DSC Thy Name is Innovation

Digital Security Controls (DSC) was originally established in the late 1970s when almost no one knew how alarms might work digitally. Since it was acquired by Tyco in 2001, DSC product development, sales and marketing have been further enhanced and are drawing on a more formidable resource base. Recent developments with the DSC brand suggest that the future for the intrusion security industry stalwart will be more dynamic and brighter than ever before.

Edited by Jeanny Lim

DSC headquarters in Toronto, Canada  (Photo by DSC)

A renaissance is taking place in the engineering labs at Tycos Intrusion Security unit in Toronto, Canada, where the atmosphere is alive with the spirit of innovation.  Anticipation of the next breakthrough is palpable at every turn.  You would never know this was part of a large global corporation.  It feels more like a Silicon Valley start-up built on pure adrenalin and passionate invention.  Unexpectedly, the stars have never been so perfectly aligned as they are now, for another exciting chapter in the history of the DSC brand, a true legend in the security industry.
Enthusiastic design teams are interacting with customer groups and creating unprecedented solutions in all the key security areas: Internet, network, video, wireless, monitoring, and structured cabling.  The brand is launching a definitive video technology that takes this solution from rich mans concept to every mans affordable working answer to false dispatch and business management challenges.  It is building up steam in the integrator market with two new structured cabling systems.  It is about to repeat history by unleashing a line of completely new user interfaces.  Will they shape the industry with the same or with more impact than the DSC keypads of the 1980s and 1990s.  In addition, it has quietly increased global penetration with a continuous stream of Sur-GardTM monitoring technologies and new wireless products that have long befuddled would-be imitators.
In the face of increased competition DSC continues to expand its influence as a technology leader and as a growing business operation in more than 140 countries.  Its success is attributed to its understanding of itself, the world and its customers.

"Few technology should be exciting only insofar as it relates to ordinary humans," says Rob Guttentag, VP & GM, Intrusion Security.  "DSC products work well for regular people all over the world.  That? why they provide a good living for people who have become loyal partners; in partnerships that we care about and continuously enhance.  Our marketing strategy is pure and simple: be innovative; be responsive and build relationships."
Partnerships in the DSC supply and distribution chain are legendary, resulting in seemingly invincible leadership positions in many markets.  "We take care of our partners and we make products that are easy to sell, easy to install and easy to use," says Mark L. NeSmith, Director of Sales International.  "These things may sound obvious, but in todays feverish atmosphere, its amazing how rarely they are encountered."
"At key industry events you see numerous new product introductions; but many of them seem far removed from what is currently needed.  Business is about supply and demand, not fantasy," says Guttentag.  "We are investing carefully in new technologies, consulting customers as we go and remaining clear about which products are emerging and which are experiencing solid growth."

DSCs ever-expanding portfolio of security products  (Photo by DSC)

When the company was going to be acquired during 2001, DSC founder John Peterson shrewdly selected Tyco, because of its belief in developing people, innovation, quality programs like Six Sigma, organic growth and listening to customers.  Voice of the Customer activities pervade the Tyco organization, developing sensitivities within a large company that allow it to focus on customer needs like a much smaller company would.
At ISC West and IFSEC last year, visitors were asked to complete a computerized questionnaire about customer benefits, or watch an animated video that described the numerous new and innovative products emerging from the lab.
"Our partners invest their valuable time to visit us at these events,"says Director of Marketing Garry Higgins.  "We make certain we take the opportunity to hear what they have to say, so that there will be a long-term benefit from their investment."

Benefits underlie DSC success.  They are what drove the establishment of the original company in the late 1970s.  Long before anyone knew how alarms might work digitally, the company was named Digital Security Controls (DSC).  It was 1979.
DSC control panels and compact keypads turned the industry upside down, acquiring a dedicated following in North America at a blinding pace.  Before competitors could react, DSC had cemented its North American leadership position, was spreading like wildfire across the rest of the world, and began work on an ever-expanding portfolio of security products for every possible application.
The DSC emphasis on engineering superiority has attracted some very bright people. The sales team for the DSC and Sur-Gard brands is highly professional and includes an enviable depth of expertise.

Under Tyco, DSC product development, sales and marketing have been further enhanced and are drawing on a more formidable resource base.  Now part of the Tyco Intrusion Security strategic business unit, the DSC team is receiving high-level support as it conducts research among customers, rationalizes product portfolio strategies and improves product launch, training and selling systems.
Customers and partners are gratified that Tyco offers a stabilizing influence in a changing industry, supporting the continuous flow of superior and new DSC technologies.  It also helps provide resources to maintain, in an increasingly competitive field, the strong partnership communications associated with DSC.  Established brands within Tyco are encouraged to continue to grow organically according to the core values that made them successful in the first place.

