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Category "Home & Business Security"

7Oct

Parents: This School Year, Worry Less

by catawbav
Cameras Home & Business Security Smart Home

A new school year is the start of a new journey for kids and parents alike. You’ll help your children engage with new responsibilities, reach new milestones and overcome new worries. You’ll also encounter some worries of your own.

That’s especially true when children reach home-alone age and begin arriving home while you’re still at work. While your kids will quickly adapt, your concerns for their safety and wellbeing won’t be going anywhere.

However, new technology can help. With smartphone alerts, connected video cameras and remote-controlled door security, a custom security solution can quickly become an essential tool for managing your weekday worries.

Worry 1: Are my kids safely home? 

Your biggest after-school concern is to know that your kids are home. It’s a worry that comes in many flavors: How long do you wait to text or call if they forget to check-in? What if they lose their keys? If they’re home, are they alone – or did their friends invite themselves over?

We’ve got this one covered. Take a look.

Worry 2: Are my kids behaving responsibly at home?   

Letting your kids manage their own after-school time helps to build their sense of responsibility. However, you need a way to know that they’re doing the right thing. Alarm.com’s indoor video technology can help.

For example, our own research indicates that parents expect kids to take responsibility for their own homework at around the age of 12.) Our indoor cameras give you a discreet way to quickly confirm that things are getting done. You can even help them out with a tricky math equation via a two-way voice conversation.

Worry 3: Is the house secure during the daytime? 

Weekday mornings are busy and kids are forgetful. If they’re the last to leave the house, you may be concerned about potential security lapses. After all, there’s nothing like coming home to discover that your garage has remained invitingly open all day.

Alarm.com alerts let you take a “trust but verify” approach, with the ability to lock up remotely if your kids forget.

PS: If it’s you who’s the forgetful one, check out our Geo-Services reminders and what they can do for you.

Want to worry less this year with Catawba Security Powered by Alarm.com?Protecting your family and home with Alarm.com technology is easy and it all starts with reaching out to Catawba Security.  Click here to set up a time to meet with one of our expert security consultants to craft a solution that will meet all of your needs!

16Jul

Five Outdoor Home Security Essentials for Summer

by catawbav
Cameras Home & Business Security Smart Home

With summer cookouts and parties to prepare for, and long, light evenings to enjoy, it’s the time of year to pay attention to your home’s outdoor space.

After all, you won’t be the only one doing do. Summer is prime time for burglars. It’s the season of unlocked windows, open doors and garages, and long vacation absences.

Outdoor security is your home’s first line of defense—so how does yours shape up? Does it deter intruders at first glance, or invite them to take a second look?

These outdoor security essentials—all available as part of an Alarm.com-powered security system—will safeguard your home and your peace of mind all summer long, letting you make the most of the warm weather, worry-free.

1: Smart Security Camera

Essential for: Knowing what’s happening outside.


Most smart security cameras will let you know if there’s activity outside. This one can tell you whether it’s an animal, person or vehicle, and whether or not they’re on your property. Customize your video alerts to see everything you want to know about—without the everyday activity that doesn’t matter.

As well as sending you live and recorded footage of your outdoor space, these cameras also send a clear message to visitors: I have a smart home security system. That’s enough to keep most burglars away.

2: Smart Lighting 

Essential for: Keeping visitors visible.


Shadowy characters rarely like to be in the spotlight—and this goes double for burglars. Automated outdoor lighting, triggered by your Alarm.com image sensors or smart security cameras, ensures that intruders have nowhere to hide after dark.

Going on vacation? It’s easy to set up a smart lighting schedule so that Alarm.com turns your lights on every evening, giving passers-by the impression that you’re home.

3: Contact Sensors

Essential for: Security and child safety


With Alarm.com, a little information goes a long way. Installed on a door or window, this wireless contact sensor can alert your monitoring service to a break-in, remind you to lock up for the night, or let you know that your kids are exploring the great outdoors on their own.

