Verkada Enters Enterprise Access Control Arena With Cloud-Based Solution
The new offering is said to provide real-time visibility into buildings by seamlessly combining video footage with access-based events.
The integration of access events with video is at the core of the new solution by Verkada.
SAN MATEO, Calif. — Verkada has entered the enterprise access control arena with a new offering that integrates with the company’s video security solution.
The company, based here, bills its new solution as the first to provide real-time visibility into buildings by seamlessly combining video footage with access-based events in a simple, Cloud-managed platform.
Founded in 2016, Verkada is an emerging leader in the physical security space with over 3,000 end customers, including numerous Fortune 500 companies, spanning vertical markets such as school districts, municipalities, hospitals, nonprofit organizations, commercial businesses, hospitality, banking and health care.
Filip Kaliszan, CEO and co-founder of Verkada, explains when launching the company, he and his three co-founding cohorts recognized how complex and fragmented the building was. The introduction of the access control solution continues their mission of bringing increased simplicity to manage and integrate the essential control solutions that run buildings.
“Buyers who need to manage multiple locations, manage dozens or thousands of end users, and care about the cyber and physical security of their enterprises are drawn to Verkada,” he tells SSI.
With its Cloud-managed solution, Verkada wants to help organizations move away from the outdated and complex offering of traditional access control. Read: goodbye on-premise servers, software maintenance and scalability limitations.
From responding to incidents, easily provisioning badges or remotely unlocking doors, Verkada Access Control is designed for simplicity so teams across facilities and security can seamlessly manage their buildings without a dependency on IT, according to a press release announcing the new offering.
With the Verkada Pass app, the company has built a mobile entry platform that enables users to unlock doors from their mobile devices. This allows organizations to support multiple credential formats, giving their users the option to continue to use traditional methods such as cards and fobs, including smartphone-based options.
Video Verification Features
The integration of access events with video is at the core of the new solution. Every access event is instantly connected to relevant video surveillance feeds through Verkada Command, which allows customer administrators or MSPs a simple interface to watch events live or quickly conduct investigations on historical events. The solution also enables Verkada customers to archive or share video verification with the relevant teams or authorities with a single click.
The solution integrates alarms across video and access services. Each event is tagged with image data, allowing a user to quickly assess whether the event warrants further investigation. Users can playback multiple feeds of each event with a single click in the interface, and easily find all other access events to recreate the movements of an employee or contractor throughout the facility.
“Initially, the system tracks entry-exit events, unlock attempts, door held open and door forced open events,” Kaliszan explains. “We’re excited about the opportunity to leverage our powerful People Analytics to help our customers evaluate and flag suspicious activity.”
Integration Partners Key to Success
Verkada sells exclusively through a network of certified reseller partners. Kaliszan explains the company’s value proposition, thusly:
“First and foremost, our access control solution is built with a Cloud-first mindset. The solution takes advantage of our Command Cloud platform for simple configuration and management of devices and limitless scale across doors, sites and users. Second, our solution is the only offering on the market with deep, native integration between video management and access control. There’s no extra cost, and cameras can be tagged to doors in a simple click.”
The real-time video integration facilitates powerful forensics and greater visibility into building usage, he continues. This includes the company’s Live View feature, a continuously updated view of all events on a door, building or enterprise level.
Verkada’s hallmark, Kaliszan says, has always been the ease of use of its product, and that same design approach was central to the new the access control solution.
“As an example, we’ve rethought every step of the installation and configuration experience for our integrator partners — everything from clean cable management and the modular cartridges that allow for intuitive connections to the provisioning of users and assignment of permissions,” Kaliszan says.
Verkada has partnered with integrators across the channel, including national and regional providers. Each partner goes through a training and certification process as part of their onboarding. Each integrator partner also receives sales support from Verkada’s channels team.
“Our most successful integration partners are those with a strong networking and IT skills and deep access control experience. That said, our system is designed to be incredibly easy to use,” Kaliszan says. “We fully expect integrators to prefer installing and configuring Verkada access control compared to traditional on-premise systems. Verkada is offering authorized partners with free training in order to get them certified to install the new access control product.”
Resellers gain recurring revenue by selling Verkada’s controller hardware but also software term licenses for each door under management.
“Our integrator partners resell that recurring license along with a set of one-time and ongoing services, including device installation and configuration, user management, training, systems integration, monitoring and performance management,” Kaliszan says.
In addition to introducing its access control solution, Verkada also announced the latest addition to its line of enterprise hybrid Cloud cameras with its Bullet Series. Included in the series are the CB51-E and the CB61-E, each said to be built with powerful processing and high capacity storage. Each of the models are reinforced with a CNC aluminum encasement and a hermetically sealed lens.
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About the Author
Rodney Bosch, Senior Editor
Although Bosch’s name is quite familiar to those in the security industry, his previous experience has been in daily newspaper journalism. Prior to joining SECURITY SALES & INTEGRATION in 2006, he spent 15 years with the Los Angeles Times, where he performed a wide assortment of editorial responsibilities, including feature and metro department assignments as well as content producing for latimes.com. Bosch is a graduate of California State University, Fresno with a degree in Mass Communication & Journalism. In 2007, he successfully completed the National Burglar and Fire Alarm Association’s National Training School coursework to become a Certified Level I Alarm Technician.
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