Page 32 - Campus Security & Life Safety, March/April 2020

By Paul Rux
The Promise of Technology
Intelligent communication solutions are coming to retirement communities
chainarong06/Shutterstock.com
Retirement Campuses
Many campuses, corporations and retirement homes competitively differentiate their offerings around service and safety. Both aspects require intelligent communications. Employees, visitors and family members expect to be able to easily locate and communicate with their hosts. That requires the ability to hear, be heard and be understood under any condition, including emergencies.
Ensuring efficient communication requires interoperability; in the case of retirement homes, that means the integration of an easy to scroll and use directory with an Intelligent Communication solution. The devices within the solution can also be used to communicate if there is an incident.
Integrators must weigh the promise of technology with the reality of deploying, maintaining and managing the technology over time. Their business model requires that they reduce the complexity of the total cost of deployment and ownership for them and the customer.
Envision Technology Group, a systems integrator headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, immediately grasped this while bench- marking intercom technologies. Envision is a recognized leader in the design and installation of Structured Cabling Systems, design and integration of Fire Alarm, Security, Intercom and AV Systems, paging and sound masking systems, as well as CATV/MATV systems.
Their first insight from their evaluation of intercom vendors was the wide disparity in the quality of the sound. Like many integrators, they were not aware of this disparity. They also were increasingly
32 campuslifesecurity.com | MARCH/APRIL 2020