Telguard, Videofied team up on video verified platform

NEW YORK—Telguard and Videofied have formed an original equipment manufacturer partnership that the companies hope will accelerate the adoption of video verified alarms. The companies announced the partnership on Nov. 20 at ISC East, held here. 

Under the agreement, Telguard, a division of wireless solutions provider Telular, will private label Videofied's indoor video verification platform, combining it with Telguard's cellular service. This affords dealers with both commercial and residential accounts the ability to upgrade new and existing security systems to deliver prioritized response. The OEM partnership incorporates the Videofied panel into Telguard's product as a component, thereby eliminating the separate Videofied box in the interest of simplicity and cost reduction, according to Keith Jentoft, president of RSI Video Technologies and Videofied.

Set to begin shipping January 2014, the video verification starter kit holds a lot of value to dealers, Jentoft said, because the platform costs the same to install as a wireless PIR and the same to monitor as a blind alarm. “So really for the same price and business model, you can have something that's more valuable and [dealers] can charge more,” he said. “Telguard is working with its monitoring partners and driving that value proposition.”

The partnership, Videofied's first of the OEM variety, brings together two complementary companies, Jentoft said. Videofied brings technology and a strong monitoring infrastructure to the table, while Telular opens the platform up to some of the largest distribution channels in the industry. Certain strengths of Telguard's business, Jentoft said, also played a role in the development of the partnership. “Their business model is providing upgrades to existing systems,” he said. “They're an accepted and leading name for that.”

Shawn Welsh, VP of marketing and business development at Telular, believes the broad array of big name suppliers Telguard offers, including Tri-Ed, ADI and The Systems Depot, will ensure broader adoption of the video verified platform. Another attribute that bodes well for the platform, he said, is making it a turnkey solution. That will “remove yet another barrier to a potential adopter of the technology,” Welsh said. He added that being able to “pick it up and buy it at every distributor you can think of,” together with “simple activation,” will result in more general mainstream adoption of video verified monitoring platforms. 

The system is applicable to both commercial and residential accounts, and Welsh believes it has high potential for both. Initially, however, he said it is businesses that will drive sales. 

“From my perspective it's a no-brainer,” he said. “You see the power it can provide in the form of priority response for a business, and if I were running a business I can't imagine wanting anything that didn't include this type of solution as part of what I'm using to protect it.”

Welsh expects the solution to see broader residential adoption later in 2014, when the plan is to integrate the video platform into Telguard's home control offerings, allowing the video cameras to perform complementary functions, providing both priority response and a hedge against false alarms. 

“Everybody's selling home automation services, but there's added value if you're the guy who's selling it with an alarm that's treated as if there's an actual crime in progress,” Welsh said. “The competitive side of that will really start to make it a more mainstream offering in the residential space.”