SDM Magazine

2012 March

Check out our March content!

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State of the Market: Video Surveillance 2012

The video surveillance market in 2012 shows a wide range of growth potential, in part due to disappearing barriers to adoption.
Heather Klotz-Young
March 22, 2012
Video surveillance, for all its clear benefits, comes with its equal share of barriers: storage limitations, image quality and resolution demands, price concerns, a painfully absent ease-of-use. There’s a whole list.
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Featured Articles

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‘Reality TV’ that’s Worth Watching

Joan Engebretson
March 21, 2012
For years, video surveillance was too costly for all but the most upscale of residential customers. But thanks to advances in video and communications technology, that’s no longer true. Some dealers now sell video to 10 to 25 percent or more of new residential accounts.
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Shedding Light on UL Listings

The basis of a UL listing for a central station means it and the services it provides have been evaluated for compliance with the applicable UL standards. Now what does that mean to you, the security dealer?
Ann O' Connor
March 21, 2012
Having a UL listed central station is a mark of distinction pursued by alarm monitoring companies and trusted by consumers. But earning the distinction can be a lengthy and intricate process that requires demonstrating a range of competencies followed by ongoing inspections to maintain the certification.
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How Do You Train Your Operators?

Companies operating their own central stations know they can count on established industry training, but many go beyond that to offer cross-training, role playing and more intensive experiences on the job.
Ann O' Connor
March 21, 2012
The hallmark of a high-quality alarm company’s central monitoring station is the ability of its people to quickly, expertly and compassionately handle any call that comes their way, take appropriate action to verify alarms and notify the appropriate authorities. Delivering these essential services can only come through the proper and consistent training of central dispatch center operators.
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Today’s Turnstiles: Reshaped, Smarter, With New Benefits

SDM speaks with two manufacturers about trends and developments in optical turnstiles.
Karyn Hodgson
March 21, 2012
Like every aspect of security, turnstile technology has gotten smarter over the years. The turnstiles you see in transit facilities are not the same as those high-end office buildings. The introduction of optical turnstiles changed that. But what has changed recently with optical turnstiles, and where is that technology headed?
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Using PSIM to ‘Predict’ the Future

There are similarities to cyber crime attacks and physical facility breaches that are not being tracked today and can be predictive in nature. That will have to change.
Dan Dunkel
March 21, 2012

Physical Security Information Management (PSIM) is morphing from “alerting” and post-incident-only management platforms and into incorporating a “predictive” behavioral component in their solutions. This is a natural progression being driven in large part by societal trends, the expansion of the Internet, and end user deployments within an accelerating global crime environment. The future is here and PSIM platforms must evolve to address the blended threat of digital and physical crime.


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Closing the Gap

IP low-light cameras get better and better every day — ever closer to analog cameras in terms of low-light performance.
Derek Rice
March 21, 2012
Low-light performance (or lack thereof) has long been the knock against high definition (HD) and megapixel cameras. And for good reason because this is also one of the few areas where these cameras have been outperformed by their good, old-fashioned analog cousins.
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New Kids on the Block

Broadband service providers and wireless phone companies have entered the security market, with everything from self-installed, self-monitored systems to third-party monitored security systems and home control.
Maggie McFadden Shein
Maggie Shein
March 21, 2012
The home security market has been a rapidly changing environment over the past several years, with self-monitored offerings cropping up everywhere as well as a host of large, national cable companies coming into the picture with connected lifestyle services that include energy monitoring and home security. There have been moves from outsiders into the home security space before, with national and regional telecom and cable providers entering (and exiting) the marketplace, but the current market seems ripe for newcomers who can tap into their large, existing customer base and add on security, entertainment and energy management options to their customers’ existing bills. 


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Columns

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Insider News & Business: March 2012

March 26, 2012
Lessons learned from non-response ordinances; Patent licensing agreement for Tyco, intelligent video software provider; Samsung recognizes ScanSource as Distributor of the Year, and more.
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Low-Voltage Work in 2016

Dave Pedigo
March 22, 2012
Lion, ice cream sandwich, iOS, Android smartphone, tablet, mobility, the cloud, streaming services, and so on and so on. The amount of innovation and change over the last few years is incredible, and to many — including me — it can feel overwhelming. Less comforting is knowing that the pace at which these products come out will only speed up in the coming years.
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Driving IP Video Growth: Both Technology and Geography

Mark Visbal
March 22, 2012
The SIA Security Industry Research Update for the fourth quarter of 2011 reveals that video surveillance continues to exhibit growth opportunities. Both the average number of installations and gross profit margin ascended as a result of increases in IP camera installations, megapixel cameras and video analytics.
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Did Alarm Reset Lead to a Violation of Rights?

Lessing E. Gold
March 22, 2012
In a case recently decided by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, a complaint against a municipality and various police officers alleged that they had violated the Constitutional rights of the case’s plaintiff, including “his First Amendment right of privacy and his Fourth Amendment right not to have his residence invaded and searched by the government.”
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Clean Mind, Clean Hands

Dave Engebretson
Dave Engebretson
March 23, 2012
For whatever reason — perhaps from growing up during the social revolution of the 1960s — I am a fairly consistent user of the seven words you can’t say on network TV. Whenever I’m cut off in traffic or a piece of equipment fails to perform exactly right, out comes a virtual waterfall of curse words.
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System Provides Uncompromised Security at Correctional Facility

March 23, 2012
A robust, well-designed security system should function reliably, providing users with the protection and features they need without having to think about it. If problems arise and users spend more time troubleshooting or working around the system, security can be compromised and the organization’s ability to function can be hindered.
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Fair or Foul?

Laura Stepanek
March 22, 2012
New players are entering the security industry in a mass market fashion, with a solution that provides more than just a traditional home security system. Is that wrong?
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