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Intelligent Monitoring, a global player

Intelligent Monitoring Software from Classic Systems has established itself as a global player in the security control room arena, with clients spread across the globe. The company’s head office is in Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg, with a satellite office in London, in the United Kingdom and a support office in Edenvale. Intelligent Monitoring is now used in most African countries, including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Seychelles, Mauritius, Mozambique, Kenya, and Malawi, and also in parts of Europe including the United Kingdom.

Wolfgang Kirsch is the developer of the software and the owner of Classic Systems. The software was originally developed in the late 1980s out of desperation for Kirsch’s own armed reaction company, due to the lack of comprehensive software solutions available to the industry. The software was developed especially for the South African market, from the perspective of an armed response business owner with a passion for programming and the security industry.

Over the last 23 years Kirsch has developed a state-of-the-art software product by constantly changing the software, expanding capability and keeping ahead of technology.

During the IFSEC Securex 2010 trade show, the South African market will be introduced to Version 6. Existing clients of Intelligent Monitoring will have an exclusive preview before the official release date.

The essence of the Intelligent Monitoring Software is simplicity. Kirsch and his software development team keep all the processes simple, and through integrating ergonomics with technology, one can develop a system that is easy to use and that brings productivity and control to the business.

Ergonomics is the relation of human beings to the machines they use every day. Elements like colour and order influence the way the operator uses the program. The new version, like all the versions in the past focuses on the comfort of the operator and the elimination of human error. The modern operator is averse to reading, emphasis is placed on icons, and colours are used to communicate. Sounds are added to keep operators alert and gives the ability to identify events by audio. All these elements are used to create order; this makes management and processing of information easy and ultimately affects positively the productivity of the operators.

The new release will bring greater capabilities to the security control room. Kirsch explains: “One of the things that excites me is the capabilities of new hardware these days. Utilising the current new processors and memory available to the maximum in our software will allow us an improved processing time for alarms, making our existing fast software even faster. Control room software does not work like regular software whereby an operator only works with a single document. Control room software is processing a multitude of the alarm signals from various sources and all the while having to keep the operators informed with the latest information of each site’s events.”

Some of the new features include mapping, the operator can now see the location of the alarm site on a map and help direct the response teams to the site effortlessly. CallPanic feature allows any mobile phone to be a panic button, as most people always have their phone at hand. Additional intelligent reporting gives you the capability to see your control room effectiveness in various reports and thus allows you to do corrective steps, if needed. More interfaces to various hardware decoders to accept signals in many more formats and from various sources, without limiting the amount of interfaces and without locking you into one or other hardware provider.

Intelligent Monitoring Software’s value added reseller and support structures allows us to provide relevant training, support and valuable advice in setting up control rooms the correct way. Warren Torr, an IT rooted software and control room specialist has been recently appointed from international support to head up the whole support team. He has over 15 years of experience in the industry locally and internationally, his vast technical knowledge brings depth to the team. A network of dealer agents bring added value and provides 24-hour support to clients.

The software is focused on bringing capabilities to all players in the market, even the security operator that is just starting out. With Intelligent Monitoring it is possible to start out with running a basic control room, you can increase the number of workstations and decoders as you grow. Classic Systems believes that keeping costs low and giving companies the opportunity to grow organically serves the industry the best.

When looking at the future, Kirsch states, “We are constantly monitoring, improving and adjusting our software to meet new technology standards and demands from our end users. Security control rooms together with all the technology development around it will always be my passion.”

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