Updated content includes “expanded focus areas such as wireless technology, IoT systems, cybersecurity fundamentals and interactive learning experiences designed to improve retention and real-world application,” according to the association announcement.

ESA’s Certified Alarm Technician (CAT) Level 1 training course “has long served as the gold standard for technicians in the electronic security and life safety industry and is widely recognized by authorities having jurisdiction (AHJs) for state licensing,” according to the association announcement.

The 22-hour online course, followed by a proctored two-hour examination, “equips technicians with the foundational knowledge and skills needed to properly plan and execute intrusion detection, fire detection, video surveillance and access control installations,” the announcement says.

Why is ESA Modernizing Its CAT Level 1 Training Program?

“The electronic security and life safety industry is at a critical inflection point,” says Jillian Bateman-McIntosh, ESA’s chief operating officer, in the association announcement. “Demand is rising, but the pipeline of skilled technicians is not keeping pace. ESA exists to solve challenges like this for integrators and dealers.

“Through resources like our newly modernized Certified Alarm Technician Level 1 certification, we’re providing accessible, self-paced training that helps companies onboard faster, develop talent more effectively and strengthen their teams from the ground up,” she says.

“We are proud to introduce our newly modernized Certified Alarm Technician (CAT) Level 1 certification,” says Jared Buhanan, ESA’s training director, in the association announcement.  “This online, self-paced experience has been redesigned to deliver practical, field-ready knowledge technicians can apply immediately in real-world environments, helping companies develop stronger teams faster.”

As demand for qualified technicians continues to rise, ESA’s modernized CAT Level 1 certification “provides companies with a scalable way to onboard, train and strengthen their workforce through flexible, industry-recognized education,” according to the association announcement.

The post Electronic Security Association Debuts Modern CAT Level 1 Training appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.

Security Sales & Integration: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Eddie Sorrells: The best advice I’ve ever received is simple, but it’s shaped my entire career: “Do the best job with the one you’ve got.”

My father shared that with me over 35 years ago. Early on, I learned that success in this industry isn’t about titles or shortcuts; it’s about consistency, credibility and how you show up every day. When you take ownership of your current role, when you treat every assignment as important, people notice.

Doors open not because you ask for them to, but because you’ve earned the trust to walk through them. That idea sits at the heart of my journey—building a career by fully committing to where you are, not waiting for permission to lead.

SSI: What advice would you give to those looking to achieve success in the security industry?

Sorrells: My advice is this: master the fundamentals, stay humble and commit to lifelong learning.

The security industry rewards people who are reliable, professional and willing to grow. Learn your post orders. Understand your client. Building your knowledge in technology. Respect the wisdom of those who are mentoring you.

But don’t stop there. Ask questions, seek information and look for ways to add value beyond your job description.

Success in this industry isn’t flashy. It’s built over time through discipline, integrity and service to others. If you focus on being dependable and developing leadership skills where you are right now, you’ll find that opportunities tend to find you.

That’s what I mean when I say the best job might just be the one you’ve already got—if you’re willing to do it well.

SSI: If you could point to one person in the security industry and tell up-and-comers, “Make sure to listen to what they have to say,” whom would you pick and why?

Sorrells: I would point them to Joe Olivarez with Jacobs. I had the pleasure of working with Joe when he led ASIS International

Joe has a deep, practical understanding of the security industry, especially when it comes to operations, leadership and building strong relationships. What sets him apart is that he speaks from experience, not theory. He understands what it takes to lead people in real-world environments and how small decisions made on the front end can have a lasting impact on performance and credibility.

For up-and-comers, listening to someone like Joe reinforces an important lesson I emphasize in my own life: success in this industry comes from mastering the fundamentals, leading with integrity and earning trust over time.

Joe represents the kind of steady, principled leadership that helps young professionals see that long-term success isn’t about shortcuts; it’s about doing the work, learning from others and growing into leadership the right way.

The post Eddie Sorrells, DSI Security Services and ASIS International: Best Advice appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.

The partnership between Valcom and Kokomo24/7 “deliver[s] one of the industry’s most comprehensive school safety ecosystems that connects critical communications with the operational workflows schools depend on every day,” the announcement says.

“School safety requires more than a panic button or a paging system. It requires every technology to work together,” says Ray Butler, president of Valcom, in the joint announcement. “Our partnership with Kokomo24/7 creates a trusted unified ecosystem functioning as one solution, so schools gain faster response times and streamlined operations every day.”

“Districts are looking for less fragmentation and more connected solutions,” says Daniel J. Lee, founder and chief executive officer of Kokomo24/7, in the joint announcement. “By integrating Kokomo24/7 with Valcom, we’re helping schools bridge the gap between physical infrastructure and cloud software.

“Our partnership combines the versatility of a proven software platform, trusted by the second largest school district in the country with an industry-leading communications platform. We’re helping schools to address all stages of safety management, operate more efficiently, and increase interoperability across existing infrastructure and third-party systems and services,” he says.

Why Are Valcom and Kokomo24/7 Partnering?

Together, Valcom and Kokomo24/7 “provide one of the industry’s most comprehensive school safety ecosystems, combining resilient on-premise communications with configurable cloud software that helps districts address all aspects of safety (prevention, mitigation, protection, response and recovery),” according to the joint announcement.

Under the partnership, Valcom “provides the mission-critical communications infrastructure schools trust, including IP paging, intercom, emergency notification, visual alerting and the V-Guardian Alert wearable panic button solution,” the announcement says.

Kokomo24/7 provides the cloud platform supporting visitor management, student attendance, reunification, behavioral threat assessment, incident management, digital accountability and operational efficiencies, according to the joint announcement.

“Working together, the two platforms enable schools to immediately communicate during an emergency while simultaneously launching coordinated digital workflows that account for students, staff and visitors, support incident command, simplify reunification and accelerate recovery,” the announcement says.

The post Valcom and Kokomo24/7 Deliver School Safety Operations Ecosystem appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.

Bouwer brings experience with electronic security platforms, channels, integrators, distributors and end user needs across Latin America. Chambers, meanwhile, brings almost a decade of security industry experience managing multi-state territories and building trust-based relationships with dealers, integrators and end users.

Over the past two decades, Bouwer “has focused on building sales and business development teams in Latin America for several U.S.-based distributors and manufacturers,” according to the DMP announcement. On the operations side, his successes include developing and implementing a false alarm reduction program and maintaining and expanding large-scale security systems, the announcement says.

“DMP’s focus on quality, reliability and integrated solutions is a major reason why I chose the company,” says Bouwer in the company announcement. “I was also attracted to the fact that DMP is a strong, privately held U.S. manufacturer that can compete with the largest publicly traded manufacturers in the industry.”

The Latin America territory includes South America, Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. Bouwer “will lead efforts to develop new sales channels and support existing DMP dealers throughout Latin America,” according to the company announcement.

What Will DMP’s New Sales Managers Do?

Chambers says “his well-rounded perspective on the industry gives him a deep appreciation for the challenges and opportunities customers face,” the DMP announcement says.

“My goal is to be the strongest leader I can be,” says Chambers in the company announcement. “Not only for the southeast region but for DMP. I’m excited to help elevate this territory to new levels of performance, and to lead with integrity, loyalty and ambition.”

Chambers recently served as director of global accounts, security & access solutions at Honeywell, where he “oversaw full account management and executed strategies that delivered revenue growth and long-term partnership success,” according to the DMP announcement. Chambers “will play a key role in supporting regional sales managers and elevating strategies and results at DMP,” the announcement says.

