Welcome to this annual special supplement of SDM titled Monitoring TODAY. Whether you operate your own central station or use the services of a third-party monitoring company, this issue contains information that is relevant to your business: the monitoring of subscriber accounts.

To start, we asked an award-winning central station to share a best practice. In “Industry Voices,” on page 6, Jim Quirin of Doyle Security Systems, which was honored last year as the Central Station Alarm Association’s Central Station of the Year, describes the success the company’s SAVE team has had with retaining subscriber accounts during the recession. Last year alone, Doyle Security’s SAVE team was able to retain more than 300 accounts that otherwise may have been on their way to cancellations. Doyle Security Systems’ central station in Rochester, N.Y., is featured on the front cover of this issue.

“The Changing Landscape of Alarm Communications” makes you a participant in a unique panel discussion that took place both last December at the California Alarm Association Convention in San Francisco and last June at ESX in Pittsburgh. Led by Lou Fiore, chairman of the Alarm Industry Communications Committee, a panel of experts discusses the impetus in the demise of POTS land lines, the available technology solutions for alarm signal transmission in the future, and how a plan of transition for the industry is needed now. This panel discussion was transcribed and edited by SDM into a feature presentation beginning on page 10.

Also in this issue is a Central Station Software Update on page 16; SDM’s Guide to Monitoring Services on page 21; Monitoring Industry News on page 29; Success Stories on page 31, and more.

We’d like to hear your thoughts about this issue, your concerns about the monitoring business, or both. Please contact the editor at 630-694-4027 or stepanekl@bnpmedia.com.