DMP Owners Forum Draws Record Attendance, Honors Top Dealers
Key Highlights
- DMP's new EVP of Video Solutions Ken Francis made clear at the company's record-setting Owners Forum that video is the next evolution of its unified platform, not a bolt-on.
- Two major product announcements: a next-gen AI gateway with synchronized on-device and cloud ML analytics, and the XR650 — the industry's only control panel with dual NIC on-board.
- Francis called professional monitoring the fastest-moving trend he's seen in 35 years, warning dealers the magnitude of what's coming will outpace even the most prepared organizations.
DMP set a new attendance record at its annual Owners Forum, drawing nearly 600 of its dealers and executives to Resorts World in Las Vegas, held the day before the opening of ISC West.
The forum's keynote set a clear strategic direction for DMP's dealer network, delivered in large part by Ken Francis, the company's newly appointed Executive Vice President of Video Solutions, who was, by his own count, just 38 days into the role. Francis brought an extensive background to the stage: past chapters include helping build what is now the Everon commercial business through a DMP panel integration, and eight years running Eagle Eye VMS, during which he pushed DMP to weave Eagle Eye's video into the Virtual Keypad experience.
His central message was unambiguous: Video is the next evolution for the DMP platform, not just a bolt-on. "DMP never wants to just sell cameras," Francis told the audience. "DMP has always been a system company – a unified platform for professionals – and that's what it is."
The product roadmap calls for AI-enabled gateways and network recorders built on a hybrid architecture that combines on-device machine learning with cloud-based processing. Loitering, line-cross, and direction-of-travel detection run locally on the gateway; fire detection, slip-and-fall, and gun detection extend into the cloud, and all of it is connected through the company’s Virtual Keypad – making it invisible to the installer and end-user.
"They actually don't even need to know where these things are being processed," said VP of Sales Jonathan Adams, who joined Francis on the keynote stage. "The events all just show up in Virtual Keypad."
On the product side, DMP announced its next-generation AI gateway, which Francis described as "the first widely available synchronized AI running matched ML analytics on the device for remote video monitoring, with advanced RVM in the cloud." The gateway will be remotely updatable, which means no truck roll is required to push new analytics; and it is designed to expand capabilities over time as the cloud-side intelligence advances.
DMP also rolled out Alarm Vision Pro subscriptions, which leverage large language models to deliver what Francis called "event contextual descriptions and natural language search." In plain terms, when an alarm triggers, dealers will be able to provide customers with an AI-generated description of what is actually happening in the scene.
"The monitoring service is the value inside that subscription," Francis said. "And we're going to help [dealers] capitalize on more monitoring subscriptions."
Adams detailed DMP’s 2025 momentum and the near-term product roadmap, including the announcement of the XR650, the next evolution in DMP's XR series control panel. Adams called it "the only control panel in the industry with dual NIC built onto the board, capable of supporting up to one million users and purpose-built for financial and government sector deployments.”
Adams also pointed to Alarm Vision as evidence of DMP consistently getting ahead of the market: the company built out proactive video monitoring capabilities two years before it became a dominant ISC West theme. Recent additions include Alarm Vision integration with access cameras, a cloud-optional configuration, and a cellular jamming detector.
Francis framed professional monitoring as the category with the steepest growth curve ahead, driven by advances in analytics, agentic AI, and monitoring center infrastructure. "It's probably the fastest-moving trend I've watched strike this industry in the 35 years I've been in it," he said, and cautioned that even the most prepared dealers in the room aren't fully ready for the magnitude of what's coming. "DMP is excited to work with you to deliver these services to your customers."
The forum's theme of influence – with outside keynoters including former FBI hostage negotiator Chris Voss and persuasion researcher Dr. Robert Cialdini – rounded out a full-day program that also featured an industry panel moderated by Scott Elkins of Zeus Fire & Security.
Dealer Recognition Awards
The Owners Forum also served as the stage for DMP's Annual Dealer Recognition Awards, honoring top performers across market segments and product categories for their 2025 results.
Specific honorees included:
- Small Market Dealer of the Year – Federal Protection
- Mid-Market Dealer of the Year – Dial Security
- Large Market Dealer of the Year – San Marino Security
- Super Regional Dealer of the Year – Bay Alarm
- National Account Dealer of the Year – Securitas Technology
- International Distributor of the Year – Tecnoseguridad Privada
- Fire Alarm Dealer of the Year – Bay Alarm
- Access Control Dealer of the Year – Securitas Technology
- Commercial Dealer of the Year – Everon
- Banking Dealer of the Year – Securitas Technology
- Retail Dealer of the Year – Vector Security
- New Dealer of the Year – Armor Security
- Community Service Award – Convergint Technologies
About the Author
Paul Rothman
Editor-in-Chief/Security Business
Paul Rothman is Editor-in-Chief of Security Business magazine. Email him your comments and questions at [email protected]. Access the current issue, full archives and apply for a free subscription at www.securitybusinessmag.com.