Leveraging IP Technology
Unique approaches in staffing have renewed and reimagined remote monitoring for sprawling or complicated campus environments
- By Benjamin Bryant
- April 01, 2017
Not long ago, the term “virtual guarding” conjured
up images of bargain offerings seeking
to reduce the cost of physical security guards
by “replacing” manpower with video monitoring.
the results in the early days were underwhelming—
if not outright problematic—coloring
the perception of remote monitoring for
many. today, the playing field has changed,
with innovators in the virtual guarding space
offering solutions light years beyond the
offerings of the past in terms of capability
and performance. often taking counter-intuitive
or surprising approaches, new leaders in
the virtual guarding space have moved beyond
the idea of “replacing” guards with technology.
instead, they are leveraging next-generation
technologies, particularly ip and networked
surveillance, and new approaches to
staffing to not only enhance incident documentation
and response, but mitigate potential
incidents altogether.
This approach has made new, modern iterations of virtual guarding
a game changer for safety and security. It’s a new role for virtual guarding
as a powerful and cost-effective approach, both alternative and
enhancement to traditional manned guarding, delivering the enhanced
capability, reduced costs, and better response to the diverse security
challenges faced on public, industrial, professional, and educational
campuses.
LEVERAGING ELITE PEOPLE AND
LATEST-GENERATION IP TECHNOLOGY
Currently, emergent leaders in the virtual guarding space are those
successfully leveraging guarding and security expertise, matching it
with the right technology to move beyond mere “remote monitoring”
to true, comprehensive “virtual” guarding. This is what the Arizona based
Surveillance Acquisition Response Center (SARC) set out to do
as part of its early work to remake and redefine the concept and utility
of virtual guarding. Upending both technological and business models
for traditional virtual guarding operations, SARC focused its attention
in a place long minimized by those in the “virtual” space: people.
“Traditional views of remote monitoring and virtual guarding
focused on the core idea of replacing expensive people with lower cost
technology,” noted San Kim, SARC’s Director of Operations, “this left
the human resources that remained—monitors and responders, in particular—
as almost an afterthought in crafting a solution. SARC took
the opposite approach and began with people.”
As SARC crafted their approach and operational models for a re-magined
virtual guarding offering, they mandated the use of highlytrained
professionals with law enforcement, intelligence, military and
security technology background in their monitoring centers. This
guaranteed a baseline institutional understanding of the many aspects
of security and surveillance operations, hastening and sharpening the
focus of real time observation, documentation, and response activity,
improving the accuracy of judgement calls and the efficiency of support
and cooperation with local law enforcement.
SARC then turned their eye to technology, keenly aware of the
opportunity presented by advancements in IP networked surveillance
technologies to craft a virtual guarding solution unlike imagined in the
earliest days of remote monitoring.
“IP wasn’t just a game changer,” said Kim, “it was the game changer
in terms of virtual guarding. It wasn’t hard for us to see the benefits
and applications of IP in our space.”
Kim notes the scalability and flexibility of IP as foundational for
the development of next generation virtual guarding offerings. “The
sites in need of our solutions—including campuses of all shapes and
sizes—are increasingly complex in terms of size and available infrastructure.
IP cameras allow us to utilize existing data infrastructure
directly (without having to add an additional IP enabled recorders or
use IP encoders).”
He further notes a host of other IP benefits that work synergistically
to empower and enable virtual guarding solutions capable of meeting
the security requirements of even the most sprawling, complicated, or
remote sites within or related to an industrial, healthcare, mixed-use, or educational campus, including on-edge video content analysis, the
robust features available with IP technology, the quick adaptation of IP
offerings to emerging technologies, and the substantial integration
capability offered by the most robust IP offerings.
Kim also cites another foundational aspect of IP technology essential
to SARC’s virtual guarding offering: remote management, noting
“IP cameras can be managed and monitored in detail (health conditions,
connectivity grade, etc.) by trained operators and technicians at
remote monitoring centers, streamlining maintenance, improving performance,
and reducing downtime.”
PARTNERING TO STANDARDIZE OPERATIONS
AND OPTIMIZE PERFORMANCE
In the constantly evolving and progressing security market, it’s essential
to deliver solutions that deliver a wide range of customizable
options for solutions of any size, scope, or circumstance, while also
keeping both the installation and user experience streamlined and
simple for installers and operators. SARC quickly determined that a
technology standard for their virtual guarding operations was required,
allowing their elite operators to train on and master a comprehensive
suite of technology and single user interface.