The post DMP Announces Two New Sales Leadership Appointments appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.

VIF “embeds real-time AI analysis directly into the media server organizations already run – on their own hardware, inside their own network with no video leaving the building,” according to the company announcement. “The result: live camera feeds that alert, annotate and act – flowing intelligence straight into the dispatch systems, SIEM platforms and operational tools teams use every day.”

The launch follows yesterday’s announcement that NVIDIA’s Synthetic Video Detector (SVD) will be the first partner model distributed through VIF.

VIF “put[s] artificial intelligence where the video already is,” according to the Wowza announcement.

“Organizations run their own models on their own hardware – at the edge, on-premises, in a private cloud, in hybrid configurations or fully air-gapped with no external dependencies after setup,” the announcement says. “Analysis runs in the streaming layer on local GPUs with sub-200-millisecond latency.”

Why Did Wowza Release Video Intelligence Framework?

“Our vision has always been that video will become the primary source of data for understanding the world,” says Krish Kumar, CEO of Wowza, in the company announcement. “For more than twenty years, we’ve made video run wherever our customers need it – on-premises, at the edge, in environments where failure is not an option.

“Today, Wowza sits at the center of more than 200,000 running instances. Most of that video is still just being captured and stored. VIF turns it into how organizations see, decide and act – and it does it on hardware they already own, in networks they control,” he says.

VIF features a fully air-gapped operation in which data never leaves the organization’s control and runs on existing infrastructure, with no new data center hardware required. It also “creates a significant new commercial opportunity for Wowza’s channel and integration partners,” according to the company announcement.

VIF ships with production-grade models at launch, including an RF-DETR object detection model and CLIP-based scene analysis. NVIDIA’s Synthetic Video Detector is available through VIF for customers running supported NVIDIA AI infrastructure.

Wowza will showcase the framework through dedicated customer briefings focused on security, public safety, transportation and industrial operations.

The post Wowza Launches Video Intelligence Framework for Real-Time Analysis appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.

That promise is now being tested in ways most of us are unprepared for.

Artificial intelligence-based deepfake tools have shifted from novelty to commodity and hyper-realistic deepfakes are now widespread. Research by Kawping found that by late 2025, approximately one in five videos shown to a new YouTube account were AI-generated. As public awareness grows, trust in video content is declining, creating a trust gap and raising questions about authenticity.

Industries related to security are experiencing a significant rise in AI-manipulated videos. While these synthetic counterfeits do not originate from our sector, this trend will directly affect us.

Consider this scenario: a clear surveillance recording becomes central to a dispute. While no one disputes its content, the opposing party questions its authenticity. The footage is not dismissed as fake but is set aside because its authenticity cannot be verified.

This shift changes what integrators, dealers, installers, and channel partners must provide. While customers will continue to value cameras, resolution, storage and security, they will increasingly require systems that can prove the authenticity of digital evidence.

This is already happening. In court cases, people are now claiming that real recordings could be AI-generated, a tactic called the deepfake defense. The federal judiciary’s committee on evidence rules has spent the last two years working on rules for AI-generated and AI-altered media. Video no longer gets the benefit of the doubt, and now the burden of proof is on whoever recorded and stored the footage. For us, that means our customers and our own teams.

The Video Evidence Fix Has to Come From Us

Let’s be honest. Our approach to chain of custody hasn’t changed in decades. We use encryption, watermarking, localized hashing, and provenance metadata to protect recordings, and these tools have served us well. But these methods were made for a time when the main threats were intercepted files and simple edits, not advanced AI manipulation and attacks on trust.

They also have a bigger flaw: each one is tied to the recording it protects. A watermark can be removed. A hash stored in the footage is only as reliable as the system that keeps it. Metadata can be changed along with the file. Anything that stays inside the evidence can be changed there.

As AI transforms how video is evaluated, the security industry must adapt to remain relevant. Our customers will increasingly ask a critical question and expect us to provide the answer: can you prove this video is authentic?

As video authenticity becomes harder to assume, integrators should be thinking about how the systems they deploy can support independent verification. Customers may not use that language today, but they will increasingly need a way to confirm that footage is real, unchanged and tied to a reliable record of how it was created, stored, exported and shared.

Simply put, we need a system that can check if video recordings are real without relying only on the hardware or software that made them and that can’t be fooled by artificial intelligence.

The protection must also be effective. While the instinct may be to counter AI with AI and detect fakes, this approach leads to an unwinnable arms race. Researchers at UC San Diego demonstrated that deepfake detectors could be deceived more than 80 percent of the time, even by attackers unfamiliar with the detection methods. The tech has advanced further, with each new detector informing the next generation of attacks.

More Than a Technology Discussion

Detection will remain part of the conversation, but integrators should also consider how authenticity is established from the beginning. The stronger long-term approach is to help customers preserve confidence in legitimate recordings as early as possible, then maintain that confidence as video moves through storage, export, transfer, review, and potential legal use.

That confidence also needs to survive the way video is actually used. In many projects, footage does not stay in one system. It may be exported from a VMS, shared with law enforcement, uploaded to a case management platform, sent to an insurer, or reviewed by legal teams weeks or months later. Integrators should understand how each handoff affects the evidentiary value of the footage and help customers document the process clearly.

This is not just a technology discussion. A 2025 law enforcement futures study, written by a 25-year police veteran for California’s POST Command College, concluded that agencies will soon need to fingerprint digital evidence as soon as it is collected and keep it in tamper-evident, independently verifiable records, precisely to prove in court that nothing changed after capture.

This issue does not require us to become cryptographers. Rather, it requires us to recognize that authenticity is now a core offering, not an add-on. For integrators and channel partners, this is an obligation and an opportunity. Customer discussions will shift from cameras, resolution, and storage to a more valuable proposition: proof that a system’s recordings reflect actual events.

For integrators, this creates an opportunity to deliver value beyond hardware alone. The most prepared partners will be able to ask better questions of their vendors, document deployment decisions more carefully, train customers on proper evidence handling, and help ensure that recorded video can stand up to scrutiny when it matters most.

Our role has never been solely to record video; it has been to create evidence. If we do not adapt, AI will reduce our recordings to mere video when our customers most need evidence. We owe them more. We owe them what we promised.

Jason Crawforth is founder and CEO of SWEAR.

The post Are We Creating Video or Evidence? appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.

This addition “marks an important step in bringing fire sprinkler service to Pye-Barker’s strong security and alarm presence in Connecticut, enhancing service offerings for customers throughout the area,” the announcement says.

Hartford Sprinkler specializes in installs, inspections, testing and maintenance for commercial and residential sprinkler systems. Since its founding in 1933, the Hartford team “has built a reputation for its extensive knowledge of code compliance and requirements that keep businesses operational and prepare systems to be ready when they’re needed most,” according to the joint announcement.

In addition to sprinkler services, the company has expertise in fire alarms, fire suppression, fire extinguishers, emergency lighting, backflow testing and fire pump testing, the announcement says.

Why Did Pye-Barker Acquire Hartford Sprinkler Co.?

“Providing the best quality fire sprinkler services to our community has driven us for the last 90 years,” says Kevin Kita, president of Hartford Sprinkler, in the joint announcement. “Joining Pye-Barker allows us to provide new services to our customers and communities to expand their protection while offering our team members new avenues for career growth.”

