The reorganization provides for the elimination of approximately $235 million of legacy debt obligations. This will allow the company to focus on core competencies without the burden of servicing significant debt levels.

My Alarm Center will continue to operate in the ordinary course of business during the restructuring process. The company has received commitments from its senior lenders for $15 million of fresh capital to continue providing service to its customers during the period of the financial restructuring, while also meeting its financial obligations to vendors and employees.

“The only change post-exit will be a smaller corporate headquarters building in Pennsylvania — and we’ve wanted to make this move for at least nine months now,” said Anastasia Bottos, president and chief operating officer of My Alarm Center. “As terrible as the last 18 months in this pandemic have been, our team has been incredibly successful in a work-from-home/flex structure environment. We have seen the value in engagement, job satisfaction and skyrocketing customer experience scores.”

This transaction will provide a capital structure to ensure the company’s long‐term viability and set the foundation for My Alarm Center’s next phase of growth.

“We are highly confident that the work we have done and the path we have chosen will result in a much stronger capital structure and bright future for our company, our partners and our employees, allowing us to continue to provide superior support and service to our customers,” said Amy Kothari, CEO of My Alarm Center.

The company is seeking customary approvals from the court overseeing its Chapter 11 case, and their vendor and partner relationships will remain unimpaired during the restructuring.— By Amanda Reed, SDM Staff Editor //

37%

The Security Industry Association (SIA) is now accepting applications for the 2021 SIA Women in Security Forum Scholarship, an initiative developed by the SIA Women in Security Forum. The 2021 program will offer multiple scholarships worth at least $3,000 each that SIA members and students can use toward professional development and education.

SIA’s Women in Security Forum is a community open to all SIA members, and works to promote, recruit and cultivate the leadership of women for a more inclusive and diversified industry. SIA created the Women in Security Forum Scholarship program in 2020 to further educational opportunities for the widest spectrum of people and empower all to join the SIA Women in Security Forum and thrive in the security industry.

Scholarship funds may be used toward:

• Registration for SIA education or certification programs and/or conferences.

• Registration for other industry education and certification programs.

• Repayment of student loan debt.

• Tuition for courses that will lead to completion of accredited trade, vocational or academic degree programs related to the security industry.

• Registration for industry webinar programs.

“The SIA Women in Security Forum is proud to engage security professionals across the industry in support of a diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce,” said Kasia Hanson, chair of the SIA Women in Security Forum. “Through the 2021 Women in Security Forum Scholarship program, we look forward to helping a new class of awardees achieve their educational and professional development goals and advance their careers in the security industry.”

In 2020, SIA awarded approximately $80,000 in scholarships through the Women in Security Forum Scholarship program to SIA members and student members across the industry.

“It is critical for security industry professionals and students to have access to the essential training, education and support needed to help them on their career paths,” said SIA CEO Don Erickson. “The Women in Security Forum Scholarship is a key element of SIA’s workforce development efforts that will help pave the way to success for our industry’s talent and future leaders.”

In addition to this scholarship, the SIA Women in Security Forum offers a number of programs and activities, including the SIA Progress Award, which celebrates individuals who advance opportunities for women in the security industry; the SIA Women in Security Forum keynote event at ISC West; volunteer efforts that give back to the community; a virtual education series; collaborative projects with other organizations that seek to empower women in the security and technology fields; sponsorship of the Women in Biometrics Awards, which recognize distinguished female leaders in the biometric identity and security industry; thought leadership and speaking opportunities; and engaging networking and professional growth events. Participation in the SIA Women in Security Forum is open to all employees of SIA member companies.

Each applicant for the SIA Women in Security Forum Scholarship must be either 1) a SIA student member or 2) a member of the SIA Women in Security Forum and an employee of a SIA member company. Applications for the 2021 SIA Women in Security Forum Scholarship must be submitted by Tuesday, June 15, and winners will be announced in late July. //

“In partnership, HID and Paravision have already cooperated on projects and we look forward to further advancing our collaboration across a number of different markets and use cases,” said Björn Lidefelt, executive vice president and head of HID Global.

The strategic investment will assist in the development of HID’s biometric solutions that leverage Paravision’s facial recognition algorithms.

“We are excited to receive this financial investment from HID Global and to embark on mutual growth opportunities,” said Doug Aley, CEO of Paravision. “We look forward to working together in pursuit of new business, channel, sales and market opportunities.”

HID’s investment is part of a $23 million funding round for Paravision. //

Oliveri joins CTSI from Johnson Controls, where he served as vice president and general manager of global ducted systems. Prior to that role, he ran other divisions including the company’s global fire detection and security BU’s.

“I’m excited to join this organization and continue accelerating CTSI’s growth across the United States,” Oliveri said. “With my history of strategic acquisitions and aggressive growth, my priority at CTSI is to engineer further expansion of our security and life safety solution portfolios, while expanding our reach in audiovisual, collaboration, healthcare and education technology solutions and services.”

