Qolsys to debut IQ Panel 2 at ISC West

SAN JOSE, Calif.—Qolsys introduced itself and its “all in one” IQ Panel to the security industry at ISC West 2013. This year, Qolsys plans to introduce its new IQ Panel 2, a slim, white, 7-inch high-res capacitive touch screen with edge-to-edge glass.

“The beauty of the product matters,” Qolysys CEO Dave Pulling told Security Systems News. “But there's a rock concert going on behind that 7-inch screen,” he said.

Designed for higher levels of security, IoT connectivity, ease-of-use and value to dealer and end users, the panel is really “a platform,” according to the Qolsys team. It incorporates the Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core 400 processor.

“It's literally a system on a chip … that has fantastic compute power and enables enormous integrations,” Pulling said. The processor supports LTE cellular, which according to Qolsys VP of sales and marketing Mike Hackett, is “what every dealer wants, especially the big dealers.”

The Snapdragon processor also supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and HD display.

The panel has four field-replaceable radio slots for current and future connectivity, and an integrated 5-megapixel HD camera.

“The level of integration we get from the Qualcomm system on a chip is similar to a newly released smartphone or tablet,” Hackett said.

In addition, the panel itself is a router. “As more security systems deploy Wi-Fi, the home router becomes the weak link in the solution, every day dealers are rolling trucks to troubleshoot customer routers,” Hackett said. The built-in router will enable devices to be paired directly to the IQ Panel 2 and remotely maintained. This “mitigates dependency on the home router, reducing costly truck rolls and support calls, allowing for various Wi-Fi devices to be paired such as IP cameras, thermostats and many more,” Hackett said.

New software applications include glass-break and motion detection, Bluetooth disarm, and the ability to send photos taken when the system is disarmed to smart phones and the cloud.

Hackett called the IQ Panel 2 “a complete re-do that still leverages the architecture we built into the first-generation panel,” Hackett said.

Remote access for the system is powered by Alarm.com.

Pulling said that Qolsys has taken a “platform approach” from the beginning, with the idea that working with “best of breed partners such as Qualcomm, Foxconn, Google/Android and Alarm.com” and taking advantage of those partners' R&D resources.

The new panel is “scalable and upgradable over the cloud,” features that Pulling predicts will allow dealers to “differentiate and upsell.”

The security industry has often “overlooked the security of the security systems,” Pulling said. In developing the IQ Panel 2, “we went to great lengths to ensure security,” he said. “End-to-end we looked at the security of the platform,” he said, noting that all radios are encrypted and it also has a secure Linux operating system.

As security and IoT merge and traditional security dealers face competition from telecoms and cable companies, they need to change their way of thinking, according to Hackett.

Dealers should not rely on service as their sole differentiator, he said. The security system itself should be more than “a piece of plastic,” he said. The system should be easy and “tool-less” to install. The system should “look and act like a real technology device, but with real security in it.”

“Technology can and should be used to decrease total cost-of-ownership and reduce attrition,” Hackett said.

The IQ Panel 2 will begin shipping in Q3 of this year. Qolsys will be showing the new panel at ISC West.

Qolsys provided the following outline of features:

•Wall mount or tabletop panel measuring 7.67 inches wide, 5.11 inches tall and 0.91 inches thick, edge-to-edge glass and a 7-inch, high-resolution (1280 x 800 pixels) capacitive touchscreen.

•Clean, intuitive graphical user interface with multi-gesture capability.

•Integrated 5-megapixel HD panel camera provides built-in motion/presence detection to trigger home automation rules and captures disarm photos and alarm videos that are automatically delivered to the Qolsys cloud.

•Glass-break sensor application uses the built-in dual high-fidelity microphones to protect against intrusion and save cost.

•Panel may be paired with optional remote access panels for persistent control and access throughout the home.

•Qualcomm Snapdragon Quad Core Processor, a fully integrated SoC, features: native LTE cellular support for all major cellular standards—SIM card support for various cellular carriers, minimizes panel SKUs and reduces dealer installation time; Native Wi-Fi 802.11ac—Supports up to 350 Mbps speeds over both 2.4GHz and 5 GHz channels, allowing the panel to serve as a router for private, secure connectivity to remote access panels, IP cameras and other Wi-Fi ecosystem devices within the home; Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) 4.0 supports secure, hands-free disarming of the panel when arriving home, enabling the smart phone to replace the key fob, which increases system use and lowers attrition. Integrated Qualcomm Adreno 306 GPU for advanced graphics and HD display.

The processor has a secure Linux Operating System with embedded Android 5.1.1, which includes a token-based file system and secure cloud connectivity. Enables Qolsys to develop highly advanced, robust applications, and scale them to be updated and delivered over Wi-Fi without the need for dealer service calls.

•Four field-replaceable and encrypted radio cards: Encrypted Security (SRF-E); Z-Wave Plus 500; Alarm.com's proprietary radio for the Image Sensor; and PowerG, Tyco's military-grade wireless encryption technology with frequency hopping that enables superior range, stronger immunity from radio frequency interference and better overall security system reliability.

•Alarm.com Interactive Security: Dedicated cellular connection on Verizon's LTE network for easy and automatic software updates from the cloud, including updates to the underlying Linux OS, the application layer, and the firmware. Dual-path connectivity that intelligently routes data over cellular and Wi-Fi connections for speed, redundancy and optimal performance. Ability to control the IQ Panel 2 platform from the Alarm.com smart phone app and web portal. Alarm.com's Enterprise Services available for security dealers.