Integrators '20 under 40' 2016—Rich Carlson

Rich Carlson, 36

Product quality manager, Vivint Smart Home

Provo, Utah

When asked about the most interesting or promising technologies in the security space, Rich Carlson pointed to smart home tech.

Specifically, Carlson said he's interested in seeing how cameras in the security space change over time, such as with increased analytics and facial recognition possibly being used to see who is in a home. “I'm interested to see more sensors in the home, being able to recognize specific people that are in the house.”

Carlson noted that Vivint has gradually changed its focus from doing only security to also including home automation. “What interests me most is the home automation side and how that � works hand in hand with the security side of things. I like working with the new technologies and testing them out. I do a lot of testing with new products that we are possibly looking into selling to our customers.”

The doorbell camera is one of the biggest selling products for Vivint, Carlson said. This summer, the company released its Ping camera, an indoor camera with two-way communications with a security app.

Carlson has been in the security industry for about 15 years. He had a cousin who was working in a summer sales-model company in the industry, and joined the same company as a technician in the beginning of 2001.

He joined Vivint in 2004 as an operations manager on the technician side. In his current role, Carlson is involved with a variety of different departments at Vivint, he said. “I'm kind of like the middle man between engineering and installation technicians and our support staff that answer calls from our customer base,” he said.

He also works on the compliance side, making sure that the company's electrical licenses for certain states are up to date.