To say 2020 was a bit of a roller coaster ride is perhaps an understatement. At this time last year, most security integrators anticipated a strong 2020, only to be thrown into turmoil late in the first quarter by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.

I’m no geology expert, so I looked it up. According to the National Geographic, “Igneous rocks form when magma (molten rock) cools and crystallizes, either at volcanoes on the surface of the earth or while the melted rock is still inside the crust.” Why am I talking about rocks?

What do termites, diamonds and security have in common? All three are components of the history of this year’s SDM Dealer of the Year. Sonitrol began when Al Cronk, a police officer, was interested in verifying alarms using audio; Bob Baxter invented microphones to detect termites in trees.

The Monitoring Association continued its virtual OPS-TECH meeting on Nov. 17-18, focusing on technology and its applications in the monitoring industry.

Everyone has heard the old adage, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” In an industry and a year marked by seemingly constant upheaval and change, it can feel like nothing is the same. But is that true?

Securing New Ground 2020, like virtually every other industry event this year took place, well, virtually — for three hours each day on October 21 and 22. But within that format it managed to cover a lot of ground, as it always does. 

Each October one of my favorite stories to write comes around: The systems integrator of the year. I love delving into a company’s history and culture and learning what has made them a success worthy of being chosen for this award.

They say a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. So perhaps it was fortuitous that the founding partners of Stone Security — all members of the Edmunds family in Salt Lake City — had no background in security integration when they formed the company in 2006. Steve Edmunds, a retired Air Force captain and Delta Airlines pilot, started the business with his sons and son-in-law after a brief foray into residential security, which they quickly discovered wasn’t for them.

Enterprise-level access control systems have been slowly reinventing themselves over the past several years. Once solidly the sphere of the large, proprietary, on-site systems, more security and IT directors had begun exploring what else they could do with access control.