“A second-generation, family-owned business, Hartford Sprinkler has been serving local customers since 1933,” says Bart Proctor, CEO of Pye-Barker Fire & Safety, in the announcement. “Those family values speak to who we are at Pye-Barker. It’s all about caring for others and building something that lasts. That’s why I’m so excited for Hartford Sprinkler’s experts to join our team and work together to continue the legacy they’ve built.”

Hartford Sprinkler’s technicians will continue to serve customers in Connecticut, according to the joint announcement.

Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, LLP represented Pye-Barker in the transaction.

The post Pye-Barker Fire & Safety Acquires Hartford Sprinkler Co., Inc. appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.

Animals play a prominent role in this week’s collection of surveillance videos, with a news reporter in Los Angeles doing her best to ignore a cockroach crawling on her during a live report and an Oakland firefighter taking an extra step to help a pigeon fly again.

We also saw a couple of low flyovers, including one on America’s 250th birthday that led to the suspension of Apache helicopter pilots that was later overturned, and a man a who will never choose a window seat when he flies again.

Click here to check out the latest batch of Surveillance Videos of the Week. Send your suggestions for future editions to digital editor Craig MacCormack at craig.maccormack@emeraldx.com.

The post Bison Chases Man in Yellowstone: Surveillance Videos of the Week appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.

What started as motion- and rule-based scrubbing and filtering has evolved into sophisticated, artificial intelligence-driven platforms capable of understanding, interpreting and predicting events in real time for both professional monitoring centers and end users.

Today, AI-powered video analytics has redefined the industry by improving security, operational efficiency, customer experiences and decision-making processes.

The shift from traditional video analytics to AI systems represents more than a technological upgrade; it marks a complete transformation in how professionals and end users leverage visual data.

The Evolution of Video Analytics

Initially, traditional video analytics systems were designed primarily for surveillance and monitoring. These systems depended on predefined rules, motion detection and basic pattern recognition to identify specific events.

While useful, they often generated false or irrelevant alerts and alarms and required significant human oversight. For example, simple environmental changes or people who are known and authorized would trigger alerts, reduce system reliability and create user fatigue. Human operators still needed to analyze video manually.

AI has dramatically changed this landscape. Modern AI-powered video analytics systems analyze video streams intelligently.

Instead of merely detecting motion and patterns, these systems can identify specific wireless devices and their owners, recognize faces, classify behaviors, track movement patterns and interpret complex scenarios with a high degree of accuracy.

AI enables systems to learn continuously from data, improving performance over time and reducing false positives.

One of the most significant advancements in AI video analytics is device recognition. AI models can not only distinguish between people, vehicles, animals and other objects within a scene.

With certain device-recognition systems, individuals can be identified by the wireless devices they possess, including cellular telephones, tablets and Bluetooth devices.

New Capabilities Every Day

Capabilities delivered by platforms including Home Aware by Ubiety Technologies allow organizations to automate and streamline monitoring tasks that previously required constant human attention.

Facial-recognition technology is also a major component of AI-driven video analytics. Security agencies, airports and commercial facilities increasingly rely on AI systems to identify individuals quickly and accurately.

While this technology raises privacy and ethical concerns, it has proven highly effective in enhancing public safety and access control. Organizations can use facial recognition to authenticate employees, monitor restricted areas and detect people of interest within crowded environments.

Another major benefit of AI-driven video analytics is predictive analysis. Traditional surveillance systems were reactive, meaning incidents were reviewed after they occurred. AI changes this model by enabling proactive monitoring.

Through behavioral analysis and pattern recognition, AI systems can detect suspicious activities before incidents escalate. For instance, AI can identify loitering, unauthorized access attempts or abnormal crowd behavior and instantly alert security personnel. This proactive approach improves response times and helps prevent security breaches.

The integration of AI with edge computing has further accelerated the effectiveness of video analytics. Edge computing enables data processing closer to the source, reducing latency and bandwidth usage.

Instead of transmitting all video footage, AI models can process data directly on cameras or local devices. This approach allows real-time decision-making and enhances privacy by minimizing unnecessary data transmission.

Businesses benefit from faster responses and lower infrastructure costs.

How Cloud Is Boosting AI Analytics

Cloud technology has also contributed to the rapid adoption of AI video analytics. Cloud-based platforms provide scalable storage, centralized management and remote accessibility.

Organizations can analyze massive volumes of video data without investing heavily in physical infrastructure. Combined with AI, cloud platforms enable advanced analytics, automated reporting and seamless integration with other enterprise systems.

Despite these advantages, challenges remain. Organizations must ensure compliance with data protection laws and establish transparent policies regarding data collection and usage. Maintaining cybersecurity is equally critical, as connected surveillance systems can become targets for cyberattacks.

Nevertheless, the future of video analytics is undeniably tied to AI. As AI technologies continue to evolve, video analytics systems will become even more intelligent, autonomous and context-aware.

Emerging innovations such as generative AI, multimodal analytics and advanced neural networks are expected to further enhance the ability of systems to interpret human behavior and environmental conditions.

Leveraging AI for better outcomes means moving beyond simple surveillance toward actionable intelligence. Organizations can use AI-driven insights to improve safety, optimize operations, reduce costs and deliver superior customer experiences.

No matter what the goals are of a security or safety video structure, AI analytics is enabling smarter decisions and faster responses than ever before.

The transformation of video analytics into AI-powered intelligence is not just a trend; it is a technological evolution that is reshaping industries worldwide.

Businesses and institutions that embrace AI-driven video analytics today are positioning themselves for a future in which data-driven insights and real-time intelligence become essential components of success.

The post Has Video Analytics Transformed to AI?: Monitoring Matters appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.

Now in its third year, the recognition continues to refine its methodology for identifying individuals shaping the industry’s future. A closely contested race for the final spot on this year’s list ended in a tie, pushing the number to 41 honorees.

The 2026 honorees “span the breadth of the industry, from physical security and life safety to cybersecurity, risk and crisis management and occupational health and safety,” according to the alliance announcement.

This year’s list includes practitioners, technology and service providers, researchers and academics from 13 countries across six continents.

The 2026 scoring criteria added two new categories: Expert Witness, recognizing individuals called upon to provide specialized testimony in litigation, insurance or investigations; and Legislative & Regulatory Testimony, for those who influence policy through formal testimony before legislative bodies, regulatory agencies or standards organizations.

Who is in the Life Safety Alliance Thought Leaders Top 40?

The Class of 2026 includes 13 three-time honorees, 14 returning for their second appearance and 14 new honorees. Nineteen of the 41 honorees for 2026 are from countries outside the United States and four of those — Austria, India, Saudi Arabia, and Uruguay — appear on the list for the first time.

“Introducing new categories for 2026 enabled us to identify types of influence previously overlooked,” says Andrew Thorburn, enterprise security & risk manager at Wesco Anixter in New Zealand, who led candidate outreach on behalf of the committee and helped refine the scoring criteria for this year’s field.

“We will keep refining these categories for the program to make sure we include the most important efforts shaping our industry,” he says.

Final scores for this year’s period, May 1, 2025, through April 30, 2026, were calculated using a proprietary algorithm that weighs factors such as conference speaking engagements, webinar and podcast appearances, authored articles and mentions, academic instruction, awards and honors, board positions and volunteer leadership.

LSA reviewed the credentials of hundreds of professionals across the life safety and security fields and invited more than 200 candidates identified as “leading voices in the industry” to submit evidence supporting their nominations.

“A tie at the very bottom of the list tells you everything about how competitive this recognition has become,” said Becky Lane, CEO of the Life Safety Alliance. “Rather than artificially break the tie, we chose to honor both candidates, and I think that decision reflects the spirit of this program.

