Unusual and Hard to Find Security Products Part 2

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By Erik Andress, Sales Management Professional at Kenton Brothers

Access control and surveillance cameras are two of the most often talked about technologies when it comes to commercial security solutions. At times, you need something special to accomplish your security objective. So we started a video series to showcase some of the unusual and hard to find security products that might be a perfect fit for your specific security need.

If you haven’t watched part one, you can watch that here.

Products We Cover in Part 2

  • Laminates
  • Seismic Sensors
  • Bill Traps
  • Perimeter Intrusion Detection

We hope you enjoy the video… there are so many tools and technologies to cover, we may do a Part 3!

Please let us know if you have questions about any of the products we covered in this video or how they might become part of your commercial security solution. All you have to do is give us a call!

License Plate Capture: Does your Commercial Video Surveillance have a WOW Factor?

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License Plate CaptureBy Neal Bellamy, IT Director at Kenton Brothers

We’ve been doing a series about commercial security products with a Wow! factor. (If you missed it, check out Does your Access Control have a WOW Factor? ) In this article, I’d like for you to consider if your current commercial video surveillance system has a WOW factor, specifically around license plates.

License Plate Capture

There are many cases where you would want to be able to capture the information on a license plate. Obvious situations include theft or accidents in the parking lot. Lots of people call this concept license plate recognition (LPR), but we prefer to call it license plate capture (LPC). When you say license plate recognition, most people are expecting 100% accuracy in all weather and lighting conditions, and with vehicles moving at any speed. It’s possible to achieve high accuracy with license plate capture, but it becomes an expensive endeavor to compensate for all the environmental possibilities. License plate capture success is in the 70%-80% range. Cameras will capture a still image of the license plate and usually strike a good balance of performance and cost.

I’ve talked about license plate capture previously. The same rules still apply. You need stable lighting, cars that are as squarely oriented as possible to the camera, and good video analytics. Let’s explore a couple of options in the LPR/LPC world. In the solutions below, Kenton Brothers has installed systems with successful results. Each solution has their own pros and cons that need to be considered before choosing a path for your own business.

Avigilon

License Plate CaptureFirst up is Avigilon. Avigilon has dedicated software that will capture license plates across any of their cameras, and a dedicated camera to give the software the best chance at getting license plates. The Avigilon LPR software is well integrated into their Avigilon Control Center (ACC) video management system.

Searching for license plates is as easy as searching for any video. The LPR software is organized into “lanes” in the camera’s view as an area where it will search for license plates. Watchlists can be created to watch for important cars. The horsepower needed to perform the analytics comes from a graphics processing unit (GPU) in the server. Most people would refer to it as a video card, although it needs to be slightly more powerful than your standard video card. The Avigilon LPR software is a good choice if you already have an Avigilon camera system or are replacing a video system and want License Plate Capture.

Vaxtor

Next, is Vaxtor. Vaxtor is a software-only solution that can integrate into many different video management systems. Although we tend to implement their “On Camera” solution, they also have a PC-based solution.

Vaxtor’s On Camera solution uses an Axis camera with the Vaxtor software loaded onto it to perform the license plate capture. Once the capture is done, the license plate information is sent to the video management system. Axis has many cameras that can do license plate capture, and they have a dedicated Q-1700, just for that purpose.

Vaxtor integrates with many video management systems. We typically use Milestone for this. Searching for video is still fairly easy using the Milestone interface. Since the horsepower here is on the camera itself, there is no need to add or use horsepower from the servers. Watchlists are loaded to each license plate camera in the system as needed. Vaxtor is a good solution if you already have a video management system in place that Vaxtor supports.

Dedicated LPC Solutions

License Plate CaptureThe main difference with a dedicated solution versus the other 2 solutions is the camera. While both Avigilon and Vaxtor use a camera that produces a color, person-usable image, a dedicated LPC camera does not.

