Affiliated rolls out InView at Security Summit '13

The big news emanating out of Affiliated Monitoring's Security Summit '13 was (as expected) the roll out of InView, the company's new video monitoring platform. Compatible with a host of DVR and NVR manufacturers, the suite signals Affiliated's entrance into video verified alarms.

In his welcome speech, Affiliated president Stanley Oppenheim told dealers they can expect to provide services in the coming years that they may not even be thinking about now. And, based on vice president Daniel Oppenheim's keynote, InView may be the platform that tries to bear that philosophy out. The suite is designed to continuously add new functionalities, Oppenheim said, and though he couldn't disclose all that was in the pipeline, it's safe to say he expects the offering to be a powerful generator of RMR.

Befitting the introduction of InView, the morning session consisted of a sales strategy panel with Larry Folsom, president of American Video and Security and CEO of I-View Now, and Deanna Blair of Videofied, who describes herself as a “video verification evangelista.” The panel was moderated by Mike Zydor, managing director at Affiliated.

In the discussion, Folsom talked about the positive correlation between sales and demos with video verified alarms. Demos are a crucial step in selling verificatio technology, he said, because there's no better way to demonstrate its unique value to subscribers. Both Blair and Folsom also stressed the importance of honing in on a specific market, and leading instead of finishing with video verification when pursuing a sale.

After an InView demonstration led by Affiliated's Aaron Salma and Larry Weintraub, we were led by Ashley Owens, Affiliated territory manager for the south, on a tour of the central station. This proved to be a major highlight of the summit. The place is sleek, and it's hard to imagine that just a few years ago the venue was a furniture warehouse. The main space for operators and dealer relations personnel is spacious, and still has ample room to accommodate personnel growth in the future. The interior of the facility underwent a wholesale revision. I was told by Jesse Rivest, regional sales manager at Affiliated, that the mezzanine overlooking the much of the central's interior did not even exist when Affiliated bought the facility.

The tour concluded with us given access to a room housing two enormous, bright yellow Caterpillar generators which, should the need arise, allow the facility to run without external power assistance for 24 days straight.

This blog is beginning to stretch the limits of its medium, so I'll plan to follow up with more highlights from the show in a future post or in the summit roundup.