New tech, like the cloud, coming to central stations

Even a few weeks past it, I'm still thinking about ESX and what resonated with me about some of the panels. One in particular, “Central Station Technology—The Latest and Greatest,”�has kept me thinking.

Panelists included Jay Hauhn, CSAA's executive director, Jens Kolind, VP of external partnerships for IBS, and Chris Larcinese, cloud-based services market manager in the Americas for Bosch Security Systems. Joe Miskulin, proprietary central station manager for State Farm, served as the moderator.

First off, Kolind brought up the cloud. He said it brings certain technological efficiencies, such as when upgrading systems or not needing as big an IT staff on hand.

Hauhn said, “The promise of cloud is quite attractive.” This is especially true for proprietary centrals, he said, and predicted the number of proprietary monitoring centers would increase.

An attendee asked about the risks of using the cloud. Jens answered, saying that there is a larger risk of a data breach. Those looking to the cloud should make sure that the cloud provider is encrypting important information, he said.

The panel addressed two interesting sides to the technology coin; what is on the upcoming horizon, and what might be sunsetted.

Larcinese pointed to “wearables” as an emerging technology.

According to Hauhn, new entrants should be the ones to look out for; it is movement's like DIY or the smart home that will define what is going to be monitored in the future.

This begged the question: what kind of weight does a self monitored dispatch carry? Hauhn said it's very credible, the home owner might have a better idea of who should or shouldn't be in that house than the operator.

The ASAP to PSAP is also an emerging trend. Hauhn said that program is cloud-friendly.

As toward what technology might be sunsetted soon, Kolind said the age of IP might inhibit the end of the traditional receiver.