Hopefully you’re already deep into strategic planning for 2018, but here are a few recommendations based on industry trends and predictions to help aim you in the right direction, as well as a look back at some of this year’s published columns to help you get there.

We are in the midst of the fourth industrial revolution — at a point where we have logged more data in the past two years than in the entire history of mankind.

A survey conducted by Capital One found that new technologies are transforming the way executives view the security industry.

It’s time to deliver a robust user experience and empower them with voice control.

Can dealers make a profit in this market? SDM asked manufacturers making products for the DIY market about this and their answer is “yes.”

A research report published by Persistence Market Research states that the global market is likely to account for a market valuation of more than $29.8 billion through 2025 end.

What is really driving this boom is the way these products and networks are starting to play together, allowing people to add what they want with whatever system they already have and control everything with one app.

A group of burglary victims was asked which items they had at or in their residence at the time of the burglary.

According to Parks Associates’ consumer study “360 View: Residential Security,” remote monitoring and no long-term commitment are key factors to attract new security customers.

Most statistical data on phishing attacks point to employee/personnel education, said Daniel DeBlasio vice president of sales, BQT Solutions America Inc.

The 2018 CEDIA Expo Keynote is free for CEDIA Expo attendees and will take place on Sept. 5 at 5:30 p.m. in room 20A at the San Diego Convention Center. CEDIA Expo will be held Sept. 4-8 at the San Diego Convention Center. 

To tweak a line from a famous Frank Sinatra song: 2017, it was a very good year. It was a very good year for connected homes, that is. Massive amounts of advertising from big players inside and outside the security space, a rapidly advancing technology landscape, and an avid interest from homeowners at all economic levels led to a connected home space that is growing by leaps and bounds.

For quite some time I’ve been preaching that the security industry is in ‘pole position’ to be the source for delivering the smart home and connected living.

Passion dominates at every CEDIA Expo, including this year’s event in Denver, held September 12-14. No matter if you love all things audio/video and entertainment-focused, or smart home technology with integrated systems and devices that put you in control, participants are eager to see and learn.

ADT Inc., No. 1 on the SDM 100 Report, today announced that it entered into a definitive agreement to sell ADT Security Services Canada Inc. to TELUS Corporation for approximately CAD $700 million in cash, subject to certain adjustments.

2020 looks like a great year in the smart home industry. Electronics are flying off the shelves, delivery trucks are full and professional installation is at an all-time high.

Evaluating the state of any market is a tricky thing during a pandemic — things are changing daily; new technologies are being explored; the future is unknown; and it’s difficult to look back at the past clearly.

Parks Associates data estimates that between 2022 and 2024, more than 250 million networked cameras, video doorbells, and smart speakers/smart displays will be sold in the U.S. 

The report — fielded in cooperation with Interpret —provides a baseline of the overall smart home market landscape, as well as data collected from a custom quantitative survey of 1,500 U.S.- based smart home device owners. 

Pricing details will be made available to RAD’s dealer channel and clients upon request.

IP cameras, especially those paired with AI, are in a prime position to capture some of the market growth in safety and other specialized applications.

As part of the collaboration, Huffmaster will deploy Elite Fire Safety’s new  Remote Tactical Surveillance Units (RTSUs) across the United States. 

In remote video monitoring, best practices at the customer premises lead to successful outcomes at the central station.

Based in Irvine, Calif., Arcules was spun out from Copenhagen-based Milestone in 2017. 

Experts in the know explain the critical need for cybersecurity training and education for security integrators in video surveillance, detailing best practices for building awareness, training staff on protocols, and fostering a culture of security within organization.

The decision to join this program highlights the mutual commitment that both companies share in supporting AV programmers to ensure clients' needs are met while completing projects reliably and efficiently.

Industry insiders explain how advanced video analytics technology is transforming central monitoring stations, enhancing public safety, and improving collaboration with law enforcement and emergency responders.

