People Counters and Intercoms – Adapting to this New Normal

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By Neal Bellamy, IT Director at Kenton Brothers

Like many businesses, Kenton Brothers is adapting to the “Stay at home” order and the “New Normal”. While we remain operational, we are changing our operations to reduce risk and exposure for our team and yours. One of the ways we’ve adapted is by looking at our systems and seeing what they can do for us.

With fewer people in the office, we’ve introduced some new challenges.

Commercial Counter - People Counter in ActionOne such challenge is when people come to our commercial counter. The commercial counter is not always staffed like it used to be. The employees staffing our commercial counter are still in the building, but they’re helping out other teams. We don’t want a customer waiting for service, so we looked to our systems to increase alerting.

In this case, we used the Axis “People counter” software to send alerts to our team members when someone gets to the commercial counter. This counter is loaded directly onto the camera and can send alerts from the camera itself or notify the Video Management System (VMS) which can apply more logic to the alert.

The intercoms installed at our main entrances have become even more vital.

Old intercom systems used to be answered by a physical device at one or two desks in an office or retail environment. Today, intercoms are assigned to an extension on your phone system and can be answered by any station.

Most intercom systems have mobile applications where you can see and talk to the person at the intercom from anywhere in the world. We have an Axis 8105-E and 2N Solo mounted at two of our main entrances. The person who usually answers the intercom is at home, but shifting the answering station to another person was as simple as changing the extension in our phone system. We could have enabled the mobile app for after-hours answering if that was necessary as well.

Although these are “strange times” we can look to technology to help fill some of the gaps. These tools and technologies can  increase our ability to do more with less. If you’re faced with some business or security problems in this new world, give us a call. We’re happy to help!

Hands-Free Door Hardware and MORE to Protect Your People, Property and Possessions

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By Gina Stuelke, CEO of Kenton Brothers

Did you know that 80% of germs are spread with your hands? Kenton Brothers Systems for Security offers several types of door hardware that can aid in the prevention of spreading germs and infectious diseases.

Arm and Foot Pulls

Arm and foot pulls are quick, easy and cost-effective solutions to open a door without touching a handle or lever with your hands. This type of hardware is attached to the door and can be used by pulling with your foot, arm or elbow. We offer a variety of options including stainless steel base material, copper anti-microbial material, anti-microbial coating over stainless steel, and multiple finishes. These types of products are perfect in areas such as restrooms, commercial buildings, restaurants, grocery stores, churches, event spaces and healthcare facilities.

Kenton Brothers Hands-Free Security Options Kenton Brothers Hands-Free Security Options

“Healthy” Hardware Options

The door handle of a public facility can be touched by people several thousand times a day. That’s thousands of opportunities to transfer bacteria and infectious diseases. In hospitals alone, there are over 103,000 Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) reported every year! On openings where pushing or pulling a mechanical door handle or lever is necessary, we offer health conscious bactericidal and/or anti-microbial hardware.

Some of the benefits of this hardware include:

  • Kills 99.9% of bacteria in 2 hours.
  • Not a coating and won’t wear off! Will continue to kill bacteria for the lifetime of the product.
  • Looks like stainless steel to match other hardware products.
  • Wide range of hardware and touch surfaces available.

Kenton Brothers Hands-Free Security Options Kenton Brothers Hands-Free Security Options

“Hands-Free” Access Control Technology – Empower your phone to be your credential

Another option becoming popular is “hands-free” access control technology. We offer products that use cellular, WiFi, and Bluetooth technologies to create hands-free credentials. These allow you to walk up to a secured opening with your mobile credential and gain entry without needing to take your smartphone out of your pocket or your bag.

Kenton Brothers Hands-Free Security Options

For more information about these hands-free security options, please give us a call. We would be happy to walk you through these options to find your perfect solution!

Kenton Brothers Retrofits St. Patrick’s Mid-Century Building with Video Surveillance Technology

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St. Patrick School InstallationSt. Patrick Parish was founded in 1873, and St. Patrick School opened in 1949, staffed by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth. The Sisters lived in the parish convent, which became the current Early Education Center in 2007. A new St. Patrick Parish Center was built in 1992 and hosts parish meetings and receptions, basketball and volleyball games, and P.E. classes for approximately 285 Pre-K through 8th grade students.

The Problem

During the time St. Patrick’s Mid-Century building was constructed, it was not uncommon to use asbestos as insulation and in textured paint or patching compounds for wall and ceiling joints. The U.S. government didn’t begin regulating its use until the 1970s, and today, it remains in buildings, like St. Patrick’s School and numerous others.

Kenton Brothers had to create a solution in which we could install today’s video surveillance technology to help keep parishioners, students, staff, visitors and parish property safe without using the usual installation route through ceiling tiles, walls, etc. Considered safe if left undisturbed, our team had to ensure nothing we touched would result in a hazardous and costly situation.

The Kenton Solution

Working with and around asbestos is a common occurrence for Kenton Brothers since we’ve been securing Kansas City buildings since 1897. Experienced with retrofitting older buildings with the latest security technology, our team ran cabling for the video surveillance through the basement and up walls in conduit. Rather than disturb the ceiling tiles, we used wall camera mounts.

