At that time, SDM identified the immediate issues affecting growth of the industry as consolidation activity, exposure to international markets, assault on false alarms, application of “ultra-sophisticated” technology, and the cultivation of young people to join the ranks of security professionals.
The first annual SDM 100 companies were split into two groups — 64 companies that earned more than 50 percent of their business in commercial, industrial, and institutional security customers; and 36 companies that earned more than 50 percent of their business from residential customers. But the division was not effective because so many of the largest security dealers at that time were general providers who served equally both markets. So by the following year, in 1992, the SDM 100 became one unified ranking.