High-tech security surveillance and mobile monitoring solutions.

• Author: Barbour, Tracy
• Position: TELECOM & TECHNOLOGY

Security systems are evolving beyond standard alarms, low-quality cameras, and blurry surveillance video analyzed on rare occasions. Modern security surveillance solutions often merge a host of elements: high-quality cameras, Internet technology, wireless networks, mobile devices, RFID (radio frequency identification), and far-reaching radar systems. Remote-controlled drones, though controversial, represent emerging technology for security surveillance.

In Alaska, security surveillance and telecommunications companies offer a wide range of solutions to help corporations, governmental agencies, educational institutions, retail outlets, and even mom-and-pop shops protect their valuable assets. Some of the latest security surveillance options allow organizations to leverage live video to actively monitor sites and track "events" as they happen--in real time.

"It's not just to look at the video after the fact to mitigate risk and liability associated with the property," says Edward Knoch, director of security technology solutions for NMS Security, a division of NANA Management Services LLC. "The reality is they could prevent so many instances if they had proactive video."

That's where Virtual Guard Services from NMS Security comes in. Under the cloud-based solution, NMS technicians monitor live video and ancillary data that customers transmit to its control center and then respond to certain "events" as they occur. The events, based on protocols customers assign for each camera, could include triggers such as changes in motion, temperature, or scenery. NMS technicians--who have a military or law enforcement background and are trained to identify threats--follow the procedures pre-established by customers. Their response could include contacting law enforcement, notifying the customer's security staff, or taking other actions.

Virtual Guard has a wide range of applications for proactive security surveillance. The system can also use customers' cameras for scene analysis, velocity movement, and deep analytics with facial and license plate recognition.

As a broader service, NMS can integrate RFID into its platform to help customers track objects, people, and other assets with small radio transponders known as "tags." This technology is especially useful for rental car agencies needing to track employees transferring vehicles between locations. "We put triggers in the system to make sure the vehicles get to their destination," Knoch says.

Customers...