With the growth of video content across various industries, Lumeo said the ability to efficiently analyze and derive insights from this data is crucial.

The critical job that SD cards play in video edge storage — either in a primary or secondary role — can’t be overstated.

Under this initiative, Renova Technology will support products that are no longer covered under warranty.

XProtect 2024 R1 introduces new capabilities aimed at enhancing cybersecurity and ensuring compliance.

SIRAS drones are engineered for data security, performance, and affordability, making them the ideal choice for public safety, firefighting, and search and rescue missions, according to the announcement.

 The mobile-first approach of VSaaS aligns perfectly with the growing trend of remote work and distributed teams.

The integration is particularly valuable for organizations that need to quickly respond to Data Subject Access Requests (DSARs), Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, and Right of Access (ROA) requests.

A panel of industry insiders discuss how cloud-based video surveillance systems provide cost efficiency, scalability and enhanced operational benefits for small businesses.

Physical security systems need to be nimble to counter a changing threat landscape.

Body-worn cameras are reshaping security by integrating with broader systems, harnessing AI-driven features for enhanced video management, and offering new opportunities for security integrators to meet evolving demands.

The VSaaS solution, now available in beta, includes a new user experience that reduces the time needed to make informed response decisions.

By combining thermal analytics, geospatial capabilities and AI-enabled solutions, integrators can now achieve real-time, proactive and reliable outdoor security.

Collaborative intelligence facilitates the sharing of ALPR data between partnered organizations such as local police departments, private businesses, and community groups.

According to the announcement, the combination of Wasabi and Johnson Controls’ technology brings organizations a fully integrated cloud storage and VMS solution with the added security of Wasabi’s immutable buckets.

IDIS Americas, a new IDIS business unit formed from the recent merger of IDIS America and Costar Technologies, has launched IDIS Solution Suite (ISS) VMS.

With thousands of systems managing tens of thousands of doors for a base of loyal customers, VIVOTEK said PDK delivers an unparalleled user experience as well as the highest levels of security, safety, and data privacy.

The new evidence-sharing functionality will be included for all Cloudrunner customers, with no additional licensing required. Upon activation, subscribers will also receive six-month access to all Clearance functionalities.

Built for extreme weather and environmental conditions, the new Aero PTZ cameras support up to 4K resolution and feature AI-driven analytics.

ROAMEO Gen4 is a fully autonomous mobile security patrol robot, with a 360-degree field of view, high-resolution cameras, and advanced AI analytics based on AITX’s proprietary AIR technology.

Dive into how systems integrators can leverage advanced video analytics to enhance retail security and proactively combat the evolving challenges of shoplifting.

Rose City Rollers commemorates 20 years by hosting the sport’s global championships on their home turf. by Courtney Vaughn

Twenty years ago, Kim “Rocket Mean” Stegeman put an ad on the back page of the Portland Mercury. She didn’t have a business to advertise. She had nothing to sell. 

“My phone number was on the back of it for three months, and it said ‘Want to play roller derby?’” Stegeman recalls. “I would personally just answer phone calls and round up people.”

She and a handful of friends met at Club 21 and flirted with the idea of starting a roller derby team. Before long, they invited anyone interested in skating or volunteering to meet at Colonel Summers Park. 

“I think at that first meeting it was more than 60 people. It was like, that boom moment,” Stegeman says, reminiscing about a wild idea that birthed, in 2004, Portland’s first incarnation of a modern roller derby league, the Rose City Rollers.

“Largely it was women in their mid-20s, a lot of us who were kind of starting careers,” Stegemen says. “But I think we all had kind of a sense of a need for community and just to have something that was really our own, our thing to be passionate about.”

Stegeman and her friends didn’t know their scrappy roller derby league would evolve into an international juggernaut with four championship wins. Rose City Rollers is now the largest derby league in the world, with four home teams, two adult all-star teams, a recreational team, and nine youth teams.

