Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/31793
2011 Central Station SOURCE BOOK www.securitysystemsnews.com The new central station T Central station evolving to 'hub' and 'information-processing center' BY DANIEL GELINAS he security industry is a technology-driven ecosystem. This year’s ISC West show in Las Vegas is proof enough of that. There were new technologies on display and talk everywhere about new technologies that integrate the information from disparate technologies into a single interface (physical security information management, or PSIM). In the midst of all this advanc- ing technology, the role of the central station is changing as well. According to industry executives who spoke to Security Systems News, the central station can no longer afford to just be an old- fashioned call center monitoring old-fashioned alarms in the same old-fashioned way. Central stations have to evolve and become the testing center, the educator and, in many ways, the advocate for the future of the industry. Consider these recent news stories that highlight this evolu- tion: C.O.P.S. deployed more mainframes in a highly-secured, Las Vegas-based SuperNap (network access provider); G4S Monitoring and Data Center moved into network monitoring in addition to its video monitoring activities; central station automation software provider DICE is becoming a technology infrastructure backup provider and central station software provider; AlarmSoft is get- ting ready to build a server farm for expanded, technology-rich managed services like video monitoring. All of these stories point to the growing trend in the security industry of the central station becoming the technology and processing power hub. THE SOFTWARE PROVIDERS During a special educational seminar held during ISC West 2011, Axis Communications business development manager and industry liaison Steve Surfaro moderated a panel comprising Bold Technologies president Rod Coles, DICE Corporation president and CEO Cliff Dice, and SGS vice president Hank Goldberg. The execs—all engaged in the business of delivering the software technol- ogy that drives the central station monitoring industry—discussed how the central station was changing, and how new technologies were bringing about an evolution. SGS’ Goldberg feels central stations need to prepare themselves to become information processing hubs. “Monitoring systems have evolved over the past fi ve years to include more options for data collection and use. Certainly, video has had and will continue to have great implications for central stations,” Goldberg said. “Additional data sources include access control, and video analytics will allow companies to bring multiple sources into a matrix for analysis. Central stations need to get ready to handle Rod Coles 2 JUNE 2 0 1 1 more information.” Bold’s Coles agrees that more and more the central station is becoming the one pipe through which many different technologies come together, making the central station the hub of many different potential service offerings. “Technology has to work together to provide the tools to opera- tors in the central station … In the case of an active shooter, you want to easily be able to track them using multiple video cameras using video routing; you want to be able to lock down certain areas using the access control system; you want to be able to use mass notifi cation systems to warn people; you need to connect to mobile devices to pass secure information to guards and responders,” Coles said. “You can’t do that effectively using multiple tools, and that’s why everything has to be integrated through Hank Goldberg one platform.” Dice said the migration to cloud computing would advance beyond such commonplace contemporary examples as email and slowly infi ltrate the world of the central station at an increasing rate. “[It’s] the same thing that’s happening with email today. Right now, you’ve got major corporations moving away from Microsoft Exchange and going up into the cloud in droves,” Dice said. “Why are people doing that? In the end people go to the cloud because it’s cheaper, there’s redundancy, it works better … It’s really a cost versus control issue. It’s where a lot of today’s software is really taking us.” Cliff Dice THE CENTRAL STATIONS Central stations today are becoming more than simply a call center. And, central station executives say central stations need to not only keep up, but also lead, vet, and educate in order to stay viable in a changing world. “Our monitoring center is really a life safety center,” said Diebold director of security solutions Jacky Grimm. “We don’t view it as just a call center … It’s not just a person at a workstation working with a script. That’s not really what a central station is. It’s a hub. It’s an information-processing center. For dealers it’s all about services we can offer that match their edge devices.” Mace CS VP and GM Morgan Hertel agrees that the role of the central station will always be to service its dealers and noted the criteria for doing so was changing every day. EVOLVING see page 14