“What strikes me every year is how differently thought leadership can look. Some of our honorees have built decades of visibility in this industry, while others are only now stepping into that role. Both belong on this list,” she says.

LSA 2026 Top 40 Global Thought Leaders in Security and Life Safety (alphabetical order):

• Prof. Obadare Peter Adewale, Digital Encode Limited, founder and chief visionary officer (Nigeria)
• Fayadh Alenezi, Jouf University, professor and consultant (Saudi Arabia)
• Dr. Anmol Agarwal, Nokia, security product manager (United States)
• Dr. Arian Avila, Capital One, vice president of technology & security operations (United States)
• Farah Benis, FFA Security Group, managing director (United Kingdom)
• Garry Bergin, Manguard Plus, commercial director & security consultant (Ireland)
• Bonnie Butlin, Security Partners’ Forum, executive director (Canada)
• Eric Sean Clay, FMOL Health, vice president (United States)
• Shawnee Delaney, Vaillance Group, chief executive officer (United States)
• Jane Frankland MBE, KnewStart Limited, chief executive officer (United Kingdom)
• Michael Gips, Kroll, managing director (United States)
• Alex Goldenberg, Silent Index, founder (United States)
• Yolanda (YoYo) Hamblen, The Security Circle Podcast / IFPO (United Kingdom)
• Kasia Hanson, Alcatraz, vice president (United States)
• Tannu Jiwnani, Microsoft, principal security engineer (United States)
• Eduardo Jany, LinkedIn, chief security officer (United States)
• James Junkin, Mariner-Gulf Consulting & Services, chief executive officer (United States)
• Marcel Lehner, Wiener Stadtwerke GmbH, chief security officer (Austria)
• Kirk MacDowell, MacGuard Security Advisors, founder & CEO (United States)
• Bruce McIndoe, McIndoe Risk Advisory LLC, president (United States)
• Don Morrow, HighlandTech, founder & CEO (United States)
• Madhuri Nandi, Nuvei (Till Payments) / Australian Women in Security (AWSN) board
  chairperson, chief information security officer (Australia)
• Drew Neckar, COSECURE Enterprise Risk Solutions, principal consultant (United States)
• Fredrik Nilsson, Axis Communications, vice president, Americas (United States/Sweden)
• Dr. Fene Osakwe, EC Council, advisory board member (penetration testing) (United Kingdom)
• Kevin Palacios, HELPS LatAm, chief executive officer (Ecuador)
• Henrik Parkkinen, HenrikParkkinen.com, cybersecurity leader (Sweden)
• Elizabeth Parks, Parks Associates, president & chief marketing officer (United States)
• Kavya Pearlman, XRSI, founder & CEO (United States)
• Jon Polly, ProTecht Solutions Partners, chief solutions officer (United States)
• Matthew Porcelli, Harvard Protection, security manager (United States)
• Paul Sarnese, Secured & Prepared Consulting, owner (United States)
• Dr. Gavriel Schneider, Risk 2 Solution / Institute of Presilience, group managing director and chairman/founder (Australia)
• Bruce Schneier, Inrupt, chief of security architecture (United States)
• Vandana Verma Sehgal, Snyk, security leader (India)
• Jeffrey A. Slotnick, Setracon Enterprise Security Risk Management Services, president (United States)
• Confidence Staveley, CyberSafe Foundation, founder (United States/Africa)
• Christopher Stitt, CrisisLead, chief executive officer (United States)
• Scott Taylor, Praesidium, managing director (Australia)
• Fernando Vaccotti, FV Consulting, consultor (Uruguay)
• Alfredo Yuncoza, Smart Management C.A., president (Venezuela)

The post Life Safety Alliance Announces 2026 Top 40 Global Thought Leaders appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.

Adoption of smart home devices, including smart cameras, locks, lighting and thermostats, exceeds 50% of U.S. internet households and consumers “expect these connected devices to work together seamlessly,” according to the company announcement.

According to Parks Associates’ “Security Dealers Perspectives: Views from the Front Line,” 57% of security dealers say integrating customer-owned smart home devices with a security system is “difficult” or “very difficult,” up from 44% in 2022.

The upward trend “signals that interoperability remains a growing operational challenge,” according to the Parks Associates announcement.

“Security Dealers Perspectives: Views from the Front Line” is “a primary research study that examines residential security dealer perspectives on competitive dynamics, technology integration, business strategies and consumer demand,” the announcement says.

What Does Parks Associates’ Smart Home Survey Show?

“Consumers are building connected homes one device at a time, often across multiple brands and ecosystems, and the expectation is on security companies, smart home device manufacturers, monitoring companies and ISPs to make these solutions work together,” says Jennifer Kent, senior vice president and principal analyst for  Parks Associates, in the company announcement.

“Security dealers are positioned to simplify installation and reduce complexity in the connected home,” she says, “so the companies that can best leverage this channel will win and retain customers.”

At the same time, dealers continue to navigate growing competition from DIY security solutions. Parks Associates research finds 74% of security dealers report losing sales to DIY security systems and standalone devices such as cameras and video doorbells, up from 51% in both 2022 and 2023.

The findings “reveal the challenges dealers face in the expanding smart home market but also the opportunities to use their professional expertise, interoperability and ongoing service as key competitive differentiators,” according to the Parks Associates announcement.

“As smart home adoption continues to grow, security providers are moving beyond traditional intrusion protection toward broader connected home experiences,” the announcement says. “Successfully integrating third-party devices while delivering reliable installation, ongoing support and managed services can strengthen customer satisfaction and create additional recurring revenue opportunities.”

“The connected home has become a competitive advantage for security providers,” says Kent in the Parks Associates announcement. “Consumers want flexibility in the devices they choose without sacrificing reliability or support. Dealers that can bridge multiple ecosystems while delivering professional service will be best positioned as the market continues to evolve.”

The post Dealers: Integrating Customers’ Smart Home Devices Is Difficult appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.

Home to the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, SoFi Stadium is a sports and entertainment destination located at Hollywood Park. The stadium “has established itself as a world-class venue, hosting record-breaking concerts and global sporting events while consistently ranking among the top venues in the world,” according to a Genetec announcement.

To support events of this scale, the organization standardized on Security Center to unify video surveillance, access control, automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) and other physical security systems in the 3.1 million-square-foot venue and across the 300-acre Hollywood Park development.

Operators manage more than 3,000 cameras, 700 readers and numerous other systems and sensors from three security control rooms, helping teams maintain situational awareness while streamlining day-to-day operations.

Why Did SoFi Stadium Choose Genetec Security Center?

“Genetec Security Center has improved our response time efficiency by giving us all the information we need in one platform. We’re able to understand what’s happening and make decisions quickly,” says Nick Bermensolo, vice president of security and safety at SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park.

Since deploying Security Center, the SoFi Stadium IT team has a scalable and cybersecure platform that runs on an isolated network and connects back to centralized servers. During big events, they support security operations by monitoring system performance from the Network Operations Center. The security team can handle daily tasks while IT keeps systems running on the back end.

“The Genetec team doesn’t just understand physical security systems, but IT systems too. With their help, we’ve been able to deploy a reliable and high-performing security platform at scale,” says Paul Maldonado, vice president of IT infrastructure and operations at SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park.

Looking ahead, both teams are focused on getting more value out of Security Center, exploring artificial intelligence-based tools and more automation.

