KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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central station moving to cloud - do contracts need changing / more comments on Is it time to dump POTS
April 6, 2017
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Register for next webinar on April 11, 2017: See below for details.
TitleAll You Need To Know About Getting Top Dollar for your  Alarm Business -sale or financing
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3874048237745402369
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central station moving to cloud - do contracts need changing
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Ken
    We utilize the Kirschenbaum TM Dealer Agreement and the Three Way Agreement.   FYI, we are up to date with the latest version. We are a wholesale central station (we do not install systems).
    We are in the process of going from an On-Premise solution where our receivers and automation system is in our Operations center to a Cloud Based solution where our receivers and automation system will be located in automation system vendor's data center.
    Do we need to revise our agreements with our Dealers in any manner or are there items I need to ensure that are in an agreement between our central station and the automation system vendor.
    Additional information: The automation vendor is UL 827 8th Edition & UL 827A compliant. We are in process of our UL 827 8th Edition inspection.
If you do use this in the newsletter, please leave name 
anonymous
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Response
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    Interesting issue.  I'm not sure if I understand all the nuances but it seems to me that the fancy terminology of using the "cloud" simply boils down to having the receivers that receive, process and store the data are located somewhere other than in your premises.  I believe that is how you described the scenario as well.  Why would a subscriber care if the receivers are in your building or another?  I may be missing something, but as far as I understand it, "in the cloud" just means the "server" is located off premises.  Since communication pathways are also not under your control we already address that in the contracts.  All you are doing by going to "the cloud" is adding one more step that is out of your control.  
    Contractually you have agreed to monitor the accounts, store data, make data available to dealers and subscribers, respond to and communicate signals.  That doesn't change no matter how you decide to perform your service.  At some point the signal is going to reach your central station operators.
    I suppose you could include a statement in the contract that signals you monitor will pass through servers not under you roof or control, but it doesn't seem necessary to me.
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more comments on Is it time to dump POTS
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Ken
    I use cellular communication 95 percent of the time residential and commercial. POTS is not around and i feel is less reliable then cellular comminication. Just my feeling. Service is so easy via cellular to make changes to your customers accounts. I just love it. Bye Bye POTS!!! Its been gone.
Peter A. Italiano
Empire Security Group
Port Chester, NY
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Ken,
    ''POTS ain’t POTS no more!’’
    We see many analog telephone dial tones generated by a VOiP modem.  Consequently they are not designed for data.  We find our signals, which are short bursts, go through, but remote programming frequently drops out.  When we discover it we have them sign your Disclaimer Notice.  If they won’t sign we document that we gave it to them.
Barney O'Donnell
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Ken
    We’ve made the decision, after hedging around it for too long.  We’re done with POTS.  You can’t use it by itself on fire alarms anymore, you can’t have all the cool interactive stuff over it and all the problems with VOIP we all have, we’re done.  Cost goes up, we make margin on that, provide better services.  Anybody wants to keep charging $15 a month for phone line monitoring can have it.
TomB
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Ken ,
    Yes It is time to Dump POTS Lines , The day will be upon us when telephone carriers will have permission from the FCC ( or perhaps without permission)to migrate all plain old telephone service lines(POTS) from dedicated primary interface (PRI) to network based session initiation protocol (sip) trunk lines (or whatever ip> voip thing you call it) . Once this is done ,Voice will transmit and data packets will be lost  during an alarm transmission . This will lead to many systems to go late to test all at once. It is extremely important  that we as an industry offer alternate paths of communications to all POTS customers .
Joe Sacchetti  
CIA security
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Ken,
    This is what we have been experiencing with panels using a pots line.  Due to the telecom companies changing their infrastructure we are experiencing signals that don’t go through, restores but no alarm.   Pots lines, in my opinion, are no longer the most reliable form of communication for alarm systems
    We at Beacon watch our reports every morning and when we see this happen we are on the phone explaining this to our  customer, that with their pots line there is no guarantee the signal will go through so we recommend upgrading panel and have cell and or IP communication.
    It is then up to the customer to make that decision, but they have been informed and we do document that to cover our liability .
Elizabeth Courtney
Beacon Security Inc
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WEBINARS:  Sign up for any or all of the webinars that interest you.
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FREE Webinar Series "All You Need To Know About" alarm industry issues. 
Register for one or all.  Each presentation scheduled for half hour to hour.  Not recorded.
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TitleAll You Need To Know About Getting Top Dollar for your  Alarm Business -sale or financing
When: April 11, 2017 noon EST
Where: Your computer for power point, live video and call in on computer or phone
What will be covered: General discussion about how to maximize the value of your alarm business and position yourself for sale or financing
Who should attend: Alarm company owners.
Presented by: Rory Russell, Acquisition Funding Services, www.afssmartfunding.com 888 551 0476
Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3874048237745402369

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TitleAll You Need To Know About Alarm dealer program contracts - getting in and getting out
When: April 18, 2017 noon EST
Where: Your computer for power point, live video and call in on computer or phone
What will be covered: General discussion about honeypots/trappings of dealer program contracts and how difficult they are to get out of. 
Who should attend: Alarm company owners.
Presented by: James Babbitt, Esq. General Counsel, RMR Capital Group jbabbitt@rmr-capital.com; 952 467 8610
Register herehttps://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7359323076355955715
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TitleAll You Need to know about Internet security and why is it relevant for the alarm industry 
When: April 25,  2017 noon EST
Where: Your computer for power point, live video and call in on computer or phone
What will be covered: Discussion of securing Internet devices.  Attacks by Mirai and other botnets and disruption to Internet services around the world made possible because of the millions of poorly secured cameras, DVRs and other installed network devices. 
Who should attend: Alarm company owners, general and technical managers
Presented by: Securifi, a leading router and smart home hub company, soon to be offering its own comprehensive Total Security Solution (Monitored Security + IoT Security + Parental Controls + Malware Blocking) to the alarm industry.  Rohit Somani     rohit.somani@securifi.com    855 969 7328  
Register here:  https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6899604070803705091
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Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq
Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC
Attorneys at Law
200 Garden City Plaza
Garden City, NY 11530
516 747 6700 x 301
ken@kirschenbaumesq.com
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