Ruta added, “Joe is the perfect choice to continue the work we’ve done in aggressively growing CTSI’s footprint in a number of industries across the U.S. He brings incredible experience to the table, specifically in overseeing integration and expansion of the meaningful acquisitions CTSI is poised to continue as we expand our industry leading integration and subscription services business.”

Wind Point Partners acquired CTSI in June 2020 in partnership with Ruta and CTSI management. Since the acquisition, investments in CTSI’s growth have continued in order to expand the company's breadth of service offerings and geographic reach through organic growth initiatives and acquisitions.

“Our partnership with the CTSI team has been very productive and we are thrilled to add to the talented leadership team with Joe joining as CEO,” said Nathan Brown, managing director at Wind Point Partners. “Joe has a terrific track record and is a great fit to help CTSI expand its offerings and geographic reach. Gino’s involvement as board chair will play an important role in our shared vision for growth and continuing to provide customers with the highest quality technology and service levels.” //

Wirepath Home Systems, doing business as SnapAV, announced that its parent company has submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the proposed initial public offering of the company’s common stock.

The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined.

The initial public offering is expected to commence after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions. //

In addition to the Main Stage presentations and virtual networking opportunities, the three-day virtual event includes 24-plus educational sessions across four tracks, designed specifically for security professionals. In keeping with the event’s theme, “Security Inspired,” sessions will touch on new technologies and services that help grow business and remain competitive.

Attendees who are looking to address a specific business challenge or opportunity can look to the Solution Sets — a collection of focused sessions, including:

• Sales Growth

• Video Monitoring

• The Future Is Now

• Customer Experience

• Employee Focus

• Financial Performance

• Process Optimization

The ESX 2021 Virtual Experience program includes more than 46 speakers representing the entire electronic security and life safety ecosystem from companies such as Alarm.com, ADT, Bosch Security and Safety Systems, CPI, LOUD Security, Rapid Response Monitoring Services, Ring, Stanley Security and more.

“We're excited to bring our community together next month for best practice and idea sharing, anchored by a stellar speaker and session lineup,” said George De Marco, chairman, ESX. “Now more than ever, it is imperative for security professionals to take advantage of opportunities that drive growth and profitability, improve the customer experience, and prepare them for the future. ESX is focused on providing the best possible program for our community and we’re confident that they’ll walk away energized and inspired, ready to take on today’s changing competitive landscape.”

For more information about the session lineup for the ESX 2021 Virtual Experience, download the Conference Preview.

“We are thrilled to host our 2021 Annual Meeting in person,” said TMA President Don Young. “This meeting has long been a hallmark of the security industry. Top executives and key decision makers from across the security industry are drawn to the event each year for high-level discussions around emerging business and technology trends. Owners, leaders and service/product providers find the forum to be uniquely balanced and highly conducive to invaluable relationship building. We look very forward to welcoming old friends and new to Hawaii in October.”

The five-day meeting will feature a combination of education sessions, informal networking opportunities and social events. As in previous years, spouses or significant others are invited to attend and take part in a special program to coincide with the main educational portion of the meeting.

Full meeting details, including registration and accommodation information, may be found on the TMA website.

“We have been monitoring this situation very closely for over a year now,” said Tim Palmquist, vice president for the Americas at Milestone Systems. “Unfortunately, the continued heightened risk of COVID-19 means that we will return to in-person events only when it is safe to do so. We are prioritizing people over the benefits of our participation in ISC West 2021. We believe that not having a formal presence at the show is the best decision for the benefit of all our stakeholders, at this time.”

Milestone’s U.S. office remains closed with employees conducting all business remotely, following COVID-19 guidelines set forth by the governor of Oregon. Milestone Systems remains supportive of the ISC West event and intends to attend in 2022. Milestone is currently considering alternative ways to share the essential information it prepared for ISC West 2021.

In response, Will Wise, group vice president of Reed Exhibitions, which presents ISC West, said they will miss Milestone at this year’s event, and looks forward to them being back at events again in 2022.

“We are inspired by excellent momentum for the in-person Las Vegas event,” Wise continued. “In April, we had 30 new SMB companies sign on to exhibit, and many large customers are in full speed ahead for planning and engagement mode.”

FirstNet communications frequency operates at 700MHz, a frequency only allocated to life, safety and security personnel communicating during a public safety emergency.

Becoming certified means Securityhunter can now offer its federal clients a method to communicate in the event of a disaster. FirstNet was developed specifically to help first responders avoid issues caused by overloaded cellular networks by providing communication ability exclusively for emergency services.

“We believe this shows how Securityhunter is committed to protecting the nation by planning for any catastrophic emergency that may arise,” said Securityhunter Quality Control Manager Marcus Wright.

Ross Nelson, executive director at Securityhunter, added, “We’re always looking for capabilities that will help us enhance public safety and security. I think FirstNet is an important tool for our first responders and I’m proud that Securityhunter is able to participate in the program.”

At the present time, there are less than 35 companies approved to install FirstNet systems. //