Those of us who joined the security industry when it was primarily “guards, guns and gates” are quite familiar with our market’s age-old struggle (pun intended) to attract young people to its ranks. Over the last decade, though, the demographics of the industry have begun a slow shift as younger people, attracted by the new possibilities and reach of new technology and higher education, are beginning to view the industry in a whole new light.

This new generation of practitioners, however, has not totally eschewed guards, guns and gates. Instead, they have combined these more basic elements of security with new, sophisticated technology platforms and high-level organizational policies. Together, these form proactive, holistic security programs that, more often than not, provide benefits far surpassing the traditional expectations of many security departments.

To recognize the accomplishments of this group of “new recruits”, the security publication Security Director News has issued their annual “20 Under 40” Awards, the winners having been selected from more than 100 individual nominees. These award winners are seen as future leaders in the physical security industry; selected not only for their youth and experience but their savvy and understanding of new and emerging technologies.

Many of those selected by Security Director News have made significant contributions, not only to their respective organizations, but to the industry as a whole, by contributing their time and expertise on industry committees. Tyco Security Products is also a direct beneficiary of the vision and expertise of two of those esteemed winners – Ralph Nerette, manager, security services, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, and Kenneth Rasmussen, manager, security services, Waterbury Hospital, Conn. Both lend their time to serve on our Healthcare Advisory Council, a group of healthcare security managers/directors who rely on our Software House C•CURE security management platform, along with integrated video from our American Dynamics brand, as part of their security operations.

During his tenure at Dana-Farber, Nerette has transformed the DFCI security program from a paper-based department into one that leverages technology throughout — everything from visitor management, call center and dispatch operations to sharing of video footage to other departments within the organization.

Ken Rasmussen began his security career at age 18 as a security officer at Waterbury Hospital. He uses his “ground up” knowledge of the hospital to oversee the security of its many diverse settings — emergency room, Ronald McDonald House, child care center, inpatient and outpatient spaces, along with cafeteria,  parking, administration and other areas.

Congratulations to Ralph and Ken and all of the “SDN 20 Under 40 Award” winners!

Source: Tyco Blog

What a thrilling year we’ve had in motorcycle racing here in Europe! As part of our ongoing title sponsorship of the Tyco Suzuki team, we’ve enjoyed some spectacular finishes and record setting races, while at the same time have bid farewell and good luck to some old friends.

But the 2014 season is nearly upon us, and we’re pleased to announce a new lineup of riders that no doubt will keep us on the edge of our seats in the British Championship and International Road Racing over the next year.

We couldn’t be more proud of all our Tyco Suzuki team members, as well as our Tyco Security Products staff who devote their time supporting team activities throughout the long racing season. We’re excited to continue our relationship and support with the team into the 2014 season.

So for all the racing fans out there, we’re pleased to bring you an official team update with 2013 highlights and what to look forward to in the coming season.

Paul Lindsay – 

We can look back favorably at yet another successful season for the Tyco Suzuki team, both in British Championship and also on the International Road Racing scene.

We came up that little bit short in the British Superbike Championship, finishing in third place, but we certainly left an indelible mark on the series on the final weekend, when Josh Brookes posted a subliminal hat-trick – joining an exclusive ‘three in a day club’ – to increase his win tally for the season to five BSB top steps.

The Australian posted 15 podiums during the 2013 British Superbike campaign, which is a phenomenal achievement in what is regarded as the world’s premier national Superbike series.

PJ Jacobsen had a solid, albeit not spectacular, debut season in British Superbike. The American youngster missed out on the all-important top six, but did impress in the latter part of the year with a memorable podium in the Netherlands.

Since the last round at Brands in October, there has been, what looks like an almost revolutionary process within the Tyco Suzuki ranks, with the departure of both the aforementioned riders.

But every cloud has a silver lining and we were delighted to announce that former MotoGP star John Hopkins would be leading the Tyco Suzuki charge in British Superbike for 2014. The Californian needs little or no introduction to the wider two-wheel audience globally and will be a great asset to the team when the season gets underway next April.

His new team-mate will be affable Aussie Josh Waters. The 26-year-old double Australian Superbike champion got his first taste of the BSB series in 2013, but having returned to the Tyco Suzuki family – the great all rounder will undoubtedly be a top six contender in 2014 onboard the Tyco Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike.

In the British Supersport class young Taylor Mackenzie did us proud in his first season aboard a GSX-R600. His tenth place in the series doesn’t really reflect his progress spike during the season. Where one should look to, is the final round at Brands where he actually led one of the races for a brief period.

We are delighted to have Taylor and the Mackenzie family back on-board next season as Taylor’s mannerly nature and desire to succeed mirrors that of the entire Tyco Suzuki team; and what his father Niall brings to ‘the party’ as a three-time British champion and Grand Prix regular – just could not be purchased with his mother Jan also set to be involved in the Tyco Suzuki hospitality set-up for a real family affair.