This weekend, Rose City Rollers’ Wheels of Justice all-star team will compete for a fifth championship win, when Portland hosts the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) Global Championships. The event includes 16 games over three days, with 13 teams competing in a single-elimination tournament. The prize? A metal sculpture of a roller skate and track known as the Hydra Trophy. 

It marks the first roller derby championship tournament since 2019. WFTDA paused all sanctioned competitive play during the Covid-19 pandemic—waiting until leagues across the globe could safely return to the sport and had the resources to do so. 

Now in the league’s 20th year, Rose City Rollers are strong contenders to take the Hydra, but competition is fierce. 

“Everyone is so focused on that tournament and so dedicated to do all this fine-tuning to get there next weekend and to take the Hydra home again,” says Nicole “Bonnie Thunders” Williams, a team captain for Wheels of Justice. In the weeks leading up to the championship games, the team is refraining from major strategy changes. Instead, they’re adjusting a few elements based on a few expected opponents. 

Williams is no stranger to the WFTDA Championships. She is to roller derby what Tony Hawk is to skateboarding. This weekend’s tournament will round out her 19th season playing roller derby, and if her team prevails, it’ll mark her eighth championship win.

Modern roller derby is a game of simultaneous offense and defense, played on a flat oval-shaped track. Each team has five skaters on the track at a time, with one skater from each team—the jammers—both racing through packs of players (called blockers) for up to two minutes at a time. The first jammer to make it past all four opponents gets lead advantage, meaning they can call off the two-minute jam whenever they want. 

Jammers skate laps around the track, scoring a point for every opponent they pass on each lap. Skaters mash and tangle their bodies together to block each other, knock each other out of bounds, or muscle their way past to block the other team’s jammer from scoring.

It’s one of few sports with no ball or object of play. The only goal is to field a jammer—who can make it past a wall of opponents with help from her blockers—in what is usually a grinding, grueling exercise of strength, skill, and strategy. 

The sport requires remarkable endurance and agility. Portland’s all-star skaters spend their season practicing three nights a week in a converted airplane hangar in the parking lot of Oaks Amusement Park. Each practice is a cacophony of referee whistles and wheels grinding against a sport court track. On off days, skaters try to fit in at least one cross-training workout a week.

Despite flat track roller derby’s relatively recent emergence, the sport has evolved significantly over the past 20 years. Rules have changed, and strategies have transformed game play. Most visibly, the game attire worn by skaters no longer includes tiny shorts, funky knee-high socks, or fishnets. The sexualization and personal flair that used to permeate women’s roller derby leagues largely died out. 

“I think the focus has turned to the athleticism of it all,” says Tina “Beans” Tyre, co-captain of Wheels of Justice. “When I first started, it was really badass to do this sport. I remember we made dresses out of long t-shirts that we put frills on the bottom of, because it was playing off a theme, as opposed to being athletic."

The DIY ethos began to fade as derby became more competitive, elevating the sport to eventually getting coverage on ESPN. 

“I’ve really enjoyed—especially being a bigger skater—feeling myself as an athlete in a sport that’s taken more seriously every single year,” Tyre adds.

The sport has evolved in other ways, too. It’s become one of the few athletic spaces that welcomes queer, trans, and non-binary skaters. WFTDA-sanctioned leagues are open to skaters who identify as women or gender expansive. 

Athletes acknowledge that roller derby culture isn’t perfect. Transphobia still rears its head, but largely, homophobia and transphobia are taboo within the sport. 

Competitive roller derby is more than a hobby, and more than a sport. It’s a subculture, a way of life. Skaters say it’s a heavy commitment, but one that comes with a tight-knit community. 

“This community is so beautiful at times,” Tyre says. “I have gone through break-ups and had people to live with, people who pick you up when you’re down. In roller derby, a lot of people say ‘roller derby saved my life’ or ‘roller derby saved my soul,’ and I think it’s true for a lot of people who have joined this community and stuck with it for years and years.”

