Mike Barnes presented his Alarm Industry and Market Overview of recent transactions to the more than 150 attendees at the 2006 Barnes Buchanan Mallon Conference in February. Some of the industry’s challenges Barnes discussed included false alarm issues and the requirement of increased sophistication for commercial applications. Barnes emphasized that the fundamental growth drivers of the security alarm industry remain strong, given the fact that the underlying technologies are improving at lower costs and newer technologies continue to broaden the market. “The conference saw a 24 percent increase in the number of companies represented and a 13 percent increase in participants, making it one of the best attended conferences to date,”said Bryan Lawrence, a conference co-chair from Buchanan Ingersoll.