printer friendly version

Intelligent systems deliver safety and control

The alarm and intrusion market is enormous with thousands of companies and individuals offering to install systems at various price points and at various levels of quality. To date there has been no oversight or best practice regulations managing the installation of these systems, which are struggling to deliver the security people want.

The lack of standards and regulation will soon be a thing of the past, but to succeed in this industry in future, installers will need to offer more intrinsic value to their clients. The only way to do this is by integrating different aspects of security to deliver an intelligent solution that not only raises an alarm, but also proactively assists in verifying the threat and preserving safety.

Howard Hughes Frank

MICROmega Security Solutions (MSS) distributes the full range of wireless alarms from EL3000, a Risco company. Of which, the iConnect range is the most popular. MSS director, Howard Hughes Frank says real-time intelligence is becoming a crucial part of residential and small business intrusion prevention, even though these customers don’t always have big budgets.

“The ability to integrate different systems into an holistic security platform is crucial to effective security,” Frank says. To demonstrate the difference between traditional intruder systems and new intelligent systems, he provides the example of the typical reaction to an alarm.

“When someone is sleeping in his or her bedroom and their alarm goes off, traditionally they press a panic button and/or go and see what is happening. In this instance, the individual doesn’t know if the neighbour’s cat set off the alarm or if there is an armed gang trying to get in. Similarly, when armed response personnel respond to an alarm, the guard on duty almost always goes in blind, usually largely unaware of what may be waiting for him”.

Proactive intelligence

With an intelligent iConnect wireless alarm system, alarm events trigger not only the traditional radio to CMS link, built-in siren; strobes; etc, but also simultaneously activates wireless cameras adding instant push-based visual verification to any event. Allowing key-holders to immediately receive the alert and view the situation on their smartphone or their PCs, thereby knowing exactly what’s going on before they put themselves in danger.

Being wireless means all the system’s components are easy to install with no wiring and long labour call outs required. The control panel offers built-in ADSL (primary); GPRS (failover) as well as radio communication to the service provider’s CMS, where the management software, the EL Application Server (ELAS) is hosted. The ELAS is the real power of this system however, giving high level cloud-based management capabilities to users makes a fundamental difference in modern security.

ELAS provides not only online management but also full configuration of systems, privately or depending on the site – by the guarding company. By simply opening the (ELAS) and logging into the panel with their username, password and PIN different people can be granted access to different levels of ELAS depending on their authorisation and as every event is recorded, ELAS provides a full audit trail of who did what when. Guarding companies can host their own ELAS in-house, allowing white label branding of their iConnect home page, thereby offering clients a uniquely personal security experience.

Frank says the cloud-based solution offers more than just alarm management however. Via the app, users can set or reset their alarm, add or block users, view historical event and alarm images at any time, as well as operate home appliances such as TVs, lights, or open the front gate remotely. Any outdoor IP camera can also be added to the iConnect account to allow live video streaming from multiple sites over PCs, or, simply take snapshots with the wireless pet friendly PIR cameras to check on workers – even when the system is disarmed.

Time and attendance is also made possible via iConnect as everyone entering a premises can be given their own PIN so they’re logged entering or leaving with associated watermarked snapshots. This T&A log can then be exported from the PVT cloud account into XCEL, categorised and used to pay wages, or verify authorised attendance. Add the built-in 2-way voice channel which allows users to talk through the panel if required to warm off intruders, or to check on the children when they get home.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions published an article on the iConnect range from MSS in January. To find out more about the solution, go to www.securitysa.com/47631n.

Share this article:

Further reading: