A fire alarm system is a crucial part of a building’s overall fire protection and life safety strategy. The main is a crucial part of a building’s overall fire protection and life safety strategy.

This new milestone means that the number of ONVIF conformant, interoperable products has doubled in the last three years and tripled since 2018.

Ah, yes. An exciting time in Chicago 2022. I had two terrible experiences this past summer which I would like my faithful readers to know about, and take heed.

It is important to consider marketing opportunities that address new needs in a new climate. Stay open to new marketing opportunities and the security industry will continue to stand strong.  

Your potential security customers need a rational and relational foundation before connecting with your brand. And there’s a powerful and predictable way to do that.

As monitoring companies take advantage of new video technology and grow their businesses to include video monitoring services, it is important to understand that there is a significant difference between installing a video system and a monitoring-ready video system.

Q&A with TMA Central Station Manager of the Year Runners-Up

The new TMA ANSI standard is approaching publication and implementation.

Artificial intelligence, analytics and other sensing technologies are expected to play a key role in responding to intrusion and other life safety alarm events.

Mark McCall, Chair of the TMA AVS-01 Committee, explains the collaborative effort between the alarm industry and public safety professionals and how the new standard aims to refine alarm notifications and the quality of alarm information.

David Holl speaks to executives from monitoring centers and emergency communication centers about their involvement in the initial pilot programs for the AVS-01 standard.

SDM spoke with the 2023 TMA Monitoring Center Manager of the Year. Ayala is the director of operations at Rapid Response Monitoring Services.

Industry insiders convened at ISC West to discuss AVS-01, a new ANSI-accredited standard aimed at improving alarm validation and enhancing communication between the security sector and public safety agencies.

Washington — In the more than 18 months since the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement unveiled its free BSEE!Safe text message alert system, the agency reports it has supplied links to BSEE safety alerts and bulletins covering offshore oil and gas work on the Outer Continental Shelf to over 7,000 subscribers.

In 2017, 132 workers died in roadway work zone crashes, according to WorkZoneSafety.org.

SDM editors share thoughts on their ISC West 2024 experience, plus check out a gallery of images from the exhibit hall and ancillary goings-on during the big show.

Verkada’s newly released 2024 State of Cloud Physical Security report is based on insights from IT and physical security leaders across various sectors.

This year’s Electronic Security Expo (ESX) was held June 4-6 in Louisville, Ky., at the Kentucky International Convention Center. The event was host to education sessions, networking events and — of course — the expo floor.

GSX in Orlando, held just before Hurricane Helene, showcased over 200 educational sessions and 500 exhibitors, emphasizing a shift from traditional product-focused displays to innovative solutions that leverage data for improved efficiency and predictive security management.

Verkada’s partner event in Denver brought together over 1,600 security professionals to showcase cutting-edge cloud-based solutions, AI-enabled products, plus insights into the evolving role of physical security technologies.

Thousands of safety professionals, thought leaders, and health and safety product and service manufacturers came together Sept. 19-21 in San Diego.

Meet the National Safety Council's 2023 CEOs Who "Get It" – seven leaders who demonstrate a personal commitment to worker safety and health.

Washington — The White House is seeking a 17% funding increase for OSHA under the Department of Labor’s fiscal year 2024 budget request.

Meet the 2023 Rising Stars of Safety – 36 young safety professionals who are making an impact.

To review some of this year's memorable moments, browse articles included in Safety+Health's Show Daily email newsletter published each day of the October 2023 event.

Meet the National Safety Council’s 2024 CEOs Who “Get It” – seven leaders who demonstrate a personal commitment to worker safety and health.

Meet the 2024 Rising Stars of Safety – 38 young safety professionals who are making an impact.

To review some of this year's memorable moments, browse articles included in Safety+Health's Show Daily email newsletter published each day of the September 2024 event.

Final rule expands OSHA’s digger-derrick exemption and the agency launches its annual heat campaign in this week’s OSHA Roundup.

Columbia, SC — To help mark its 50th anniversary as a State Plan state, South Carolina OSHA is encouraging employers to provide at least 50 minutes of additional safety training to their workers during Safety Stand Down Week – set for Dec. 5-9.

