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If you own or manage a commercial property you have probably experienced the anxiety of a visit from your local fire marshal.  Our pop culture has taught us to vilify and ridicule the fire marshal as "uncool", ala Jim Carrey's character Fire Marshal Bill (follow this link for a fun reminder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ao2bIg5kTY).  We all know the fire marshal's primary concern is preventing loss of life and property as a result of a fire - this is serious business.  One of the items the fire marshal will inspect is the building's fire alarm system. ...

As IP cameras become more pervasive in security applications they are destined to become commodities just as their coax-based forefathers have.  Initially, the distinction between IP cameras and coax-based cameras was the transmission media.  IP cameras convert images into digital packets that are sent over network cables to be stored.  Coax-based cameras used coax to transmit their information.  For several years the quality of the recorded video was noticeably better with coax based cameras and the accessories (vcrs, dvrs, matrices, etc.) that supported coax were...

According to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, approximately 20 percent of employers polled in a new survey said workplace theft has become a moderate to significant problem recently. The survey was conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity and HR.com, and involved supervisors and executives at 392 U.S. firms. Eighteen percent of respondents said they have noticed a recent increase in monetary theft among workers, such as missing cash or bogus transactions. In addition, 24 percent of respondents said they had seen a rise in stolen, non-monetary goods like office supplies...

Many companies are reducing or eliminating spending related to life safety and security. The difficult economic climate can make managers rearrange priorities against their better judgment. Reality suggests that companies should try to increase spending on security rather than decrease in a recession. In a poor economy your business is a bigger target than at any other time. Internal theft, property crimes and other serious threats become more likely as the unemployment rate increases and people become more desperate to make ends meet. There is a debate in the media about the relationship...