Honeywell joins PPVAR

Over the weekend, the Partnership for Priority Video Alarm Response, a public-private partnership comprising stakeholders in property crime, announced the addition of a major manufacturer to its membership ranks. The company? Honeywell Security.

After speaking with some in the industry involved with PPVAR, including Keith Jentoft, president of Videofied and RSI Video Technologies, it is increasingly clear to me why this carries major implications for the future of video monitored alarm systems. A recurring theme I'm hearing is that Honeywell's decision to come on board with PPVAR reflects significant progress toward “mainstreaming” such systems.

In a PPVAR statement, Donald Young, president of PPVAR and chief information officer at Protection 1, said the following: “Honeywell will help us in our efforts to strengthen our partnerships with law enforcement using monitored video alarm as a mainstream solution.” In the same statement, Scott Harkins, president of Honeywell Security Products Americas, stated: “Honeywell is pleased that the PPVAR supports continued police response to all burglar alarms. We also recognize that video verification is an important product category as we look to the future of security.”

If you synthesize these two statements, PPVAR's message becomes clear. The organization encourages the mainstream adoption of video verification alarm systems in both commercial and residential settings, since this appears to be the trajectory monitored alarms are on. But what's also apparent in the statement, particularly through Harkins' quote, is that both the organization and its members remain firmly positioned as allies of the monitored alarm industry and its stakeholders in general—whether we're talking about video monitored alarm systems or traditional ones. PPVAR's emphasis is on priority response.

With monitored video alarm systems becoming more affordable, it may only be a matter of time before video verified alarm systems reach a tipping point in their adoption. It's a development that some in the industry, as well as in law enforcement, will hail—especially as municipalities across the country continue to search for ways to mitigate false alarms.

Honeywell's membership status with PPVAR only helps advance the industry closer to that adoption tipping point. On that front it is a major illustration of progress. Equally instrumental for achieving broader adoption, however, could be PPVAR's positioning itself not as a threat to the existing, largely non-video installer base, but as an ally.