The Tyco Intrusion Security SBU also manages the Italian brand Bentel, whose products are popular throughout Europe and beyond.  With manufacturing and design labs in Canada, Italy and South Korea, Tyco Intrusion Security is servicing the world from a very balanced resource base.  This advantage has recently been strengthened further through Tyco best practice programs involving Six Sigma, ISO 9000 registration, SKU rationalization, and a reinforcement of Voice of the Customer programs.
By listening to customers, the DSC brand has made significant inroads in Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia-Pacific; regions where the potential for growth is considerable.  Last year, special industry events were held in six Chinese cities, where DSC learned about local needs, unveiled a new Chinese catalogue and announced the addition of Chinese to the DSC web site.  The web site also offers English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.
Aggressive marketing programs are being implemented in India, Singapore, Japan, Brazil, Peru, and many of the other 100+ countries that are part of a renewed global focus.  The Tyco umbrella is proving valuable for better servicing international customers, because the DSC brand can be associated with Bentel, American Dynamics, Software House, Kantech and CEM Systems as it attends industry shows or organizes other marketing initiatives.
In nearly every case the SBU employs Voice of the Customer instruments to clearly define the product and service benefits that are the most meaningful in the local region.  DSC also strengthens relations in each country with its local team, increasing marketing support, developing the right distribution arrangements and delineating the best possible product line with distributors and strategic partners.
"In todays competitive global environment, responsiveness to distinct market needs is in greater demand every day," says NeSmith.  "Strong local partnerships are the only way an international brand can hear, understand and react quickly to product and marketing needs.  Then we can leverage the unique situational characteristics of each local market place, providing each with the tools needed to convert customers.  In some markets our partners have huge advantages and are building very profitable businesses."

DSC puts emphasis on engineering superiority.  (Photo by DSC)

Marketing has also been enhanced with support from Tyco.  At exhibitions in Las Vegas, Mexico City and Birmingham customers were delighted with the increase in multilingual sales literature, a bold DSC brand repositioning, graphics update, and award-winning new products with meaningful customer benefits.  They expressed their approval, allowing DSC product experts to break all previous records in terms of sales orders written and new leads generated.
"At the end of the day, sales results are the most important Voice of the Customer we hear," says Higgins, a 30-year security veteran.  "Were more innovative than ever, but were winning new product awards and winning the battle for market share because we dont follow frivolous trends.  We care about customer benefits.  We still concern ourselves continuously with making products that are easy to sell, easy to use and that provide meaningful end-user customer benefits and benefits for our business partners in each country."

The T-Link family of products from DSC allow alarm communications to travel as digital information over intranet & Internet networks to monitoring stations.  There are now an estimated one billion personal computers in use globally.  Of those used in businesses, 92% are connected to some kind of network.

The T-Link family of products from DSC allow alarm communications to travel as digital information over intranet & Internet networks to monitoring stations.  (Photo by DSC)

According to Product Manager Sascha Kaylau the first T-Link products were installed thoughout a multi-branch banking system in Tennesee, the U.S.A., allowing the company to use its existing computer network to communicate with a proprietary alarm monitoring station.  If there were breaches at any of the banks numerous branches or bank machines (in 10 states), the monitoring station triggered the appropriate response by police, fire or emergency officials.  "This eliminated the cost of hundreds of telephone lines," notes Kylau.
T-Links network capabilities also provide information that helps with management of the business (e.g. comings, goings, adding or deleting users).  This is of interest to governments, retail chains, school boards and all kinds of financial institutions.  DSC case studies are now being collected on a growing list of installations all over the world.
Sensitive data is protected from hijacking by thieves during transmission.  The encryption standard used is AES 128, which is accepted worldwide as the most secure means for protecting data traveling via the Internet.  Some systems have slow or no built-in alert if the communication line fails accidentally or is cut by burglars.  The TL250 can send a signal at 90 second intervals to check connection integrity and go immediately into alert mode if it is compromised.  Also, the Internet is fast.  In emergencies such as fire, burglary & personal injury, every passing second can become important.
DSC is also introducing a lower cost residential T-Link product and a model that allows installers to adapt any control panel on the market (with "contact ID" for Internet alarm communications. These systems work seamlessly with Sur-Gard, the leading global monitoring station solution also made by DSC, and with the latest generations of the legendary DSC PowerSeries and MAXSYS security control panels.  Together these products provide an integrated package and ultimate peace of mind for customers.
"We are way ahead of the rest of the industry on Internet security alarm products," says Kylau, "Because were always thinking about the tomorrow."

