CHELMSFORD, Mass. — Although Axis Communications doesn’t directly manufacturer its own mass notification-related products, it’s becoming a growing force in the sector because of its industry partnerships and its suite of 19 Axis Experience Centers, which proudly show off solutions in the emerging space.
Chris Wildfoerster, business program manager, audio, for Axis Communications, recently talked to Dan Ferrisi, group editor, commercial and security, at Emerald, about his company’s increased focus on mass notification through its partners, some of the vertical markets it touches and how other companies can get involved in it.
“Our channel partners and their clients, the end users, are really asking for this,” says Wildfoerster. “We know our primary market is selling security and communication solutions and we integrate mass notification into our open platform. It’s really a natural extension of audio, video, access control and other security solutions we offer today.
“Using analytics that are in our ecosystem partners, our security solutions really become more proactive. They really help prevent and deter and de-escalate certain events before they even happen,” he says.
An example might be a gun that’s recognized by an analytic that’s loaded on an Axis camera, says Widfoerster. It could determine if the person actually has a weapon or is it something that’s just recognized as a weapon? That tells school officials, for example, whether to enact their emergency response procedures, he says.
Another example could be a license plate recognition analytic, which is also loaded into an Axis camera. Maybe it senses a license plate in a vehicle that’s been circling the parking lot and that vehicle is registered to a recently suspended student, says Wildfoerster. The system then notifies the school resource officer or appropriate person who can then notify the authorities if necessary.
“When you look at mass notification and security solutions, they’re really symbiotic,” says Wildfoerster. “They really work together and depend on each other to form a secure and safe environment.”
Axis Communications’ Mass Notification Involvement
Axis Communications sees the most interest in mass notification solutions in the K-12, higher education and health care vertical markets, says Wildfoerster, although it’s growing in corporate, retail, government, industrial and other sectors as well.
“Unfortunately or fortunately, it is a growing marketplace,” he says. “When you look online, you’re looking at a compound annual growth somewhere around 30 to 35%. So that’s going to be about $1.5 billion in 10 years and it’s all about mitigating risk. The growth is really being driven, unfortunately, by some of the mass casualty events we’ve seen and also natural and manmade disasters.”
Among the legislation driving the growth is Alyssa’s Law, which requires panic buttons in K-12 schools, and the Clery Act, which which requires higher ed facilities to report and document crime statistics and also requires a campus-wide notification system for possible campus-wide events.
He points to Axis’ website listing grants available for mass notification enhancements and the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools as key resources in getting started on your mass notification journey.
Here’s their full conversation:
