February 2011


Features

No Loitering Here

By Jason Dugger

Securing doors and valuables in retail locations without hindering operational efficiency can be a challenge. And that’s just from the customers’ perspective. Adding to the difficulty of securing these dynamic environments, retail stores must manage large, flexible workforces, typically with high turnover. Traditional locks and keys, even smart cards or key fobs, provide only a thin layer of security because they can be lost, stolen or borrowed. There also are the costs associated with lock changes and card inventory management.


Try This Frequency

By Lee Pernice

In general, retail is the fastest-paced, most frenetic business environment around. Retailers have to deal with constantly moving customers, large numbers of employees and extended business hours. On top of that, they have a great deal of merchandise moving from distribution centers to stores, onto the store floor and ultimately out the door with the customer. Keeping track of all of these moving parts isn’t easy.


Turn on the Light

By Jeff Whitney

Since 1923, the city of Garland, Texas, has been providing electricity service to its citizens through Garland Power & Light with its locally owned and controlled not-for-profit municipal utility. With nearly 68,000 customers, GP&L is the third-largest municipal utility in Texas and the 41st-largest in the nation.


Tightening the Campus

By Caren Bachmann

The IT department at a large, campus-based organization had a minor disruption that could have turned into a major disaster. A new person on the cleaning company’s crew inadvertently spilled a bucket full of water and cleaning fluid in a telco closet that was being used for multiple purposes, and the liquid shorted out a vital piece of equipment. The accident was never reported, and it was only when services were disrupted that the IT department learned there was a problem.


Flip that Switch

By Paul Smith

Electricity, natural gas, solar, wind, water, sewage plants, communications and nuclear plants: The services we take for granted, pay for and can’t live without. We often think that big events like terrorism and natural disasters are overriding concerns for utility companies, but it is the day-to-day operations that are most critical and that benefit most when a well-planned and properly implemented video surveillance solution is put in place.


New Products

  • Unified VMS

    AxxonSoft introduces version 2.0 of the Axxon One VMS. The new release features integrations with various physical security systems, making Axxon One a unified VMS. Other enhancements include new AI video analytics and intelligent search functions, hardened cybersecurity, usability and performance improvements, and expanded cloud capabilities

  • Automatic Systems V07

    Automatic Systems V07

    Automatic Systems, an industry-leading manufacturer of pedestrian and vehicle secure entrance control access systems, is pleased to announce the release of its groundbreaking V07 software. The V07 software update is designed specifically to address cybersecurity concerns and will ensure the integrity and confidentiality of Automatic Systems applications. With the new V07 software, updates will be delivered by means of an encrypted file.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”