Integrating Security
Logistics company takes advantage of information management solutions
- By Courtney Dillon Pedersen
- Mar 01, 2015
ProTrans provides transportation
and third-party logistics
services that meet the
shipping needs for manufacturers
throughout the
United States, Mexico and Canada. Its
recently opened facility in Laredo, Texas,
is used to store parts, widgets, pieces,
returned products and other accessories
that customers rely on ProTrans to package
and ship to manufacturing facilities
on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.
The company wanted a single solution
to provide high-resolution video
images as well as the ability to monitor,
verify and restrict access to the facility
in order to better manage employee time
and attendance while also reducing theft
and misplacement of inventory.
“Because we have more than 250,000
square feet and handle so many valuable
pieces and parts, we wanted both
high definition cameras and synchronization
between the video and the access
control,” said Justin Batton, network infrastructure
manager at ProTrans. “The
systems integrator I worked with introduced
us to Milestone and ISONAS,
and together we deployed a solution
with the two technologies integrated that
offers us much better information, which
we use to operate more efficiently.”
Today’s Solution for the Future
Using its Laredo facility as a prototype
for several buildings it plans to equip with
similar technology in the future, Pro-
Trans worked with Ascending Technologies
IT and ABP Technology to integrate
the ISONAS network-based PowerNet
reader controller with Milestone XProtect
VMS. The video data comes from
MOBOTIX cameras, and is configured
and archived via the Milestone VMS
in a storage server from App-Techs
and two servers to grant or deny access
and monitor and record activity
in and out of 15 doors.
In just a few short months, Pro-
Trans has realized considerable
benefits from integrating the Milestone
open platform VMS with “Pure IP” access
control technology from ISONAS,
the primary one being that within a
single interface ProTrans now has synchronized
data from the access control
technology with high-resolution video
images. This has enabled the company to
dramatically reduce the amount of time
required to locate missing items.
The solution also provides ProTrans
with an easily accessible record of when
employees as well as shipments arrive
and depart the facility and has been
praised for the ease with which it can be
learned and used.
Jim Molencupp is the product manager
of IP surveillance with ABP Technology,
which provides solutions to help
customers address specific needs within
security and telephony. He sat down
with ProTrans to map out the best way
to manage both access control and video
from one easy-to-use interface.
“For access control we recommended
the easy-to-install access solution from
ISONAS combined with best-in-class
video from MOBOTIX cameras to be
managed on the open platform VMS
from Milestone, which has an elegant
implementation of access control and
video in one easy-to-use interface,” Molencupp
said. “Combining these components
provides a solution that addressed
the needs of ProTrans.”
Andy Segovia, IT administrator with
Ascending Technologies, was tasked to
provide a turnkey IP solution that integrates
both video and access control
functionality. He says the project is a
great example of Ascending Technologies’
commitment to its customers.
“Here at Ascending Technologies, we
pride ourselves on providing new and
innovative technologies that endure the
test of time and facilitate the use of technology
to users and, at the same time,
provide security that protects their greatest
assets,” he said.
Rob Mossman, CEO of ISONAS, believes
that the ease with which the ISONAS
reader controller can be integrated
into the Milestone VMS has the potential
to revolutionize access control.
A big part of that revolutionizing, according
to Mossman, is the Milestone
XProtect open platform that enables
the integration. The video also provides
live visual verification of alarms and archived
documentation for resolution of
incidences.
“We believe technological innovation
is enabling access control to become scalable
on a global basis,” Mossman said.
“We are very proud of the deployment
done on behalf of ProTrans at the Laredo
facility. The way it was delivered through
the expertise of both ABP and Ascending
Technologies IT, each of which are
fully committed to developing the best
solution possible, is a perfect example of
what we mean by excellence throughout
the value chain. I’m particularly proud
that we were able to deliver an integrated
solution with Milestone, a world leader.
Our expertise and Milestone’s expertise
combined makes a fantastic solution.”
A Clear View
The biggest benefit of the solution, according
to Batton, is that he now has the
ability to synchronize managing who is
in the facility with very clear, high-definition
images.
“I can obviously see a card swipe,
but it used to be hard to see if someone
came in behind them or if someone left
the door open,” he says. “But because
the two systems are synchronized, I can
go to any point within the access system,
see who came in and view it with
the synchronized video at any given time.
The door system tells me who it was, but
I can also use the video from the same
zone to verify that the person who used
his access card was in fact the only one to
come through the door.”
Better Inventory Management
In addition to providing a way to monitor
and control people’s access to the facility, the solution is a powerful inventory
management tool.
On its own, the access control technology
enforces ProTrans’ rules governing
who can enter which parts of
the facility. Working together, however,
the synchronized video solution goes a
lot further and begins delivering benefits
the moment a truck arrives. Having
high-resolution video showing the
inventory entering the building with
clear images of those who brought it in,
synchronized with data from the access
control technology, automatically creates
a record that can be used if inventory
is lost or stolen.
The availability of high-resolution
video along with a stringent access control
system also helps ProTrans reduce
theft—not so much of freight, Batton
says, but of company property such as
laptops and wireless scanners, which
he says are often popular items to steal
when doors are left open.
“Before we deployed our synchronized
VMS and access control solution,
it was difficult to stay on top of
who was going in and out of the building,”
Batton says. “That meant we had
to try to resolve things like damaged
freight, injuries, damage to equipment
and theft (which is a major issue in the
border region) with fragmented, usually
incomplete information. But today
we’re able to resolve incidents much
more quickly and accurately thanks to
having our access control synchronized
with high-resolution video.”
Tracking Employee Time
and Attendance
Finally, by integrating the access control
and VMS technologies that generate
high-resolution video images, Pro-
Trans has an indisputable record of
who is in the facility and at what time.
“Thanks to this solution we are able
to better track employee time: we not
only know when the employee punches
in but we can also visually verify that it
is actually that employee punching in,”
Batton says. “That means it’s no longer
possible to have someone scan in for
you, or enter the facility using someone
else’s credentials.”
Ready for Expansion
Batton says the deployment of the Milestone
and ISONAS solution at the Laredo
facility is only the beginning for Pro-
Trans. While there is no official timeline,
Batton says the solution will definitely
be expanded to other locations.
“In just a few short months since installing
this solution, we’ve seen a tremendous
amount of benefits,” he says.
“We currently have 13 to 16 facilities
throughout the United States that we
plan to integrate with the solution so
we can manage all access control and
video surveillance from one centralized
location and realize the benefits we’ve
experienced here in Laredo on a much
broader scale.”
This article originally appeared in the March 2015 issue of Security Today.