Security and Surveillance Industry News

Pre-Wire your Home – Save Money and Prepare for the Future

The world as we know it is changing rapidly. Every day, innovative new electronic devices are being introduced that are changing the way we work, communicate and interface with the society around us.

Out of convenience or necessity, electronic devices now saturate our daily lives. From cell phones and I-Pods to flat screens and intercom systems, like it or not we are living in an electronic jungle.

Our own homes are on the front lines of this high-tech renaissance. In the not to distant future, the appliances in ultramodern homes will be able to talk to each other. The furnace will have the ability dispatch a service technician or order a replacement part via the internet. Rather than trouble you with the fact that you are almost out of milk, the refrigerator will simply place an order for more with an on-line supermarket.

If what I am saying sounds a little far fetched, just wait a few years. The speed at which things are changing is multiplying exponentially and the homes of the future are rapidly approaching. If you happen to be from my generation, you probably remember black & white televisions with 2 or 3 channels that stopped broadcasting at 10-pm. Now we have satellite televisions in our cars broadcasting hundreds of channels 24-7.

Modern appliances such as LCD televisions or home theater systems require specialized wiring that is not included in most homes. I am speaking from experience when I tell you that there is nothing more frustrating than having to cut into your freshly painted walls to run audio and video cables for your new television. The marriage counseling costs alone were astronomical.

That is why I suggest if you are currently building a new home or remodeling an existing home, you should seriously consider pre-wiring the home to incorporate the latest technology. It is infinitely less expensive and much easier to run wire in a home that is under construction than it is to try and run them later.

Besides the basic telephone and cable television wires, you might want to run wire for home theater systems, security systems, central vacuum systems, heating and air conditioning, computer networks, intercoms, and audio sound systems.

Make sure there are electric outlets at locations where you plan on installing any major appliances such as televisions, computers, powered speakers or video projectors. Absolutely every network outlet connection should have an associated outlet for power.

If your home theatre project goes beyond the basic television and surround sound, you might also need to plan for specialized lighting, dimmers, sub-woofers, projection screens and theater seating.

Taking it a step further, you can even pre-wire for a smart home automated control system that will allow you to control all of your security, entertainment and lighting systems, HVAC systems, lawn sprinklers or even your drapes and blinds from custom touch screen controllers located throughout your home. An automated control system can allow you to monitor and manage every aspect of your homes electronic systems from anywhere in the world via the internet.

There are specialized wall boxes, enclosures, hubs, routers, distribution systems, modulators, amplifiers, converters and splitters to help you complete your structured cabling system. Most of these are available at Home Depot or other local electrical supply houses.

Depending on the complexity of your design, you might want to enlist the help of a professional security supplier to help with the planning process. Even if you do not install all of the components right now, you will be money ahead if your home construction or remodeling plan includes a structured wire distribution system.

Just make sure your wife tells you exactly where she wants that new TV before you get started!

In the computer age, advances in technology are moving at breakneck speeds and new developments in the security industry are no exception. Exponential leaps in knowledge and expertise have allowed manufacturers to bring new and improved systems to market in record time.

As a security consultant with a busy schedule, it can be extremely difficult to keep up with all of the latest products and developments in an ever changing market and as systems become more sophisticated, training and support become essential to systems integrators if they want to flourish and prosper in the marketplace.

CCTV manufacturers such as American Dynamics face challenges when they bring new state of the art digital IP-centric video solutions into a market that has for many year’s embraced analog technology. How do you teach wire pulling alarm guys to sell, install and service state of the art IP video security systems?

For American Dynamics, the answer to all of these challenges was to partner with the premier manufacturers representative in the rocky mountain region, Intermountain Marketing.

For over 20 years, Intermountain Marketing (IMM) has helped leaders in the security industry bring their products to market in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Montana, Idaho and Arizona.

IMM has achieved its success by bringing products to market through direct contact with security systems integrators, security equipment distributors, architects and specifying engineers. The company also utilizes internet advertising, e-mail campaigns, direct mail promotions, catalog distribution, newsletters and product training seminars to promote security products. The IMM secret to success is simple; Total Customer Satisfaction.

The president of Intermountain Marketing, Bob Fruchey believes that product training and support are essential to success in today’s technology driven marketplace. Bob told me in a recent meeting that “training and support programs insure proper performance of the product and create satisfied dealers and end users”.

