Last summer, we were already a few months into a pandemic-induced lockdown. Businesses everywhere were closing their doors, employees were working from home, and, luckily, most security professionals were considered to be ‘essential.’

The challenge that Allstate faced in entering this competitive space was how to effectively manage video signal traffic, known to cause much more frequent false and nuisance alarms, without disrupting the quality of service the company has always prided itself in providing to traditional monitoring customers.  

National Monitoring Center (NMC) recently unveiled its new website, designed to support its strategic goal to provide an exceptional experience to dealers and integrators.

Jacqueline Brogan, central station manager at Alarm Detection Systems in Aurora, Ill., is The Monitoring Association’s 2020 Central Station Manager of the Year for her work in leading a team of more than 20 operators. She first joined the team in 2012 as an operator, then became a customer service representative in 2015. She returned to the central station in 2019 to take on her current position.

Central station redundancy and its significance is essential to understand. A select group have maintained redundancy over the years, although UL hasn’t mandated redundancy until recently.

Traditional security and the smart home are the same. There — I’ve said it. Our industry likes to see them as different, but for someone growing up now, without any preconceptions of alarm systems, they all just look like a lot of gadgets for the home.  So what does this mean for the smart home and traditional alarm monitoring?

At last, 2021 is here — I can’t be the only one happy to leave 2020 in the dust! The year brought so many changes to the business of monitoring, our heads haven’t stopped spinning. With the COVID-19 pandemic, and the unemployment numbers that unfortunately came along with it, providing peace of mind has never been more important.

Communication — both with end users and emergency personnel — has always been an essential part of any monitoring business. The methods through which monitoring centers communicate, though, have become incredibly varied.

The DICE Corporation recently announced that it would be rebranding itself as “The New DICE” as a part of the company’s future roadmap, kicking off a multi-million-dollar investment in new technologies, products and services. A press conference the company hosted last week provided more details on the initiative.

UL now seeks feedback from industry stakeholders that rely on UL certifications as part of their own risk management programs to review the updated guideline revisions, which are intended to better define virtual workplace security measures.