To begin, SARC needed simple IP configuration, while maintaining
third party IPC support, to accommodate installers who had grown
accustomed to analog installation methodologies. Maximizing flexibility
to cater to each of their client’s needs was also a priority and any
solution had to have surveillance components that were scalable,
ONVIF compliant, and compatible with a wide range of third party
products in order to build off existing analog installations while still
reaping the benefits of HD quality. Finding highest quality solutions
with low maintenance requirements and no licensing fees—and resulting
lower total cost of ownership for end users—was another requirement
for SARC.
After more than a year and a half of inquiry, testing and evaluation
of numerous industry options, SARC selected the comprehensive IDIS
total solution, featuring DirectIP technology and the powerful IDIS
Solution Suite VMS as a technology standard. DirectIP is an optimized
HD surveillance platform based on an IP framework consisting of a
complete range of IP cameras, network video recorders (NVRs), network
equipment, and client software, all offered as a complete package
or available as individual, optimized components.
The simple plug-and-play functionality and automatic network
detection of DirectIP made the entire surveillance system quick and
easy to set up for SARC’s installer partners, and centralized functionality
allowed every IP camera to be installed without the need for individual
configuration. The IDIS “future proof ” guarantee further met
SARC’s needs by guaranteeing backwards compatibility with future
IDIS surveillance components, eliminating security vulnerabilities
that come with hiccups in future system upgrades.
The powerful video management software (VMS) options offered by
IDIS also allowed SARC to provide its clients with a flexible and cost
effective surveillance virtual guarding solution. IDIS Center is a completely
license-free VMS, with no upgrade charges or annual fees, and,
for more specific or complicated requirements, IDIS Solution Suite provided
a powerful modular functionality, affordably customizable to any
user need. Near identical user interfaces between IDIS Center, IDIS
Solution Suite, and IDIS Mobile simplified the user experience and
reduced training requirements for SARC’s operators, allowing more
time for a laser focus on client needs and not wrangling technology.
REAL WORLD APPLICATIONS DEMONSTRATING
THE POWER OF VIRTUAL GUARDING
Two Phoenix-area installations demonstrate the power of an enhanced
virtual guarding solution and the applicability to campuses of all sizes
and levels of complexity. The Mesa Grande Cultural Park in Mesa, AZ
is a remote site, part of the Arizona Museum of Natural History campus,
is a working excavation area, bustling with archaeologists,
researchers, students, and tourists. Trespassing, litter, vandalism, and
theft frequently plagued the site, particularly at night, but the costs and
logistical challenges of 24-7 manned coverage of all areas of the site
proved prohibitive, placing the cultural discovery and legacy of the
ancient site at risk.
Similar challenges were faced at Tempe’s Hayden Ferry Lakeside
mixed-use campus, where private spaces are co-located with open
retail and restaurant options, public gathering spaces, and a vast parking
garage supporting the area’s many businesses, schools—including
nearby Arizona State University—and community gatherings. This
greatly expands the number of daily visitors to the property beyond a
regular residential community—with its easily predicted schedules
and patterns—requiring heightened and dynamic security operations
27/7. Event crowds, including the presence of alcohol at times, contributed
to the unpredictability of the security challenge.
The installation of the SARC virtual guarding solution, powered
by IDIS total surveillance technology, has already resulted in substantial
benefits for the caretakers of both the Mesa Grande Cultural
Park and the Hayden Ferry Lakeside campus. On a nightly
basis, the SARC operations center identifies and deters potential
threats to the site using IDIS technology and SARC’s remote “voice
down” protocol, which SARC’s trained law enforcement, military,
and intelligence veterans inform would-be bad actors via loudspeakers
that they are under live surveillance and should cease and desist
immediately. This successfully mitigates many potential issues,
managing and preventing full blown incidents whenever possible.
When not possible, the early engagement by trained professionals
results in more competent identification, documentation, and
response, as well as seamless coordination with clients and local law
enforcement, when required.
Since the IDIS-powered SARC virtual guarding solution went live,
both sites have reduced, if not effectively eliminated, common security
challenges, and staff, visitors, equipment, and property are measurably
more secure as a result, something Kim is pleased to hear. “I can’t
speak for everyone, but our team and our partners are in this industry
to keep people and property safe and secure. This is especially true
when you look at where our people come from—the military, law
enforcement, etc.—or at the stated corporate values of our partners,
like IDIS. When the results speak for themselves,
as they do, it not only validates the power and
potential of next-generation virtual guarding, it
lets us know that we’re doing what we set out to
do: keeping things safe. We like that.”
This article originally appeared in the April 2017 issue of Campus Security Today.