Talking panels and keypads with Don Childers

The next day he went down to a security company—Lake Norman Security Controls—to inquire about a job. After speaking to Childers, the owner told him he needed one more year of experience, and then he'd “welcome me back and I'd have a job.” Exactly 365 days later, Childers returned to the company and met with the owner, who remembered him from a year before. “I didn't imagine he'd remember me,” Childers said. “But the next day he called me and told me I had the job.”

Childers, who recently joined the IQ Certification board, has been in the industry since then. Here's how he handles security at home.

What kind of system do you have? I have a Honeywell LYNX 5100. We had the Z-Wave part put in, along with two lamp modules and an access control from YALE.

Why this particular setup? The intrigue for me is on several levels. Number one, it's IP-based, so the signal gets to the central station in about three seconds. Secondly, it's got GSM backup. But really it's about the advanced logic the Honeywell system uses to know if a door has been opened, and that, if someone should tear that panel off the wall, it will know to send the signal to my central station to tell them the system's no longer there.

What is the one aspect of your security system you wouldn't want to live without? My wife and I don't start our day without looking at the weather forecast, and we go over to our panel to check that. It gives us the daily weather but can also give us a five-day forecast. From what we've been able to tell, it's very, very accurate.

Where do you see security going next? What are some big trends? In one sense, it's already there with the services through Total Connect and those platforms. At a broader level, I think managed or hosted services, access control and security systems with cameras will continue to be more widespread. I also see our industry becoming more data-based. I don't see central stations being central stations so much as I see them becoming data centers, offering hosted products and helping companies archive data. Central stations will become cloud-based entities that will actually be able to sell services to other central stations. The work will be done mostly by the hosted central stations—that's really where I think everything is going.