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Last September, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated, “Whoever becomes the leader in [artificial intelligence] will become the ruler of the world.” While not everyone finds the Russians completely trustworthy with regard to foreign intelligence, there is no denying that artificial intelligence is the next great frontier in which companies are racing to stake a claim.

Guardian Protection Services (ranked No. 5 on the 2018 SDM 100) marked its 11th year of participation in a Pittsburgh-area community event by donating a monitored smart security system to a family in need.

If you have walked on almost any college or hospital campus, or visited a secondary school in the past several years, chances are you have seen a proliferation of both “blue light” emergency stations and entry control intercoms. Safety and security have always been a priority for these facilities, and these types of products are very popular options.

In today’s world, cyber threats are on everyone’s minds. That’s because it’s slowly becoming the number one business risk for organizations of all sizes. From system hacks and DDoS attacks to the increased prevalence of ransomwares, news of cyberattacks seems constant. While there have fewer reports of major attacks comparable to the Yahoo breach of 2017, where the personal information of 3 billion users was exposed, that’s no reason to be complacent. Governments are stepping in to update policies and standards, which hold more organizations accountable.

Advances in technology have put smart home capability within the reach of most security systems buyers, greatly enhancing security’s consumer appeal — and one of the most appealing smart devices is the smart lock.

Everyone has stories. Take this year’s Monitoring Center of the Year recipient and the time the company hired a consultant to make sure management was meeting the needs of the millennial generation.

Ener-Tel Services, based in San Angelo, Texas, started in 1984 as an automation controls company for heating and cooling units, explains General Sales Manager Ron Pullen. “The owner also did a lot of work for Verizon, so the ‘Ener’ is for energy management and the ‘tel’ is for telco. We started off as an energy management company and grew into all the other categories like fire, CCTV, access control, home and business security, and fire alarm and sprinkler. We do residential, light commercial and have a commercial group that does the integration side, talking to architects and engineers.”

To tweak a line from a famous Frank Sinatra song: 2017, it was a very good year. It was a very good year for connected homes, that is. Massive amounts of advertising from big players inside and outside the security space, a rapidly advancing technology landscape, and an avid interest from homeowners at all economic levels led to a connected home space that is growing by leaps and bounds.

Honeywell announced Resideo will be the corporate name of the Honeywell Homes product portfolio and ADI global distribution businesses when they become a stand-alone, publicly traded company following completion of a spin that is expected by the end of 2018. Honeywell will license its brand to Resideo under a long-term agreement for use in its home comfort and security hardware, and software solutions for all channels.