World Wide expects iVision24 will help it dominate video market

GARDEN CITY, N.Y.—Vision Monitoring Services, the dealer program and UL-listed central station division of World Wide Security/GC Alarm, is betting its new hosted-video/two-way audio solution iVision24 will help it lead the video pack in its region.

“We're hoping to drive the marketplace in this area,” said Karen Johnson, director of marketing and public relations for World Wide, which is based here. “We have been inviting police departments to visit our offices to discuss the many ways this system enhances current security operations.”

IVision24, available now for current and prospective Vision Monitoring dealers, is an individually tailored solution, according to World Wide technical services manager Chris Edgar.

“IVision24 is a companywide concept … not just a single video product. IVision24 embraces all of the newest technology available today and can even partner it with existing customer equipment to provide video solutions to a multitude of consumer issues,” Edgar said. “This is not 'out of the box' video monitoring. This is a unique video solution that is created individually with each customer.”

World Wide CFO Mark Simson said the solution's cost-effectiveness and flexibility would give dealers the RMR edge. “The installation is a lot more cost-effective than other solutions,” Simson said. “You can use it just as video verification—better than a burglar alarm—or you can do full-on, interactive video monitoring where we provide voice down services and guard tour services. It's really flexible.”

According to Edgar, iVision24 gives the central station operator more agility. “Now we can retransmit video—our verification—while we're dispatching the alarm to authorities, right down to a police car,” Edgar said. “The SIM card allows iVision24 to do exactly what your cell phone does. It allows the device to communicate wirelessly via GSM over a secure network, and you can drop it anywhere. That's important for municipalities, for example. If you're a municipality and you deploy a permanent solution in an urban setting, the problem usually moves. Well, now, so do we.”

Joe Ingegno, SVP of World Wide agreed iVision24's nimble nature differentiated it from competing video solutions.

“Two-way audio/video has been out there as we all know, but it's cumbersome and very expensive and been somewhat limited,” Ingegno said. “With this offering, we've been able to provide clean, streaming video with two-way audio either over the Internet—where you don't need a dial-up phone line—or off of a SIM card. The beauty of that is that you can put this anywhere, regardless of whether there's a traditional communication pathway.”