It is with a heavy heart and great sadness I report that Keith Ladd, founder of Exton, Pa.-based The Protection Bureau and one of the electronic security industry's true class acts, has died from cancer at the age of 74. Ladd, who co-founded the Pennsylvania Burglar & Fire Alarm Association in the early 1970s and was a member SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION's Editorial Advisory Board, succumbed surrounded by family and friends after battling the disease for some time. Ladd was also a very active member of the PSA Security Network, among many other organizations. Keith Ladd Ladd was a rather unassuming, soft-spoken but very intelligent...

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As some of you may have already heard, famed firearms maker Smith & Wesson announced last spring it was entering the electronic security business by partnering with Freeport, N.Y.-based NationWide Digital Monitoring, a division of New York Merchants Protective Co. Inc. The licensing agreement allows NationWide to establish an authorized North American program that exclusively provides dealers with wholesale monitoring services plus Smith & Wesson’s iconic branding on products and supporting materials. This means independent installing security companies now have an opportunity to affiliate themselves with one of the most trusted and renowned brand names that exists today, and leverage...

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Brooklyn, N.Y.-based power supply manufacturer Altronix hosted several of its security partners at a Montreal Canadiens hockey game at the Bell Centre on Saturday, Feb. 7. Proceeds from the event were donated to The Gift of Life Inc. – a nonprofit organization that provides lifesaving heart surgery for children around the world. Altronix President Alan Forman, who was elected to the SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION Hall of Fame in 2005, is well known for his philanthropic pursuits. (bottom row left to right) An Le Quang, Tried Distributors; Catherine-Alexandra Gregoire; Alan Forman and son Andrei, Kirby Han, Altronix....

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Following is an email I recently received in which a homeowner worries he is the victim of a somewhat inventive criminal scheme related to burglar alarms. Based on the info provided, it certainly seems like a scam to me.  Here is the E-email: "Hello, I've been calling companies and searching the net for half an hour now with no results, so maybe you can start to help me out. You have an article on C&K Systems so maybe you know a bit about them, or just home security in general. I have a C&K systems alarm in my home, but it...

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Here's something rather cool that came to my attention: An interview of Ed Bonifas, vice president of Aurora. Ill.-based installation and monitoring provider Alarm Detection Systems (ADS) by industry icon Ron Davis. This nearly 10-minute discussion took place during last month's National Burglar & Fire Alarm Association (NBFAA) Leadership Conference in Texas and is purportedly the first of many the association plans to feature as its Security Industry Insights series. The nice thing is you don't have to be a member to view these videos. Bonifas is a member of SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION's Editorial Advisory Board and next in line to succeed...

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I realize I may be late to the party, but I finally made the leap from using videotapes for recording television programs to digital recordings. It’s unusual for me to take so long to embrace new technology as I am somewhat of a gadget/electronics freak but VCRs worked fairly well and the tapes made it easy to playback on machines in different rooms of my house. But after a recent stay with relatives who had a DVR and getting my first chance to really experience the interface and take in the full measure of its capabilities, I knew I had to...

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