“Genetec has really helped us establish a technology standard,” says Maldonado. “Security Center is reliable and cybersecure, integrates well with our network, and reduces overhead for both IT and security. That’s the type of technology we want to continue implementing across our business.”

The post SoFi Stadium Unifies Security Operations for FIFA World Cup 2026 appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.

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This includes a commitment to hiring more than 100 veterans in southeastern Pennsylvania over the next 24 months to fill the roles of technical program managers (AI), MLOps engineers and AI solutions specialists. The company made the announcement at Senator Dave McCormick’s 2026 Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit at Army War College in Carlisle, Pa.

The ZeroEyes investment in artificial intelligence/machine learning research and development will fund additional expansion, including:

• The company’s 3,000-square-foot experimental AI technology lab that gives ZeroEyes the ability to generate unparalleled data, perform live demos, and test its AI weapons detection models and hardware in any environment

• The Conshohocken-based ZeroEyes Operations Center (ZOC), the industry’s only in-house operations hub staffed primarily by military and law enforcement veterans, including former special forces personnel

• Small drone technology capabilities, including 3D environment mapping, threat detection (ZeroEyes Aerial Detection [ZAD] Kit), and active shooter disorientation (Drones/Robots for Active Shooter Deterrence [DRASD])

What Else is ZeroEyes Doing to Expand its AI Capabilities?

Over the past few months, ZeroEyes has expanded its platform beyond firearm detection to deliver “a broader, more intelligent approach to safety,” according to the company announcement.

New analytics capabilities including knife detection and real-time threat geolocation, as well as additional security offerings, “mark a significant step toward unifying acute threat detection with everyday safety operations,” the announcement says.

The new capabilities “reflect ZeroEyes’ goal to become a single, trusted platform organizations will use to secure, detect and respond to a wide range of critical security events,” according to the company announcement. “These continued investments showcase the company’s commitment to further developing a comprehensive security platform that integrates preparedness, operational awareness and investigative insights.”

“This investment marks a critical milestone in our evolution into a unified threat intelligence platform that provides organizations with a single, trusted ecosystem for threat response,” says Mike Lahiff, CEO and co-founder of ZeroEyes, in the company announcement. “We are excited to accelerate our technology roadmap while deepening our commitment to the veteran community within our home of southeastern Pennsylvania.”

The post ZeroEyes Announces $10M AI R&D Investment, Plans to Hire 100+ Vets appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.

In this newly created role, Robbins “oversees the company’s acquisition activities, growth initiatives and commercial strategy,” the announcement says.

Robbins joins Pye-Barker from Baird, where he served as managing director in the Global Technology and Services Investment Banking Group, jointly leading the firm’s coverage of Facility, Industrial, Residential & Environmental (FIRE) services.

Over his career, he advised on dozens of transactions across the fire and life safety sector, giving him “a deep view of the operators, business models and market dynamics that define the industry,” according to the Pye-Barker announcement.

Robbins is also a longtime advocate of Ownership Works, the nonprofit organization that partnered with Pye-Barker to create its ALL In ownership program to provide employees with the opportunity to build wealth at work, the announcement says.

Why Did Pye-Barker Add Peter Robbins?

Robbins will report to CEO Bart Proctor and “take a lead role in guiding the company’s strategy and growth initiatives and shaping how Pye-Barker evaluates, integrates and grows acquired businesses, a discipline the company has applied across more than 200 acquisitions to date,” according to the company announcement.

“Pye-Barker is one of the few companies I’ve seen scale this quickly without losing what made it worth scaling in the first place,” says Robbins in the announcement. “The operational rigor, the culture, the ownership — what this team has built is truly special and I look forward to being part of its continued growth.”

“Peter has sat across the table from us, from our competitors, and from dozens of the businesses we’ve acquired. He understands this industry as well as anyone, but it was his commitment to the people that make this company great that truly stood out to me, says Proctor in the company announcement.

“Our growth, while rapid, is also very intentional,” he says. “Peter’s growth philosophy matches ours perfectly, and I look forward to seeing what we accomplish together.”

The post Pye-Barker Names Peter Robbins President of Commercial Services appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.

The annual study is based on 1.1 million monitoring events across 9,392 U.S. restaurant locations representing 78 quick-service, fast-casual and casual dining brands.

The report provides operational data at a scale to help restaurant security and operations leaders understand when risk peaks, where it concentrates, which threats escalate fastest and which intervention strategies prove most effective across thousands of monitored locations.

“Restaurant operators are balancing employee safety, customer experience, and operational efficiency across hundreds or even thousands of locations,” says Brent Duncan, CEO of Interface Systems, in the company announcement. “This report provides real-world operational data that helps them understand where risk is greatest, when intervention matters most, and how to make more informed security decisions.”

What’s in the Interface Systems Restaurant Security Report?

Key data and findings in the Interface Systems 2026 Restaurant Security Benchmark Report include: 

Protecting people is the primary security challenge. Loiterers and panhandlers (49.8%) and disturbances (21.5%) together account for over 70% of high-priority events. Theft and loss, the dominant threat in retail, barely registers at restaurants. Other threats tracked included battery and assault, burglary, robbery, property damage and medical emergencies.

Risk is highly concentrated in a small set of locations. Three percent of monitored locations generate 81% of all high-priority events and the top 100 sites alone account for 59%. Uniform security spend across a portfolio overprotects most sites and underprotects the few that carry the risk.

Risk extends across the clock. High-priority events stay elevated around the clock, peaking at 6 PM during the dinner rush, while roughly 30% occur overnight between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. when restaurants run skeleton crews or sit closed. January was the worst month, running 61% above the summer low.

Interactive remote monitoring resolves most incidents before police response is required. Of 1.1 million events, only 1.6% required a police, fire or medical dispatch. Trained intervention specialists with live video and two-way audio resolved 98.4% remotely.

False alarms remain a significant operational burden. Restaurants generated more than 296,000 false alarms during the reporting period with nearly half occurring during morning opening procedures. Video verification resolved more than 97% before emergency dispatch, helping operators avoid unnecessary fines while preserving first responder resources.

Employees rely on live support during vulnerable windows. Staff initiated more than 82,000 requests for monitoring assistance over the year, approximately 225 every day, including live monitoring, voice-down interventions and employee escorts during opening, closing, and cash-handling activities.

Risk surrounds holidays. Christmas Day recorded the fewest incidents of the year while Christmas Eve saw three times as many. The day after Presidents Day produced the highest incident volume of any holiday period as restaurants returned to normal operations.

The 2026 Restaurant Security Benchmark Report is based on anonymized event metadata collected between June 1, 2025 and May 31, 2026 across 9,392 restaurant locations nationwide. In addition to benchmarking data, the report offers practical guidance to help restaurant operators improve employee safety, reduce operational disruption and align security resources with actual risk.

Download the Full Report

The complete 2026 Restaurant Security Benchmark Report includes charts, a restaurant-versus-retail threat comparison and actionable takeaways for restaurant loss prevention and operations leaders.

Restaurant leaders can also request a free security assessment to benchmark their incident profile and identify where interactive remote video monitoring and AI-enabled perimeter deterrence can reduce risk at their locations.

The post Interface Systems Report Reveals What Drives Restaurant Security appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.

Our panel of security integrator experts see plenty of growth potential in the video surveillance space going forward, even as it seems like you can’t go almost anywhere these days without seeing a camera capturing your every move, and AI is at the heart of that exponential growth.