On the roads this season we have a lot to be proud of with Guy Martin winning the Solo Founders Superbike Championship at the Southern 100 on the Isle of Man, with lap records and 600cc victories to boot. The enigmatic Lincolnshire man went on the take a hat trick at the season finale Ulster Grand Prix, and how can we forget Josh Brookes’ 127.726mph lap at the Isle of Man TT as a newcomer. 

Last November we signed the talented Ballymoney road racer William Dunlop for the 2014 season. The 28-year-old will ride alongside Lincolnshire’s Guy Martin in next season’s ‘Big Three’ International Road Races – The North West 200, Isle of Man TT and Ulster Grand Prix.

We are currently busy as ever preparing GSX-R machinery for the 2014 season, but we would like to thank all our sponsors and supporters for sticking by us this year. Here’s to a great 2014 season!

Here’s a look at some highlights BSB put together from the 2013 season. Enjoy!

Source: Tyco Blog

In the post-9/11 world, access control has become ubiquitous, especially in the corporate world where thousands of people stream into and out of individual office buildings every day.

Workers equipped with access cards enter through turnstiles, actual and virtual, or gain entry into buildings through card-controlled doorways. A swipe of a card allows the cardholder access. But what is there to prevent the wrong person from using someone else’s card to gain admission to the site?

A form of identity theft, if you will, card user fraud takes place when a person who isn’t the actual cardholder enters a building under false pretenses. Security personnel may react when an unfamiliar face comes through the entryway, even if the card still works. But in a setting such as a corporate headquarters, where hundreds of people are converging on the entrance at one time, security may not be able to visually identify illegal card users. And even if they can, they want to ensure that the flow of people continues unimpeded.

Fortunately, technology has advanced to the point where, through the unification of video management and access control systems, security personnel can stay on top of potential identity fraud at the point of access. Unification means that personnel can avoid operating multiple programs, having to toggle between various screens or stopping everyone to determine whose access is being denied.

Consider the example of the corporate office building. At the height of the morning rush, dozens of people may be passing through the access point each minute. Under the unified “swipe and show” technology, a security officer will see an image of each individual card user from the database as they pass through the access point, and can use that to visually compare it with what they are seeing live. If there is an anomaly, they can pull the person aside and verify their identity without stopping the flow of other entrants.

Additionally, policies programmed into each cardholders’ access information may trigger alerts for security personnel. For example, if someone is entering at the correct time with an active credential, the officer will see an image in the software with a green border. But if the person has broken a policy, such as trying to gain access after hours or through the wrong door, the border may appear as yellow for a minor violation that still allows them access, but needs to be addressed in person; or red, which means access is denied.

Remote access is another application for the “swipe and show” technology. The security officer in the control center sees both the image on file as well as live video as a person seeks entry at the remote location and has the ability to react quickly to allow or deny admission.

While the focus is on proper identification, the side benefits of “swipe and show” are that access continues seamlessly for those who should be allowed entry and security personnel have yet another tool for quick and easy card fraud prevention. 

Are you using “swipe and show” security technology? If so, how has it impacted your business? Please leave me a comment below.

We talk about TMI (too much information) and oversharing in our personal lives, but can that ever be the case in the security world?

While the goal of a successful security operation is to have continuous and complete situational awareness for the best response possible, the reality is that too much information from too many sources without some form of control can actually bog down the process.

Traditionally, security personnel have been conducting a juggling act as they take in information from disparate systems such as intrusion, access control, video, building management and the like, each with its own operating system. The information is vital to developing a cohesive security plan, yet it can be overwhelming to the operators in the control center as well as to those in the field who must react based on the collected data.

A solution to TMI can be found in another acronym: PSIM. Physical Security Information Management (PSIM) pulls together the data coming in from all the different security systems and, through a series of business rules and processes, allows operators to analyze, respond and then disseminate this information as needed.

So what makes for a successful PSIM solution? There are several key factors that should be the basis of every PSIM program, beginning with a library of supported, pre-packaged integrations that are easy to deploy and work with. These integrations allow users to receive data and control the system — closing and opening doors, for instance — while also monitoring the health of the overall system.

Another factor is integration with geographic information systems, including online maps, weather information and the like. Seeing maps, floor plans and related information provides better situational awareness.

Graphical interfaces are also important to a robust PSIM application. You want to be able to easily correlate information from various sensors in a graphic format and then test and set up the proper response through logical flows between blocks of operator activities.

A successful PSIM solution will also allow users to track subjects across multiple cameras in an intuitive real-time fashion, using feeds from various, related cameras as they move through a space without referring to maps.

Finally, the PSIM should be based on a flexible, scalable architecture that can be scaled vertically or horizontally based on the need of the end user.

With these key factors in place, the PSIM is now capable of handling the security needs of various clientele, from a major shipping port that needs to bring together multiple interfaces or an airport with hundreds of cameras and access control points.

