by Brianna Crandall — February 6, 2019 — Alarm.com, a platform for the intelligently connected property, recently introduced Smart Signal, a mobile application emergency signaling feature that enables property owners and managers to communicate critical information directly to their monitoring station. The new app feature won Security Product of the Year at the Consumer Technology Association’s Mark of Excellence Awards.
Using their Alarm.com mobile app, small and medium-sized property owners can now trigger a panic alert notifying security professionals that they need help. They can also verify an alarm event to expedite emergency response, or cancel a false alarm from anywhere.
Monitoring stations are using this real-time information to dispatch police, fire or emergency medical services to properties faster, respond to a wider range of emergencies, and reduce false alarms.
Developed through security industry partnerships, Smart Signal enhances the value of professionally monitored security to further protect business owners and occupants even when the system is disarmed. Alongside other proprietary innovations such as Alarm.com’s Dedicated Cellular Connection, Crash and Smash Protection, and Unexpected Activity Alerts, Smart Signal enables Alarm.com-powered solutions to deliver a high level of protection.
Dan Kerzner, Alarm.com’s chief product officer, stated:
Professional monitoring is fundamental to a security system. Smart Signal is the latest way in which the Alarm.com platform extends that value so subscribers can quickly and easily activate assistance from their monitoring station during a wide range of life safety emergencies.
Smart Signal features: Verify, Cancel, and Panic
Smart Signal enables subscribers to send critical emergency information to their monitoring station using their Alarm.com mobile app.
During an alarm event, the Alarm.com mobile app now displays two persistent buttons that enable property owners to either verify or cancel the alarm.
Holding the Alarm Verify button quickly confirms the emergency, enabling the monitoring station to expedite their response. Holding the Alarm Cancel button signals to the monitoring station that it’s a false alarm. The buttons remain “pinned” to the top of the app as the subscriber scrolls downward, enabling them to review their video feeds or image sensor pictures before responding.
Smart Signal also includes In-App Panel Panic. By selecting and holding the Panel Panic button in the Alarm.com app, subscribers can send a panic signal to their monitoring station from the security panel, which ties the signal to their property location. A Silent Panic option is available for every security panel integrated into the Alarm.com platform. Audible Panic (which also triggers the panel’s siren), as well as Fire, Police and Medical panic options are available depending on the security panel type.
Kirk Brundage, general manager of Link Interactive, remarked:
We are thrilled with Smart Signal because it gives us another feature that differentiates our smart security solutions and adds value to the professional monitoring service. Our customers want to do everything from their mobile app, and this unique feature from Alarm.com puts more control and protection at their fingertips. Because it’s a free upgrade, it gives us a chance to show our existing customers how their service gets smarter and more secure over time.
To enable monitoring stations to distinguish user-generated, in-app signals from machine-generated signals, Alarm.com partnered with industry groups and monitoring station partners to develop new signaling protocols and standards. Thanks to these innovations, monitoring stations can quickly identify user-generated signals to prioritize their response and reduce false alarms, says the company.
Smart Signal subscribers should contact their service provider to request Smart Signal, which is available now. Enabling app-based control for a growing variety of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, Alarm.com’s security, video monitoring, intelligent automation, energy management and wellness solutions are available through a network of thousands of professional service providers in North America and around the globe.