Video surveillance represents “probably 60 to 70 percent of revenue, both project revenue and and recurring revenue” for Sellersburg, Ind.-based Security Pros, says director of client success Mike Williams, noting their client base takes them around the world.

Security Pros focuses on worldwide logistics, trucking transfer, air freight, financial services, K-12 education, houses of worship, cities and municipalities among its offerings, says Williams, with footholds on five of seven continents and hopes of working in Africa and Antarctica.

Doug Walsh, vice president of technology strategy for SSI 2025 Installer of the Year Securitas Technology, sees video surveillance “evolving from standalone camera systems into connected, intelligence-led ecosystems,” he says.

“Across the industry, organizations are moving away from fragmented, reactive environments and toward integrated platforms that bring together video data, and insights into a more unified experience,” says Walsh, pointing to the company’s 2026 Global Technology Outlook Report.

“Artificial intelligence is accelerating how quickly organizations can surface relevant information, while cloud adoption, particularly camera-to-cloud architectures, is becoming the new standard,” he says.

“These technologies are transforming video from a passive recording tool into a source of real-time insights and operational value,” says Walsh. “Clients are increasingly focused on solutions that not only enhance security but also improve efficiency and resilience across their operations.”

This evolution, says Walsh, “is driving demand for simpler, more scalable platforms that connect systems, reduce complexity, and support a shift toward more proactive and predictive security models.”

Nick Schoch, the director of operations for Systems Technologies, the Wisconsin-based low-voltage integration division of Pieper Electric, calls video surveillance “a big piece of our offering,” which also includes access control, structured cabling and fire alarms along with dabbling in audiovisual integration.

Systems Technologies has “a heavy focus” on large commercial, industrial, institutional installations, including healthcare, corrections, K-12, some technical colleges and universities and some large industrial projects, including pulp and paper, heavy manufacturing, food and pharmaceuticals.

Schoch calls video surveillance “obviously a market that is strong right now. It’s rare that you would see a job that doesn’t have some form of video surveillance in it. We are fortunate to have some enterprise customers that we’ve worked with for over 20 years. Ultimately, they continue to add devices to their systems as well.

“It’s a big part of what we do,” he says. “We’re ordering cameras, we’re ordering servers, we’re ordering devices every day, and we’ve been very successful with that,” he says.

Brent Kiernan, the director of product management for Irving, Texas-based Everon, calls video surveillance “a pretty large piece” of its overall security and life safety operation, which ranges from retail to healthcare and many other verticals and includes managed services and central station monitoring along with product lines across security, fire and life safety.

Video surveillance, says Kiernan, is “a large chunk of our business, a very important part of our business with some of the trends that are emerging, in particular around monitoring. It’s a very important piece for us.”

Image courtesy of Emerald

Who’s Leading the Video Surveillance Conversation?

While customers are certainly becoming more sophisticated in what they want to solve their problems, security integrators are still largely leading the conversation when it comes to what the actual solutions will entail, according to our panel of experts.

“If we can’t get to the deeper problem, we feel like we failed,” says Williams. “If we walk into a situation where they’re saying, ‘give me 4K here, aimed at this and so on,’ we’re probably going to challenge that or we’re at the very least going to ask why.”

“If you’re not getting to a root cause problem that is making their operation less efficient, you’re not going to really make yourself valuable. If you’re not obviously well worth it, you’re going to lose clients,” he says.

Most Securitas Technology customers “come into the conversation with a clear understanding of the challenges they are trying to solve, whether that is improving visibility, managing risk, getting more value from their existing systems or eliminating the “noise,” like false alarms, in their security environment,” says Walsh, but the integrator still plays a key role.

“At the same time, the pace of innovation is creating opportunities many organizations have not fully explored,” he says. “That is where our role as a trusted advisor becomes critical. We work closely with clients to understand their priorities and help connect those needs with the right technologies, bringing simplicity to what is often a complex environment.”

“In many cases, the most productive discussions happen when we can introduce capabilities that go beyond traditional video surveillance. By showing how integrated platforms can connect systems, data and insights into a single experience, we help clients unlock greater business value and enable them to focus on what matters most in their business,” says Walsh.

“The move toward more intelligent, outcomes-driven security strategies is the ultimate goal,” he says.

Systems Technologies, says Schoch, is “always hunting, but farming is a big part of our go-to-market [strategy].”

“One of the advantages with how we go to market and the products that we offer is we have customers that start out with 40 devices on their system and, five years later, have 400 devices on their system,” he says.

Everon sees a variety of approaches, says Kiernan, ranging from large enterprise customers from whom “we’re taking the signal” on what services and offerings they need to others for whom the company is “more prescriptive about we prefer them to use.”

“Ultimately, it’s all about the customer needs and making sure we’re solving those in the best way possible,” he says.

AI in Video Surveillance

As with most industries these days, AI is taking on increased importance in video surveillance, with the myriad analytics opportunities offering customers new capabilities they hadn’t previously had and making it easier for them to find the exact information they need quickly.

“It’s pretty easy to say, ‘hey, you don’t want to sit there and watch all your video cameras all day, do you?’ And humans aren’t the right tool for that, even if you did somehow weirdly enjoy it,” says Williams with a laugh.

Image courtesy of Emerald

He sees artificial intelligence as “a computer system you never log in to” but it still provides a steady stream and flow of information.

AI “is raising expectations,” says Walsh, noting clients “no longer see video as a passive solution.”

“They expect it to deliver real-time insights, faster response and measurable impact on their operations,” he says. “There is also a growing expectation around ease of use. Security teams want to quickly find what matters without spending time reviewing large volumes of footage or administering complex search platforms.”

“Capabilities like AI-driven analytics and natural-language search are transforming how users interact with video, allowing them to surface relevant events and patterns in seconds.

To meet these expectations, our focus is on delivering solutions that combine artificial intelligence, cloud technology and integrated platforms in a way that is practical and scalable,” says Walsh.

“By bringing video, systems and insights together into a unified experience, we are helping clients move from reactive operations to more predictive and proactive security models while enabling faster decisions and improved outcomes,” he says.

Schoch touts the ability of AI to help with installation of video surveillance cameras, particularly if the installer isn’t fully trained on all the ins and outs of a particular camera or system.

Some companies incorporate QR codes with their cameras to assist technicians in setting up the devices, which are pre-configured, meaning when the technician hangs them on the wall, “the programming is pretty much done,” he says.

Incorporating AI in video surveillance is about “trying to match up the needs for the customer or what makes the most sense for them in terms of the sophistication of their security or life safety footprint and then applying whatever. AI features and functions that make the most sense for them,” says Kiernan.

In other cases, he says, Everon is “matching up AI or analytics that help the customer with, say, OSHA violations or, even in some cases, some things emerging around life safety where detection of smoke or fire is becoming important from a video perspective.”

Staying Educated

When Williams and the rest of the Security Pros team discuss “the next big thing” with customers, meaning capabilities that will help them add an increased level of security, “it really gets them listening.”

Staying in touch with customers and keeping them informed about new capabilities and offerings could lead to a surprising development in the integrator-customer relationship, says Williams.

“They will start to come up with examples of how it might help them that you didn’t think of,” he says.

The ability to have those conversations with customers comes from staying educated on the latest solutions and services and understanding the ones that are coming next, says Williams. He relies on industry trade publications, conferences and trade shows and contacts his manufacturer partners regularly to take their pulse on the latest offerings on the market.

Systems Technologies goes to major industry events, including ISC West, as well as conferences hosted by its manufacturer partners and local trade shows as well as events at local colleges and universities.