Jeanny Lim is Editor-in-Chief of SecurityWorld INTL.  Send your comments to swied@infothe.com

What’s Hottest in the Security Industry?   -It seems like only a question of time before convergence will spread far and wide.   As early as 1997 DSC engineers and product specialists were talking about Internet & network-based digital security alarms that would offer better system supervision, faster response, cost efficiencies and cohesion with IT security efforts. Today the convergence of information and physical security is being driven by several powerful forces. These include interdependency, efficiency & organizational simplification, security awareness, regulations, directives, standards and the evolving global communications infrastructure. By employing digital processes, non-linear routing configurations, fibre-optic cabling and other modern advances, the Internet has had or will have a dominating impact on the communication infrastructure in every modern economic region.  There is therefore no surprise that advantages would be found for alarm communications and that physical security would eventually converge with information security.  Indeed Laurie Aron of Software House (and the Open Security Exchange) goes as far as saying, "There is no such thing as security if theyre separate; one is increasingly dependent on the other." This was echoed by Byrne Ghavalas in Secure Comupting who wrote, "If you can physically touch a system, then there is no security." Editor Shawna McAlearney of SearchSecurity.com recently cited a Forrester Research study in concluding that system value and effectiveness will both improve when organizations link IT credentials to building access.  She reviews a list of cost advantages including password reset reductions, efficient granting & revocations of building & computer access, correlating physical and cyber breach incident data for investigations, fraud detection, risk management planning and perimeter security improvements. Forresters Steve Hunt estimated that private & public sector spending on security in Europe and North America increased to at least US$1.1 billion last year; up from US$506 million the year before.  Undoubtedly the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 is a key contributor.  It mandates a common identification credential for physical and IT access for all employees of federal agencies and government contractors. Several other regulations are also making an impact in the USA.  These include the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.  These require that sensitive data must be protected both physically and electronically and that control mechanisms must be audited. It seems like only a question of time before convergence will spread far and wide.  There are already global security standards (BS7799/ISO17799) recognizing security convergence.  According to internetworldstats.com, 889 million people use the Internet, nearly one-seventh of world population.  Penetration is highest in North America at 67%+.  Total numbers are highest in Asia (302 million) and Europe (260 million).  The fastest usage growth in the past five years has taken place in the Middle East (267%), Latin America (211%) and Africa (198%).

The DSC brand has been

known for 25 years in 140

countries for leading-edge,

user-friendly products sold

by well qualified, highly

responsive people.  Now,

as part of Tyco Fire &

Security, the brand intends

to continue applying this

formula and complete its

plan for comprehensive

international penetration. 

Rob Guttentag, VP & GM of

Tyco Intrusion Security

SBU tells SecurityWorld

INTL about the companys

success, technologies and

future.

DSC has been a leading brand in the security industry for more than 25 years.  Now in an intensely competitive market it appears you are still at the top of your game.  To what do you attribute your continuing success? 

DSC has a fantastic product development team with a long history of finding a truly better way.  In consultation with our customers we are planning to renew our entire product offering over the next few years.  One thing that will never change in security is that if the end-user thinks our products are easy to understand and easy to use, they will be popular.  And if they are easy to sell and upgrade, installers will choose DSC.

In what areas are you focusing your product development efforts? 

Were won product awards at last years industry events like ISC West and CANASA for the TL250, part of our T-Link family of internet alarm communicators.  Along with our pre-eminent position with Sur-Gard monitoring, these awards establish DSC as the leader in alarm communication technology. 

 Is Internet alarm communication the way of the future? 

It is certainly one of the viable options.  Our customers think it is very likely that a significant percentage of alarm communications will eventually be sent via broadband.  More importantly, our partners are buying into it very quickly at the moment because it saves them money over traditional land line communications and is more reliably supervised.  
In addition, this product has strengths beyond the Web aspect.  End-users with existing internal networks can employ it to manage security on an enterprise basis.  This is a big plus that the middle commercial market is taking seriously.  Banks, retailers, multi-unit residential complexes, governments and educational institutions are just a few of the categories where were seeing adoption.

What about video? 

DSC is having success with our VVM110 product which provides a video verification solution at a price point which is attractive in many segments.  Again, in this case, the product is multi-dimensional in its benefit offering.  Because you have a picture you have verification against the problem of false dispatches.  In addition, we have developed a system to make it much easier to manage the relevant event footage and separate it from the bulk created by continuously operating cameras.
This has opened up application benefits including monitoring comings, goings and operations at business locations and look-in capabilities for residential installations.  Sur-Gard monitoring stations and also users with PCs or PDAs can then review selected events involving employees, break-ins, children, nannies, elderly family members and so on.
As we develop this product line and combine it with PERs and other technologies, we contribute to an all encompassing security environment.  Providing a complete integrated security offering is a key goal for Tyco Fire & Security.

Will your traditional keypads and control panel technologies have a role to play in the future? 

As the original innovator in security control and immensely popular user interfaces, DSC is dedicating considerable resources to developing a product line that will ensure our leadership in this area remains intact.  We are leveraging our resources in Canada, Italy and South Korea and within Tyco Fire & Security.  We expect to be at the forefront as the landscape changes over the next few years.

For more information, please send your e-mails to swm@infothe.com.

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