Security Systems News

June 2011

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SPECIAL REPORT NFPA in Boston this year What’s new at this year’s show? SEE PAGE 27 SOURCE BOOK Central stations evolve New functions, capabilities, expectations INSIDE OWN THE NIGHT. PIR Cameras Deter Crime Before It Happens... See Our Ad On Page 7. VOLUME 14, NUMBER 6 JUNE 2011 s $7.00 COMMERCIAL & SYSTEMS INTEGRATORS s s Pro-Tec partner plan has menu of offerings PAGE 18 Protection Bureau manages everything PAGE 18 FIRE SYSTEMS INSTALLATION s s Potter Electric’s full line is now complete PAGE 24 CO detection mandate not well known in New York PAGE 24 MONITORING s s Tech partnership aligns with CSAA service dispatch initiatives PAGE 31 Central station software provider says 2010 was record breaking PAGE 31 RESIDENTIAL SYSTEMS s Gaylord expands PAGE 34 s Priority One acquires PAGE 34 SUPPLIERS s s TimeSight cash infusion brings new investor PAGE 38 HID helps federal agencies comply with deadline looming PAGE 39 STATS ........................................2 NEWS ........................................6 EDITORIAL ..............................16 SPECIAL REPORT....................27 MARKET TRENDS ...................29 QUOTED..................................41 AD INDEX ................................41 DATABANK ..............................42 www.securitysystemsnews.com EXPANSION PLANS Unlimited Technology Inc. grows UTI’s speciality is more than just critical infrastructure By Martha Entwistle CHESTER SPRINGS, Pa.—Known for its expertise with critical infra- structure, Unlimited Technology Inc., a systems integrator based here with offi ces in Houston and Valhalla, N.Y., has expanded in the past couple of years to other vertical markets. “Critical infrastructure, includ- ing utilities, water, chemical, and nuclear facili- ties, are still a high percent- age of the work we do,” said Brent Franklin, president of UTI. “We opened an office in Valhalla [outside of New York City in January 2010] to focus on other verticals, health care, colleges and universities as well as large national corporations,” he said. UTI counts Sony, United Nations Brent Franklin Federal Credit Union, and CA Technologies among its large corporate customers. The growth and diversifi cation plan has served the company well, and UTI is currently look- ing for additional offi ce space in Manhattan. UTI did about $11.5 million UTI see page 19 Devcon goes national Super regional grows from 9 branches to 50+, hires new key personnel By Martha Entwistle HOLLYWOOD, Fla.—There’s a new national player in the home security market—Devcon Security. Over the past seven months, Devcon has quietly transformed from a super-regional with nine branches to a company with a national footprint and more than 50 branches across the country. Devcon has nearly doubled its employee headcount—going from 450 last October to 785 today. It opened a 100-employee, 23,000 square-foot national operations center in Irving, Texas, and hired top talent across the country to implement its new national growth strategy. Devcon Security—which was acquired by Golden Gate Capital, an $8 billion private equity fund in October of 2009—formulated its national growth strategy in the fourth quarter of 2010. The goal is to become a national, full-service residential and light- commercial security provider with a “focus on delivering world class customer service and support to our growing customer base,” said Robert Farenhem, Devcon CEO. The company has two cen- tral stations, one here and one in New York City, and 140,000 Robert Farenhem accounts. Last year, as the company was developing its business in Florida, Farenhem said: “We started to see that there was some real talent becoming avail- able in the marketplace.”That led eventually to the idea of “building DEVCON see page 37 State Systems expands Installer adds sprinkler division, looks for big revenue boost By Tess Nacelewicz MEMPHIS, Tenn.—State Systems, a provider of life safety and secu- rity systems based here, has joined a small but growing trend in the industry: the addition of a fi re sprinkler division. Company president Bob McBride told Security Systems News that the new division was added in February and is expected to bring in signifi cant revenue. “Our goal is to grow it to $1 million a year within fi ve years,” he said. In business for 25 years, the company does about $10 million “Our goal is to grow it to $1 million a year within fi ve years.” —Bob McBride, State Systems in revenues. It has 86 employees and 5,000 commercial customers, including Burger King, Wendy’s and William Sonoma, or insti- tutional, such as hospitals and hotels. State Systems serves an area within a 100-mile radius of Memphis, which includes parts of Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas. The company plans to add a total of three to fi ve new employ- ees associated with the sprinkler STATE see page 25 Centralarm’s got a new center Opens new disaster recovery center, now it’s ready for growth By Daniel Gelinas BEDFORD, N.H.—Third-party central monitoring center Centralarm is getting ready for the ribbon cutting at a brand new disaster recovery center based here. According to Centralarm president Kevin Helmig, the new 22-seat call center is the first step on a footprint-expan- sion path. “We’re adjacent to the Bedford Police/ Fire Safety Complex. We stayed local for our second site so as to be able to quick- ly and easily allocate the required staff the addition of other central station locations throughout the country for even further site diversification, backup and load balancing.” Centralarm currently monitors Kevin Helmig at both sites as needed,” Helmig said. “Future expansion will be around 70,000 accounts across New England with some national accounts, as well. Centralarm began rehabbing and updating the existing space CENTRALARM see page 33

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