Security Technologies
Central Florida is a wonderful place to live and work. We have the attractions, beaches, lots of sunny days; the list goes on and on. But recently, it seems as if every time you turn on the local and national news there is some disturbing or tragic event that has happened right in our area. In fact, Orlando was recently given the title of "Angriest City In America!"
Why is Orlando so angry? We aren't sure. But one thing we are sure of is that the demand for security technologies in the Central Florida area is on the rise. More and more companies are rushing to install security technologies and many of them are ending up disappointed and frustrated. Some of them get stuck with an overpriced system that is too difficult or inconvenient to use, some of them sign an expensive and unnecessary maintenance agreement, and some of them get a system that does not completely meet their needs.
To overcome these issues, eFusion Systems has carefully chosen products that are extremely flexible, cost-effective, and most of all, easy to use! We understand that even the most powerful systems aren't worth much if you have to hunt through manuals or call a technician every time you want to use them.
Each of the following security technologies is capable of being used as a stand-alone system or can be integrated with other systems (i.e. Access Control integrated with Video Surveillance, etc) for even more flexibility and convenience!
Burglar Alarms
eFusion Systems does not sell, install, maintain, or monitor burglar alarm systems (yet). Even though we do not directly provide them, we are strong proponents of burglar alarm systems and recommend that every household and every business has one! Unless you can afford 24-hour security guards, burglar alarm systems are the primary method of securing your property. We have worked alongside various burglar alarm companies over the years and currently recommend Sunshine State Security for installations throughout Central Florida for their quality products, professionalism, and reliability.
Access Control
An access control system's primary function is to provide a secure, convenient method of access to an area without the use of standard keys and locks. One of the primary issues resolved by an access control system is the expense, inconvenience, and security risk imposed by keys that have been lost or stolen. Instead of keys, access control systems typically use small, inexpensive electronic devices such as magnetic stripe cards, proximity cards, or key fobs that are carried by an individual and uniquely assigned to them. If one of these devices is lost or stolen, the device's unique ID can be disabled in the system and replaced with a new one without the expense of having to replace all of them. Other methods of identification include biometric devices such as hand and fingerprint readers.
Modern access control systems have many advantages beyond their primary function including event logging, the ability to choose what doors are available to individuals, and granting access or unlocking a door automatically during scheduled times of the day. These features are nice, but as we stated earlier, they aren't worth much to you if they are not easily accessible or easy to use. For this reason among many others, eFusion Systems has chosen Brivo Systems, LLC as its primary vendor for access control. Their systems are extremely flexible, cost-effective, and easy to use. Just a few examples of why Brivo's products are preferred by eFusion Systems are included below.
- Brivo offers a hosted platform. This offering alone gives incredible flexibility in the fact that their secure web interface allows for monitoring and configuration from anywhere in the world. Additionally, their hosted platform provides a very easy way to tie any number of geographically dispersed sites together under a single management platform! There is a small monthly fee for the hosted platform, but many of our customers find the power and convenience of this feature to be well worth it!
- If you are not ready for the hosted platform yet, Brivo offers an on-site platform that has a built-in web server for monitoring and configuration. The on-site platform is still convenient and easy to use, but has slightly limited functionality such as the lack of integrated video surveillance.
- Brivo's platforms can easily grow with your company as it grows. You can start out with the on-site platform and grow into the hosted platform without having to change hardware! eFusion Systems will work with Brivo to migrate all of your users and settings to the hosted platform while your on-site platform is still in use and fully functional. When everything is ready, we will simply perform a firmware change to turn the on-site platform into a hosted platform! Migrations from hosted to on-site are also available.
- An amazing feature of the Brivo hosted platform is its ability to integrate with video surveillance technologies! With this integration, a user can easily view a video recording of events directly from the Brivo event log! Additionally, Brivo's OVR feature allows recording of up to 4 cameras per location without the need for a separate DVR!
Video Surveillance
While burglar alarms and access control systems are designed to help stop intruders, they are not very good at catching them. Video surveillance technology, however, has improved so much in recent years, it is now capable of doing both! Don't get us wrong, burglar alarms and access control systems are still the most practical way of doing their respective jobs. Our point is that modern video surveillance systems far exceed the capabilities of the grainy videos that you might see on a news clip covering a convenient store robbery. Even with a limited budget, video cameras are available that see in the dark, see in high resolution, and even follow an object's movement automatically! Video recording systems have come a long way as well. Capabilities that used to be reserved only for the most expensive systems are now standard with many recorders.
