Tag: ESX 2015

PERS. It's come up a lot lately—everywhere I look it seems that I'm hearing about new angles to the market, and new contenders. One thing I've also heard plenty of is that it's not a space for everyone. But some seem to be finding it a very sensible new market. Just recently the cellphone provider Consumer Cellular entered the market, choosing this as a logical space to make its first step outside of cell phones. I think it's interesting that a market avoided by some can be an easy fit for...

PORT CHESTER, N.Y.—USA Central Station Alarm Corp., working with Videofied's new neighborhood watch system, is offering its dealers a way to enter the DIY market with no investment.“[Working with USA Central,] we created a way to package that so the average dealer can play in the self-install market,” Keith Jentoft, president of Videofied, told Security Systems News. “All they have to do as a dealer is promote their website … and accounts come in and they make money.”As...

BALTIMORE—Consumers with home automation systems most trust security companies to monitor them, according to “Monetizing the IoT” panelists at ESX 2015. That's a fact that the industry needs to embrace for future success, they said.Consumers say that security is their top reason for buying into smart home systems, according to numerous studies the panelists said at the conference, held here June 24-26.The security industry often views home automation merely as an add-on, but consumers...

Even a few weeks past it, I'm still thinking about ESX and what resonated with me about some of the panels. One in particular, “Central Station Technology—The Latest and Greatest,” has kept me thinking. Panelists included Jay Hauhn, CSAA's executive director, Jens Kolind, VP of external partnerships for IBS, and Chris Larcinese, cloud-based services market manager in the Americas for Bosch Security Systems. Joe Miskulin, proprietary central station manager for State Farm, served...

BALTIMORE—Diane Pruitt, a resident here, recently had two young men knock on her door, lie to her about her security system and which company they were from, and persistently tried to sell her a different system.Derrick Layton, a retired Baltimore police officer had a similar encounter, even after he told the solicitors they were dealing with a police officer and showed them his badge.Pruitt and Layton shared their experiences at ESX 2015, held here, during a news conference about deceptive...

More and more I'm hearing about the “Millennials;” those born between 1980 and 2000. I fit squarely in that range. Millennials seem to be the target audience for home automation, some have noted them as the more “technological-savvy” generation. Now, the Millennials are entering the job market. At this year's ESX I heard UCC's Mike Lamb, and ADT's Stephen Smith, share their observations on training this younger generation. During Lamb and Smith's ESX Panel, “Training...

BALTIMORE—DIY is everywhere, the consumer-driven products are polished and are connected to powerful mobile apps, and it's up to traditional security companies to decide whether they're going to embrace it or dismiss it, according to panelists at ESX 2015.“DIY Security—Competition or Opportunity?” was moderated by Kirk MacDowell of Alarm.com. Brian Leland, VP sales and marketing of Interlogix, and Sterling Barnes, COO/GM of Melaleuca Security, were panelists.DIY security is...

BALTIMORE—Monitoring PERS and mPERS is different from monitoring traditional alarms, ESX 2015 panelists said in the “To PERS or Not to PERS” educational session, and those who can't handle all that monitoring PERS entails in-house might be better leaving that the market to central stations that can.Yaniv Amir, president of Essence, Justin Bailey, COO of AvantGuard, and Daniel Oppenheim, VP of Affiliated Monitoring, were the panelists. Joe Miskulin, central station manager for State...

BALTIMORE—ESX 2015 brought some positive changes to the program, held here June 24-26, according to ESX chairman George De Marco.One thing new was the TechVision Challenge, in which the top 10 ESX Innovation Award recipients were pitted against one another in front of a “Shark Tank” of industry experts. Honeywell, with its new MaxPro Cloud offering, impressed the judges most and on June 25 was crowned “Best of Show” on the ESX exhibition floor.“There was a tremendous...

BALTIMORE—Just as the smartphone has transformed the way people conduct their day-to-day lives, the Internet of Things will, too, said panelists at ESX 2015.There should be 50 billion devices connected by 2020, according to Syed Zaeem Hosain of Aeris.“Everyone has a different number, but [regardless] it will transform the way we live,” Hosain said during the OpenXchange panel at ESX 2015 here.Moderator George De Marco, ESX chairman, asked the panel and the audience if they were...