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In This Issue
NBFAA News
First Line of Defense Awards Deadline Extended
NBFAA has extended until Nov. 24 the deadline to send in nominations for the First Line of Defense Award. Nominations must be in NBFAA’s office in Irving, Texas by Nov. 24 to be considered for the award.
You may mail or fax your entry to:
NBFAA Public Relations Committee
First Line of Defense Award
2300 Valley View Lane, Suite 230
Irving, TX 75062
Fax: (214) 260-5979
If you have a great story to tell about how your alarm system has helped save a life, deter crime or catch a criminal, send it to us TODAY! If your story is selected, you and your customer will win a free trip to Las Vegas during ISC West, courtesy of NBFAA and SDM Magazine, where you will be honored at the awards ceremony. Plus, your story will be featured in SDM Magazine and your company will receive local and national publicity.
The First Line of Defense Award is a great way for your company to receive tremendous amounts of recognition for a job well done! For complete contest rules and forms visit www.alarm.org.
Changing of the Guard Brings Opportunities for Members
The 110th Congress will see a changing of the guard when control is handed over to the Democrats. With this turnover there is great opportunity at the grassroots to influence new policymakers and new legislative outlooks for the 110th Congress. It is critical to impact the new House and Senate members early on in the process.
The calendar in the next two months, excluding the holiday seasons reflects an active winter period. The ‘lame-duck’ session could last beyond November and into December. One of the bigger bills on the agenda is a Continuing Resolution funding the government. Both parties will also be electing new leadership during this period.
- November 13 (Monday): Congress reconvenes for a “lame-duck” session. The session might last beyond November 17 and into December.
- November 16 (Thursday): Democratic House Leadership elections for 110th Congress
- November 17 (Friday): Scheduled date for Republican House Leadership elections for 110th Congress
- November 17 (Friday): Expiration date for a Continuing Resolution (CR) funding the government (non-Department of Defense) from Oct 1st—options include approving pending conference appropriations FY08 bills or pass another CR into an unspecified date
- November 13-17: Senate leadership elections for 110th Congress
- November 13-30: New Members (GOP and Dems over 35 as of today) begin coming to DC, meet leaders, choose staff, also come in December
- January 3 (Wednesday): Swearing in of the 110th Congress.
Contact your Congressmen during this transition period and establish a relationship with their staff. Follow up with them as NBFAA suggests during the 2007 legislative calendar. Many will be back in their State and District during the holiday seasons.
Alarm History 101: The First Motion Sensor
Editor’s Note: The Alarm Industry has an illustrious and interesting history going back more than 100 years. Many do not know the history of the industry that they have chosen as a profession. Because of this we have decided to include a brief look in Member Update at some of the events that have shaped the alarm industry into what it has become today. Alarm History 101 provides information on the path the industry has taken and of the ideas that have impacted it. If you have questions about our industry’s history you would like answered send an e-mail to communications@alarm.org.
World War II boosted the development of technologies of all kinds. Revived by great production demands, industries once again fattened their research budgets and produced such innovations as transistors, printed circuits and miniaturized components. The transistor, patented by Bell Labs in 1948, was in itself enough to bring the industry out of the age of electricity and into the age of electronics.
Printed circuits and miniaturization served to refine and expand the transistor’s uses. Detection system developed in the 1930s and 1940s, while remarkable in design, suffered for their reliance on tubes that burned out and circuits that could be shorted. When alarm systems were built with transistors and printed circuits, such problems were alleviated.
Advances in detection and monitoring technology challenged some of the smartest crooks. Just about the time that burglars learned to evade electric eyes with flashlights and to pound through roofs, along came Sam Bagno, the Thomas Edison of the protection industry, whose 54 patents included one for the ultrasonic alarm.
The Ultrasonic Alarm - This sensor changed the science of space protection creating, in effect, a web of sound waves within a room. This transmitter continuously sent out waves, which were measured by the receiver. Any change in the wave pattern was picked up aby the receiver, triggering an alarm. In the photo, the transmitter and receiver are placed next to the processing unit. Note the use of vacuum tubes, which were later replaced by transistors.
