Intrusion Alarm

RSS

 American Alarm and Communications, Arlington, Mass., has acquired First Stop Security’s installation, service and systems monitoring business. 

 Don’t let the three wise monkeys fool you. Hearing, seeing and announcing danger is proving very useful to the industry. SDM looks at products that are helping detect and verify alarms using audio/visual technologies.  

 Against my wishes on a September weekend I found myself, wife and daughter at a little soiree called “RiotFest 2014.” Seven stages, four inches of mud, and 120 dB of 30-plus punk rock bands for three days in Humboldt Park in Chicago. The crowd was huge, more than 20,000 people on Sunday. I had managed to get out of going on Friday and Saturday, but my attendance was mandatory for the Sunday Cheap Trick show. The attendees sported bizarre hairdos, lots and lots of tattoos, and apparently some people think that they can now self-medicate because Illinois recently passed a medical marijuana law.  

Magalign Inc., Santa Cruz, Calif., produced a new product invention, which was designed in response to requests from homeowners and alarm installers for a magnet that greatly improves sliding window and door venting. Capable of functioning with virtually any reed switch, Magalign is a simple, effective, low-profile installation — being only 5/16-inch tall. Magalign can be flushed mounted to 1/8 inch.

In determining the best solution for a customer, “the big things are topology and what kind of communications they have on site,” comments Al Lewis, vice president of Okeechobee, Fla.-based dealer, Gator Security.

Qolsys updated its IQ Panel, which includes support for Dual-Path Connectivity, an improved and sleeker user interface, expanded home automation support and a robust dealer diagnostic toolkit enhancing remote service to the IQ Panel.

From the dealer’s point of view this should yield increased sales, a higher average sale and increased recurring monthly revenue, as most dealers charge an extra monthly fee for interactive control.