Don’t Underestimate the Importance of IT in Video Verification
A security expert explains how IT integrations play a key part in ensuring and enhancing video verification capabilities.
It really is an exciting time to be in the security industry. Each day, we have an obligation to our customers to help protect their assets, employees and their customers.
To fulfill this obligation, security companies are continually exposed to new and innovative solutions that can help address these challenges.
Historically, the industry has been on the lookout for the next camera, intrusion product, or access control solution to solve these security issues for customers.
However, simply installing a new physical security system is, in many cases, no longer sufficient for the wide-ranging needs of businesses and organizations.
Alarm verification is needed: verification of an event, verification to aid law enforcement, or verification that their systems are running. Verification solutions take on many forms with one common thread: IT reliance.
Gunshot Detection Enhanced by Integration
Verification of gunshots is one example that is getting a lot of attention lately. These detection solutions, and there are a few new ones on the market, rely on advanced technology to work effectively and provide the highest level of assurance that a gun has been fired.
However, as powerful as gunshot detection technology and its sensors have become, the assistance of IT is needed to provide a verified response. The enhancement of the solution comes from IT integrations, which are often present and desired within the deployments of these solutions.
Integrations to video streams, located near the shooting event, will flow into central stations to provide security personnel with the most accurate visual information of the situation.
Location information can be triggered if the original setup of the solution was properly configured to allow an operations or monitoring center to pass along key video surveillance to law enforcement.
Finally, all information can then be collected and utilized to deliver mass notification information to personnel in the area. These are the key components that transform gunshot detection devices to potential lifesaving solutions, no longer making them simple physical products, but IT-centric devices that pass the right information to the right person at the right time.
Fight False Alarms Without Streaming Failures
Many counties, townships and cities around the country are beginning to take a more diligent look at the number of false alarms their law enforcement teams must respond to.
Every false alarm takes them away from being available for much more urgent matters, and with such high false alarm rates, the response time of law enforcement has the potential to be slower than desired.
One solution, now being required in some areas, is video alarm verification. Based on an alarm event — being able to have a live surveillance system or view a clip of the incident — gives monitoring professionals the information needed to ensure police are responding to urgent situations.
This helps yield faster response times for end users and helps law enforcement more efficiently react to alarm situations. Here again, IT assistance plays a role in how effective alarm verification is for all parties.
Whether ensuring the physical devices implemented have appropriate cybersecurity measures, or simply allowing video streams to be viewed remotely without having to worry about impediments to the signal, IT involvement goes hand-in-hand with security integrators to better protect our customers.
Any glitches or interruptions mean costly time for troubleshooting.
Video & Software Solutions Lean on IT Expertise
Proposing and installing appropriate security measures and solutions benefits customers by achieving their security needs and adding value to their businesses.
Optimally — if, after integrating a new solution which doesn’t work as intended — the warning signs are immediately apparent and recognizable. But what if that is not the case?
Consider, for example, a new video solution that has been installed with the expectation that every element is working as intended until an incident happens.
While attempting to view the footage from the incident, it is discovered that the video data flow had an issue, and nothing was recorded. How can this be prevented?
In addition to installing a video solution, it is important to have software solutions installed or implemented that ensure the quality of all components in the video stream, including IT.
Cameras and VMS are crucial components, but these days it’s just as important that networking switches, servers, operating systems, etc., need to be aligned, working and compatible.
Without this cohesive network of IT and physical security products working together, your customers may find themselves facing additional unknown issues within their video surveillance solution … after a problem has already occurred.
Verification is a vital factor in the security space, and the associated information becomes invaluable to customers, law enforcement, monitoring personnel and the installing security company.
To easily deploy these enhanced solutions, we need security and IT need to be joined to truly meet the security firm’s obligation to comprehensively protect their customers’ assets and employees.
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