To learn more about the elements of a successful PSIM solution, register to watch my recorded webinar, “What is PSIM and Why is it Important for my Organization?”

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Please leave any questions you have on PSIM in the comment section below.

Source: Tyco Blog

In the majority of surveillance situations, the end user is going to be using video forensically or sporadically, checking on situations that have occurred and using video to determine what happened or to help make a case against a perpetrator or tuning in to a specific incident that is under way.

But for some security officers, active, live video is the critical element. Casinos are users that are constantly monitoring surveillance cameras as the action unfolds in real time. So too with high-risk assets such as babies in the maternity ward or animals in a drug-testing facility: The more valuable the asset, the more intense the surveillance.

Fortunately, IP-based security systems have made many of the processes easier for those in active surveillance situations through the addition of analytics that can alert officers to potential situations; mobile and remote views of what is unfolding; cost savings, especially for large installations; and network-based redundancy.

Where IP-based surveillance has fallen short sometimes is with latency issues for cameras and monitors and network security. When viewing an ongoing incident, it’s critical that the cameras and monitors used have as low a latency issue as possible so those handling the surveillance can make the PTZ camera follow the action. When there is an active shooter or a kidnapping in progress, security personnel can’t afford to lose track of the person they are tracking.

As companies migrate to IP-based solutions, they are also finding that LED monitors have a higher latency issue than the old CRTs. Unfortunately, CRTs are being phased out, but it’s important to know that there can be latency problems created by the monitors when switching views among PTZs.

On the plus side, there are many advantages presented by the newest video management systems that improve performance during active surveillance situations and these should be on the “must have” list for anyone putting together a system designed for high-volume use. One of these is situational awareness through analytics, or getting alerts when activities out of the ordinary occur, such as someone entering through an exit. 

In some scenarios, such as a shopping mall, there are plenty of open spaces or doorways that allow people to enter and exit, so deploying analytics for situational awareness may not be possible. In these cases, the IP system can provide another benefit through the use of multi-view, time-synched video.

Say, for example, there is an active shooter in the mall. Through the use of time-synched video, security can bring up the various camera views that show the shooting and then help create a timeline to show what happened from there — where the shooter started from, where the event occurred, where he is now, and so on. And this video can also be pushed to officers involved in tracking the shooter so they can see what is happening in real time, rather than relying on audio transmissions to tell them where to go and what to look for.

Because video in these instances is so important for forensic purposes, being able to “vault” the video — extract it from the recording — means it is saved for future viewing and you don’t run the risk of recording over it or losing it.

All of these factors are necessary for the proper design and execution of an IP video system aimed at addressing an active surveillance environment. So as you put together plans for a system, but sure to add these to your checklist.

For a more in-depth look at Active Surveillance and some solutions that address the “must have” features, please watch my recorded Webinar:

What challenges are you having with your active surveillance? Please leave me a comment below.

We’ve all stood in the long lines at airport security to have our bags, personal belongings and even ourselves scanned, and we’ve also witnessed the physical presence of security officers throughout the terminals and at the gates.

But airport security isn’t limited to the departure and arrivals terminals. Throughout the airport complex, which covers acres of land, there are maintenance facilities, private aircraft hangars, warehouses and airline office complexes that also require high levels of security.

Take, for example, Saudia Aerospace Engineering Industries (SAEI), which is the maintenance arm for Saudi Arabian Airlines. At its location at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, SAEI maintains the entire fleet for the airline from its main base here, but also has administrative offices and aircraft hangars that require security oversight.

The security challenges presented by such facilities are myriad, beginning with monitoring staff. In choosing a security management system, SAEI sought one that included intelligent readers that can control access to highly secure areas without downtime as well as allow people to enter offices or warehouses. To this end, SAEI consulted their security installer, YAM Technologies LTD., and went with CEM’s AC2000 security management system and its S610f intelligent IP card readers that come with an LCD display, keypad and on-board database to offer intelligence at the door. Because the readers operate and store transactions offline, there is never any downtime, even if a power outage or system failure should occur.

Often, increased security checks are necessary, so the readers also have the capability of ID card authentication, PIN checks and, where necessary, fingerprint verification.

Another key component is the video and recording side of security. Here, companies such as SAEI look for high-definition cameras with powerful sensor-processor combinations to capture images throughout the maintenance facility, within offices and at the hangars. And the video needs to be easily accessed and managed in both live and recorded modes.

In putting together its system, SAEI chose American Dynamics Illustra IP cameras and VideoEdge network video recorders (NVRs). Supporting these components is the victor unified client, which can manage and control the video from multiple NVRs.

Much like the airports themselves, these facilities are at the frontline of passenger safety and anti-terrorism efforts and need to take a multi-layered, inclusive approach to a security installation. Learn more about this SAEI security project and aviation security in the industry solutions section of the Tyco Security Products website.

What aspects of Airport Security concern you the most? Please leave your concern below.

Source: Tyco Blog