Inside SSI’s 2016 Security Solutions Award Winners
Security Sales & Integration’s Security Solutions Awards put innovation, creativity and successful deployment in the spotlight as manufacturers and integrators meet access control, video surveillance, security monitoring & other application-specific needs.
SECURITY MONITORING | SGS Service Has Caribbean-Based Central Station on Cloud 9
As the cloud’s impact continues to extend its industry reach, one progressive alarm company recognized the opportunity as a great source for a next-generation central station.
Located in the Caribbean, this alarm company had grave concern for Internet service disruptions due to limited capacity and hurricanes, as dispatch automation platform provider Secure Global Solutions details.
For this particular central, key design questions (and answers) of SGS included:
- Why use a wholesale central station? The business benefited from upgrading both operating practices and technology. Wholesale centrals have been at the forefront for quality in dispatch and delivered alarm industry best practices.
- What benefits are there from multisite redundancy? Multiple off-island locations greatly improved reliability and access to Internet services. Importantly, redundancy includes signals, communications, voice calls, emails and SMS texts. Subscribers in the Caribbean place high value on alarm service and know that redundancy is critical to quality delivery.
- How can we survive when we cannot connect to the Internet? Each of multiple islands needed an affordable solution and only needed access to local data. SGS’ nextStage provides local data backups as needed. Local dispatch and guard response are available 24/7.
A surprise benefit was “overflow” capacity, according to SGS. Should local response be overloaded, the signals and phone calls automatically fail-over to improve response times. Putting together “best-in-class” cloud services and implementing nextStage provided layers of redundancy to meet the expected problems of island isolation, according to the company.
The client needed local monitoring groups to monitor accounts directly and autonomously. SGS touts how nextStage allows for local data storage and makes cloud services “bulletproof.”
Feedback from the client indicates an appreciation for the versatile solution, SGS relays: “Since the nextStage appliances have their own database and signal processing, it allows the remote monitoring group the ability to take the reins at any time. This provides not only the flexibility that we needed but more importantly the security of knowing that at any time there is a fallback solution.
SPECIALTY CATEGORY | Canon Cameras Drive Car Company’s Creative Digital Advertisement
Video analytics company Worknet was called upon to incorporate its vehicle recognition technology into a billboard advertising campaign for a major car manufacturer.
In the first campaign of its type in the United States, according to Canon, digital billboards would generate customized messages to drivers of competitive vehicles on highways in Chicago, Dallas and New Jersey. On select highways network cameras would need to be mounted on a billboard roughly 1,000 feet prior to each digital billboard to capture images of the front 25% of approaching vehicles.
The camera would then transmit the images via video management software to Worknet’s vehicle recognition software. Once a vehicle’s make and model was identified, the digital billboard would change from a generic ad to a personalized ad aimed at the driver of the competitive vehicle.
The right camera to aid the software, notes Canon, would need to:
- Capture highly detailed images of vehicles from a great distance, even at night
- Withstand conditions such as wind, precipitation and extreme temperatures
A Canon distributor recommended the VB-H43 PTZ Network Camera due to its ability to deliver high-quality video with exceptional image color and clarity. The camera’s 2.1-megapixel resolution and 20x optical zoom lens with fast and precise pan/ tilt mechanism support its ability to capture detailed images of moving targets, the company claims.
The DIGIC DV III Image Processor inside the VB-H43 helps maximize image quality and aid in its low-light performance, while advanced, customizable exposure controls allow for greater control in obtaining usable images and video in challenging installation locations. Another key was Canon’s optional rugged outdoor enclosure.
The VB-H43 and plus Milestone VMS easily integrated with Worknet’s vehicle recognition software. Just three days after Worknet’s original contact with a local Canon dealer, the cameras were delivered, mounted and ready to record. The end user reports the solution was able to identify vehicles with 85% accuracy, serving up the data required for success.
Page 4: The Runners-Up
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