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Getting the Gold tour

Getting the Gold tour ADT puts its new high-end residential program on display

DELRAY BEACH, Fla.--When building his new 4,200-square-foot seaside home here, Bob Kirchoff knew he wanted video surveillance as part of his security system. "We had the builder hardwire the home for four cameras," he said. However, once he contacted ADT's Howard Green, who'd helped Kirchoff with a security system at a condominium previously, Kirchoff learned about ADT's new Custom Home Services and decided on a more extensive system. In late April, Kirchoff, his wife, Laura, and their infant daughter had been in the house for only a couple of weeks, but they welcomed a group of industry trade reporters into their home to take a look around. The surveillance system has nine cameras which can be viewed locally on a connected TV or remotely from nearly any web-enabled PC, PDA or cell phone via a fully encrypted, secure and password-protected web site hosted by ADT called myadtvideo.com. The Kirchoffs can view video from any of the fixed cameras in real-time and can utilize a digital zoom for a closer look at images. The recorder can be pre-set to capture video from before, during and after pre-defined events such as a gate or cabinet opening. The system can also send an email notifications if a sensor is tripped. ADT does not do video verification monitoring for residential applications yet, but it's something "we're looking at down the road," said Tim McKinney, ADT's director of Custom Home Services, North America. ADT's been building its Custom Home Services program for 16 months, but only officially announced it Jan. 8 (see "ADT announces Custom Home Gold," in the January issue of Security Systems News.) The program is up and running in 40 major markets, each with its own custom home sales and installation groups (which are separate and distinct from ADTs other residential sales and installation personnel). ADT will expand the program into Canada "in short order." McKinney was not willing to give exact numbers, but said they've done "thousands of installations." There is no typical system, McKinney emphasized, "all applications are unique," he said. The cost of the system varies from market to market "from $2,500 up to $350,000." The Custom Home systems are not integrated, per se, with home automation systems. Instead ADT partners with home automation providers "Our strategy is simple. We want to focus on what we do best, security, video, lighting and we can partner with other providers to do the home theater and automation," he said. McKinney said he wants his program to grow at a "controlled pace." While each installation is custom, he wants the program in "LA to look the same as the program anywhere else." To do that he's focused on the training of sales and installation personnel and was getting ready to welcome in early May 30 custom home reps to Florida for an intensive training session where they will be drilled in "how to sell to the affluent."

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