When school’s out, contact sensors become an essential outdoor safeguard for parents, giving you a new way to keep tabs on your pool gate, yard gate, tool shed, garage freezer or other dangerous areas that you want to keep off-limits from curious kids.

4: Doorbell Camera

Essential for: Protecting your porch


With plenty of package thieves and dishonest visitors out there, an Alarm.com Doorbell Camera is the best form of deterrence for your front porch. With motion-triggered video alerts, a live video feed and two-way voice, you can see and speak to visitors from anywhere, whether they ring the bell or not.

Expecting a delivery or a late arrival to your outdoor party? Just open your Alarm.com app when the doorbell rings, verify your visitor, and unlock your door with your Alarm.com-powered smart lock.

5: Smart Garage Door Opener

Essential for: Protecting outdoor equipment and tools


Summer brings long evening bike rides, road trips, and plenty of outdoor DIY—all of which means plenty of opportunity to leave your garage door wide open. Incorporate this Alarm.com-powered garage door controller into your security system and you’ll never be caught out.

Should you leave home with the garage still open, Alarm.com knows (thanks to Geo-Services technology) and sends you a reminder. No need to pedal back home or turn the car around: just tap your phone to close the door, secure your bikes and tools and protect this commonly-overlooked entrance to your home.

Want these security essentials in one easy package?

Shaping up your outdoor security is easy with Catawba Security powered by Alarm.com. Our highly trained technicians can quickly outfit your home with all of the above and more, with state-of-the-art home security features, professional monitoring for emergencies and a single smartphone app to control it all.To get a personalized solution stop by our showroom next to Bassett’s Market or click here to get in touch with us!

5Jun

What Can AI Do For Your Business?

by catawbav
Cameras Home & Business Security

With the increasing popularity of AI in the business world, you may be thinking how can I use AI in my business?  Well, for one thing, it can help keep your business safer with HikVision’s new line of network cameras and NVRs.

About AI

Artificial Intelligence allows machines to do jobs previously done by people. When it comes to security and surveillance, this technology allows cameras and control room equipment to identify a wide range of threats automatically and in real time across hundreds or even thousands of cameras – allowing security teams to take immediate action to protect people and assets.

Video surveillance cameras are the electronic eyes of any security operation. In the past, human supervision was needed to make sense of the images captured, and to assess whether certain events posed a security risk or not. With some organizations using hundreds or even thousands of cameras to protect their people and assets, manual review of footage is simply impossible – potentially leaving them vulnerable to security breaches.

To help organizations overcome this challenge, and to optimize their security, Hikvision has built advanced Artificial Intelligence technology into our surveillance solutions. This means that our cameras, control-room equipment, and back-end infrastructure can now ‘learn’ about potential threats for themselves by recognizing people, vehicles and even behaviors.

Improving all aspects of security with ‘proactive’ detection and prevention

The manual interventions needed with traditional security systems mean that teams were frequently reacting to breaches that had already happened. Artificial Intelligence changes all this by recognizing potential threats before they impact the company’s people or assets – allowing security teams to react immediately to neutralize any potential threat.

For example, Hikvision Artificial Intelligence solutions can automatically trigger alerts when a person appears in a restricted area, or when a vehicle with a blacklisted number plate enters a site. With alerts delivered in real time, teams can identify and react to security threats and protect people and assets more effectively. And because alerts are automated, potential threats are hardly missed or overlooked.

How does Artificial Intelligence work?

Artificial Intelligence systems become more intelligent over time, building databases of potential threats and reacting to new events accordingly. This allows systems to ‘think for themselves’ and to alert teams of any suspicious events or people who are caught on camera.

