Tenant buildings with elevators can be difficult to secure. How do you control access to individual and specific floors during the day or after hours? What’s the best way to provide the most comprehensive physical security for occupants around-the-clock, yet not make access overly restrictive or cumbersome?
Many security dealers shy away from elevator access but Alarm Specialists Inc., headquartered in White Plains, N.Y., found the best solution with Connect ONE from Connected Technologies LLC and ELK Products Inc.
Guardian Alarm
A Detroit-based security services provider, was listed as an approved vendor for Project Green Light Detroit. The safety initiative, a first of its kind, is a public-private-community partnership led by the Detroit Police Department (DPD) and combines community policing with visual verification capabilities using video surveillance equipment provided by vendors like Guardian Alarm.
“Guardian Alarm has been providing peace of mind through professional monitoring of homes and businesses here in Detroit for the past eight decades,” said Tom Erhardt, president and COO, Guardian Alarm. “We are honored to partner with DPD and the city of Detroit on this innovative partnership that directly aligns with our culture to improve the lives of our customers and the safety of our community. We couldn’t be prouder to provide affordable video surveillance options that can make Project Green Light a reality for more of the Detroit business community.”
Gary Davis, principal and owner of Alarm Specialists, said he has been working on moving his company to cloud-hosted security platforms for managed services, long-term profitability and consistent recurring monthly revenue. Alarm Specialists, established in 1975, is a security alarm and integration company serving the New York metropolitan area, including Westchester and Rockland Counties and Fairfield, Conn.
“We continue to go in the direction of cloud-based, integrated security and life safety systems for commercial and residential customers. We don’t want to be in the IT business. We want to utilize the cloud and applications so our customers don’t need on-site servers. Our customers don’t want to maintain servers either, and with cloud hosting you get redundancy, automatic backup, disaster recovery, updates and other important capabilities built in. It’s much more cost-effective for the end user and profitable for us. When we designed elevator control in the past the upfront cost was in the thousands, but there was no recurring revenue tied to the hardware once it was installed,” he said.
Nedap
Nedap provided physical access control and long-range readers for vehicle identification at the new AZ Zeno medical care center in Knokke-Heist, Belgium. AZ Zeno, which opened in April 2018, consists of a hospital with a rehabilitation center, an outpatient clinic, auditorium, public event space and a heliport. Nedap Identification System and Nedap Security Management have worked together on this extensive project.
It is AZ Zeno’s highest priority to guarantee the security of patients and employees. With Nedap’s TRANSIT long-range identification readers, emergency vehicles get swift access to the hospital’s premises. With AEOS, Nedap provides the medical care center with a complete solution for physical access control, and the system will also be used to manage staff lockers. By combining Nedap’s solutions, AZ Zeno is able to offer both patients and employees the best possible security and accessibility. To implement the system, Nedap collaborated with partner Electro Enterprise Gullegem.
Alarm Specialists is now providing elevator control for three high-profile, multi-story buildings in midtown Manhattan, on Madison Ave. and Fifth Ave. — two commercial and one residential. Technicians have deployed ELK M1 control panels, Connect ONE Access Expanders and relay modules to control, restrict and limit individual floor access.
ELK’s M1 controls leverage the Connect ONE cloud-hosted management software platform and interface for security, access control, mobile credential access, video and critical environmental monitoring in a single solution. Connect ONE is an ELK cloud partner, providing services for viewing, management and control of M1 systems through any web-enabled device or smartphone.
3xLOGIC Inc.
3xLOGIC Inc. announced that the Flint, Mich., Boys and Girls Club now enjoys significantly improved safety and security with its newly installed 16-camera video surveillance system.
“We had grown our old system up to 16 cameras, and we had expanded the number of areas under surveillance,” explained Tauzzari Robinson, CEO of Flint Boys and Girls Club. “However, the image quality was not great, and we didn’t have much zoom capability.” Robinson asked a staff member, who was in charge of monitoring the cameras on a day-to-day basis, to speak to the Boys and Girls Club board of directors. “This staff member told the board plainly that we needed better technology.” Fortunately, board member Mike Buckel, vice president sales and marketing for Sonitrol Great Lakes, knew exactly what was needed.
Between Sonitrol Great Lakes and 3xLOGIC, the two companies worked with the club to design and install a brand new, complete IP system of 16 4MP cameras, backed by a 3xLOGIC V5000 server. 3xLOGIC discounted the hardware and Sonitrol Great Lakes donated all the installation and ongoing support and labor.
Davis said his customers love the system and are comfortable with the different levels of control. “We help them program cards for the system, but we let them control what they want — making them part of the management team.”
Each building differs, so requirements may vary. One of the buildings has a security guard during the day. The guard uses the Connect ONE graphical user interface (GUI) at their post to grant or deny access once a user presents their card; the system is also connected to video surveillance. Visitors are allowed to certain floors by the security guard through the interface. After hours, elevators are locked down.
ERC
Fast casual restaurants and quick service restaurants (QSRs) have traditionally installed surveillance cameras to deter crime, encourage safety and improve efficiency. However, these systems often stood alone and were not integrated with any of the other electronic systems used in the industry. Today, owners and managers expect digital security cameras to be integrated with existing Point-of-Sale (POS), drive-through order boards and speed-of-service timers.
ERC, a hospitality systems POS integrator, has supplied over 10,000 restaurants with POS systems including Arby’s, Popeyes, KFC and Burger King. The company also provides POS systems for Kahala Brands, which manages 18 brands worldwide at more than 3,000 locations, including Cold Stone Creamery.
“When a video system is used in conjunction with integrated POS data to track every deposit or withdrawal from registers or a store safe, it is hard for anyone to say ‘That’s not me in that picture,’” said Chuck Rollins, president of ERC.
That’s all part of the beauty and flexibility of using a cloud-based management platform, Davis said. “My customers can manage it themselves from their smartphone app if they like. They can set their own schedules and we configure the Connect ONE GUI. If there’s an emergency or other response required, the superintendent or management can use their smart device for access. It’s all part of the Connect ONE app,” Davis said.
He said he also likes the fact that with Connect ONE he doesn’t have to buy access control software, maintenance contracts or upgrades. Through the dealer portal, Davis can set up an unlimited number of groups for the building.
Nortek Security & Control
When it came to protecting his luxury 47-foot trawler, Matt Lombardi Sr. of Seattle-based Absolute Security Alarms (ASA) chose the 2GIG GC3 by Nortek Security & Control (NSC).
“As someone who has been successfully installing 2GIG systems for years at ASA, I knew the 2GIG GC3 system would provide the high level of security and remote observation I need on my boat,” Lombardi said. “The GC3 offers the control and flexibility that I require to constantly check in and monitor the yacht remotely.”
The 2GIG GC3 system provides Lombardi’s vessel with a user-friendly interface and access to the boat’s entire security infrastructure. It also allows Lombardi to add lighting and climate control, as well as monitoring of the boat’s carbon monoxide and smoke detectors from the system’s touch panel. “It lets me know immediately the minute any security element connected to the system isn’t detected as communicating with the 2GIG GC3 panel,” he explained.
“There isn’t much I can’t do with the system,” Davis said. “The cloud and Connect ONE is so much more effective than standard security management and access control software.” He’s also looking at deploying it in K-12 education for lockdown capabilities.
“Managed services and the cloud is the way to go, not only with tenant buildings but corporations and education. These users want to eliminate on-site servers and move to the efficiency of the cloud.”