In many ways, roller derby has managed to both mirror and shape the culture of Portland. 

Stegeman says 20 years ago, Portland’s young demographic and cheap rental market made the city primed to support roller derby. 

“When somebody called Portland ‘a place where 30-year-olds go to retire’ that felt very on-brand for us,” Stegeman, now the executive director of the league, says while recounting the early and mid-aughts. “Because there was an amazing, emerging art scene, and there was just unbelievable amounts of live music going on. On any given night, you could leave the house with $25 and be out for a night and have a great time. There was so much interconnection that it was really a natural place for us to have something like derby.”

Decades later, it’s given thousands of people–predominantly women and girls–a place to try out something new, challenge themselves, and make friends along the way. For many, roller derby’s impact is immeasurably deeper.

“I think a lot of people who joined learned a lot about their sexuality and gender through derby, and having a supportive community that was open to queer people being part of it,” Williams says. 

Eight days before the upcoming tournament, Stegeman’s nerves are raw. There are countless tasks and boxes to check before November 1. For instance, she and the Rose City Rollers crew still have to disassemble the track in the league’s practice space at Oaks Park and haul it to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where it will be reassembled by a team of volunteers. 

The league partners with Travel Portland and Sport Oregon to gauge the economic impact and tourism connected to the international tournament. Last time Portland hosted the WFTDA Championships in 2016, it generated an estimated $1.5 million in economic impact to the city. This year is likely to surpass that. 

Rose City will host teams from Australia, France, Canada, and Sweden, in addition to US teams from Los Angeles, Denver, New York City, Atlanta, St. Louis, and Jacksonville, Florida.

Despite its global reach, derby still has a long way to go before it could be considered mainstream. For now, the sport maintains an interesting hybrid status: It’s played by amateur, unpaid athletes, but still fills major sports arenas during championship events. For the most part, skaters say that’s a good thing. 

It might be a sport relegated to counter culture, but  Stegeman no longer has to blast her personal phone number on the back of the Mercury to recruit new skaters. 

Women’s Flat Track Derby Association Global Championships take over Veterans Memorial Coliseum, 300 N Ramsay Way, Fri Nov 1-Sun Nov 3, schedules and tickets at wftda.com, $30-$225, all ages

by Anonymous

Please vote as if you want stress to become eradicated. Please vote as if a solution to gentrification is needed to be found. Don't let the disaster capitalists continue to have the loudest voices in the room. Please vote to free us from private equity's grip. Please vote that bouncing forward not resilience can become an aftermath of any disaster. Please vote that the new form of feudalism is not okay and should not continue. . Please vote to continue to capturing consensus in the public sphere. Please insert yourself into the public sphere as much as you can after the election so the consensus model can truly expand. Thanks for the read! xoxox

NW Natural talks up its climate strategy, but new legal challenges say the company has spent years lying about the environmental impact of natural gas. by Taylor Griggs

For years, environmental advocates have said NW Natural attempts to obfuscate the negative climate and health impacts of natural gas utilities in order to remain dominant in the market. NW Natural, Oregon’s largest gas utility operation, has responded to such allegations with fierce resistance, promoting its service as more climate-friendly than electric alternatives and talking up plans to go greener in the future. 

But two lawsuits filed against NW Natural earlier this month put a spotlight on its alleged greenwashing practices, arguing the company has knowingly disenfranchised customers and contributed to the climate crisis. The first lawsuit, filed on October 7, adds NW Natural to Multnomah County’s existing legal challenge against several other oil companies for their role in perpetuating the deadly 2021 heat dome event. Just two days later on October 9, two NW Natural customers filed a class action suit against the company for falsely representing a program it says will offset the carbon emissions caused by customers’ natural gas use. 

Many Oregonians rely on gas heat appliances, whether to heat their homes or power their stoves, and nearly all of them have NW Natural as their service provider. NW Natural serves more than two million people across Oregon and southwest Washington, and is the only gas utility company serving Multnomah County. 