One of the most important recent improvements to video surveillance systems is the use of IP networking. IP cameras and IP enabled digital video recorders can bring surveillance and control right to your desktop no matter where you are in the world. Additionally, the use of IP networking enables video surveillance systems to integrate with other systems such as access control and VoIP telephones. eFusion Systems offers IQInvision video cameras and OnSSI video recorders because of their superior IP networking capabilities.
Video Surveillance for Gated Communities
Gated communities are very popular in Central Florida. The gates provide nice curb appeal, privacy, and a degree of security for the entire neighborhood. The gates also come with high maintenance costs and even higher repair costs if they are damaged or vandalized. Unfortunately, most damage or vandalism is done when there are no witnesses, so the repair costs must be paid for by the community instead of the person(s) responsible for the act.
Obviously, the solution to this problem is to install a video surveillance system at the gates. Until recently, however, the solution was not that simple. For a video surveillance system to work properly, the cameras need to be able to feed their video to a recording system for storage. Since most gated communities in Central Florida do not have any temperature controlled buildings at or near the gates, the sensitive video recording systems would quickly succumb to Florida's heat, humidity, and electrical surges. Additionally, the network bandwidth required to send video across the Internet directly from the cameras was so limiting, it made the recordings worthless. Finally, cameras that stored the recordings internally on a flash card were very expensive and difficult to access (imagine climbing a ladder to reach a weatherproof camera, unbolting the housing, and grabbing a flash card every time you wanted to view what was on it!).
After literally two years of searching and waiting for technology to "catch up" with our requirements, eFusion Systems has finally found a solution to this problem that is cost effective, reliable, flexible, and easy to use! This solution allows up to four cameras to record quality video to an on-site and secure video recording system that can withstand the harsh Central Florida environment. All you supply is power and optional broadband Internet connectivity. Since the video is recorded locally, all of the bandwidth limitations go away. Also, because the video is stored in a central recording system (instead of at each camera), access is greatly simplified; options are available for secure connectivity to the recording system via wired networking, wireless networking, or via the Internet over broadband. With any of these methods, live and recorded video can be accessed as well as copied to the client computer.
Biometric Time Clock Systems
A biometric time clock system? Isn't that a bit of overkill? We thought so too, until we figured out why it was so necessary!
Let's pretend for a moment that you are in charge of payroll for a company and that your employees use time sheets to track their hours. One of your employees (we'll call him John) is an average worker and he makes $20 an hour. John has a secret. He tends to "fudge" his time sheet by 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the afternoon. It's not that big a deal, really, because it's only 15 minutes here and 15 minutes there and besides, rush-hour traffic is horrible!
Did you know that in this scenario, John is stealing over $2500 in lost productivity per year? Imagine if there were several people like John in your company!
Continuing with our scenario, you suspect that some people may be "fudging" their time sheets, so you implement a punch clock system. You think to yourself "A-HA!, now they cannot cheat on their time sheets!" At least not until John figures out that he can ask his buddy Jane to punch in and out for him! (after all, rush-hour is really bad!)
This scenario is not as uncommon as you might think. People don't usually intentionally try to cheat their employers and they usually have a good excuse (in their minds at least) for "fudging" their hours if they can. But with a biometric time clock system, they simply can't! This is good news for you and good news for John because he is no longer tempted with the opportunity to circumvent the system and is no longer at risk of being fired (at least not for this reason).
The need for a biometric time clock system was first brought to our attention by a client with over 400 employees. Our scenario above was actually happening in this company and they were losing thousands of dollars per month because of it! As usual, we did some research and spoke to numerous vendors with the client's criteria in mind. The solution we now install and support for all of our clients is based on these criteria and includes the following important features:
- Biometric hand or fingerprint stations with IP network connectivity that allows for easy enrollment, reliable and fast reads, and convenient access to event logs.
- Storage of biometric signatures at each station with the ability to replicate signatures to all stations on the network.
- Local executable software and web based options for timekeeping application.
- Customized reports for easy and convenient updates to your payroll service provider. Updates can also be automated.
Did you know???
Check out the following tidbits of information related to this technology or service! The more you know about something, the more likely you are to make good, informed decisions when it comes time to implement it!
