Will Brinks Panel Unlocker Make Waves?

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By L. Samuel Pfeifle, editor
CARLSBAD, Calif.?Advanced
Bridging Technologies has released
a new product it?s promoting as a
?huge paradigm shift for the industry.?
The Instant Unlocker is
a portable device that allows resi-
Will Unlocker make waves?
With new portable device , ?new accounts without installing new equipment?
dential security system installers
to instantly reset an alarm panel?s
installer code without having to
unhook it or reprogram it.
?We?re basically re-programming
the locked codes stored in
the panel and getting to them via
the microprocessor,? explained
Jeremy Deal, Advanced Bridging
Technologies manager. ?We reprogram
the locked codes to 9999
from whatever they were before.?
Deal said the device is intended
to save time and money for dealers
who encounter, say, a new
customer who has moved into a
home with an existing security
system. ?In the event existing
equipment was locked out,? said
Deal, ?now a dealer can get new
accounts without installing new
equipment.?
?It reminds me of, years ago,
when we used to use round-barrel
key locks on the panels,? said Lisa
Prosser, owner of full-service security
firm General Alarm, based
in Indianapolis, when asked about
the potential utility of the Unlocker.
?The Coke machines had
round-barrel locks, too, and the
vending machine industry created
a tool that was universal. It looked
like a screwdriver that would go
into the round-barrel key lock
and open all the machines. Great,
right? Well, the problem was that
it also disarmed systems.?
Prosser said General Alarm
does encounter the problem
?where somebody moves out, and
somebody moves in, and they call
General Alarm because they?ve
used General Alarm in the past.?
She said General Alarm contacts
the previous dealer and about 50
percent of the time, the dealer
provides the installer code. The
other half of the time, General
is, indeed, forced to put in new
panels and touchpads, ?or, if it?s
more universal,? she said, ?we?ll
just change out the motherboard.?
Of course, she said, when a customer
becomes dissatisfied with
an alarm company and comes to
General, the cooperation isn?t very
likely from the previous dealer.
Is there a possibility unscrupulous
alarm dealers could use
the device to ?steal? accounts
and entice customers to break
monitoring contracts? ?I think if
it?s been created,? said Prosser, ?it
will be used, by either legitimate
or non-legitimate users.?
Deal understands the concern,
but said, ?This isn?t designed to
get people out of their monitoring
contract ... A monitoring contract
is between a homeowner and their
monitoring service. The Unlocker
is intended only for unlocking
panels where there is no current
monitoring contract in place. A
homeowner or business under
contract with a monitoring service
is financially obligated to fulfill
that contract, whether or not their
alarm panel is locked out.?
Instant Unlocker enables residential
security system installers to
instantly reset an alarm panel?s
installer code without having to
unhook it or reprogram it.