360 Vision Technology supports Help for Heroes charity with £6,000 donation

In a move made out of the desire to make a real difference to the lives of military personnel who have sustained injuries and illness attributed to their service in the British Armed Forces, UK CCTV solutions developer 360 Vision Technology has recently donated £6,000 to the Help for Heroes charity.

The manufacturer of a range of ruggedised PTZ surveillance cameras, 360 Vision Technology handed over an initial cheque to Help for Heroes’ area fundraising manager for the North West, Trevor Fudger, at the company’s Cheshire-based manufacturing facility and headquarters.

Commenting on the donation, Adrian Kirk (strategic account director at 360 Vision Technology) said: “When we launched the Invictus Ultra Low Light HD PTZ camera, the company decided to make a contribution to the charity based on camera sales to help support military service people, who in turn, over the years have been major users ofour video surveillance products. Handing over the first cheque was a tremendously proud moment for us all at 360 Vision Technology, and the proudest moment of my career.”

Kirk added: “Some of our staff have family members currently in service, while our chairman’s father flew Spitfires in World War II, so it felt like a natural fit for us to support serving personnel, veterans and their family members. We’re hoping that other UK businesses will help the charity, too, as it really does make a major difference to people’s lives.”

Since Help for Heroes was founded in 2007, it has supported over 21,000 individuals. This support is enabled in a variety of ways, from welfare advice and psychological support through to new career and fellowship opportunities (for both the wounded and their loved ones) and courses and activities designed to benefit physical and mental well-being. Much of this support is available at the Charity’s four Recovery Centres.

Trevor Fudger commented:  “When signing up to the Armed Forces, individuals make a promise to protect our country. In return, Help for Heroes makes a commitment to support the wounded and their families whenever they need us. To enable us to do that, we need the help of the public and of organisations like 360 Vision Technology, whom we cannot thank enough for their generous donation.”

360 Vision Technology will continue its support for Help for Heroes with another donation based on Invictus camera product sales earmarked for this summer.

*For further information on making donations to Help for Heroes visit: https://www.helpforheroes.org.uk/give-support/

Advertisements

NSI supports World Accreditation Day 2019

The National Security Inspectorate (NSI) offered its full support to World Accreditation Day 2019 (#WAD2019). A global initiative celebrating accreditation, the event (which took place on Sunday 9 June) focused on accredited bodies like the NSI adding value in supply chains. 

From a security and fire safety sector perspective, installers and service providers of security and fire safety systems and security guarding solution are a vital ‘link in the chain’ with their expertise at the point of delivery, keeping people safe, ensuring security solutions harness suitable technology and that they’re fit for purpose.

Whether it be in the design, installation and commissioning of intruder alarms, access control systems, fire detection or suppression systems and CCTV or the monitoring of myriad guarding services, Best Practice in service provision by NSI-approved companies ensures that quality solutions are delivered to customers.

World Accreditation Day marked the work underway to launch ‘IAF CertSearch’, a website designed to provide buyers with the ability to verify management systems certificates such as ISO 9001 (itself a key component of NSI’s Gold approvals). This facility will help to distinguish certificates issued by accredited conformity assessment bodies (CABs), such as the NSI, from certificates issued by non-accredited CABs and to check the authenticity of a certificate.

Richard Jenkins, CEO at the NSI, commented: “World Accreditation Day plays an important role in promoting the value of accreditation and accredited conformity assessment. As an accredited certification body, the NSI conforms to ISO 17021-1 and ISO 17065 in the delivery of Certificates of Approval to over 1,800 approved companies operating in the UK and Eire. The worldwide system of accreditation spans economies accounting for 96% of global GDP*. The NSI is proud to play its small part in this ecosystem underpinning Best Practice, competency and consistent quality within our sector, as recognised by, among others, the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the Security Industry Authority, the Surveillance Camera Commissioner, BAFE and industry and insurer stakeholders.”

Richard Jenkins

NSI Gold Approval combines Quality Management Systems approval ISO 9001 with specific product standards pertinent to services provided, in addition to NSI Quality Schedules and approval criteria specifically designed for the security and fire systems and guarding services sectors. The NSI adopts a ‘treat recommendations as mandatory’ stance with regard to all standards and Codes of Practice, affording buyers confidence that NSI-approved companies adhere to the latest Best Practice at all times.

For full details of the range of NSI approvals to international and British Standards and industry Codes of Practice visit www.nsi.org.uk

*Source: World Economic Forum

Arc Monitoring appoints Jo Hastings in marketing executive’s role

Arc Monitoring, the NSI Gold-approved CCTV monitoring and Alarm Receiving Centre, has appointed Jo Hastings as the company’s new marketing executive.

