Video verification goes mainstream

HENDERSON, N.V.—In a move that some believe may spur broader mainstream adoption of video verified alarms, Honeywell Security has joined the Partnership for Priority Video Alarm Response as a platinum associate member, according to a statement from PPVAR.�

Founded in 2012, the PPVAR, based here, is an organization designed to strengthen public-private partnerships between those in law enforcement, the insurance sector and the alarm industry. The addition of Honeywell could prove to be a tipping point as far as manufacturers entering the video-verification alarm space, Don Young, PPVAR president, and chief information officer at Protection 1, told Security Systems News.�

“This says that large manufacturers like Honeywell are seeing that video verification is taking a very strong foothold in our industry,” Young said. “People are selling more of it to the extent that Honeywell realizes they need to be a supplier of it.”

Up until this point in time, Honeywell has manufactured video surveillance cameras and alarms, but not video-verified alarms, said Young, who believes Honeywell's membership could prompt other manufacturers to join PPVAR's ranks.�

“We're very convinced, right or wrong, that a lot of other manufacturers are soon to follow,” Young said. “How does a company go ahead and answer a question from an alarm dealer why I'm not a member of PPVAR when Honeywell is? Does that mean I'm less a supplier of video-verification technology?”

Prices should drop as more companies begin manufacturing video-verified alarm systems, according to Keith Jentoft, president of RSI Video Technologies and Videofied, a priority video alarm product suite.�

In the past, higher prices could be a barrier to broader adoption of video monitored alarms. But now, Jentoft says, video alarm systems are affordable for residential and small commercial customers.�

“For me, the fact that the largest manufacturer is getting on board underscores that this is a mainstream message,” said Keith Jentoft, an industry liaison of PPVAR. Another factor that augurs well for video-verified alarms, Jentoft added, is that the monitoring of the systems has been tremendously simplified.�

Honeywell could not be reached for comment by SSN's deadline.

PPVAR, for its part, has tweaked its message slightly, placing an emphasis not exclusively on video-verified response, but on priority response in general. This has helped the organization dispel the notion that it was a threat to the existing, non-video-verified install base, Young said.�

“There's a little less drama in our message and a little bit more evidence,” Young said. “It's now about providing testimony from law enforcement that shows they're interested in making changes in a community, and giving [law enforcement] something to take to the mayor or a town council that says we're going to minimize dispatches potentially by going to a priority response through video.”