Security Partners inks deal with TeleAlarm

LANCASTER, Pa. - In a move to increase service offerings and, in turn, possible customers for its dealers, Security Partners has entered into a co-marketing and product agreement with Reading, Pa.-based TeleAlarm. As a wholesale monitoring firm with a presence in 30 states, the deal enables Security Partners to utilize existing technology for a new service. In addition, the partnership enables its dealers to approach either a new community of alarm users or existing customers for new applications. TeleAlarm brings to the deal its AP1337, a personal alarm unit that is used at homes to enable verified emergencies and aid emergency response dispatch. The AP1337 is now being manufactured for the first time by TeleAlarm’s Switzerland-based manufacturing business. Delivery of the units will come in the first quarter of this year. “I believe two-way voice units will take off,” according to Patrick Egan, president of Security Partners. To prepare for the new service, Egan said the company has specially trained a select number of its staff. “We got a higher-end of operator for this product,” he said. For TeleAlarm, which designs and manufactures wireless emergency call systems, the partnership helps it use Security Partners’ dealer base to promote and sell its personal emergency response systems within the United States. “This is the first time we have entered into a partnership with a central station,” said Ron Bodnar, vice president of sales and marketing at TeleAlarm. “We now have dealers to sell our products, which includes a year of free monitoring in the price.” In addition to his responsibilities at TeleAlarm, Bodnar is also a vice president and partners at Security Partners. TeleAlarm is a 40-year-old company that has sold more than 400,000 PERS units within the European market. Bodnar said such products do not carry the stigma that two-way voice units do in North America and are widely adopted for use beyond homebound adults. The partnership runs deeper than just a product deal. Security Partners and TeleAlarm have also decided to share marketing expenses, co-exhibiting at the recent ISC East conference in New York and the future ISC West show in Las Vegas. The company’s products typically are targeted for use in living housing communities for seniors and seniors living independently. Bodnar said the company has been careful to price the product right, although he declined to comment on the price list, which is one of the reasons it has partnered with Security Partners. It is also the reason why the product is being offered with one year of free monitoring. “We’re trying to make it as affordable as we can to make PERS available to the masses,” he said.