Archive: November 2002
ADT wins coveted U.S. Marshal contract worth $128.4 million
November 1, 2002Chelsie Woods
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - ADT Security Services' federal division recently won a coveted U.S. Marshals Service contract worth $128.4 million to supply federal courthouses in the United States and its territories with security equipment, system installation and prison handling.
It marks the third consecutive time ADT has won the five-year contract, one of the largest ever awarded to the division, according to Paul Brisgone, vice president of the federal systems division for ADT, based here.
"We have approximately...
GE completes Ion Track purchase
November 1, 2002SSN Staff
PLAINVILLE, Conn. - A month after announcing plans to purchase a provider of advanced trace detection systems used in aviation security and high threat facility security , GE Industrial Systems has closed on the deal.
The acquisition of Wilmington, Mass.-based Ion Track from Castle Harlan, the New York merchant bank, expands GE's offerings of security related services. The company will become a subsidiary of GE Interlogix, with Ion Track's chief executive officer Anthony Jenkins remaining on board....
False alarm ordinance watch
November 1, 2002SSN Staff
Country Club Hills, Mo.
Country Club Hills alderman recently voted to start charging fines for repeated false alarms at homes and businesses as part of increasing fees for several municipal permits.
Officials plan to provide a warning for the first offense, but charge $25 for two false alarms, according to a report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The third false alarm costs $50 while four or more results in a charge of $100.
Howard County, Md.
A year after implementing a new false alarm ordinance,...
Fire, security firms named in lawsuit
November 1, 2002Chelsie Woods
WILKES-BARRE, Penn. - Grinnell Fire Protection Services Co. and SecurityLink from Ameritech are among a handful of companies named in a lawsuit for a fire that destroyed a records keeping facility in 1997.
The trial, which began at the end of September, could last several months since it involves approximately 15 plaintiffs. Collectively, damage claims total more than $100 million.
In its lawsuit plaintiff Diversified Records claims that Grinnell Fire Protection was negligent since it did not design...
Storms batter central stations in Louisiana
November 1, 2002Andrea Gura
As two back-to back storms battered the Louisiana coast over a ten-day span, two central stations here relied on very different emergency backup plans to keep their operations afloat during the storm.
Located in towns not far from Louisiana's Gulf Coast, both central stations were able to make it through the storm without disruptions in service, said officials at both companies.
Alarm Monitoring Services all but evacuated its facilities in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans, and used a disaster...
Briefs
November 1, 2002SSN Staff
SpectraSource adds monitoring
HOUSTON - SpectraSource Corp., through its Connect Source Communications division, has begun to offer a security monitoring service called Watchdog Surveillance. Division General Manager William Casey said the addition of security monitoring is a natural extension to its product offering and expects it to be a major source of recurring revenue.
Connect Source Communications is a home networking and home wiring company.
Countdown begins to 10-digit dialing
MONTREAL...
Distributor Systems Depot adds systems design services to its cache
November 1, 2002Chelsie Woods
HICKORY, N.C. - Product distributor The Systems Depot has added a Systems Design group aimed at providing dealers and integrators with a source to answer design questions or help design a security project.
Company officials created the group this summer, signing on George Bish as its systems design manager and Don Bennett to also work for the group. The idea was to provide installers, including vendors, with experts knowledgeable about the different security technology on the market today and the...
Sweetwater begins sweet venture
November 1, 2002Chelsie Woods
STAFFORD, Texas - Venture capital firm Sweetwater Ventures is making inroads in the security industry, recently buying North American Security Alarm, a Dallas company that focuses on high-end residential accounts.
Company officials plan to use the acquisition as a platform for Sweetwater to build a national security company. The purchase price of North American Security Alarm, a company founded in 1989, and the size of the company were not released.
"It's in our primary market area, the Dallas...
Diebold expands to take on Mosler accounts
November 1, 2002Andrea Gura
NORTH CANTON, Ohio - Nearly a year after picking up $28 million worth of assets of a now-defunct former competitor, Diebold has wrapped up an extensive renovation of its Ohio central station to accommodate the acquisition.
The upgrades to the central station were meant not only to prepare operations for future growth, but also to merge two central stations together, Diebold's central station and a former Mosler central station in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The decision to close the Cedar Rapids facility...
All these unanswered questions
November 1, 2002Andrea Gura
Managing Editor, Security Systems News
For the past two months, our Mass Marketing/Residential section has been filled (quite literally) with coverage of major problems at some of the industry's most prominent dealer programs. In late August, the biggest of them all, ADT's Authorized Dealer Program announced that the company would no longer fund account acquisitions at its current level in an effort to improve the quality of the accounts it folded into its portfolio. In mid-October, Leasecomm said...