Hastings brings five years’ worth of B2B marketing and design experience to Arc Monitoring, which was formed back in 1999. Having graduated with a BA Honours degree in Media Production at Plymouth Marjon, Hastings most recently worked at publishing company Reach plc.

Wayne Dietrich welcomes Jo Hastings to Arc Monitoring

Through time, Hastings has developed a variety of marketing skills and has particular strengths in advertising, design and social media. How, Hastings will be focusing on creating Arc Monitoring’s marketing strategy in line with the business’ strategic goals.

Commenting on her new role, Hastings informed Risk Xtra: “I’m really looking forward to working with such an innovative company and having a whole new industry to learn about. It’s an exciting time in my career to be taking on new challenges and working with the team at Arc Monitoring.”

Wayne Dietrich, business development manager at Arc Monitoring, added: “We’re really excited to welcome Jo to Arc Monitoring in this newly created role and look forward to her experience contributing to growing our customer base of professional installers across the UK. The position further compliments our ongoing investment in people and infrastructure to cement our position as the independent remote monitoring expert.”

Global accolade viewed as Milestone for Secom

Secom’s ongoing and diligent work at the cutting edge of CCTV-based security has won a global accolade for the nationwide company. Use of the internationally acclaimed Milestone VMS for systems serving some of its leading UK customers has resulted in Secom being named as Milestone’s 2018 Northern Europe Partner of the Year.

The award was announced at the recent Milestone Integration Platform Symposium, an event that brings together partners from the Americas, EMEA and APAC regions who collaborate, network and learn about global trends in the VMS space.

Secom’s commercial, sales and marketing director Alan Blake enthused: “We were delighted to hear that we had been nominated for an award and even more so to be named as the winner. This award is evidence of the sterling work that Secom has delivered in leveraging innovative, industry-leading solutions on the Milestone platform. We look forward to engineering more solutions in this way during 2019.”

Milestone’s open platform provides VMS options for applications ranging from single retail stores through to multi-site and city-wide monitoring systems.

Blake continued: “On this platform we’re able to offer our customers the ability to monitor several cameras simultaneously. This provides enhanced security as well as the opportunity to make management decisions – such as the need to open additional till points – based on real-time observations of in-store conditions.”

In addition, Blake stated: “Coupled with our track record in addressing retail crime through the analysis of intelligence gathered from CCTV, Secom can now offer an advanced security process with the potential to slash retailers’ losses to crime and enable the police to successfully prosecute repeat offenders.”

360 Vision Technology’s established Invictus PTZ cameras enlisted to protect Super Bowl LIII

Super Bowl LIII was safeguarded by 360 Vision Technology’s ruggedised Hybrid Invictus PTZ cameras. These were deployed as part of Security Centres International’s high-performance Mobile Advanced Safety Tower (MAST) rapid deployment camera solution.

In all, ten MAST units were deployed in various areas surrounding the brand new, state-of-the-art Mercedes-Benz Stadium and State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.

With over one million fans expected to focus on the Super Bowl and the ten-day Fan Festival, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) was keen to complement the existing CCTV networks around the ground as well as mass transit point footfall areas, such as bus and rail stations.

Stuart Bostock, executive group president at Security Centres International, explained: “Featuring world-class HD surveillance imaging, leading-edge design, robustness, zero infrastructure requirements and seamless VMS integration, MAST is the only product of its kind that would readily integrate into the existing CCTV infrastructure. Additionally, MAST benefits from a significantly smaller footprint than similar trailer-based, stand-alone surveillance systems.”

Bostock went on to comment: “MAST has been developed to answer the need for a more sophisticated and flexible surveillance system for infrastructure and public space safety, including large crowd gatherings. MAST combines a rapidly deployable unit with some of the most advanced safety and surveillance technology available. This is why we selected 360 Vision Technology’s Invictus camera for its core imaging technology.”

Mark Rees, managing director of 360 Vision Technology, added: “360 Vision Technology’s Invictus is a high-performance, ruggedised all-in-one PTZ camera with Full 1080P HD and ultra low-light camera technology, making it the perfect choice for off-grid temporary/rapid deployment mobile surveillance rigs such as MAST. Additionally, Invictus’ low power consumption greatly assists the longevity of critical battery power when deployed in the field, extending MAST’s operational performance for deployment in more remote applications.”