Salem, OR — Oregon OSHA is encouraging all employers and workers in the state to “celebrate their safety and health achievements” and examine and renew their current safety efforts during the agency’s 20th annual Safety Break for Oregon.

2017 was a good year for the economy — and manufacturers, dealers and integrators definitely felt the positive impact of these trends.

In an economy that is staying strong, with a projected commercial construction growth rate of 4 percent annually through 2019, there is much to be happy about.

If responses from more than 30 manufacturers, integrators and other industry practitioners are any indication, share-of-revenue from access control may be picking up.

The video surveillance market is strong and will continue to grow. It is less a lumbering giant, though, and more an agile athlete, able to pivot and adapt — it just happens to be the largest one on the security court.

Doomsday didn’t happen. For all the concern many security dealers have shown in recent years — particularly about the rapidly changing residential market — all indicators seem to finally point to what was always the hope in the midst of the fear: that all the new entrants, technologies and business models would start to grow the pie for all.

The U.S. fire market was steady and strong in 2018, with an equal or better outlook for 2019.

For decades the dominant story in access control has been that it was a victim of its own success: that is, customers were reluctant to change out what was still working — even 15 or 20 years on — and didn’t see the benefit in spending the money to upgrade, even for significantly new or different features.

Is the smart home market maturing and stabilizing, showing a clear path forward for security dealers wanting to capitalize on the new desires of homeowners to interact with many areas of their home life, including security? Not exactly. But there are definitely signs that it has moved to another level of adoption and interest, making the time ripe for action on the part of those who want to adjust their business model to capture opportunities and revenue in this fast-growing space.

A continuing strong economy, end user desires to do more with their access control systems and increasing interest in new technologies, integrations and models all led to a positive outlook in 2019 and a general feeling of optimism for 2020, with a few notes of caution.

The typically steady fire and life safety industry saw growth in 2019, with overall global revenues surpassing $7.5 billion, according to David Gonzalez, research analyst, physical security and critical communications, Omdia, London.

While 2020 affected the confidence of some in the video market, professionals remain optimistic going into 2021, with the increased adoption of new, more advanced technologies, and a potential end to the coronavirus pandemic in sight.

According to SDM’s 2023 Industry Forecast, more than 1 in 2 (56 percent) security professionals expect revenue from access control systems (on-premise and cloud-based) to increase in 2023, marking a healthy 10-point jump from the previous year.

The story of the 100 largest security dealers and how they performed in 2009 can be told in a Twitter update of 140 characters or less: The SDM 100 is

View an abridged version of the SDM 100 report as well download the entire report.The SDM 100 has been published since 1991. Its primary objective is to measure consumer dollars gained by security companies, in order to present an account of the size of the market captured by the 100 largest security providers.

Take a look at the facts and figures featured in the SDM 100 report for 2011: There’s much to smile about this year, as more than eight in 10 of SDM 100 companies (82 percent) thinks 2011 will bestow increased revenues compared with last year. 

Turning the corner on the 2010 economy was like telling off a friend who had it coming — you got to offload some of the poison, and you could move forward with a lesser burden. While the performance of the security industry in 2010 was less than stellar, there were some generally positive economic indicators in the first two quarters of 2011 that hold promise.

The SDM 100 has been published since 1991. Its primary objective is to measure consumer dollars gained by alarm companies, in order to present an account of the size of the market captured by the 100 largest security providers. SDM 100 firms are ranked by their recurring monthly revenue. RMR is the amount of contractually recurring revenues due from customers, for such services as monitoring, contracted service and system maintenance, and leasing of security systems.

The 2012 SDM 100 ranks U.S. companies that provide electronic security systems and services to both residential and non-residential customers. This ranking is based on information provided to or, in few cases, estimated by SDM. Ranked companies were asked to submit either an audited or reviewed financial statement, or a copy of their income tax return showing total gross receipts for the stated period. The vast majority of the firms ranked are privately held.

Not only does the SDM 100 now have a new top 3, but signs of the SDM 100 becoming more of a services-focused business model are apparent. Since the SDM 100 began ranking security companies by their recurring monthly revenue (RMR) in 2007, the top three companies have been ADT, Protection 1 and Monitronics (with the exception of Brink’s Home Security/Broadview, which subsequently was acquired by ADT).