SIA to recognize systems integrator members

WASHINGTON-The Security Industry Association has developed a new membership category that will serve the needs of systems integrators, association officials said. The new membership category will allow systems integrators to join SIA as a systems integrator as opposed to joining the trade association in the service provider or associate member category. "It was a case of where people didn't really have a home, a voice, or a forum where they could air issues," said Neil Ivy, SIA's director of industry groups and government affairs. Ivy said now integrators that are SIA members have the power to charge an association to work toward issues important to the system integration community, although SIA's primary focus will remain on the needs of its manufacturer membership base, since that group constitutes the bulk of its membership, he said. Richard Chace, SIA's executive director, said his organization can provide staff and programmatic resources to any group of members who want to make changes or influence their marketplace, their association and their industry. "We're not going after dealers next, because they already have a home" in the National Burglar & Fire Alarm Association and the Central Station Alarm Association, Ivy said. The membership category was a result of discussions held through SIA's Systems Integration Industry Group, where manufacturers, system integrators and end-user members all expressed interest in the new category. The first task of the group will be to define the parameters of a systems integrator, Ivy said. The association already has a "good number" of integrators that are members, but an exact figure isn't known because members haven't been defined in that category before, Ivy said.