Rees concluded: “The Invictus camera’s unparalleled mix of competitive cost and advanced Predator low-light camera imaging technology makes it the perfect imaging component for the innovative MAST system.”

The use of the MAST units integrated to the existing fixed camera points during Super Bowl LIII week proved a huge success with HD images transmitted to the MARTA Emergency Operations Centre via a mobile network. Thanks to the high quality of the images received, system operators were able to identify and tackle a number of incidents, including a vehicle theft.

Additionally, the images were also used to predict areas of dense footfall, tackle crowd control safety issues and manage general Health and Safety concerns.

The deployment of the Invictus-based camera system at Super Bowl LIII proved such a success that plans are already in place for deployment at other large-scale US sporting events (including the NCAA Final Four Basketball Championship in 2020) and also for city centre deployment across Atlanta.

Remote sites upgrade delivers enhanced security for energy provider

Working to a tight ten-week schedule, four teams of Secom engineers recently completed a significant electronic security upgrade at no less than 150 critical sites resident within the UK’s energy infrastructure network.

The project – covering offices as well as remote locations with no staff – involved replacing key legacy equipment and software to create a superior platform for the remote monitoring of CCTV surveillance systems. It brought the 150 sites up to the same high standards of security as the customer’s other 250-plus sites across the UK.

Phil Lamb, Secom’s general manager for regional sales, feels that installation of new transmission units has allowed a switch for all of the customer’s sites to a more robust and cutting-edge video control platform in the Alarm Receiving Centre.

“Security is of course a major consideration for infrastructure service providers, but can prove to be challenging because of the many remote locations needed to ensure uninterrupted delivery to consumers nationwide. Reliable CCTV and alarm systems are important tools in dealing with issues that might affect the continuity of supply or any other risks of compromising security or Health and Safety concerns if, for example, there’s an unauthorised entry.”

Lamb said the customer was facing a critical need as its existing transmission units had become obsolete. With the existing video management software there was a growing risk of losing connectivity with remote sites – and also, therefore, visibility of site issues.

“The decision to replace obsolete hardware and software was initiated to mitigate the risk of major security incidents by creating a more stable platform. Our role was to replace the end-of-life kit with the latest generation transmission units. As the incumbent service provider, we have intimate knowledge of each site and could evade potential issues, using our engineering skills to design issues out of the tight schedule by dint of using detailed process maps.”

The software platform was upgraded to meet customer expectations. Due to the nature of the replacement project, Secom hand-picked engineers for the four teams and also provided dedicated project managers.

GJD appoints ezCCTV.com as national distribution partner

GJD, the designer and manufacturer of external detection and LED illumination equipment, has announced the appointment of ezCCTV.com as its new national distribution partner. Based in Hertfordshire and an authorised official Hikvision distributor, ezCCTV.com supplies digital and IP surveillance solutions.

Models in GJD’s D-TECT range of detectors reliably detect people and easily integrate with third party VMS providers and CCTV systems. The product range performs well in all weather conditions without fail or false alarm.

Commenting on the new partnership, Greg Stuttle (GJD’s business development manager) observed: “GJD is confident that our product range will be popular with ezCCTV.com’s customers. GJD is wholly committed to delivering a responsive and reliable service. ezCCTV also takes this approach, so we believe the company will be a great partner. We’re looking forward to a long and successful working relationship.”

Camera analytics has driven demand for reliable human detection. For their part, GJD’s products have been capturing genuine alarms for over 30 years, providing both end users and installers alike with peace of mind that critical events will never be missed and that false alarms will not occur.

Joss Cohen (left) and Greg Stuttle

Joss Cohen, sales director at ezCCTV.com, told Risk Xtra: “We’ve partnered with GJD as the company’s products incorporate functions not found on any other similar products. GJD’s IP technology also integrates with Hikvision. This is a perfect fit for our customers and aligns very well with our strategy.”

The D-TECT motion detector range is designed for intruder monitoring, CCTV surveillance and other alarm warning requirements. The detectors provide both volumetric and long-range narrow field of view sensing plus remote programming.

D-TECT IP detectors integrate with Hikvision’s I Series and K2 Series NVRs, which are said to deliver “remarkable advantages” for end users including quick and efficient installation, minimum maintenance and remote access. Installers can change detector settings via a secure web-based interface.

Other products in the GJD range include Clarius PLUS LED illuminators. These produce powerful and even illumination, in turn assisting reliable detection and deterrence. Clarius IP provides smart lighting solutions, which can be integrated with IP cameras and CCTV systems. Every Clarius light includes a lens diffuser pack so the beam spread can be easily adjusted on site.