IMM recently invested over $ 500,000.00 in a new state of the art security training facility at its Denver facility that provides a hands-on learning environment for end users and promotes brand recognition for equipment manufacturers.

Jim Hawver, the western regional sales manage for American Dynamics, informed me that the new training center is the first of its kind in the country. “Intermountain Marketing has created the first and only factory authorized training facility outside of Tyco Fire & Security’s corporate infrastructure”.

IMM’s new training facility will provide security dealers and end users with advanced technical certification training on Tyco’s broad line of security products including American Dynamics video surveillance, the Intellex video management system and the Kantech access control system.

The new facility has a complete Cat-6 structured cable system with 10/100/1000 POE ports, 14 Dell work stations, a Novell server, a Windows BES Blackberry server, a server for Video analytics, and a Video Edge NVR and a stack of Dell 2950 servers used for distributed digital NVR training.

“We are a certified HP Procurve and Foundry Switch gear resellers with full design and consulting credentials. All of our security cameras, data, VOIP, intercom and emergency communication systems are running on our network.” Bob explained to me as he described his vision for his new training facility.

As security systems become more complex and video surveillance moves towards IP solutions, Intermountain Marketing’s commitment to providing security dealers and end users with factory certification and training at its Colorado facility will pay monumental dividends. At least that’s my opinion.

Headline News: Russian Hackers Use Turkish Computers to Attack Georgian Government Computers

Last week, I was in California to attend a wedding. I arrived at the airport 2 hours ahead of my scheduled departure figuring that I had plenty of time to make my flight. When I walked into the airport, it was pure pandemonium. Apparently a construction crew had inadvertently cut off the power.

Computers were down, metal detectors not working, baggage carousels and conveyors all dead. Huge lines formed from the thousands of commuters trying to check baggage, get boarding passes, clear security checkpoints and make their flights.

When the power was finally restored, it took many hours for the lines to clear. Planes were delayed; thousands of people missed their boarding calls or their connecting flights. A simple power outage in Orange County caused massive confusion that rippled all the way from the ticket windows through the security checkpoints, on to the airplanes and airports all across the county.

What does this have to do with Russian hackers and cyber warfare? Well I found an article this morning at GSN News that I found very interesting and I wanted to share it with you. The article has some disturbing implications about our reliance on technology.

According to Don Jackson, the director of threat intelligence for SecureWorks, Inc. When Russia’s military attacked Georgia last month, a coordinated denial of service attack was launched by Russian hackers against local Georgian government networks and local media web sites a few minutes before Russian aircraft began their bombing runs.

The coordinated effort between Russian computer hackers and the military made it impossible for local authorities and the news media to warn Georgian citizens of the impending military assaults.

Most of Georgia’s Internet traffic enters the country via Internet Service Providers (ISPs) based in Turkey. Many of these Turkish computers were compromised by Russian hackers who introduced viruses and took control of them in what has come to be known as “botnets.”

While it is difficult to backtrack to the originating “bad guys,” Jackson has concluded that many of these Turkish botnets were controlled by loose confederations of Russian hackers, largely operating out of Moscow and St. Petersburg, who utilized multi-layered proxy networks and cable modems sitting in anonymous Russian apartment buildings that had been rented under bogus names. It is virtually impossible to backtrack further upstream than those apartment buildings, he said.

Russia’s overt military campaign may have ceased in Georgia, but the covert cyber campaign continues, Jackson told GSN Magazine in a recent telephone interview. Many of Georgia’s computer databases have been thoroughly corrupted. The nation’s mail servers and Web servers have been overrun with millions of queries. “To this day, their infrastructure has not been rebuilt,” he added.

This coordinated cyber attack begs the question. Have we become too reliant on technology?

No one will argue that advances in technology and communication have made our lives better. Well, perhaps some people will. But isn’t it amazing to have news and information broadcast worldwide within minutes of it occurring?

Don’t you love the fact that Home Depot and every other retailer that you have ever purchased from have you on file so they can call up your information and save you time at the checkout.

What about cell phones? My cell phone downloads my e-mail, let’s me surf the internet, provides me with directions, keeps me up to date with birthdays and anniversary’s and gives me quick access to my favorite music. How did we ever live without them?

Now take this up a notch and examine how reliant our corporate and Government infrastructure have become on technology. How well would we deal with a coordinated attack on our communication and technology infrastructure?

If a recent power outage at Orange County Airport offers any assessment of our ability to withstand a cyber attack, we would not do very well at all.

Just some food for thought……