? The Central Station Alarm Association would like to know. The CSAA is looking for help in tracking technology trends and investments in personnel at monitoring centers across the country. The goal is to establish a databank “that will be useful in benchmarking performance” in the industry, according to...