SecurityWorldMarket

13/02/2009

Dedicated Micros wins IP in security award

Warrington, England

Dedicated Micros - part of AD Group - has secured a prestigious IP in Security Innovation Award for a revolutionary capability that can transform NetVu Connected CCTV systems into a sophisticated Emergency Messaging and Mass Notification System.

The result, which saw Dedicated Micros come top in the 'Best Software Product' category, was announced during an Awards Dinner at the Hilton Hotel, Coventry, on Wednesday 28 January, in conjunction with the IIPSEC
2009 exhibition.

When deployed the award-winning Emergency Messaging System (EMS) provides authorities, police and end-users with an unparalleled situational awareness and two-way communication capability with specified assets should a major incident or a disaster occur; there is also the potential to generate revenue through a Mass Notification System (MNS) and, simultaneously, to continue to perform the surveillance tasks required to secure any facility.

The leading edge Emergency Messaging and Mass Notification System, developed by Dedicated Micros and parent company AD Group - take advantage of the inherent ability of all NetVu Connected systems to support a local display output and communicate over an IP network. Normally this is used by an operator to view scenes from a CCTV system or, if positioned in a public area, to provide a sense of security that they are being monitored and to act as a deterrent to criminals. Now, with Dedicated Micros' Emergency Messaging and Mass Notification System, it is possible to offer the police, authorities and other users through the already established CCTV infrastructure the ability to create a two-way communication system unlike any other mass market system.

In practical terms, the system comprises NetVu Connected systems installed within a transport infrastructure (such as on trains and at railway stations), in buildings around a University campus or even across a city.

As all of these NetVu Connected systems are addressable, the solution allows operators to identify all units in a given geographical area and pinpoint them for precise, directed, communications. For example this could be to receive a message initiator through the use of a Graphic User Interface such as Pick-a-Point, or through a simple SMS or even an FM radio broadcast in the event of a disaster.

The beauty of the intelligent EMS and MNS solution is that NetVu Connected units in the field when receiving such a message can determine their GPS position in relation to an incident and respond accordingly - this may mean that a different message is displayed on screen as a result. A powerful rules engine also helps to determine whether the initiator received is of relevance. The system has been designed to be user friendly so text or rich media messages can be created dynamically by the operator and displayed on screen using an interface which has been built on open platform web technologies.

Said Pauline Norstrom, director of worldwide marketing at Dedicated Micros: "We are delighted to have won the Best Software Product category in the IP in Security Innovation Awards, underlining as it does the industry-leading nature of the Emergency Messaging and Notification capability which we can now offer in conjunction with our NetVu Connected surveillance solutions."

"The key commercial advantage with the Emergency Messaging and Mass Notification System is the low cost of implementation because it is able to leverage the initial investment in NetVu Connected equipment and network to deliver additional capabilities. Also any subsequent display infrastructure costs can be offset against the benefit of general information display or even direct advertising revenue."

"As the NetVu Connected systems used in the solution have a unique identifier they can be located and messages tailored to the scenario, providing actionable results to a diverse range of recipients this is in stark contrast to many other solutions which are non-discriminate and broadcast to all devices. The scope of the solution is truly impressive; all IP connected units have the capability to become a messaging display such as a single NetVu Connected camera like the CamVu 2000. In fact even systems which are not being used for CCTV surveillance (such as an IPTV unit) but feature a compatible Codec, such as that supported by our sister company ChipWrights' latest 5361 Visual Signal Processor, can be added."

Two-way communication provides situational awareness and up-to-date assessment at remote locations, including the current location of mobile assets. For added flexibility there is also the ability to integrate the Emergency Messaging and Mass Notification System into mobile devices such as a PDA or mobile phone through TransCoding (this allows the video streams to be compressed and transmitted over low bandwidth links). Other non-NetVu Connected products can be readily integrated into the solution e.g. PA/Audio Systems.











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