Enabling Your Own Surveillance as a Service Offering

New tools to help dealers monitor, manage the equipment they install

• By Ralph C. Jensen
• Dec 01, 2018

In the dealer/integrator business, recurring monthly revenue (RMR) is like finding a gold mine with several profitable veins that can be mined. RMR is an attractive means for a secondary revenue stream.

Robert Messer, CEO of ABP Technology, is bringing a new technology along that will allow integrators the opportunity to define their own RMR while offering a platform for Managed Sensor Platforms (MSP) in IP technology.

“The need to easily configure, manage and monitor complex systems is essential to provide support, care and maintenance to ensure long-term system health and functionality,” Messer said. “IPTechView helps oversee and maintain systems based on IP technology.”

IPTechView is Messer’s newest technology and is an easy and simple management tool for central command and control centers for all IP systems that an MSP touches. This ranges from servers to IP endpoints like cameras, video storage, access control, IOT devices and more.

“The solution is built to be an all-in-one platform. No more toggling between different portals and accounts or remembering endless usernames and passwords,” Messer said. “This makes things like submitting a trouble ticket or monitoring the health of a system simple. IPTechView can integrate with all and any other cloud management tools you may use, so you can see the things that are most important to you at a glance on a customizable dashboard. You can even showcase your value to customers with branded reporting.”

Messer got his start in the data networking and security industry about 18 years ago, and picked Dallas for a home base. He’s not a native Texan, but likes the fact that Dallas is in the center of the country. With a warehouse centrally located and easy access to a major airport, Messer feels like he picked the perfect location to also launch IPTechView, his new cloud software platform for integrators.

As a specialty distributor, ABP Technology has a host of products available for the integrator, many of which fit nicely in the datacom and telecom business. As for security, ABP Technology can speak to Mobotix products and Kentix environmental monitoring systems. Messer and his staff have introduced MxMSP for the Mobotix camera, which is a multi-tenant, private and secure remote setup, configuration and management platform for Mobotix partners, meaning integrators and resellers of video surveillance solutions can set up recurring monthly revenue.

The Kentix product line does a variety of functions, including climate monitoring, intruder detection, early fire protection, current and network monitoring and acts as an access control system. The Kentix device came into the security world from data centers, where they were used as a door sensor. They are wireless and act within a MESH environment and encrypted Zigbee.

Messer has grown his national specialty distribution company selling IP-based surveillance and access control to a staff of about 40 people. Today the focus is on going beyond the camera and server by selling decentralized IP solutions, smart CPE, server and cloud monitoring. His IPTechView enables Integrators to ensure that everything they sell on the desk, servers or cloud is all up and running. The IPTechView software monitors the escalation of potential threats before they become disasters—get alerts for faltering speeds, storage and uptime before they fail.

Located in Farmers Branch, Texas, a Dallas suburb, ABP Technology has an ample showroom for customers to spend time looking at and getting instructions on the technology. The company also has a training room that is used a couple times a month for integrators who want to better understand the technology that is available to them. Messer said that his integrator partners are well trained in the company’s new technology and that ABP offers preand post-sales support and regular new partner training sessions.

“When you help others grow their businesses, good things happen for everyone,” Messer said.

This article originally appeared in the November/December 2018 issue of Security Today.