YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY
Springfield, MO
Officials at Digital Monitoring Products say the XR550 Security Control Panel is a fixture in prominent national retail chains, including every Starbucks in the U.S. and Canada. It’s also the system of choice for 18 of the top 20 banks, they say, with placement in 30,000 branches from financial giants J.P. Morgan Chase to Wells Fargo, and it’s trusted by government agencies for top-level secure communication information facility protection.
SBJ: When did the XR550 first come on the market?
Mark Hillenburg: The XR550 is the seventh generation of our flagship control panel line, which launched around 2016. However, DMP started in the 1980s, and the control panel designs have gotten bigger and more powerful with more features as they go through time. The XR550 is the latest and greatest of that. We call it the flagship: It’s our main product, it’s what we sell the most of, and it pays all the bills.
SBJ: What changes were made to this version?
Hillenburg: It is bigger, better, faster and less expensive. It has roughly 20 times faster processing power than its predecessor. It does up to 96 doors of access control, whereas its predecessor did 32. And it has more of the hardware built onto the platform than its previous versions. This makes it so customers are buying less, installing less and getting more bang for the buck.
SBJ: Who are some of the biggest customers of this product?
Hillenburg: While it can be used in residential for really large homes, it’s mainly used in commercial and industrial applications. DMP products can be found in the Pentagon and some of the offices of our nation’s top leaders, plus national footprint banks and retail establishments. (Recently), the Secretary of Defense was on Fox News, being interviewed from his office, and there was a DMP keypad on the wall directly behind him, connected to an XR550.
SBJ: How does manufacturing this product in the Ozarks impact the local economy?
Hillenburg: We employ about 375 employees and around 300 live here in the area. Being near several great universities, we can find great local, homegrown talent here in the Ozarks and oftentimes have great luck hiring former Ozarkians, who have maybe moved away and are ready to come back. Our jobs pay above average, and DMP is also a big supporter of local nonprofit organizations.
SBJ: Any idea when the eighth generation will come out?
Hillenburg: The microprocessor is what drives the lifespan of electronics like this. So, there comes a time where this microprocessor will start to age out, and someone will have one that is smaller, more powerful and cost less. That’s the point where you then figure out how much money is it going to be to adopt to a new processor family. Then that becomes the next generation of control panels.
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