Huronia Alarm & Fire Security has made a $4,100 donation to the Elmvale Foundation, a non-profit research organization that provides environmental science education.

Elmvale, Ont., located about 25km north of Barrie, is famous for the purity of its groundwater.

Huronia has deep roots in Elmvale and the townships of Springwater and Tiny.

“This is a tight-knit community with families living here that go back generations. The residents are all keenly aware of the excellent work and environmental stewardship that The Elmvale Foundation has done to protect this unique natural water resource and the surrounding lands,” said Kevin Leonard, COO, Huronia, in a statement.

Huronia’s donation comprises security cameras, an alarm system and monitoring services for the farm property on which the Elmvale Groundwater Observatory is located.

The donated equipment and services “have taken a load off my mind. It’s also given my colleagues a safe and secure place to meet, plan our collective studies, and discuss our findings,” said Dr. William Shotyk, president and founder of the Elmvale Foundation.

CPI Security announced a partnership with high-speed fiber internet provider Lumos to offer homeowners in the Southeast with Wi-Fi that will better support their customized smart home security systems.

Lumos is the leading all-fiber optic internet and total home Wi-Fi service provider in the Mid-Atlantic region, according to the announcement. Based in Charlotte, N.C., CPI Security is the largest privately held security and home automation company in the Southeast.

Video surveillance is becoming more integral to home security, with more than 70 percent of homeowners adding video devices to their home security systems, the announcement states. Integrating multiple video streams and Wi-Fi-enabled smart security devices increases the demands put on home Wi-Fi networks. Lumos’ fiber optic Internet connection allows families to use home security systems, while having an abundance of remaining bandwidth to work from home, stream movies, upload large files, play video games and more.

“Our goal is to give our customers the best possible experience, and that’s why we are partnering with the best Fiber Optic Internet provider,” CPI Security CEO and Founder Ken Gill said. “Lumos’ high-speed internet services, combined with our cellular technology, will help our security systems perform more efficiently, and we can introduce Lumos customers to the best in smart home security.”

Lumos is building an all-fiber optic infrastructure that delivers up to 385 times faster upload speeds and 30 times faster download speeds than a cable connection, the announcement states. Additionally, fiber is more resilient against disruptions from heat, bad weather and power outages.

“Homes with Lumos’ fiber service, particularly a gigabit connection, will have more than enough bandwidth to support CPI’s cameras, locks, and monitors, while also allowing residents to seamlessly work from home, stream online classes in high definition, take advantage of advancements in telemedicine and more,” states Lumos CEO Brian Stading.

The New DICE UL data center at its headquarters is now ULC compliant for Canada, meaning any central station that has dealers in Canada and the United States can now be hosted in the DICE center and operate in both countries simultaneously.

Even central stations that are not using Matrix Interactive, or any other DICE product, can take advantage of the ULC compliance, the company announcement says.

DICE’S Bay City data center is already UL Compliant. Previously, UL did not have a hosting standard in the U.S. They based and built the UL 827A standard on DICE’s data center.

As Canadian companies began hosting at the DICE data centers, they began pushing to use the UL standard that was built in the U.S. However, ULC chose to develop their own standard.

“Even though they based the new standard on our data centers, we had to make a lot of changes, which took about two years,” says Cliff Dice, president, CEO, & founder of The New DICE, in the company announcement.

“We spent quite a bit of time and money, but what helped is the fact that our sister company, IPtelX, is a registered Canadian carrier and ISP provider,” he says. “In fact, we are not only an infrastructure and security company, but also the backbone for most of the smart home systems in Canada as well.”

How DICE Data Center Became ULC-Compliant

To develop the Canadian standard, ULC looked at every detail of the DICE data center, including how the building is built, how the fire suppression systems work, redundancy, backups, failovers, power and infrastructure networks, telecom, receiver management, software management, and the disaster plans and procedures that are in place.

“Now those central stations that do not want to make the investment of building their own data center, can now use the DICE data center,” says Dice in the company announcement.

Axis Communications is celebrating its newest Axis Experience Center (AEC), located in Cincinnati. The new facility marks the company’s 16th experience center in the Americas and the second AEC location in its Mid-Atlantic Business Area.

The new location demonstrates Axis’ continued commitment to providing local customers, partners and business leaders with on-the-ground resources and support to test advanced security technologies in a simulated environment, according to an announcement.

The 6,924-square-foot Cincinnati AEC is located on the 11th floor of the Scripps Center in the heart of Cincinnati’s riverfront business district. The facility features panoramic views of downtown and overlooks the Great American Ball Park and Paycor Stadium, home to the Cincinnati Reds and the Cincinnati Bengals.

Notable design elements of the space include a scoreboard video wall, security operations center (SOC), a 2N/Axis intercom wall and dedicated training room. Most importantly, the space will allow customers and partners to demo the latest solutions, including new use cases for analytics, multi-sensors, audio and Axis’ newest video surveillance advancements.

The company’s expanded presence in the region will allow it to provide greater support to an array of local clients across industries, including retail, sports, entertainment and government, the announcement states.

“Ohio is home to six major cities and offers a robust and diverse economy — so it’s no wonder many Axis customers, integrators, and partners, and we’re thrilled to be growing our presence in the Cincinnati area,” said Paul Winsker, business area director, Mid-Atlantic at Axis Communications. “With security technology advancing at a rapid rate, our expanded presence in the Queen City gives us the opportunity to meet more end users and provide them with the opportunity to test the latest Axis innovations. We look forward to working with new and existing partners to solve their business challenges and help them achieve their goals.”

Axis and local dignitaries and partners will celebrate the grand opening with a three-day event and a formal ribbon cutting on Aug. 3. Guests will be able to participate in a partner showcase with Axis ecosystem partners Genetec, Milestone, BriefCam, YourSix and Wasabi. Attendees will also have the opportunity to explore the Mid-Atlantic Axis Experience Vehicle (AEV), a mobile technology center, which will be parked across the street at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.