Security Sales & Integration August 2021 - 6

Between Us Pros
scott.goldfine@emeraldx.com | @SSIeditor
Ensuring
Communications
on a Cellular Level
This urgent
issue - which
ignored will
leave security
and fire/lifesafety
systems
unable to
wirelessly
communicate
potentially lifethreatening
situations
to
monitoring
centers - is not
going away.
Editor-in-Chief and
Associate Publisher Scott
Goldfine, an Industry Hall
of Famer, has spent 20+
years with SSI.
6
▶ LOST FOR SOME in the commotion surrounding
the COVID-19 pandemic and unprecedented
disruption to installing security dealer
and integrator businesses has been the looming
3G cellular communications sunset. While
during the past couple of years the topic has often
been emphasized by SSI and awareness (and
in many cases upgrading action of alarm control
panels) was on the rise through early 2020, lockdowns
ran major interference for both company
operations and gaining access to customer sites.
Those complications compounded the challenges
of providers that were already confounded by the
need to contact customers, for fear of " rocking
the boat " with hassles or charges that could possibly
cause them to reconsider the relationship.
This urgent issue - which ignored will leave
security and fire/life-safety systems unable to wirelessly
communicate potentially life-threatening
situations to monitoring centers - is not going
away. As further detailed in this month's Fire Side
Chat (see page 24), the impending deadline for systems
using AT&T's 3G network is only about six
months away on Feb. 22, 2022. Fortunately, Verizon
pushed its deadline back to the end of 2022.
It is essential for dealers/integrators to proactively
and fully canvas, understand and take advantage
of the support and solutions being offered by their
suppliers and other vendors standing by to assist.
This critical transition is also among the myriad
ways in which wholesale third-party central
stations are hand-in-glove partners with installing
dealers/integrators. In putting together SSI's
annual Monitoring Issue, I asked executives from
several of the industry's best-known centrals (see
roundtable, page 34) for perspective on this challenge
and the latest in alarm signals transmission.
" We have continued our efforts to communicate
clearly and proactively with our customers
about changes in the industry, the 2G and 3G
sunset, and new products and features. Transparent,
honest communication about what to
Security Sales & Integration AUGUST 2021
expect and what we provide has helped us to see
stronger brand loyalty and higher CSAT scores. "
- Jason Chancellor, Brinks Home
" Signal transmissions have increased dramatically,
which often drives more operator actions.
We are actively reviewing the highest frequency
signals and developing policy and technical solutions
to lower the impact on operations. This will
enable us to continue to provide the consistently
very low queue times for the most critical alarms.
We have also been leveraging and growing our
PSAP services, which expedite dispatch digitally,
lessen workload at the municipal level dispatch
centers and provide valuable benefits for fire departments. "
- Steve Mayer, EMERgency24
" Rapid Response encourages our dealers to get
ahead of upcoming sunsets by identifying their
exposure in advance and consulting with them
on an upgrade strategy. During that consultation
we introduce them to sunset-proof technologies
like AES, IP communication, and even a revolutionary
communication path we've developed
along with a major industry partner that we'll be
announcing soon. " - Spencer Moore, Rapid
Response Monitoring
" Affiliated continues to see a significant shift
from conventional, digital dialer and POTSbased
systems to Internet and cellular communications.
As the availability and quality of conventional
POTS lines decreases, we continue to
support our partners through our relationships
with the major cellular carriers, and by providing
an inexpensive dial capture solution to quickly
convert legacy panels to LTE-M cellular. We
see this as a positive opportunity for partners to
re-engage customers and use the enhanced capabilities
of new communication technologies to
bring new services to customers while increasing
RMR. " - Daniel Oppenheim, Affiliated
" These changes represent a shift in the expertise
required and continual large investments in technology.
For decades monitoring station communication
technology consisted of four components:
phone lines, alarm receiver hardware, monitoring
software platforms and telephone systems. The
landscape is now dramatically more complex; the
upsurge of IP-based alarm communications and
real-time user connectivity demands have been
catalysts forcing even the most experienced monitoring
providers to re-evaluate the way they look
at systems reliability, bandwidth, data security and
user accessibility. " - Jim McMullen, COPS
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Security Sales & Integration August 2021

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