”Despite near unanimous agreement that 2016 was significantly up, at least one study in the residential security space shows it was actually a small increase and that the improvement really began in 2015, says Tricia Parks, founder and CEO, Parks Associates, Dallas. “2015 was a good year for the residential security industry; so was 2016. Exactly because 2015 was very good, growth in 2016 is a rational 4 percent to 5 percent for the industry itself in terms of volume, or 1 percent to 2 percent of growth for security adoption among all U. S. households, after attrition is incorporated. ”Garms says Bosch Security excels at offering systems that integrate security technologies together, an important factor for the growth of security integrators. “Systems that integrate intrusion, fire, access control, video, and communications technology can provide significant value and convenience. The system can automatically disarm when an access door is opened, or lock the doors when the system is armed. If a fire alarm occurs, the doors can be unlocked to allow quick first responder access and an automated announcement can be triggered with instructions for building occupants. Video snapshots of these events can also be sent to facility or security managers. As integrators become more aware of the capabilities of integrated systems, we see this as a significant growth opportunity,” Garms says.