Businesses with multiple locations now have a new choice for their video surveillance and intrusion protection needs. In May, residential alarm giant Brink’s Home Security of Irving, Texas, launched a new commercial division, dubbed Brink’s Business Security. The move formalized a nationwide expansion that was already underway for several months and is driven by the company’s belief that business customers are increasingly interested in having a single source for security for all of their locations.

As Doug Valenski, director of national accounts for Brink’s Business Security sees it, “The people we talk to say everyone’s workload is increasing and they’re looking for things that can streamline or automate their operations and save time. Businesses are telling us that they have one-tenth as many vendors as they had two years ago, so they need less accounting people and so on.”

Every Brink’s branch office now has business capability and the new business unit has been staffed with national account managers and salespeople, Valenski says. Brink’s authorized dealers also may participate in the program. “They have been given the opportunity to sell and install the business offering under strict guidelines,” Valenski notes.

Brink’s Business Security will be headed up by Shawn Lucht, a 15-year Brink’s veteran who most recently was vice president of business development, and now adds vice president of Brink’s Business Security to his title. Valenski reports to Lucht.

Valenski expects Brink’s Business Security to be a “sales-driven solution.” The company will be involved in some security shows to promote its offering, Valenski says. But he adds that, “The real way to do it is to call on our target audience and say, ‘You may not know this, but this is what we do.’ We’ll be very skewed toward cold calls.”

Business customers buying from the new Brink’s division are getting a new panel that is built to Brink’s requirements by Honeywell Security. The new device shares some functionality with the residential panel that Honeywell builds for Brink’s. But, as Valenski explains, “We put more horsepower into it, along with more memory and a new type of drive and backup operating system.” Brink’s has been installing the 96-zone panel, which also features backup radio communications and can store 91 employee codes, since early this year.

Another option that is part of Brink’s offering for the business market gives business owners the ability to monitor recorded or live video images of their property over a secure Internet connection. Authorized personnel “can manage all locations from their desktop,” Valenski says. “Those things are important time-savers.”

Brink’s also has made some enhancements to its alarm monitoring capabilities, which will support both business and residential customers. Previously the company owned two central stations — one in Irving and one in Knoxville, Tenn. – but only the Irving location was live, with Knoxville ready as a backup if needed. Recently, however, the company began serving customers out of both locations. All accounts will be housed at both locations and, as Valenski explains, “signals will go to the place that can answer them the fastest. We have an intelligent call-routing system.”

At present, Brink’s Business Security has no plans to offer fire or access control systems, but Valenski says the company has not ruled out that possibility for the future.