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They say that hindsight is 20/20. So as we go into the year 2020 it seems fitting to reflect back, while at the same time looking ahead at the most influential trends that shaped — or will shape — the security lock and door hardware market.

Nine years after its 2011 launch, The Monitoring Association’s (TMA) Automated Secure Alarm Protocol (ASAP) service is slowly — but surely — creeping into monitoring centers everywhere.

Security integrators expect their brilliant business performance of 2019 to continue into 2020, according to results of SDM’s Industry Forecast Study, a report published each year since 1982.

Hiring, training and staffing at a monitoring center comes with a host of challenges. Finding reliable, entry-level staff with the right personality profiles that are willing to work any shift, any day of the year is one.

While camera manufacturers continue to deliver products with higher and higher resolutions, that’s no longer the main goal of video surveillance, purports Laurent Villeneuve, product marketing manager, Genetec, Montreal. Instead, it’s more about expanding the use case for surveillance by increasing end users’ return on investment.

From its humble beginnings in a Toyota Corolla, CPI Security — originally Crime Prevention Inc. — has operated with a singular focus.

If you want to see how far technology has come with emergency communication and notification capabilities, look no further than Virginia Tech, a university campus that experienced two shooting events.

The wholesale central station business is a multi-faceted one, and companies in this business are keen on innovation, adding new capabilities every year. A few commonalities emerged as we spoke with central stations for this year’s annual roundup of wholesale monitoring.

The term “entry control” can be confusing to some; but it doesn’t have to be, says Mike Busby, marketing and sales manager for Viking Electronics Inc., Hudson, Wis.

Back when video surveillance relied on tape-based VCRs for recording, deploying these systems was fairly straightforward. You simply connected the camera or cameras directly to the VCR and — voila — everything was captured on tape. Retention depended on how often you wanted to switch out the tape and how much cabinet space you had to store tapes.