The comments were made at a ribbon cutting at 1199 Plaza/East River Landing in Upper Manhattan, where Nortronics unveiled an advanced security system in place at a New York residential complex.

According to Simon, buildings that jump a generation of technology, from videotape recorders and closed-circuit security cameras, to new network-based systems that rely on hard drives to store camera footage in the way a TiVo stores television shows, have a distinct advantage.

The digital system like that at 1199 Plaza also allows for more effective monitoring of video feed from the more than 100 cameras on site. The system includes network-based management; advanced network camera controls; digital imaging that make videotapes obsolete and can be stored on TiVo-like hard drives or DVDs and other removable media.