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Extending the reach of Security Center to other areas of security

One of the great new features available in Security Center 5.0 is the integration of third-party intrusion or alarm panels. Historically, Genetec solutions have integrated intrusion in a number of ways, eg. via relays connected to supported IO modules or via custom scripts or macros developed with our SDK. This provided some tie-in with intrusion panels but was not as seamless as one would expect of a unified platform.

In Security Center 5.0, we added what we call an intrusion protocol. Essentially, it is a driver kit that allows our team to integrate intrusion panels outside the scope of a release. By not being tied to a specific Security Center release, our team can integrate new panels at any point in time based on market demand or specific project requirements.

Our vision is to expand the list of supported panels in the coming years. Unlike many other players on the market who choose to support a single panel, we hope to add several panels a year. So, we've identified a number of panels for the North and South American, European, Asian, and Australian markets and we plan to knock them down one at a time. With the initial release of the Security Center intrusion protocol, we've integrated the Bosch GV2 and GV3 series panels and we're in the process of adding more. Our protocol will also be used to integrate third-party fire panels, perimeter and fence detection devices, as well as central station receivers. What's more, the integration is backward compatible so our customers will be able to upgrade their Security Center platform in the future without worrying if any integrations will be broken.

Today, the intrusion protocol is an internal development kit. In the next 12-24 months, the strategy is to provide our customers with access to the protocol so that they may add integrations as well. This will not only alleviate some of the development pressure on Genetec, but it will also give our customers the opportunity to add panels we would likely not target in the short-term.

Some of the key features available with our approach to intrusion integration include:

  • Communications over a serial or TCP/IP network connection
  • Intrusion devices can be federated
  • Intrusion panel partitions or areas and the full list of IOs are automatically created in the Security Center. Users do not have to spend hours or days entering everything manually.
  • Video tied to intrusion panel events and alarms.
  • Creating Security Center zones using intrusion panel inputs
  • Arming and disarming panels on schedule, following an event, or manually in the Security Desk
  • Perimeter and master arming

Integration of third-party intrusion devices extends our unification capabilities into another important area in the security space, namely intrusion. It allows customers to unify several of their security and safety systems under a single platform, the Security Center. As we build up our portfolio of connectors, we know end users will see the value of standardizing on the Security Center.On a final note, please do not hesitate to let us know what panels you would like to see in the product. Feel free to contact me directly or your local Genetec regional sales manager.