“I don’t think there is a magic way to do that,” says Schoch. “It’s just a whole lot of time and a whole lot of effort.”

The company also invests significantly in training its employees, including at the Milwaukee-based Axis Experience Center.

“It’s a great way to put your people in front of the latest products and ultimately industry experts and really do a deep dive into functionality and just make your people better,” says Schoch. “If you take really good people that are installers and invest in them through training, in every case, you’ll have a happy customer because they’re hiring somebody who’s not only excited about what they do, but they’re very knowledgeable about it.”

Everon is involved in several industry groups, says Kiernan.

“We’re always scanning the market,” he says. “One of the things we do is just try and stay on top of the trends and see what’s going on from various places to do scanning and research. In particular, our partners are always very good to us in terms of giving us early looks at things.”

Everon has an innovation center at its headquarters, says Kiernan, and that allows them to do “a ton of evaluation work early on, providing feedback to our partners and they’re finding solutions, ideally, before they hit the market.”

Testing New Video Surveillance Capabilities

Regardless of how tight our panel of integrators is with its manufacturer partners, that doesn’t mean they’ll deploy a new product or capability for their customers without first putting it through its paces.

“I’m a trusting guy but, until we’ve seen it working, it’s hard for us to go to our technician crew or the subcontractor network we use and say, ‘hey, we’re putting our stamp of approval on this,’” says Williams, noting they test new products and services for at least a couple of months.

Having an Axis Experience Center near its headquarters location allows Systems Technologies to “beat up new products,” says Schoch, who touts his relationships with manufacturer partners as a key component in testing new products and services.

“We have trusted relationships, so we are honest with each other,” he says. “Sometimes the solution does work and sometimes it doesn’t work the way we want it to work but our partners are open and honest with us.”

If Everon’s manufacturer partners are adding new capabilities to existing products, those tests are relatively quick, says Kiernan, but the beta phase can be much longer in cases of a more significant upgrade or new product.

That’s true of AI context, where users look at the different types of visual searches and/or proactive visual alerts and utilizing natural language as an easier way to start to begin to apply analytics.

“As you could probably imagine, that opens a humongous door as to what the imagination could bring to the table on what you wanted to be alerted on and using those people, vehicle or object analytics at your disposal to do that,” says Kiernan.

“This presented some interesting, potentially ethical things to make sure that we’re not allowing folks to type in or search for things that might be sensitive,” he says.

Image courtesy of Emerald

RMR in Video Surveillance

Recurring monthly revenue has been part of Security Pros’ business philosophy “since day one,” says Williams. About 40 percent of the company’s revenue comes from RMR, he says, although their goal is to push that to at least 50 percent.

“The philosophy has always been, ‘we own this system. We don’t by title own it but we stand behind it and we’ve got you.’ Your security is our problem, not yours,” he says. “For us to be able to deliver on that pledge, we need to make that an ongoing promise and ongoing means subscription [and] we’re going to make sure you’re getting the most out of it.”

“We want to know as deeply as we can about how they operate and what matters to them,” says Williams. “But #2, it’s got to keep working, so we’re going to log in from time to time and make sure your pictures at night are still working. Does it work in the rain? Does it work in the winter? What is the uptime and reliability? And are the recordings still good? And how many days are you getting? And can we stretch that out?”

A “large portion” of Systems Technologies’ customers purchases software assurance to go with their security systems, says Schoch, and more of them are asking about subscription-related models.

“Our go-to-market in almost every case will be a hybrid model, where customers will have a piece of some hardware on site and then some devices that are recording to the cloud and it’s a subscription,” he says.

“With many of our enterprise customers, there’s a fit for a piece of it, but, as I sit here today, I don’t see them fully transitioning to a complete subscription-based model,” says Schoch. “There will be some of each. And with our offerings, we’re set up to do it that way. And that is one of our core competencies or one of our advantages we have in the market.”

Everon puts RMR “at the forefront,” says Kiernan, with increasing numbers of customers wanting a subscription-based model.

“It’s really about partnering with our video partners to get the right pricing models and business models in place for that,” he says. “We’re starting to see more and more manufacturers come out with easier ways for us to bill and do subscription-based video for our customers.”

RMR “gives us the best flexible way to take care of the customer needs,” says Kiernan.

Everon does its own central station monitoring, which allows them to attach recurring revenue to the solutions it’s selling, he says.

“It’s kind of ingrained and embedded in kind of our business model and what we do,” says Kiernan. “It’s the trend toward making sure that it’s open and flexible.”

Saturation and Future of Video Surveillance

Image courtesy of Emerald

Williams says video surveillance is “nowhere near” its saturation point “and I think most of the industry would agree with that.”

“[Users] always wish they had another view and after you have a large installed base, adding one more view becomes more and more economical and kind of a no-brainer,” he says. “I’m very confident what’s going to happen in the next five years is all these cameras that we have deployed are going to be thought of as just detectors, eyeballs, and what we do with what they see is going to be the innovation.”

Schoch agrees that video surveillance demand “is still very strong,” noting Systems Technologies continues to see “a lot of opportunities to upgrade existing endpoints. They’re not just cameras anymore. They do so much more than that.”

“Our customer base continues to add endpoints to their systems. Part of that is our world is not full of less security or there’s enough shady business going on out there that people want to protect their people at their buildings. They want to protect their assets,” says Schoch.

Kiernan sees no end in sight to the uses and types of deployments for video surveillance cameras, ranging from simple updates to analog systems to new capabilities.

“Everything is kind of going towards AI and agents and consolidation of systems,” he says. “I think we’re going to start to see, or already starting to see, this in many platforms, that everything’s consolidated. The idea of security is kind of all in one platform so I don’t need to have separate access control and intrusion and video. It’s all just going to be ubiquitous.”

In the next several years, video surveillance will likely be part of the AI agent you’re running on your computer, says Kiernan.

“I see video kind of fitting into that as a heavy sensor and an ability to provide all sorts of important data, as we kind of touched on previously,” he says. And there should be some great opportunities to continue to evolve that and utilize it as a great source of information and being able to pull anything up at your disposal at any point in time.”

Final Thoughts

Williams encourages the security industry not to be afraid “to move super-fast” when it comes to deploying video surveillance in new and interesting ways for their customers.

“I almost feel like we are where the IT industry was, where they moved fast and broke things and very often they would be putting in version 3 when version 2 wasn’t 100% yet,” he says. “Clients are going to want to move to new capabilities that get them operating better and not worry about having every bell and whistle that this or that competitor has.

“If you can move them to a capability they didn’t have yesterday, do it. Move fast. Don’t be shy,” says Williams.

License plate recognition is one area that’s gaining more traction in the video surveillance game, says Schoch.

“It’s definitely become more affordable to do,” he says, noting that using license plates as credentials to enter a gate or garage or other restricted area has finally taken hold with customers in the past 12 to 18 months after integrators have offered that capability for many years.

“That feature’s been out there a long time,” says Schoch. “We’ve been able to do it, but we just haven’t had that customer take the dive into it. It’s become more affordable, too. That’s not super unique but that’s one solution that we’ve had for a long time that we’re finally seeing some deployments.”

Everon is seeing opportunities emerge in business and operational value, says Kiernan.

“We started to see things that traditionally we wouldn’t have probably thought about because we were having such a security focus,” he says. “Now, people want to better understand how people are moving in their space and occupancy and those sorts of things.”

“Those are not necessarily surprising use cases but just the fact that it’s moving from historically video surveillance as security focus to offering better business value,” says Kiernan.