Hikvision’s Artificial Intelligence technologies use advanced algorithms based on Deep Learning to distinguish between different kinds of security events and threats. Technologies incorporated into the Hikvision portfolio include:

•    Facial recognition – which allows law enforcement personnel to identify suspects and commercial teams to identify VIP customers in real time.
•    Vehicle identification  – which can be used to identify vehicle number plates, and recognize different types of vehicles (even down to make and model), or to trigger alerts when vehicles enter restricted areas.
•    Perimeter protection – which helps organizations to identify real threats by distinguishing people and vehicles from other moving objects and keeping false alarms to a minimum.

That’s great but what next?

After reading this article you may be saying to yourself, “that’s great but how can it help my business specifically?”  That’s where we come in, at Catawba Security we use our years of experience and training to help you get the most out of your system.  From optimal camera selection and placement to programming the AI capabilities to fit your needs, our local technicians are here to make the installation of your system as easy as possible.  Give us a call today for a no cost no obligation consultation to see how you can harness the power of HikVision and the local expertise of Catawba Security to better protect your business!

CONTACT US NOW

9Apr

Get Smarter Access Control with Alarm.com for Business

by catawbav
Home & Business Security

Are you still using keys to secure and access your business?

We have good news.

Traditional keys are a nuisance. You don’t need us to point this out, of course. You know how easy keys are to lose, or misuse. You know the inconvenience of tracking a key down when an employee leaves, and the expense of re-keying a lock when you can’t. You know about dashing to work to let people in when your manager gets sick and has to stay home.

But do you know about the new, easier, smarter alternative?

Smarter Access Control is a commercial access solution, engineered by Alarm.com to bring the benefits of modern access technology like smart locks and card readers to small and medium businesses. Powered by smart business security technology, it’s easy to use, enabling you to set up and manage secure, keyless access for you and your employees, across multiple locations, with no IT expertise or extra resources needed.

Here’s what you can do.

1: Lock and unlock your business from anywhere

Not needing keys is smart. Not needing to even be there to let someone in? That’s smarter. With Smarter Access Control, you can use your Alarm.com for Business smartphone app to unlock doors for employees and vendors from anywhere. Just check who’s at your door via your smart business security cameras, and buzz them in. Take a look.

2: Give and revoke keyless access for employees

Alarm.com lets you manage and schedule access for multiple employees, across multiple access points and business locations. Your Alarm.com web dashboard makes it easy to set up a keycard or lock code for a new employee, and even easier to revoke access for a departing one.

To stay in control, you can assign different employees different levels of access, customized with specific times and days for each employee. For efficiency, you can also create access profiles for different employee roles, then quickly assign new employees to a particular profile.

3: Stay in the know with access alerts and tracking

Because Smarter Access Control is fully integrated with your smart security system, you can get Alarm.com alerts about any kind of access activity. You can know if your store opens or closes late. You can even get video alerts of important events like your stockroom door opening.

Should you ever need to find out who unlocked a certain door, or check how many hours an employee worked, Alarm.com’s integrated activity timeline and user code tracking makes it easy.

4: Safeguard your security with automated locking 

If you’re not onsite at closing time, you can still ensure that your business is secure by setting up an auto-arming rule for your access system. You can have your doors lock automatically when employees arm the security system, or even at a certain time every day.

For convenience when opening, you can apply the same rules in reverse, with a single Alarm.com app command disarming your alarm and unlocking your doors simultaneously.

5: Get best-in-class access technology without the headaches

We didn’t just make our access control solution easy to use. We made it easy to own. Besides your smart locks and card readers, you don’t need any additional hardware. You don’t need software either; it’s all powered and connected by Alarm.com’s cloud platform.

Best of all, it’s professionally installed, networked and supported by your Alarm.com service provider, giving you all the benefits of having a single vendor for your security, video monitoring and access control. You get one point of contact, one monthly payment, and one smart app that controls everything.

Want Smarter Access Control for your business?

To find out more about our service providers and how to get started with Alarm.com for Business, click here.

20Mar

Smart Signal from Alarm.com is 2019’s Security Product of the Year

by catawbav
Home & Business Security Smart Home

When an emergency strikes at home and every second counts, fast, reliable communication is essential. It’s why every Alarm.com-powered security system includes professional security monitoring and a dedicated cellular connection.

