KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ
ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE
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more on M2M communication failure discussion
May 22, 2026
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more on M2M communication failure discussion from articles on April 15 and 16, and May 4 and 5, 2026
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Ken,
A comment for the ongoing M2M conversation,
The M2M outage highlighted some truths about how little a NRTL mark means these days. Long gone are the days where we could watch CrowdStrike take down half the world and laugh. We’re well past shrugging off random AWS outages, Cloudflare misconfigurations, Azure redundancy failures. There’s an inescapable attraction to cloud infrastructure, it eliminates the hardware procurement process, the staffing requirement to maintain, the power management, the HVAC, updates, etcetera, etcetera. Conversely it detaches us from the actual infrastructure, increases reliance on yet another “someone else” for things to work, and most importantly, it has exponential effects on the time to repair from a failure.
But the issues aren’t new. The failures aren’t novel. For all the technology improvements, and all the advancements, there’s a distinct lack in ownership when it comes to technology. The electronic security and fire detection industries seem to be stuck in a mire of technology that’s at least 5 years behind the curve. Normally, this would be a good thing, we could watch for where the pitfalls are with advancement and try to cherry pick the best innovations. Somehow, our methodical approach to detection and safety turned into stubbornness and repugnance.
As with any business the purpose is to generate revenue. Many alarm installation and service companies neglected a looming 3G cellular network sunset by major providers as upgrades would prove to be too costly. So, when the deadline approached many ran in to supply chain issues caused by this little thing that no one was prepared for, COVID. With monitored accounts going offline in droves M2M was in the right place at the right time, with an inexpensive solution to boot. Urgency trumped due diligence.
It would be convenient to replay the pandemic buzzwords ‘unprecedented times’, but the industry was still fighting battles in the war against telecom companies it had long since lost. It’s a familiar perspective. Somewhere along the lines the industry stopped watching what the rest of the world is doing.
NRTL marks don’t mean anything unless you can verify. I encourage each and every one reading this to look into a UL Prospector (Product iQ) account, to try and verify UL listings before installation. There’s certainly something to be said for looking up the communicator that gets installed inside, or next to the alarm panel before putting your name and reputation on it.
Additionally, there are some common concepts in the technology space that everyone should be looking for in their agreements with upstream providers.
- SLA (Service Level Agreement)
- MTTR (Mean Time To Repair)
- MTTA (Mean Time To Acknowledge)
These should be defined in your BSA/MSA with upstream companies and should be within your own contract language if you are on the hook for service or warranty.
Because of the liability we handle our industry is murky with legal language and contracts, don’t just blindly trust someone just because they say they do something.
A wise man once told me, ‘Trust, but verify.’
Brit Hefty, General Manager
Dispatch Center ltd.
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Response
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Thank you for the technical information and advice. I don't really understand the legal advice you offer for the contracts, so perhaps you should elaborate on the issues.
Experts should not hesitate to comment on the technical information and advice.
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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
www.KirschenbaumEsq.com
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