On the life safety side, Everon is starting to see an opportunity where video can couple or help in the fire alarm space for better, earlier detection than what traditional fire alarm sensors can do as well, he says.

“There are definitely some interesting things emerging in that space,” says Kiernan.

The post Video Surveillance is Everywhere, But Myriad Opportunities Remain appeared first on Security Sales & Integration.

On a multi-site rollout, those same issues multiply quickly. What begins as a small process gap can become a schedule problem, a procurement problem, or a quality-control problem across an entire program.

For security systems integrators, that is why large security deployments are so instructive. They force an organization to move beyond technical execution and focus on repeatability, accountability and control.

One of the clearest lessons is that standardization matters, but it must be the right kind of standardization. In large rollouts, not every site will be identical. A law office expansion in one market may move on a compressed schedule with active service needs continuing in parallel.

A government headquarters project may involve many internal stakeholders, each with different room requirements and operating expectations. An education rollout may span more than a dozen campuses, all working from the same overall standards but with different local conditions, subcontractors, and existing infrastructure.

Multi-State Rollouts Must Realize Regional Differences

The point is not to force every site into the exact same template. The point is to standardize the systems that create consistency: documentation, naming conventions, room typologies, submittal processes, commissioning checklists, security device programming standards, access-control naming conventions and escalation paths.

When those elements are repeatable, the project team can adapt to site-specific realities without losing visibility or control.

That is especially important because multi-site work often exposes the risks hidden in the handoff between design and installation. Many project problems are not caused by bad intent or even by poor design. More often, they happen when approved scope is interpreted differently by estimating, procurement, project management and field labor.

A room is designed one way, purchased another way, and installed under a third set of assumptions, whether that’s access control hardware, surveillance cameras, or supporting low-voltage infrastructure.

On one project, that might create a manageable headache. Across 15 sites, it creates a pattern.

Integrators can reduce that risk by treating security system design, budgeting, procurement, and installation as interdependent disciplines rather than isolated functions. Before materials are ordered, someone should confirm that the latest scope still reflects site needs and current standards.

Before labor is mobilized, someone should verify that pathways, power and supporting trades are actually ready. Before a field team commits to an install sequence, someone should confirm that the project schedule reflects current conditions rather than an outdated assumption.

Those checkpoints are what turn a rollout into a controlled program instead of a collection of parallel jobs.

Process, Procurement and Project Control

Procurement is another area where scale reveals the difference between a reactive process and a disciplined one. In multi-site security integrations, procurement does not sit on the sidelines. It is one of the main ways integrators protect schedule integrity and maintain quality across locations.

When several projects are moving simultaneously, delayed orders, inconsistent bill-of-materials decisions and unreviewed substitutions can trigger disruptions far beyond a single site.

That is particularly true on projects involving significant material spend or broad geographic coordination. Whether supporting a regional rollout of corporate access control systems or managing enterprise security deployments for campuses nationwide, procurement decisions need to be made with the full deployment in mind.

Stronger teams validate long-lead items early, align acceptable alternates before they are needed and build material standards that support repeatability. In some cases, centralized purchasing and controlled storage can also reduce risk, particularly when schedule certainty matters more than one-off ordering convenience.

Just as important is the discipline of verifying what is actually happening in the field. Multi-site work becomes vulnerable when project reporting and site conditions drift apart. A contractor may report that a space is ready when ceiling closure, electrical work or pathway completion is still outstanding.

A short-term look-ahead may exist but there may be no reliable overall schedule tying together trades, turnover dates and installation sequencing.

For security integrators, this is where project control becomes inseparable from communication. Rapid, direct reporting is not simply a courtesy; it is a risk-management tool. If labor is being mobilized into multiple markets or security equipment is being released across multiple locations, assumptions have real cost.

The larger the rollout, the more important it becomes to independently validate readiness rather than rely solely on status updates passed from one layer of the project team to another.

Another lesson from large deployments is that integrators are increasingly expected to help create a structure for the client, not just execute a predefined scope. On some projects, that means helping standardize security requirements across many departments with different priorities.

On others, it means streamlining RFP and project-management processes so multiple jobs can move without constant reinvention. For others, it means balancing a client’s installation standards with local field realities while keeping the end result consistent across the portfolio.

That role requires internal accountability as much as technical expertise. Successful rollout teams know who owns each part of the process: who is managing client communication, who is coordinating security system design intent, who is watching procurement exposure, who is validating field readiness and who is escalating issues before they affect schedule or quality.

Without that clarity, even capable organizations can end up reacting site by site instead of managing the program as a whole.

For security systems integrators looking to grow into larger regional or national work, the takeaway is straightforward. Scale does not reward improvisation. It rewards standardized processes, disciplined procurement, honest reporting and visible ownership.

The firms that build those habits are better positioned to execute complex security deployments consistently and to earn the confidence required for the next multi-site opportunity.

Bob LaDouceur is chief operating officer and founder of CSP Consultants Group.

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As members of the board, Deatherage and Keller will “help guide PSA’s strategic direction while supporting its mission to empower owner and member companies through education, collaboration, networking and innovative business solutions,” according to the association announcement.

PSA also owns an audiovisual buying group, Edge.

“Travis and Pete each bring unique expertise and leadership perspectives that will strengthen our board and benefit the entire PSA community,” says Matt Barnette, president and CEO of PSA, in the announcement. “Their experience driving growth and supporting operational excellence will help us maximize the value that PSA brings to our members while advancing the future of both the security and audiovisual integration industries.”

Why Did PSA Name Deatherage and Keller to Board?

Deatherage serves as president of LINX Multimedia and brings more than 28 years of experience in audiovisual systems, telecommunications, software development and technology integration. He founded Solstice Multimedia in 2002, later merging the company with LINX in 2011 to create LINX Multimedia.

Under his leadership, the company “has evolved from a regional AV integrator into a nationally recognized technology integration provider serving enterprise, higher education, health care, mission-critical and government clients across the United States,” according to the PSA announcement.

As an Edge member, LINX Multimedia “represents the network’s growing community of audiovisual integrators, and Deatherage will bring that valuable AV perspective to the PSA board of directors and support collaboration between PSA and Edge members,” the announcement says.

Throughout his career, Deatherage “has led strategic growth initiatives, expanded national operations and supported successful acquisitions while maintaining a strong focus on client experience, technical excellence and long-term partnerships,” according to the PSA announcement.

“I am excited for the opportunity to join the PSA Board at such a pivotal time for security and AV integration,” says Deatherage in the announcement. “I understand firsthand the value organizations like PSA Security and Edge bring to their members and am honored to be working on the board of a forward thinking, collaborative, member-owned organization with leaders from across the security integration industry.”

Keller serves as chief financial officer at Integrated Protection Services (IPS), where he leads the company’s financial strategy, planning and performance management. He “partners closely with executive leadership to align financial discipline with long-term growth objectives while overseeing financial planning and analysis, budgeting, forecasting and enterprise reporting,” according to the PSA announcement.

Keller “brings extensive experience in operational efficiency, strategic planning and responsible financial stewardship,” the announcement says. He is a frequent speaker on financial leadership, scaling operations and leveraging analytics to drive business performance.

“I’m honored to join the PSA board and contribute to an organization that consistently creates value for its members through creative benefits, collaboration, shared learning and industry leadership,” says Keller in the PSA announcement. “PSA provides a unique platform for member organizations to grow stronger together, and I’m excited to help advance that mission.”

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