Now, we have released Smart Signal, a new type of emergency protection from Alarm.com. Smart Signal gives you a direct connection to your home’s monitoring station from anywhere, using only your Alarm.com app.  When Alarm.com launched the feature at CES2019, the Consumer Technology Association named Smart Signal their 2019 Security Product of the Year.

Smart Signal enhances your home’s professional monitoring with a set of clear, simple emergency buttons in your Alarm.com app. These buttons let you quickly verify an alarm at your property to expedite emergency response, cancel a false alarm easily, or send a panic signal from your home or business if you discover an emergency yourself.

Because it’s in your smartphone app, you don’t have to be at your property to use Smart Signal. You can respond to an alarm from anywhere, using your app to check video feeds and images before verifying or canceling. Streamlined, efficient and effective, Smart Signal reinforces your control, your safety and your peace of mind.

A direct connection to emergency assistance

Smart Signal extends professionally monitored security into your mobile app to give you streamlined control and enhanced protection. You can rest assured knowing that a verified alarm can help expedite your monitoring station’s response to emergencies and that you can trigger a panic signal for help at home in a broad range of emergencies.

Protection from false alarm dispatches

False alarms are a common concern. Many local ordinances even impose fines for false alarm dispatches.  Smart Signal lets you easily and securely cancel a false alarm with a single command, with no need to talk or remember a passcode. Just hold the Cancel button in your app to let your monitoring station know that no further action is needed.

Clear controls for stressful situations

Alarm events and emergencies are stressful. We designed Smart Signal to be accessible and easy when you need it, while also safeguarding against accidental responses. For this reason, Smart Signal’s Cancel and Verify buttons only appear in alarm events. To confirm or verify the alarm, all you’ll need to do is hold the relevant button for three seconds.

To learn more about Smart Signal and how it fits into your home or business security plan click the button below.

Learn More
24Mar

Smart Home Security Versus… Crash and Smash Attacks

by catawbav
Home & Business Security

A security system is there to protect you when a burglar targets your property. But what happens when they target the security system itself?

A crash and smash attack is a burglary tactic that focuses on your home’s security panel or keypad, using speed and brute force to prevent it from sounding the alarm.

How does a crash and smash attack work?  

The attack begins with the burglar kicking or barging through the front door—the “crash”. Then, they quickly locate and destroy the security panel or keypad—the “smash”—before the alarm sounds.

The objective is to take advantage of the security system’s time delay. Most systems give the homeowner between 30 and 60 seconds to disarm the system after before sounding the alarm and generating an emergency signal or alert. A crash and smash attack relies on obliterating the panel, and its ability to signal, before this happens.

It’s a smart idea – but alarm.com is smarter. Unlike other home security technology, a security system powered by Alarm.com has proactive safeguards to defeat the attack, beginning before the “smash” even happens.


Safeguard1: Crash and Smash Protection 

Alarm.com’s patented Crash and Smash Protection ensure that your security system still signals for help, even if it can’t send the signal itself. That’s thanks to our cloud security technology.

When your security system starts its countdown, Alarm.com’s platform knows to anticipate either a ‘disarm’ or ‘alarm’ event. Should your panel suddenly go offline during the countdown, however, the Alarm.com platform treats it as a third type of event—a suspected crash and smash attack—and quickly signals for help.

Because this action takes place on Alarm.com’s secure cloud platform, it doesn’t matter how effectively the intruder smashes your security panel.

Safeguard 2: Professional Security Monitoring

On receiving a crash and smash alert, our central station assesses the situation, and can quickly alert your local police department to dispatch help to your home.


You’ll get a smartphone alert too, to make you aware of what’s going on. The burglar, however, will be none the wiser until the police arrive.

Want to know more?

Please contact one of our friendly and knowledgable team members by calling 419.797.4091, or 844.CATAWBA, to discuss your needs today!

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