Talking keypads and panels with Kristin Hebert

After graduating from Louisiana Tech with a degree in Industrial Electronics, Kristin Hebert, dealer and vendor relations representative at Acadian Monitoring Services, began searching for jobs in a field related to his major. The first job he landed after school was as a technician assistant at Argus Security in Lafayette, La., where he worked for five years, earning successive promotions to installation technician, then service technician during his tenure. He was hired at Acadian Monitoring after the company began looking for someone who had service and installation experience on their résumé. Here's how Hebert handles security at home.

What kind of security system do you have? That's the tricky part, because I actually have two—one for the security aspect and another for automation. For the security aspect I have a DSC 832. For the automation side I use the Honeywell LYNX L5100.

Why this particular setup? The DSC system was there already when I bought the home, though I did do a little updating to it. When the LYNX Touch came out I got one of those to test out all the different features. 

What is the one aspect of your security system that you wouldn't want to live without? I would say the security aspect because way back, early in my career, I had a system at my previous home and we never used it. My house ended up getting broken into, and from that point forward we always used the system. We keep it armed at all times. 

Where do you see security going next? What are some big trends? All the home automation functions. While it's here already, it's going to continue to grow, which is another reason for me to have the LYNX touchpad. It's up in the air how far these could go, and you can definitely get cute with it. I had a lamp module tied to Christmas lights on the exterior of my home, and when we would arrive home, all of a sudden the lights automatically came on. It's that kind of out-of-the-box thinking that will take it to the next level. You're going to see a lot more simplistic methods of doing things like this.