First, the camera does not rely on visible light, rather it uses Infrared (IR) light, to blast the reflective parts of the license plate. Then the camera only captures IR light. The main benefit is that it’s not dependent on any ambient lighting and that the process of recognizing the plate is not fooled by colors. Usually, these cameras also record at a much higher framerate, typically 60 – 120 frames per second. This makes it easier to detect cars that are moving quickly, by capturing more frames.

Dedicated systems are more flexible in the setup process, but also require more expertise to operate. Usually, this type of system is more expensive, but also more accurate. If you need a solution where you ­must capture the license plate, this is your best option.

If you want to add WOW to your commercial video surveillance system by adding license plate capture, KB will help you design and install an LPC solution to fit your needs! Just give us a call.

Exciting News From Axis Communications – Device Manager Extend is a Major Innovation!

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Device Manager ExtendBy David Strickland, Vice President of Kenton Brothers

Axis recently announced a huge innovation that will impact Axis camera users all over the world. Innovation is one of Kenton Brothers core values and we use the tagline “Innovate or Die” all the time. We enjoy seeing technology evolve and take the next step. In this case Axis took a huge leap!

Device Manager Extend

Axis rolled out the Axis Device Manager Extend tool that will help users worldwide manage all of their Axis Communications devices. It’s an easy-to-use utility tool that allows users to interact with AXIS devices in real time and make updates from a single dashboard. This is a huge advantage for enterprise level commercial surveillance systems.

Axis Device Manager ExtendThe New Axis Device Manager Extend will give you real time status awareness of all devices across all sites. It also gives you an inventory of all devices and if there are any anomalies. The dashboard provides warranty information and if components are reaching end of life. You can even determine the replacement model and start to budget for new equipment. The dashboard also allows you to export a list of all your devices including serial numbers, MAC addresses and model numbers.

Device Status

A user can get real time device status including firmware, cybersecurity status and how applications are working on the device. You can access your Axis devices remotely, giving you centralized control of your security platform. You can discover the firmware of your devices and then push the updates to your entire platform in three clicks. (This used to be a device-by-device task that would take days or weeks to accomplish.) You can remotely fix many problems without the expense of rolling at truck.

Have you ever updated a device’s firmware and found a problem?

Axis Device Manager ExtendAxis Device Manager Extend will also allow you to roll back firmware updates if an issue pops up. Before you upgrade, the manager will analyze your system and make recommendations on what firmware versions to use during the upgrade.

How about Cybersecurity Control?

You can now control device settings remotely for the entire platform. You can require password changes, turn off anonymous access, turn off port forwarding and log every interaction with every device. Using the tool will ensure and maintain compliance and consistency across your systems. (The key word being consistent.)

The best news about this tool is that it’s available today! Whether you’re an IT Professional trying to stay on top of a 6,000 camera commercial video surveillance system or a business owner trying to make sure your 16 camera system isn’t creating a cybersecurity risk, this tool is for you!

Please give us a call to learn how you can deploy this amazing, innovative tool today.

Unusual, Hard to Find Security Tools. Kenton Brothers Has Them.

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By Erik Andress, Sales Management Professional at Kenton Brothers

Hello, everyone. Erik Andress here with Kenton Brothers, and this month we’re discussing unusual and hard to find security products. Here at Kenton Brothers, we offer a comprehensive security solution. But what does that mean? It means our efforts try to extend your perimeter, and we work from the outside in, so we have to offer a wide variety of security products that aren’t talked about every day.

Today, we’re going to explore some of these unusual and sometimes hard to find security products. If you find yourself in need of a security part that’s a little bit out of the norm, be sure to check with us here at Kenton Brothers.

Unique Security Products

It may not be every day that you’re looking for postal boxes or partial storage solutions for online deliveries, but when you do, we’ve got you covered.

Part of that layered security approach may involve metal detection systems, weapon detection systems, or full height and optical turnstiles.

Security used to mean you just needed a set of keys. Now, for the right application, you need a really big lock. Well, for those needs, we’ve got something for that too.

My guess is you can also find some really good scenarios where a tornado shelter or a safe room would be really beneficial.

