Page 13 - Security Today, March 2019

It takes building projects from conception through planning, design and construction, with some locations LEED certified smart buildings with solar energy.
“We monitor the assets we have the privi- lege to protect,” Davis said. “We have a lot of moving parts and responsibilities, including monitoring and protecting many locations that must be compliant with State and Fed- eral regulations. We have a 24-hour security operations center which is similar to a 911 fa- cility. The overall goal is to be good stewards of the County’s funds and provide a solution that’s cost effective and results in a lower total cost of ownership—while fulfilling the needs of all stakeholders.”
Shannon Clyde, Electronic Security Sys- tems Manager, Security Division of FMD, is overseeing and implementing the massive migration of access control.
“There were quite a few different access control systems operating,” Clyde said. “To begin the project, we did an overall assess- ment of technologies available and issued a Request for Proposal. We decided on the Ge- netec Security Center.”
Security Center is the unified security platform from Genetec Inc.that blends IP security systems within a single intuitive in- terface to simplify operations. From access control, video surveillance, and automatic license plate recognition to security commu- nications, intrusion detection and analytics, Security Center provides enhanced situation- al awareness, unified command and control and cloud connectivity.
Historical Buildings
Clyde said minor challenges were tied to the age of the buildings, some dating from the 1800s with historical status.
“There weren’t too many challenges that couldn’t be met with having the right people and the right technology,” Clyde said. “We have an excellent provider and partner in Pref-Tech.”
Pref-Tech, led by Shaun Castillo, presi- dent, is a multi-generational company that focuses on the highest levels of service to the customer. Pref-Tech has migrated suc- cessfully to an IT centric systems integra- tion company with design-build-manage- ment expertise in data communications networking, security and low voltage. Its IT-focused staff is able to complete custom design and programming to meet the needs of Travis County.
Pref-Tech answered the Request for Pro- posal, a multi-phase bid centering on migrat- ing from a legacy Lenel Facility Commander WNX. The County also required the speci- fication to include LifeSafety Power Inc. prewired enclosures with integration into
Genetec Security Center for remote monitor- ing. Pref-Tech’s custom monitoring plug-in fit the spec for that direct integration.
“The goal of the project was to upgrade their security and centralize on a unified platform,” Castillo said. “One of the items important to Travis County was the abil- ity for FMD to proactively address any problems with power-connected solutions system wide, so they specified LifeSafety Power network communications and the Pref-Tech monitoring plug-in for the proj- ect. They are already starting to see wide- spread benefits with networked monitoring of power supplies.”
In one recent incident FMD and Pref- Tech received real-time notification of a temperature condition that caused airflow to stop.
“Our monitoring plug-in can see data spikes and provide the information imme- diately to the Security Division operating center and to our support team,” said Terry King, General Manager, Pref-Tech. “In an- other instance, the monitoring plug-in re- ceived a power fault error and notified Travis County before they were aware. It was an AC fault but our system was proactively giving us the information to more effectively man- age the issue. That further addresses system reliability and protects the investment they have made.”
Direct Integration Yields Rich Data
Clyde said Pref-Tech was able to create an in- tegration with the Genetec software that pro- vides interaction and notification congruent with LifeSafety Power solutions.
“It’s been extremely helpful,” Clyde said. “We can manage power supplies remotely and get alerts by email if there is an AC sup- ply issue or battery going out. We have a small team and an expansive area to cover. Before, we didn’t know what was going on until we sent someone to physically check the facility. This is a fantastic time and cost sav- ings mechanism.”
The custom programming of the Life- Safety Power data analytics into the Genetec Security Center software was directed and executed by the IT team at Pref-Tech, in- cluding Josh Glover, IT Director and Mark Roland, Development and Systems Team, Manager. Pref-Tech is a Genetec Channel Partner and worked with the manufacturer to deploy Security Center’s Software Devel- opment Kit (SDK) which allows it to inter- face and run notifications, alerts and other capabilities directly in the program.
“At a high level, we created a plug in which runs inside Security Center,” Roland said. “That allows us to run our own code to extend the Security Center platform and integrate with other products and devices. It uses Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) to communicate with LifeSafety Power’s NetLink (NL4 and NL2) Network Communication Modules to receive alerts and other notifications from the connected power solutions. SNMP traps enable a device to notify the management station of signifi- cant events and share this detail with Gene- tec software so all alerts and notifications are coming into the platform, including AC loss, overcurrent alert, low-battery (standby) warning and more.”
All computer workstations on the Travis
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