Data centres in South Africa need to be protected from physical threats to property as well as cybersecurity breaches. To uphold their legal and ethical obligation to their clients, providers need to keep users’ data secure, which is tied to keeping data centre sites secure.

Cathexisvision integration capabilities are able to maximise customers’ return on security investment by seamlessly integrating with a variety of third-party systems. Designed to be feature-rich, stable and scalable, its smart surveillance tools help customers ensure health and safety compliance at all points of the site.

A data centre requires, first and foremost, perimeter monitoring and security of the site. By partnering with access control and fence management systems, such as Gallagher, Cathexisvision offers an integrated electric fence and perimeter monitoring solution. The property can be further secured using automatic number plate recognition technology, which tracks and recognises vehicles entering the property and measures the time taken until departure. Cathexisvision’s video analytics suite gives operators a range of other options, such as automatically detecting loitering, entry into unauthorised areas or classifying objects.

Cathexisvision’s stability maximises system up-time, meaning that quality footage is reliably provided to verify all events on-site. If incidents or breaches in security do arise, the system provides comprehensive records that are admissible in court. Records include extensive, yet easily searchable video footage, which is intelligently managed by the system to achieve minimum data storage. Cathexis engineers have ensured the integrity and reliability of footage, including failover capability in the event of a server failure and both on-site and off-site control rooms for redundancy.

Monitoring and recording of activity encourages compliance with regulations, organising employees within the data centre more efficiently so that risks are identified and addressed quickly. Cathexisvision can be configured in a variety of ways to respond to staff failing to follow security procedures, or to identify potential threats. The solution provides video verification for access control systems for doors or cages.

If someone attempts to access a door or cage on the system, a notification can be sent, or a camera will begin recording and send footage to the database. Fire escape doors can be monitored, triggering immediate actions in the event of an irregularity. These responses include the choice to customise automatic actions, or the option to notify an operator who may wish to command further actions manually. The software keeps track of all transactions in the database, including ‘access denied’ and other non-compliant activity.

Compliance with health and safety procedures throughout the data centre can be organised using the software to keep staff safe from danger or illness. In the event of an alert, integrated fire systems can ensure evacuation routes and mustering points are automatically monitored. Advances in facial recognition technology have made it possible for Cathexisvision, together with partners such as Herta, to support efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the workplace. A mask recognition algorithm facilitates mask compliance, while people counting technology can be used to limit the number of occupants in a designated space, so that healthier behaviours become everyday practice, keeping infringements to a minimum.

Cathexisvision has been developed with cyber security as a priority, with secure, internal systems communication encryption. Cathexisvision also supports encryption for all external site connections, offering four selectable encryption levels. A secure IP camera connection and data encryption further enhance security.