Micro Key adds RSI Video

KISSIMEE, Fla.--Micro Key, a supplier of central station software, in September announced a partnership with RSI Video Technologies, based in White Bear Lake, Minn. Micro Key Software’s Millennium Series Monitoring Modules and Videofied from RSI Video technologies will allow central station operators to deliver footage of an alarm within 60 seconds of a trigger event. The partnership has already rolled out nationwide and is being utilized by at least two central stations. One of the big problems for the security industry today is getting the best security protection into places that do not have the infrastructure to support high-tech security, said Micro Key president Wayne Torrens. The Micro Key/RSI Video Technologies partnership delivers a solution that is truly wireless and therefore easy to install. “You don’t need a phone line,” said Torrens. “It’s completely standalone and can be installed in places where you don’t have power.” Torrens pointed out that a big problem these days is copper theft. “So for example, you’ve got these cell towers where you have these huge copper grounding rods.” Normally it would be impractical to set up video surveillance at a location as remote as this. However, said Torrens, since the system is battery operated, as well as cellular, “as long as you’ve got a cell signal, you’re good to go.” Another example of where the partnership will benefit the industry is in its portability. Since the system is wireless, it isn’t grounded to an address. “Say you have a million dollar yacht,” Torrens said. “You travel all around and are never in the same place. You can put one on your yacht and then notify the alarm company when you pull into port, ‘Here’s where I am.’ If an alarm comes in, the alarm company can simply inform the proper local authorities.” While he would not disclose pricing information, Torrens said that partnering with RSI Video Technologies is “very cost-effective” and exciting because it “brings something new to the industry that we haven’t had. It’s a partnership with a new technology instead of an old technology.” Keith Jentoft, president of RSI Video Technologies, said that the partnership was a natural fit. “We’re a monitored system. You can’t operate Videofied if you can’t monitor it, and Micro Key is very entrepreneurial and innovative and has a very reputable base of installed central stations,” he said. Jentoft said that the joint system would be a boon to the industry in financial terms. “What we’re trying to do is tell the monitoring station what’s happening, when it’s happening. We’re bringing RMR into the CCTV surveillance sector by providing a video alert that people are willing to pay for.”