SecureWatch24's new dealer program

ORLANDO, Fla.—Video monitoring company SecureWatch24 recently announced that it's launching a new dealer program for its advanced video monitoring and access control services.

SecureWatch24 in July told Security Systems News about the construction of a high-end, state-of-the-art, video monitoring command center it is calling the SW24 Fusion Center .

"For us, it's a matter of fusing different technologies and bridging the gap between public and private entities, between local, municipal, state or federal law enforcement and the public sector," SW24 CTO Gene Dellaglio told SSN in July. "There's going to be a lot of different technologies coming in there—some central station burg or intrusion monitoring, systems monitoring, information from all the video management servers, and, in addition, all of our call support. We'll be tying in all the technologies and all the people."

The move to a dealer program, announced here at ASIS 2011, is a marked departure from the company's decade-long direct sales model, according to SW24 founder and president Des Smith.

"The model that we're planning for the dealers is based on them being able to go install the video, install the alarm and if the account asks about monitoring, the dealer can tell them: 'Yes, I can give you that service.' And not only can they offer that service, but if our equipment and software are in play, we can skin it for the dealer. If you're ABC Alarm and you have a cool logo, when you send out your documentation, when the end user logs on, they see ABC Alarms."

Smith said pricing won't be available until January, concurrent with the full rollout of the dealer program, when he expected they would begin signing up their first dealers.

Smith says the dealer program will help his company fill an expanding verification niche.

"I don't know how many municipalities require alarm verification, but it's huge and there are very few ways to verify an alarm outside of video," Smith said. "I envision my company becoming the alarm verification company. We don't have to take a dealer's alarm services, but we will be a fully licensed, UL-listed central station with alarm services and video management services. Dealers don't have to build a three-and-a-half million dollar fusion center."

SW24 also this year announced it would be monitoring for Mediacom a large, nationwide cable company. The deal expanded their surveillance system network to in five states and plans are on the books, according to Smith, for SW24 to eventually provide security for Mediacom offices, data centers and warehouse locations at more than 200 locations in 22 states.