Security Systems News

After the OpenXchange breakfast, I sat in on a spirited session, “Go Big or Go Home? Expanding & Extending into New Markets,” which was moderated by Greg Simmons, co-owner/VP of Eagle Sentry, and included a great panel featuring Jeremy Bates, general manager and co-owner of Bates Security/Sonitrol of Lexington, Inc., Barry Epstein, president of Vertex Capital and Tom Kerber, director, Research, Home Controls & Energy for Parks Associates.

From the press release "ESX 2016 Rep ...read more

Results of a study conducted in March by August Home and Xfinity Home give some further insight into the relationship between home security and connected home devices.

When asked why they would consider adopting smart home technology, the study found that 63 percent of consumers said security or “keeping their family safe” is their top motivation.

In addition, in a Parks Associates’ survey of homeowners with broadband connections, those with a security system were more l ...read more

In a Parks Associates’ survey of homeowners with broadband connections, those with a security system were more likely to say they intend to buy a smart home device in the next 12 months.

“The most important things for security dealers to understand is that smart home devices are here; it’s an emerging market, not an established market. The security dealers are now prominent, [but] they’re not exclusive,” Tricia Parks, CEO of Parks Associates, told Security Systems News.

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I also had a great opportunity to tour the Honeywell Security & Fire booth—the biggest booth this year at ISC West 2016. Honeywell’s George Janelis, senior channel manager, gave me some informative demos on the amazing technology Honeywell now has available for the connected home, and outlined the increased support and options now available for Honeywell dealers looking to provide these options to their customers.

On Thursday, I started the day bright and early with the Secu ...read more

PHILADELPHIA—Comcast announced recently that 24/7 video recording, a cloud- and motion-based video monitoring solution, is now available for Xfinity Home customers. The residential home security provider now offers a continuous video recording service. According to Parks Associates, security cameras are the most popular smart home device, and more than 40 percent of people who own one, access the devices daily or almost daily through an app.

From the article "Comcast Launche ...read more

Tom Kerber, who leads Parks Associates’ research in the areas of home controls, energy management and home networks, told SSN that ISC West allows him to meet face-to-face with leaders in the industry and “talk to as many people as I can to try to get some qualitative evidence to support some of the trends and numbers that we are seeing in our research. It is good to get some feedback on what I am seeing from our perspective and either validate or make some adjustments based on ...read more

Whether it was talking with Tom Kerber, director of research for Parks Associates, who shared some very interesting research the firm is doing, or chatting with industry professionals including Jeff Lyman, chief marketing officer for Vivint, John Loud, president, Loud Security, John Cerasoula, president/CEO, ADS Security, and Matthew Zartman, consumer marketing senior manager at Alarm.com, I am already finding that the industry is made up of people with diverse backgrounds, comp ...read more

In terms of the overall impact on the industry, Kerber noted that Parks Associates’ initial research shows that “almost half of the new subscribers are getting their services from the cable and telecom operators. Again, this is based on a small sample size, but those are really dramatic numbers and a significant move for the industry.”

While Parks Associates said that interactive services are having a positive impact on RMR, the research firm is taking a close look at whethe ...read more