Central stations tout value of regional shows

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.—At the Northeast Security Systems Contractors Expo, held here on May 21, central stations said that regional shows are a great way to meet dealers, in person. The New England Alarm & Controls Council hosted the show.

NEACC's new president, David Wescott, “Because it's a local show, a lot of the companies will not only send owners and managers, but they'll also send technicians,” he told Security Systems News.

Wescott, who was recently appointed president, is also president of Instant Signal & Alarm Co., based in Salem, Mass.

He noted that technology developments are showcased at the event. “The areas where we're moving ahead are the customer interface, apps—having customers be more involved with their systems,” Wescott said. “[Also,] camera technology seems to be getting better and better.”

At this year's Northeast Security Systems Contractors Expo, Security Systems News caught up with companies it saw at ISC West and met some new ones.

Affiliated Monitoring's Jesse Rivest, company territory manager and a SSN "20 under 40," Class of 2013 honoree, said the Northeast Security Systems Contractors Expo is a good way to stay in touch with current dealers and get to know prospective ones.

Alarm Central's company's vice president, Kerry-Anne McStravick, said that being a smaller central station has benefits, like getting to know dealers on a more personal basis. Alarm Central is based in Quincy, Mass., and has 40,000 accounts, she said

All American Monitoring's Lisa French, national sales representative, and Laura Hutchinson, national dealer support, called the response to the company's new MeyeView-brand cameras “great.” Announced at ISC West, All American was demoing the cameras at NEACC.

Rapid Response's Bryan Bardenett, company senior account manager, said they like hearing about the regional issues and concerns at regional shows such as NEACC.

Bart Weiner, COPS' senior account executive, said he likes to connect on a more personal level with dealers and “put names to faces” at these shows.

Daniel Shaw is the assistant central station manager for NEXgeneration Central, based in Providence, R.I. He told SSN his company's  35,000 accounts are predominantly on the East Coast.

Keith Jentoft, president of RSI Video Technologies, demonstrated the company's various camera models and talked about their versatility. He also talked about PPVAR, and the importance of finding common definitions for terms like “verification”—as the Texas Police Chiefs Association did in early April.

Tom Camarda, national sales executive for U.S.A. Central Station Alarm, gave a demo of the monitoring center's recent integration with SmartTek, putting a GPS tracking and monitoring service into a smartphone app.