Blackboard Introduces New Campus Security Solution

Blackboard Inc. recently announced a new campus security solution, Blackboard Video Surveillance, which will be part of the Blackboard Commerce Suite, a suite of applications supporting campus payment and security management.

Blackboard Video Surveillance is part of a complete security management suite offered by Blackboard that also includes access control and mass notification modules. Blackboard Video Surveillance allows campus administrators to view live or recorded video over their campus network. With image zooming, frame by frame playback, and a configurable screen layout, Blackboard Video Surveillance is an easy-to-use solution that meets the growing need among college administrators to secure their campus environment.

“Universities have historically had to conduct separate evaluations for the various components of campus security, ultimately implementing technology from multiple vendors and performing their own system integrations,” said Russ Carlson, Blackboard Commerce president. “With the addition of video surveillance to our existing access control and mass notification capabilities, Blackboard now has a complete security offering. Our mass notification and video surveillance solutions take advantage of recent advances in technology. Mass notification is moving from text-based to multi-modal communication, which has shown to be more reliable and effective. Video surveillance is moving from analog cameras to cameras based on standard internet protocols, which allows campuses to manage the system using the same network, server infrastructure, and management techniques already in place for their other enterprise applications.”

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