Thermal radar may be a really good option for you as well. Utilizing a rotating thermal sensor along with edge based detection algorithms, you can detect, classify, and geospatially locate any threat to your perimeter. Not only do you get a GPS coordinate of the intrusion, but you also get a thermal image of it within your security plan. If there are important yet repetitive tasks like certain alarm responses or vendor escorts, or roving audits, you could have a robot do it.

Frankly, there’s way too much to cover in one video! We also provide safes, ballistic laminates, time locks, bill traps, seismic sensors, body cams, drone detection and anti drone systems, and the latest in video analytics. So if you find yourself looking for an unusual or hard to find security product, reach out to us here at Kenton Brothers. We’d love to help you out.

Viakoo can proactively update IoT devices, strengthening your protection against hacking attempts.

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By Neal Bellamy, IT Director at Kenton Brothers

ViakooHacking, at its root level, is a person using a computer program for a purpose that is not intended. It’s like discovering a person walking a dog and then using the dog to attack someone. That wasn’t the intent of the person walking the dog, but the hacker was able to take control. In order to “hack”, the attacker must find a weakness in the software and then exploit the weakness. In the ever-evolving game of cat and mouse, weaknesses get found and software gets modified to patch those weaknesses.

Most successful hacks are possible because the software on a device is outdated.

Even though previous weaknesses have been fixed with software updates, the newest software has not yet been installed, and new weaknesses are found that can be exploited.

In other areas of information technology (IT), we have tools to detect and notify us when software needs to be updated. Most people are probably familiar with Windows Update, the little icon on the lower right that tells us new software is ready to be installed. There are many other systems that can also notify and even update the software automatically. But there is an area of IT that generally gets missed…

The Internet of Things

Viakoo IoTThe Internet of Things (IoT) is defined as “a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers (UIDs) and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.”

IoT has been around for decades. We’ve used and interacted with IoT devices in our offices for as long as I can remember. Things like copiers, scanners, and credit card machines are all examples of devices that usually are on the network and can send and receive data.

In the commercial security world, cameras and access control panels are also IoT devices. Anything that you can interact with and not have to touch is an IoT device. Can you adjust your thermostat from anywhere in the world? If so, It’s an IoT device. IoT is transforming our world and has been for many years now. It is making our lives more convenient and more connected. The security risk with IoT is that most devices are installed and never updated. If there is a security weakness detected, the software may never get installed… leaving that device wide open for being compromised.

Most companies spend a lot of IT time and money protecting servers, firewalls, and desktops to make sure that they have the latest software updates and are secure. But the IoT devices are usually left out of the discussion. IoT devices are now one of the largest attack vectors for malicious hackers. These “Set and Forget” devices are often left unprotected and sometimes directly connected to the internet. (Please don’t connect anything, except a firewall, directly to the internet; There are better ways.) As a whole, we have to do a better job of protecting these devices.

Part of the answer for the physical security world could be Viakoo’s new offering.

Viakoo dashboardViakoo has been offering camera, access control, and IoT monitoring for quite a while.

At their core, Viakoo will catalog all of your devices and monitor them at varying levels to make sure they are operational. And now Viakoo is taking it to the next level. Viakoo is offering IoT risk evaluation and IoT risk remediation. In evaluating the risk of each IoT device, Viakoo looks at the password, security certificates, and installed firmware version for each of the IoT devices. In supported devices, passwords can be changed and because Viakoo is already connected to some video management software (VMS), it can even change the password in the VMS so the video is not lost. Viakoo can also install new certificates in supported IoT devices so that they can be trusted at a higher level.

Viakoo can push new firmware to all the devices across the network. Since Viakoo architecture is already designed to be installed at multiple sites and buildings, the firmware can be pushed across the entire corporate footprint at the same time. Viakoo works across many hardware and software manufacturers, which most competing systems are not yet capable of doing, making Viakoo a good choice for almost any business with IoT devices.

Viakoo is a simple subscription-based software that can catalog, evaluate and secure all of your IoT devices. If you want help in securing your IoT Devices, please give us a call!