Genetec Tells How Security Can Lead Efficiencies and Intelligence Conversation
Forward-thinking Genetec shares holistic outlook and shows off impressive customer site at Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center.
CHICAGO —“Security is just a starting point as our outlook is as much about discovering and improving operational efficiencies and business intelligence as it is about security,” Jimmy Palatsoukas, Genetec product marketing director, said to a small gathering of select electronic security industry journalists July 25.
The security solutions provider’s mini press summit also included an onsite visit of the nation’s largest convention center, McCormick Place, for a tour and briefing of the venue’s new video surveillance and access control system built on Genetec’s platform.
A full McCormick Place case study (which was in the works prior to this event) featuring integrator Videotec will be included in Security Sales & Integration’s September issue.
During his presentation, Palatsoukas spoke to not only the visionary supplier’s latest offerings, but also its overall philosophy and solutions roadmap. He said the Montreal-based company looks at the security landscape as consisting of four phases:
- security as standalone systems
- augmentation and integration of those systems
- building operational efficiencies and automation
- better use of aggregated data and collaboration
This perspective has guided Genetec to greatly expand from initially being a provider of video management systems to a much more holistic vendor offering robust access control and currently extending its flagship Security Center platform into an Internet of Things (IoT) hub and command center.
“We are really focusing on four objectives today,” added Palatsoukas. “We want to enhance the user experience, and we also believe it is imperative to facilitate networks of trust that take cybersecurity and transparency into account. We also want to find ways to reduce end users’ transactional costs, and finally we are striving to help democratize data, adding value by having multiple players or departments share and contrast information to achieve superior outcomes.”
From a product standpoint, he explained how Genetec is channeling equal effort into innovating video, access control, automatic license plate recognition and cardholder management.
Furthermore, the firm is focusing on ways to merge all those data sources into common interfaces that allow users to make sense out of an overwhelming volume of information to then make more intelligent decisions affecting both security and operations.
Palatsoukas told how by the end of the year Genetec’s re-engineered mobile app will offer a customizable dashboard that brings it all together at a glance.
According to Paltsoukas, some of the things the company is looking to advance in 2019 are its Clearance Cloud-based collaborative investigation management solution (included in the McCormick Place project), mobile credentials and bringing workflow management capabilities into its new ClearID access control offering, which he said will see a soft launch by the end of this year.
Speaking of clear, Genetec’s holistic solutions-oriented approach is reaping dividends as during the McCormick Place tour both the end customer and integrator emphasized how the company’s engagement stood out from the vendor pack.
The project, which also includes the new adjacent Wintrust Arena, involved more than 800 cameras, 900 card readers and thousands of custom macros that make it unlike any other solution in the world.
“Genetec’s people are very good listeners, always looking for that feedback and what they can do to make things happen the way you would want them to. That is unusual and something special,” said McCormick Place Access Control Coordinator Brett Zelnio.
View more images from the site visit in the slideshow above!
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About the Author
Scott Goldfine
Scott Goldfine is the marketing director for Elite Interactive Solutions. He is the former editor-in-chief and associate publisher of Security Sales & Integration. He can be reached at [email protected].
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