Someday, all personal identification may be stored on chips implanted in our bodies. Until then, smartphones as mobile credentials are steadily becoming the access-control technology of choice for physical security. It’s easy...

I have written a couple of articles about NFPA 4, Standard for Integrated Fire Protection and Life Safety System Testing, in the past. The last one in December was about getting it referenced in the model codes to make its...

During a recent summer thunderstorm, I was looking out the living room window when a blinding white light flashed accompanied by a deafening, crackling bang. I didn’t need a power quality monitor to know what that was, nor...

“A cell tower down the street? Not in my back yard.” Those of you working in the area of cell towers, wireless carriers, and large antennae in municipalities across the country, how many times have you heard that statement in...

We don’t “build” buildings anymore. We assemble them. Most of what we have always categorized as “material” now more accurately deserves to be called “products.” Consequently, today in new construction or service work, the...

When corporations communicate from their meeting rooms across multiple sites and cities, many use technology from companies that specialize in these kinds of high-tech solutions. Conferencing and collaboration solutions are a...

After disbelief, outrage and grief following the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, the nation began to pick up the pieces. One of the discussions...

Every technology has its own jargon, of course. Some of it we joke about because it’s mostly TLAs—the abbreviation for “three letter abbreviation,” the favorite way tech people have of showing how cool they are. I remember a...

The Wilshire Grand Center in Los Angeles stands at 1,100 feet and has 73 floors above grade with 900 hotel rooms, 16 floors of office space, meeting rooms, ballrooms with supporting kitchens, restaurants and lounges. It also...

The 2019 edition of NFPA 72, National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code, was voted on during the technical session at the NFPA Conference in Las Vegas in June. Only a few Certified Amending Motions were filed, none of which would...

In April 2018, a fire broke out in New York’s Trump Tower. An overloaded electrical circuit caused a fire that killed one person and injured six firefighters. By some estimates, electrical fires have reached a level where...

Video surveillance is the workhorse of physical security. It is often the starting point of any specification and can be integrated with access control, intrusion detection and other connected technologies. It also serves...

Earlier this year, the U.S. government issued a report pointing the finger directly at the Russian government for attacks on the energy infrastructure. It’s the first time the United States has publicly blamed Russia’s...

Last time, I wrote about what you can learn from keeping your eyes open, and I continue on that theme this month. This time, we’re looking up and discussing aerial fiber optic cable. Some years ago, in the Fiber Optics...

Power management company Eaton, Pittsburgh, recently announced a collaborative program with Underwriters Laboratories (UL), Northbrook, Ill., designed to advance cybersecurity hardening in its products. Eaton’s cybersecurity...

I like to walk. Always have. It's low-impact, highly effective exercise that keeps you healthy and, if you keep your eyes open, helps you learn about what's happening in the world around you. Of course, I live in an area that...

For 2018, you will probably see more companies returning to having informative seminars in major cities to educate decision-makers in potential corporate and institutional markets on the benefits of adding products and...

In Morrow, Ga., Wendy’s restaurant chain has opened its first smart branch. It is loaded with slick new smart technology features that enable the restaurant to reduce its footprint while providing top-notch services to...

Construction modeling using 3-d laser scanners is becoming common on large construction sites, such as data centers, and electrical contractors can expect to see more of these devices—and more requests for them—on projects of...

Network and internet protocol (IP) products now support and leverage a host of formerly disparate systems and devices, providing more comprehensive risk assessment, detection and security. Networked security systems bring new...