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Bagno began researching ultrasonic alarms in the mid-1940s and filed a patent for one in 1948. Patent interference disputes delayed the approval. The Brush Development Company, working under a contract with ADT, filed for its own patent about the same time as Bagno. Frank Guibert, working as chief engineer for Newark District Telegraph, compared the two devices in the late 1940s and found Bagno’s far superior. Nevertheless, a long period of litigation ensued.
William Cornforth, president of Alertronics Corp., rescued Bagno from financial ruin by hiring him in 1949. Cornforth tended to the legal matters, freeing Bagno to invent and refine his detectors. A plump extrovert, Bagno insisted on doing his research alone, Cornforth said. He often worked through the night on such devices as a modulated photo-electric cell, a stress alarm to detect vibrations in cement and soil, a capacitance alarm, along with countless applications for the ultrasonic concept, including underwater detectors and a washing machine. He made available to the entire alarm industry advanced technologies that once were the proprietary property of a few.
In 1952 the court awarded Bagno a patent for the ultrasonic alarm, a device that changed the whole science of interior protection. It creates, in effect, a web of ultrasonic waves inside a room and detects the motion of a person. Sending out sound waves at high frequencies, the detector “spins its web” by establishing a pattern in the way that waves bounce of inanimate objects in the room and return to a receiver. Any disturbance in the pattern caused by movement shifts the sound frequency (known as the Doppler effect), triggering the alarm.
Bagno’s first detectors were too sensitive. Not only did they sense burglars but curtains and plants that moved when the heat went on, ringing telephones, leaking steam, screeching brakes, moths, rats and other freeloading small residents of buildings. “We burned many hours of midnight oil resulting from the turbulence problems in his early systems,” said Peter Neumann of Albany Electric Protective, who worked with Bagno on several large contracts for General Electric.
Bagno submitted the detector to Underwriters Laboratories (UL) for approval in 1947. The system was a primitive prototype of contemporary units, made of vacuum tubes and pairs of aluminum bowl-like transducers to transmit and receive the sound waves and convert them into electric energy. It had no back-up batteries. A single system could handle up to 20 pairs of transducers. UL was reluctant to list the system until 1951 when some of its flaws were eliminated. Bagno and others solved the problems over time by adjusting the detector’s sensitivity by adding features that measured the net movement in a room. For example, a curtain blowing out and returning to its original position creates no net movement, while a person moving about does.
Source: A History of Alarm Security Copyrighted by NBFAA 1979, 1980, and 1991.
Improve Your Skills with NTS Continuing Education Courses
These courses will allow you to earn continuing education units (CEU’s) to maintain your NTS certifications.
NBFAA and our cutting-edge content partners bring you one of the largest skills course libraries available on the Internet. This online skills course library contains over 2,500 courses and provides professional, technical and desktop application software courses, on your schedule, when you need it, right at your own computer. Make learning fun and interesting with interactive questions and simulations. Quality content and graphics provide in-depth training for all levels of students. The following course packages are approved for NTS - CEU credits:
- End User Business Skill Development
- End User Desktop Computing
- End User Home and Small Business
Get Your Thanksgiving Fill on These Great Training Opportunities
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Eating too much turkey on Thanksgiving can make you ill. There’s no such thing as too much training though. Get your fill on NTS courses offered in your state and improve your company’s ability to gain and retain customers with a knowledgeable and highly trained staff. Sign up for a class near you today. Complete course descriptions and schedules for 2006 are available at www.alarm.org in the Professional Development section. Interested individuals in states where NTS is not currently offered should contact NTS. |
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Advanced Burglar Alarm Technician
Dec. 2 – 3 – Lafayette, La.
Dec. 7 – 8 – Philadelphia, Pa.
Dec. 9 – 10 – Montevallo, Ala.
Central Station Training
Nov. 29 – Montgomery, Ala.
Certified Alarm Technician (Level 1)
Nov. 27 – 29 – Denver, Colo.
Nov. 29 – Dec. 1 – Long Island, N.Y.
