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Vol. 14, No. 22 - November 21, 2008
440 Maple Avenue East, Suite 201, Vienna, VA
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This issue of the CSAA Signals is brought to you by our sponsor:

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Table of Contents

APCO Seeks Comments on Alarm Monitoring Company to
PSAP Data Exchange Draft Standard
Public review and comment period ends on December 22

The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International released for comments a candidate American National Standard (ANS) to provide a standard data exchange for electronically transmitting information between an alarm monitoring company and a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP).

The intent of this proposed ANS is to standardize an automated computer-to-computer exchange of data between alarm monitoring companies and PSAPs. This standard is highly recommended for all entities and agencies interested in implementing an automated exchange of alarm-related data in order to promote more efficient and effective public safety and data interoperability nationwide. It provides detailed technical data to software providers who support computer aided dispatch (CAD) systems or alarm monitoring applications concerning the common data elements and structure that shall be utilized when electronically transmitting a new alarm event from an alarm monitoring company to a PSAP. The document includes process flow examples that are necessary during the handoff of a new event, new event responses, and updates to working events between the alarm monitoring company and the PSAP.

There are three primary uses for this standard: initial notification of an alarm event, bi-directional updates of the status between an alarm monitoring company and the PSAP, and bi-directional updates of other events between an alarm monitoring company and a PSAP. The proposed standard is an Information Exchange Package Document (IEPD) that has been recently converted to be NIEM 2.0 conformant.

This candidate ANS is a result of dedicated work and partnerships between APCO International, IJIS Institute, York County (Va.) Emergency Communications Division, City of Richmond (Va.) Department of Information Technology, Richmond Police Department’s Division of Emergency Communications, the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA), and Vector Security. This project is supported by APCO International’s Data Transfer Committee and The Public Safety Data Interoperability (PSDI) Program. The PSDI program and the IEPD conversion project were funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance of the U.S. Department of Justice. The PSDI program is co-managed by APCO International and the IJIS Institute.

There is a 45-day public review and comment period for this standard that ends on December 22.

Oppenheim Receives CSAA President's Award

Stan OppenheimCongratulations to Stan Oppenheim, president of DGA Security Systems Inc., who received the 2008 CSAA Presdident's Award during the 2008 CSAA Annual Meeting.

"Stan is an outstanding CSAA member, always willing to do everything that it takes to get the job done," said Bud Wulfurst, president of CSAA. "Stan, utilizing his own staff and at his own expense, has done design and graphics; printing; chairs committees; supplies the t-shirts for the annual meeting and a host of other tasks. In short, Stan is a great asset for the CSAA."

Well deserved, Stan!

Join CSAA's Linkedin Group

CSAA has created a group in the very popular social media site of Linkedin. If you are a member of this online networking community, click on the following links to add CSAA to your networking groups.

If you would like to join this site or have more questions, please contact Celia Besore at 703-242-4670, x. 16 or communications@csaaintl.org.

You Could Be Missing Out on Your Next Qualified Employee

Since the end of August, when the CSAA/NBFAA Security Industry Resource Center was lunched, jobs posted have been viewed 1,495 times.

YOU could benefit from those numbers! Visit today, securityindustryrecruitingcenter.alarm.org/home/index.cfm?site_id=2828, to post your job openings and find your next employee.

ESX 2009 Features Maximum Impact Awards

Maximum Impact AwardThe 2009 Electronic Security Expo (ESX), June 22-26 in Baltimore, MD, will feature an all-new product awards program focused on your needs as a business installing and monitoring electronic security equipment. It’s called the ESX Maximum Impact Awards (the Mia’s, for short), and here’s how it works.

  1. Manufacturers and industry service providers will be invited to submit information on both new and “in-the-field” products for consideration.
  2. The information will focus primarily on how the product or service helps installing and monitoring companies increase revenue, profits and company value—in other words the impact of the product on an installing/monitoring company’s business.
  3. A panel of judges drawn from CSAA and NBFAA membership will review the entries and select winning products and services in a number of categories from video surveillance to access control to intrusion and fire detection and central station technologies and services.
  4. Information on all of the entries will be available online in advance of ESX for your review and the award winners will be announced at the event, so you can know where to really focus your attention.

The Mia’s highlight one of the unique aspects of ESX. Because ESX is designed purely to serve the needs of installing and monitoring company attendees, exhibiting companies can focus more purely on a trade message for you at their exhibits. At other shows in the industry, exhibiting companies worry about creating trade conflict because commercial end-users are walking the floor and they don’t want to undercut their dealers. At ESX, suppliers focus purely on you and what their products and programs can do for your business. The Mia’s help highlight that aspect of the event.

Suppliers interested in Mia entry information should contact Lauren Hill at AE Ventures, 508-618-4555 or lhill@ae-ventures.com.

Installing and monitoring companies can review entry information at www.esxweb.com starting in April 2009.
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