Proponents of natural gas say gas utilities are economical, efficient, and reliable in the case of power outages. But scientists and environmental experts say there are major downsides, too. Residential and commercial energy use accounts for about 20 percent of Oregon’s carbon emissions—the second largest category after transportation—and natural gas combustion accounts for a sizable portion of those emissions. Methane leaks from gas appliances also have a major climate impact, with gas stoves in particular emitting planet-warming greenhouse gasses even when they’re not in use. 

And if the environmental harm wasn’t enough, recent studies also show gas stoves are worse for human health than previously thought, with clear connections to carcinogenic pollutants. Long-term exposure to nitrogen dioxide from gas stoves has also been shown to lead to tens of thousands of cases of childhood asthma. 

As experts have sounded the alarm on all the impacts of gas utilities, environmental advocates and lawmakers have ramped up efforts to move Oregonians away from natural gas. The Portland Clean Energy Fund, for example, has invested tens of millions of dollars in deep energy retrofit projects, which will replace fossil fuel-reliant heating and cooling systems with electric systems. The program has invested millions more into building new, energy-efficient housing and commercial buildings. 

In resisting being pushed out of the market, the recent lawsuits say NW Natural has duped customers and pushed false propaganda about natural gas and the environment. 

Environmental advocates hope the legal challenges will have a practical impact on the company’s bottom line and enlighten the public.

Part of NW Natural’s public outreach strategy has been its sponsorship of community events, including those hosted by environmentally-minded organizations. In an effort to limit the gas utility’s greenwashing message, environmental advocates want local groups to cut ties with NW Natural, or think twice before accepting a future sponsorship deal. 

“NW Natural has a captive audience that trusts what their natural gas utility is telling them,” Carra Sahler, an attorney and director of Lewis and Clark Law School’s Green Energy Institute, tells the Mercury. “The more we can do to encourage skepticism, the better, and the easier it will be for people to make a switch [to electrify their homes] and to feel good about making that switch.” 

Multnomah County’s amended lawsuit says NW Natural’s carbon and methane emissions have been “a cause of enormous harm” to the county and its residents. But, the lawsuit says, you wouldn’t know that by listening to the gas utility company’s public messaging. 

The county’s lawsuit states NW Natural has emitted at least 72.1 metric tons of CO2 equivalent in the last few decades, but has “deceived the public by claiming its product is safe, clean, and environmentally friendly.” 

The lawsuit provides several examples of the company’s alleged deceitful practices. Some particularly egregious instances include attempts to influence children and the Oregon education system. In 2021, NW Natural offered activity booklets to schools containing colorful drawings and activities for children promoting natural gas. The company also tried to use a front organization to host a training session for teachers about renewable gas, offering a $200 stipend to each teacher who attended. The training was canceled after public backlash. 

The misinformation from NW Natural got so bad, state agencies had to step in.

Earlier this year, NW Natural distributed a newsletter to its customers containing misinformation about Oregon’s Climate Protection Program policy. The newsletter said the climate policy would not reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but would result in a 14 percent rate hike for all NW Natural customers. In response, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality made a statement disavowing NW Natural’s campaign against the state policy. 

“In summary, NW Natural has routinely misrepresented to the public the climate impacts of extracting, transporting, storing and burning their product while over-estimating the costs of transitioning to renewables or reducing their pollution in an effort to frighten customers and discourage policy makers from using their authority to protect the public,” the Multnomah County lawsuit states. 

Sahler commends the county for including NW Natural in the big oil lawsuit.

“NW Natural is a trusted provider of warmth in homes, part of the local fabric... It’s exciting to see the county taking action—it’s brave to take on one more fossil fuel interest, especially a local one,” she told the Mercury. “Multnomah County's lawsuit appropriately lumps Northwest Natural in with the other big fossil fuel companies that we know are problematic, and it helps people understand what we're dealing with here.” 