Dec. 1 – 3 – Montevallo, Ala.
Dec. 18 – 20 – Fairfax, Va.
Fire Alarm Installation Methods
Dec. 5 – 6 – Philadelphia, Pa.
Continuing Education Courses
Dec. 8 – NICET Test Prep – Columbia, S.C.
NBFAA & Chapter Calendar Highlights
Members: Send Us Your 2007 Events
We want to keep members and the rest of NBFAA up-to-date on the happenings in your local area through a posting on NBFAA’s Web site at www.alarm.org and inclusion in Member Update. Send us your information today.
To get your event added send an e-mail to communications@alarm.org. Be sure to include a description of the event along with the dates.
Check out the events near you in each issue of Member Update and on the NBFAA Web site at www.alarm.org.
llinois Electronic Security Association
Casino Night, Auction & Holiday Party
Dec. 2, 2006
Holiday Inn, Elk Grove Village
Be sure to invite your significant other, employees and guests. There will be casino style gaming, a “funny money” auction for prizes, great food and a silent auction. Each guest will receive $300 in funny money for gaming. Companies sponsoring or bringing an auction item will receive additional funny money.
Besides being a wonderful evening of fun, your support will raise funds for IESA projects. Here’s how you can help!
The Holiday Party Committee is asking for creative sponsors who will donate items or cash for the silent auction. Suggested items include sports tickets, merchandise, theatre tickets, dinner certificates, hotel weekend packages, gift certificates, shopping spree. A cash donation could sponsor the evenings entertainment or beverages.
IESA welcomes your thoughts, suggestions and donation! Be sure to register early. Registration is required by Nov. 24.
California Alarm Association Winter Conference
2006 CAA Winter Convention & Western States Security Conference
Dec. 7 – 9, 2006
Crowne Plaza, San Francisco
Micro Key Software Users Conference
Jan. 30 – Feb. 2, 2006
Sheraton Studio City Hotel
Orlando, Fla.
Micro Key Software will hold its 14th annual users conference at the Sheraton Studio City Hotel in Orlando, Fla. The conference, to be held Jan. 30 – Feb. 2, is focused on how to increase efficiency and profitability. Sessions will include training on the enhancements requested at previous conferences, revealing 2007 product plans, user forums, and much, much more. Although sessions are geared toward users of Micro Key’s software, any alarm dealer, central station manager or owners is welcome to attend.
New Jersey Burglar & Fire Alarm Association Annual Symposium
Feb. 1, 2007
East Windsor, New Jersey
Annual Symposium for Dealers and Integrators
This 1-day event features a small trade show, an awards ceremony recognizing NJBFAA members, education programs, networking and more.
Member News
Got a Scoop? Let us Hear It
NBFAA wants to help publicize your company, state and chapter. Your stories will be included in a wide variety of publications including Member Update, Newsline and Stay Connected.
Have some interesting news about your company, new technology or a success story? Perfect, that’s exactly the kind of stuff we’re looking for. If you have photos, even better as there’s nothing people like more than some good art to go with the story they’re reading. Or maybe you just want to get the word out about something that’s coming up. That’s fine too.
The stories don’t even have to be written. If something is newsworthy, tell us what it is. We’ll do the leg work and write the story for you. Send your newsworthy items to communications@alarm.org and we’ll start publishing them today.
Vector Security Opens its Fourth StaR Point Office
Vector Security’s National Accounts Division (NAD) is continuing with the fourth phase of its StaR Point expansion plan. With three offices fully operational in Newport Beach, Calif.; Dallas, Texas; and Boston, Mass.; Vector opened its fourth office in Chicago, Ill.
 Katie Kuhl was recently promoted to National Accounts Manager |
The goal of Vector Security’s expansion plan is to reduce the degree of separation between the NAD project managers, their existing and prospective customers, and their nationwide network of Technical Service Providers (TSPs). As both its customer locations and TSP base grew, Vector realized that it would need greater field presence to maintain its effectiveness. In response, it developed this plan to place regional offices in strategic locations across the country, so that its customers can continue to receive the level of service to which they have been accustomed.
