Monitronics International Inc., Dallas, has hired Larry Lingerfelt as Midwest regional sales manager. In this position, Lingerfelt will work to recruit independent alarm companies located in the Midwest into the Monitronics’ nationwide authorized network.

Jim Burkey, former vice president/general manager for ABM Data Systems, has joined the team of DICE Corp., Bay City, Mich., as director of sales. Burkey will be supervising all of DICE’s sales representatives.

Network Video Technologies (NVT), Menlo Park, Calif., announced that Brian Echtenkamp has been hired as manager of central district sales. Echtenkamp’s focus will be on providing local support for NVT customers in the central district, which encompasses 12 states. In other news, at the recent IFSEC Security Industry Awards ceremony, NVT was awarded as the British Security Industry Association’s “New Exporter of the Year” for its work throughout Europe and the Middle East.

Datacard Group announced the appointment of Jeffrey J. Hattara as new president and CEO. Hattara succeeds Hatim Tyabji, the company’s chairman, who served as acting CEO during the search process leading up to Hattara’s appointment.

Companies you should know

The Attrition Busters offers workshops designed to help security companies improve customer relations. The workshops and seminars teach both staff and management to handle customers politely and effectively. Managing director Robert Harris rose from field technician to executive level management before designing an organized, dynamic approach to teaching customer relations. By combing superior customer service in sales and collections with the services companies already offer, a business can get an edge on the competition. Security companies, he says, should focus as much on keeping the business they have through good client relations as attracting new business. Cultivating good customer relations will improve company profitability over the long term. For more information, visit www.attritionbusters.com.

XceedID, Golden, Colo., is a designer, developer and supplier of contactless smart card and RFID products. The privately held company will introduce a product line in the fourth quarter of 2004. The family of products will be compliant with a variety of 13.56 Mhz standards, including 14443 and 15693. Xceed’s team is committed to continued technology innovation and provides the basis for driving feature sets and future technology from major semiconductor vendors. The company’s team is composed of people with expertise in industry design, engineering and product/sales development. Products will span a range of applications, including: physical access control, logical access, biometrics, identity, health, payment and other custom applications. For more information, visit www.xceedid.com.