Viscount Systems recently won a “Be What’s Next” award from Microsoft in recognition of its participation in Microsoft Global Security’s Good Samaritan Project, which was designed to create a social network to help aid and assist in the event of emergencies.

The project uses the Freedom security platform to integrate with Microsoft Kinect software with Windows phones through an Azure Cloud application. When Kinect identifies an emergency condition, Freedom Cloud software identifies staff in the relevant Freedom access control zone and sends them an emergency assistance message on their Windows phone.

Viscount’s role in the Good Samaritan Project focused on applying Microsoft’s cloud and mobile platforms to the security industry, said Steve Pineau, Viscount’s president and CEO, adding that his company was pleased to have had the opportunity to work — and share the honor — with Microsoft Global Security on the project. The project also helped Viscount identify and develop new technologies.

“This project and our other R&D initiatives have resulted in the company filing numerous patents in the past year that relate to the cloud, mobile devices, NFC, converged logical/physical identity management, smartcards, identity management and visitor management,” Pineau said. “As we begin to commercialize these products, we believe that we are well-positioned to become the leading provider of mobile and cloud solutions to the physical security industry.”