Security Systems News is a monthly business newspaper that reaches 25,100 security installers, product distributors, central stations, engineers & architects, and security consultants. Our editorial coverage focuses on breaking news in all major se
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Getting into college: technology in higher ed Guilty Chicago Washington D.C. Detroit Los Angeles Milwaukee First in Computerized Monitoring of installing systems that can be hacked? Reduce your company's Liability and restore your customers' confidence in your company by being Proactive and replacing vulnerable systems with hardware that uses military- grade, AES encryption and perhaps your company will not be a class-action defendant. EMERgency24 has the best program to Reduce your company's exposure, earn cash and maintain asset value. For more information on our dealer program, call EMERgency24 at 1-800-800-3624. F or students, getting into college can be tough and ris- ing tuition is certainly chal- lenging. For the college itself, fg- uring out how to enable easy but secure access in and around campus also presents a puzzle. universities want students, faculty and visitors to have effcient access to public areas, dormitories and classrooms, but access points need to be moni- tored. And, the security systems need to be designed with the unfor- tunate possibility of an incident in mind. t h a t 's n o easy task, even if a college had an unlimited budget. What's the key to get- ting in and around col- lege campuses while keeping people and property secure? Integrators who spoke to Security Systems News said that they sit down with college administra- tors and security professionals to take a look at the big picture and fg- ure out what the budget can sustain. What kinds of security technolo- gies are colleges investing in today? Cameras, of course, wireless locks, one-card access control solutions and audible emergency notifica- tion. rFId on cards is another technology some integrators think holds promise in higher edu- cation applica- tions. " t h e b i g key is crisis management," s a i d s t e v e Leitz, director of commercial sales, tycoIs. In terms of video, better crisis management means "integrating a wider array of video to create a wider surveillance area to create situational awareness," he said. Wayne Becker, VP of business development for Csi, an integra- tor based in Allentown, Pa., said he's seen colleges fortify their video systems a couple of ways. "some colleges have federated their [video] systems into local law enforcement and also into the county 911 cen- ters. In addition to being key in a crisis situation, video works when there's a concern about tailgaters in an edu- cational setting, according to ron- ald Haught, president and Ceo of integration frm AsI in Quincy, Ill. "Video from our standpoint is a viable solution to resolve that prob- lem," he said. emergency notifcation, includ- ing high-end audible systems, is a relative newcomer to college cam- puses, the integrators said. "Fixed-based speaker systems on top of a roof [or] attached to poles can increase audibility of announcements on campus," Leitz said. tycoIs recently installed this technology on a California college campus. Csi's Becker agreed with Leitz. By Martha Entwistle "I see a trend in voice com- munications," he said. Csi installed a mass n o t i f i c a t i o n voice systems for a local col- lege that has a split campus. "I see that growing," Becker said. "You can't count on having a phone or being in front of a com- puter, you've got to get the voice [instructions or announcements] out there." one way to do that is through "big voice" speakers, the other way is "through software that can attach to any public address system and be distributed throughout the net- work," Becker explained. the software program Csi uses, rauland PCu, "can connect to any public address system or a super- vised mass notification system." Wayne Becker COLLEGE, see page 42 Ronald Haught Steve Leitz SECURITY SYSTEMS NEWS MARCH 2015 www.securitysystemsnews.com market trends 33