Vector’s newest StaR Point office will follow the sales direction of Katie Kuhl, who was recently promoted to National Accounts Manager for this Midwest region. Kuhl joined Vector Security in 2004 as a member of Vector’s sales staff; she was promoted to Account Representative in August of 2005. Since that time, Kuhl has been primarily responsible for several key national accounts customers, concentrating her efforts on developing stronger working relationships with her customers’ loss prevention and construction departments.
Industry Veteran Joins Tri-Ed
Tri-Ed Distribution is pleased to announce that Jim Bolton has come aboard as sales associate in its recently opened Pennsauken branch.
Bolton, who has over 20 years of security distribution experience, joins Branch Manager Buzz Jackson and Sales Associate Karrie Tynan at the branch, located just outside of Philadelphia. Bolton currently reserves a seat as chairman of the Events Committee for the Southeast region of the Pennsylvania Burglar & Fire Alarm Association.
Micro Key Software Supports the U.S. Military
In September Micro Key Software participated in a two-day Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) function.
This event, attended by Wayne Torrens, Micro Key Software’s president, took a group of civilian employers to a Coast Guard station for a mission briefing relating to the space launches at the Kennedy Space Center. The group then boarded a patrol boat and toured around the harbor. On day two the employers toured the Air Force side of the Space Center and saw two Boeing rockets being readied for a launch at the Delta Launch Pad and listened in on the briefing.
Torrens continues to participate in ESGR events to gain a better understanding of what being in the Guard and Reserve is all about. “Having someone in the Guard or Reserve and supporting this person is more my civic duty than anything. I get a feeling of pride allowing an employee to serve for the good of the country. It’s just the right thing to do,” Torrens said, “We need to give those employees our full support.”
ESGR is a Department of Defense organization established in 1972 to promote cooperation and understanding between Reserve component members and their civilian employers. One goal of ESGR is to assist in the resolution of conflicts arising from an employee’s military commitment. ESGR’s mission is to gain and maintain active support from all public and private employers for the men and women of the National Guard and Reserve.
Member Benefit Spotlight
DHL |
Take Advantage of Shipping ServicesNBFAA’s affiliation with DHL brings NBFAA members a full suite of domestic and international shipping services at special prices. To find out more, contact the dedicated association hotline or log on to www.membersales.com/nbfaa. |
Industry News You Can Use
Nominations for PDQ Award Being Accepted
The Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC) is accepting nominations for the Police Dispatch Quality Award (PDQ). Nominations must be received by Dec. 31.
Security companies and law enforcement agencies work together as partners, sharing information and communicating frequently to protect public safety and serve their communities. In honor of this partnership the Security Industry Alarm Coalition (SIAC) and the False Alarm Reduction Association (FARA) have created the Police Dispatch Quality (PDQ) Award program.
The program aims to promote cooperative best practices, to reduce unnecessary dispatches and give officers the most complete information when responding to alarms. SIAC and FARA are looking for companies that exemplify an all out effort to reduce false alarms from implementing enhanced call verification (ECV) to utilizing CP-01 compliant control panels, training customers and working closely with law enforcement.
The best overall collaboration will be honored with the North American PDQ Award for 2007, co-sponsored by Security Sales & Integration and Honeywell Security. For more information visit SIAC’s Web site at www.siacinc.org.
Vector Security, Inc. was the first company to receive the award during the SAMMY Awards in Las Vegas on April 4.
In a press statement, Vector President John Murphy stated he and his managers look at the 10 highest false alarm abusers and the 10 highest year-to-date abusers each month, accounting for more than 400 alarm situations that are reviewed each month. It was this effort that helped Vector Security reduce its dispatches by 1.37 percent.
NBFAA and Members in the News
Recent Press Releases
NBFAA Plans to File a Legal Brief in a New Jersey Appellate Court Case
The NBFAA with its New Jersey Chapter and The Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA) is launching a grassroots campaign to alert the industry and solicit financial support for a legal filing, known as an amicus brief, in a case that is now pending with the New Jersey Appellate Division.
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