David Roy, NW Natural’s director of communications, told the Mercury the company is “disappointed the County is spending resources on litigation instead of on developing effective emission reduction policies that work for County residents and businesses.” 

“We will continue to pursue pathways that allow Oregonians, including low- and moderate-income customers, to have access to two energy systems—electric and gas—for their homes and businesses,” Roy said. “NW Natural will vigorously contest these claims should they come to court. Regarding the Multnomah County action, we believe adding the company to the suit at this later date is an attempt to divert attention from legal and factual flaws in the case.” 

While Multnomah County’s lawsuit hones in on misleading claims and practices, the class action lawsuit specifically targets NW Natural’s Smart Energy program, an additional monthly fee available to customers, ostensibly to offset the carbon emissions associated with their natural gas use. Upon further investigation, however, NW Natural sends this carbon offset surcharge to industrial dairy farms for questionable “manure digesters,” which generate energy from methane-producing livestock waste. 

The complaint says the relationship between “carbon offset” funds, like NW Natural’s Smart Energy program, and the industrial dairies may incentivize the expansion of factory farming and enable further livestock waste production. 

“Independent research demonstrates that, at best, the climate benefits of manure digestion are not well studied and remain unclear,” the lawsuit says. “At worst, emissions reductions are significantly overstated.” 

Nicolas Blumm, one of the plaintiffs in the Smart Energy case, tells the Mercury he signed up for the program shortly after becoming a NW Natural customer. Since he didn’t have much of a choice about his gas utility system, he wanted to be as eco-friendly as possible while doing it. 

Blumm said the additional payment for the Smart Energy program was small—last January, he paid about $5 extra on his gas bill—so he didn’t think about it much. But once he realized where the money was going, he felt taken advantage of. 

The Smart Energy lawsuit points out that “corporate claims regarding sustainability and lower climate impact are particularly difficult for consumers to verify” and “climate-conscious consumers are particularly vulnerable to climate-related ‘greenwashing.’” 

“People deserve to have a chance to be honestly informed,” Blumm said. “I don’t think you should have to dig through and make sure every dollar you’re giving NW Natural is going exactly where they say it is. If they say the program is going to make your service carbon neutral, that’s how it should be.” 

In addition to the two lawsuits, NW Natural recently faced a blow from the Oregon Public Utilities Commission (OPUC). Last week, OPUC ordered the company to phase out gas subsidies by 2027. These subsidies are also known as line extension allowances, which gas utility companies including NW Natural charge existing customers in order to pay for expanding natural gas infrastructure to connect new customers to the service. 

Line extension allowances have been criticized by renewable energy advocates as environmentally damaging and economically burdensome for customers. But Roy, the NW Natural communications director, told the Mercury the company is “disappointed with the Commission’s decision,” and believes its subsidy proposal “supports the state’s goals for increased housing and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.” 

Advocates hope the recent news about NW Natural will lead to change in the community’s relationship with the company. While many consumers don’t have a choice about whether or not they can pay NW Natural for their monthly gas utility service, local organizations have more flexibility. NW Natural frequently sponsors or co-sponsors events across the region, ranging from county fairs to the Portland Bureau of Transportation’s (PBOT) annual Sunday Parkways open streets events. At these events, the utility company often sets up a booth to share information about natural gas, which environmental advocates say is often misleading. 

PBOT Communications Director Hannah Schafer told the Mercury the bureau is “aware of the concerns” and hasn’t made sponsorship decisions for the 2025 Sunday Parkways season. 

Sahler, the attorney, told the Mercury, considering the harm burning natural gas has caused to the planet and to human health, she wants to see local leaders draw a line in the sand. 

“Fossil fuel companies are like tobacco companies. You wouldn’t have a tobacco company at [events like Sunday Parkways],” Sahler said. “At some point it has to be unacceptable to support a business that is poisoning us.”