Controlware Communications Systems

Larger organisations that span several buildings, cities or regions typically require an enterprise class security solution with the ability to centralize many of the security functions of a local system. To meet this market need, Genetec's Security Center supports the concept of Federation for both its Synergis IP access control and its Omnicast IP video surveillance systems. Security and IT departments can seamlessly bridge several independent systems that are located in remote or regional sites, into a single virtual system through Genetec's Federation feature. This larger system view then facilitates centralized monitoring of and reporting across multiple remote sites via the Security Desk unified interface.

The Security Center Federation is an enterprise class feature that allows the Security Center to scale to tens of thousands of cameras, doors, servers, and client workstations, all over an IP network. The Security Center is a natural fit for large campus-style environments such as universities, for organizations with hundreds of buildings or sites, for multi-national corporations, as well as for central monitoring stations supervising hundreds of remote and independent clients.

Given that communication is IP based, the local Synergis and Omnicast servers, cameras, and readers can be located in separate geographic areas which are then seamlessly unified into a single security system for global monitoring. Additionally, efficiency for end users is easily achieved through initiatives such as centralized monitoring of sites with fewer security or IT resources and more.

Overview of the Security Center's Federation for Synergis and Omnicast Systems. Click to view a larger version.

Global Access and Video Monitoring with the Security Desk

The ability to supervise and monitor a large enterprise system spanning multiple sites from a single location is often paramount. With Genetec's Security Center installed in the main office, at corporate headquarters, or in a central monitoring facility, security operators can monitor the entire security system from a single user interface, the Security Desk. Moreover, monitoring can be done through a single client workstation for both Synergis access control and Omnicast video surveillance systems.

A Security Center Federation server is able to enrol hundreds of federated (local or remote) Synergis and Omnicast systems. Once a remote system is federated, a myriad of entities such as cardholders, alarms, doors, and cameras can be added. All added entities appear as local entities in the federated system and operators are then able to monitor their entire security infrastructure as if it were one large virtual system. Live and recorded video can be examined, cameras can be manipulated via PTZ controls, and doors can be unlocked from a distance. Events and alarms originating from federated entities will be available from a global client monitoring all remote systems.

Entities that can be federated or monitored centrally include the following:

• Doors & access points
• Cameras & units
• Alarms
• Areas
• Zones
• Cardholders (Groups)
• Credentials
• Elevators
• Custom fields
• Outputs

Through the Security Desk's Federation feature, a higher level of efficiency and costs savings can be achieved as fewer security operators are required when centrally monitoring several sites. As an example, rather than staff a security operator at each independent site, large enterprises can now monitor all of their locations centrally with a smaller number of security personnel. Independent organizations located in the same building or in close proximity can coordinate and jointly outsource their security monitoring and management functions to a third party, further reducing their security costs.

Centralized and Consolidated Reporting with the Security Desk

Centralized reporting is another benefit that users can take advantage of when using the Security Center’s Federation feature. Once entities such as cameras, points of sale (e.g., cash registers), cardholders, and doors are federated, users can generate consolidated reports for several or all of their remote sites. Video reports or access control reports would consist of consolidated information rather than generating individual reports for each remote or federated site. For example, point-of-sale reports for a retail organization can be generated by region or nationally; data is consolidate by default and does not have to be manually merged through human intervention, further reducing costs and time spent on generating individual reports.

Unsurpassed Scalability

The inherent scalability of the Security Center provides long-term growth options to ever-expanding organizations. It provides end users with peace of mind knowing that their Synergis access and Omnicast video systems can grow without concerns, keep pace with their expansion plans, and reinforce their choice in Genetec's Security Center.

Through innovative software technology and design practices, Genetec has designed the Federation to support hundreds or thousands of regionally federated systems and a virtually unrestricted number of entities such as doors, cameras, and cardholders. Through the Security Center, a federated system can start with a few access and video servers and can eventually be built up to a unified system of any size. This is only possible because the Security Center is designed to handle tens of thousands of events per second per server from all over an IP network. This drastically outpaces traditional access control and video solutions designed for serial communications that can only handle a few hundred events per minute. Even with network adapters, the architecture is based on older and slower communication technology. As federated systems grow, these traditional architectures will reach their limits sooner and with disastrous results and costs for end users. The Security Center avoids the pitfalls of traditional access and video systems.

Independence of Local or Regional Operations

While the Security Center offers centralized monitoring of remote Synergis and Omnicast systems, it nonetheless supports the independence of local security operations. Security and IT departments in remote sites are able to monitor their local access and video systems and make local configuration changes in parallel with any centralized monitoring conducted at the Federation site (e.g., corporate headquarters). This is further assurance that when communications between a remote site and the Federation is disrupted, remote operators can continue to work on their local systems as usual.

If you have any questions or would like systems requirement info, supported hardware etc. or need help specifying the right integrated security system to meet your needs call us on 0844 225 9 225 or email Controlware for expert advice.