Vol. 14, No. 4 - March 17, 2008
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Table of Contents
- 2008 Annual Meeting Call for Papers
- Setting Standards at ISC West
- Win a FREE 2008 CSAA Annual Meeting Registration and Cash!
- REMINDER: Excellence Awards' Submission Deadline: Monday, April 7, 2008
- Our Father’s Beginning
2008 Annual Meeting Call for Papers
Share your knowledge and best practices with your peers! CSAA would like to invite our members and others in the industry to speak at the 2008 Annual Meeting. Please submit the proposal form linked below:
- Speaker Proposal Form: www.csaaintl.org/PresSub.html
If you have any questions about speaking at the meeting, please contact John Lombardi, CSAA's Education Committee Co-chair at johnl@ciasecurity.com.
For general meeting questions, please contact John McDonald, Director of Meetings and Conventions, at 703-242-4670, Ext. 17 or at meetings@csaaintl.org.
One of the goals of CSAA is the development of standards that will improve the operations in our industry. As an ANSI-standard setting organization, CSAA is currently working on an Audio Verification Standard and a Video Verification Standard. Two of the subcommittees will meet at the ISC West. Come to Room 506 at 2:30pm on Thursday, April 3 and participate in this important process.
- CSAA Audio Verification Standard Meeting, Room 506, Thursday, April 3 at 2:30 PM
- CSAA Video Verification Standard Meeting, Room 506, Thursday, April 3 at 3:30 PM
Win a free registration to the 2008 CSAA Annual Meeting Oct. 24-29, 2008, Grand Cayman Island. All you have to do is help CSAA expand membership! It’s easy, and it’s fun.
You already know the benefits of belonging -- YOU are the best promoter of CSAA membership. Remember, growing the association makes all of us grow by learning from each other. Your testimony about the value of CSAA increased the association family by 18% in 2007.
A free Annual Meeting registration will be awarded to the member bringing the most new members from now until noon Friday, June 27th. In addition for each new member you bring to CSAA, your name will be entered to win a $250.00 Visa gift card. Double your chances by bringing in two, triple your chances by bringing in three! Just think, a free 2008 Annual Meeting registration, cash, and more members to contribute to the wisdom of CSAA!!
The winners will be announced on June 27, 2008 at ESX. New membership applications MUST be received by noon Friday, June 27th to qualify in this campaign. But hurry, your competition is already making headway and you don’t want to be left out. Contact Becky Lane for more details at 703-242-4670x18, or membership@csaaintl.org. Good Luck!
Excellence Awards' Submission Deadline: Monday, April 7, 2008
There are still 18 business days left to participate in the 2008 CSAA Central Station Excellence Awards! Don't miss out this great opportunity to get recognition for the excellence of your central station operations, your managers, and operators.
Besides "bragging rights," the winners will be featured on the front page of the CSAA Dispatch; on the cover of SDM Magazine, the award sponsor; and on press releases that you can send to your local press and your customers. Winners also receive a version of the logo (on the left) indicating what they were awarded.
The 2008 CSAA Excellence Awards entry form is now available at www.csaaintl.org/CSAACSAwards.htm.
The deadline for submitting your Awards entries is Monday, April 7, 2008. All materials submitted are held in the strictest confidence.
Our Father’s Beginning
By John Fischer, DGA Security Systems, Inc.
In our first installment commemorating the 150th anniversary of the modern burglar alarm, we discussed Augustus R. Pope and his invention of the Electro-Magnetic Burglar Alarm. As is often the case, the inventor is not always a businessman, and Pope proved no exception. This chapter in our history explains how Edwin Holmes took the Pope patent and transformed it into one of the most successful businesses of the late nineteenth century using sophisticated advertising and marketing techniques.
Edwin Holmes revolutionized the burglar alarm industry. His widespread success even led some people to mistakenly identify him, rather than Pope, as the inventor of the modern electric burglar alarm.
Edwin Holmes did not begin his career in the burglar alarm business, Rather, he opened with his younger brother John a “notions” store in Boston. During these formative years of entrepreneurship, Holmes advertised in local newspapers. This experience would prove valuable in the future, when his business acumen and marketing skills propelled his burglar alarm business to great success. He sold to both commercial and residential customers and advertised to them in separate ways.
By 1857, Edwin Holmes began spending many of his days at the Charles Williams telegraph shop, conveniently located around the corner from the Holmes thread store. Williams would become a premier manufacturer of telegraphic equipment in the United States and his shop served as a gathering place for hobbyists, electricians and telegraph enthusiasts of the time. It may have been here that Holmes was first introduced to Augustus Russell Pope. Pope, a Unitarian minister from Sommerville, spent much of his free time tinkering with his patented electro-magnetic burglar alarm, and Holmes envisioned great potential. Pinpointing precisely when Pope sold the patent rights to Holmes proves difficult. What we do know is that sometime between mid 1857 and May of 1858, Pope, ill with typhoid fever, sold the patent rights of his invention to Holmes for $1,500.00 down and $8,000.00 in notes.
Read about Holmes' move to what he called “where all the country’s burglars made their home" and the rest of this article at www.csaaintl.org/EdwinHolmes1.html.
Next month we will discuss in detail Holmes attention to patent protection and follow as Holmes expands his business to other cities, establishes central station monitoring and profoundly impacts the implementation of a switched telephone network throughout the United States.
Please contact Celia Besore at 703-242-4670, Ext. 16 or communications@csaaintl.org for more information on the 150th anniversary commemoration or to obtain the logo. The logo can be provided in a variety of electronic formats.