In a bit of a departure, the keynote address at the International Security Conference and Exposition (ISC) West, entitled “Industry Incorrect,” was a fairly informal, open forum among five panelists and a moderator in the style of television’s “Politically Incorrect.”
Alan Pepper of Mitchell, Silberberg and Knupp posed questions about topics such as standards, the threat of cable operators and false alarms to Allen Fritts, president of Notifier; SecurityLink President Tim Whall; Joe Cappelletti, president of ADI; National Account Manager Pat Tobin of Digital Monitoring Products (DMP); and Bart Didden, president of USA Central Station Alarm.
When asked if the industry is making equipment too complex for users, Didden and Whall both agreed that was the case. When asked about the Internet’s role in the future of security, Whall said it would be some time before it could be used to reliably transmit signals.
The biggest conflict during the panel’s discussion was when the issue of establishing alarm installation standards was raised. Didden (pro) and Whall (con) were at loggerheads on the topic. Some of the other panelists also expressed concern about the enforcement of standards, noting that there was no point unless standards were to be monitored locally.