Kenton upgraded St. Patrick’s school firmware so that the new video surveillance system would integrate with the existing access control system for a total security solution.

“Kenton Brothers took care of our video security needs from start to finish. Their design team, communication with us in making sure we were satisfied, their professionalism, workmanship, and competitive price were top notch. We are very pleased with our system and their commitment to service and our satisfaction.” – Tim Conrad, Principal

Robots, Thermal Radar and Drone Detection: Commercial security is alive and strong in Kansas City.

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By David Strickland, Vice President of Kenton Brothers.

Kenton Brothers systems for security launched the Cobalt Robot as a service on November 7, 2019. This platform takes advantage of over 60 sensors and artificial intelligence to provide real time data to operators and systems. This data is used to create a safer, more secure facility.

Since then, Kenton Brothers has added several new offerings that take advantage of the same concepts. Artificial intelligence and advanced sensors were once thought of as the future of security. Below are a few examples of how these systems are already available to you in the Kansas City area.

Cobalt Robotics

Cobalt Robotics

This Robot as a Service (RaaS) platform delivers over 60 superhuman sensors coupled with the decision-making logic of a human. Cobalt patrols the workspace, observing and reporting safety and security issues to a human operator. It uses artificial intelligence along side the superhuman sensors to detect things like, spills, leaks, toxic gases temperature anomalies and intruders. It can also detect and report open and propped doors and suspicious activity.

Thermal Radar

Thermal Radar

Thermal Radar utilizes a best in class, rotating FLIR Tau2 thermal sensor and applies edge-based analytic detection algorithms to detect, classify and geo-spatially locate any incursion that may threaten your perimeter. And Thermal Radar detection alerts generate not only a GPS coordinate of the intruder’s specific location, but also a thermal image of the intrusion.

By providing accurate GPS coordinates upon detection, Thermal Radar provides many of the same net results of a traditional radar, while remaining a completely passive and undetectable intrusion system. Thermal Radar can be a standalone detection outpost on an expansive border project or the centerpiece of an integrated physical security strategy at your most critical facilities.

BriefCam Analytics

BriefCam Analytics

TRANSFORMING VIDEO INTO ACTIONABLE INTELLIGENCE

The BriefCam® complete Video Content Analytics platform drives exponential value from commercial video surveillance system investments by making video searchable, actionable and quantifiable. BriefCam’s unique fusion of computer vision and technologies, together with its patented VIDEO SYNOPSIS® solution, enables video investigators to review hours of commercial video surveillance in just minutes and rapidly pinpoint people and objects of interest. This is a real game changer for any organizations that need to review large amounts of video.

Vigilant Drone Detection

Drone Detection – Vigilant

The DDU-1 (Drone Detection Unit) is a reliable tool designed to detect drones flying in nearby airspace.

The DDU-1 can detect the transmission signals emitted by commercially available drones from a distance of approximately 2 Km. When the DDU-1 detects drones in nearby airspace, the units LED display activates with red lights. The number of LED’s illuminated indicates the signal strength, which equates to the distance of the detected drone.

A pulsing audible warning is also activated, which can be monitored via the 3.5 mm audio jack port. The faster the pulse, the stronger the detected signal, the closer the drone is to the DDU-1 unit. At close range, this means all eight LED’s will be activated, and the audio tone will be constant.

Vigilant Drone Defense

Drone Defense – Vigilant

In certain applications such as Prison or Military bases, drone defense is necessary.

Vigilant Drone Defense products are the perfect solution for any government agency, critical infrastructure organization, or any other entity that has a need for a robust, reliable counter UAV system. These products are state of the art, and provide strong, impenetrable protection against all invasive, and dangerous drone activity. These products have been tested and approved for consideration by the U.S. Army, as well as several other federal, state and municipal government agencies.

Each of these solutions from Kenton Brothers offers specific capabilities to solve ongoing commercial security issues. We can help guide you through the process to evaluate, implement and manage these solutions. Give us a call today.

Next generation intercoms have many uses and can be useful security tools.

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By Neal Bellamy, IT Director at Kenton Brothers.

Next Generation IP IntercomsIntercoms are often overlooked as a security tool. But sometimes intercoms can be even more important in the prevention of attacks, than cameras or access control. A lot of offices, schools, and manufacturing have gone to a secured building model where the front door or reception area is no longer unlocked to the public. This prevents unauthorized users from getting access to the building where they could pose a larger security risk. Sure, it’s more secure, but how do you let the public in that need to be there?

Enter the intercom.

Intercoms aren’t new or sexy. The older generation of intercoms required fixed wires between the door station and the master station where the intercom is answered. Sometimes there are multiple doors and multiple master stations. And in almost all configurations, there’s a fixed wire between doors and answering stations.

With fixed stations, the person who answers the intercom is not at their desk so someone needs to be located where a master station is. Or if we need to add a door or a master station, usually the entire system has to be replaced. This also means that when a person’s desk or door needs to be moved, the wire needs to be extended or replaced. None of these scenarios are conducive to business.

With the ever-evolving business doors and desks need to move easily and a backup person to answer the door needs to be seamless and non-disruptive.

The re-design of the intercoms answers all these issues.

Next Generation IntercomsThe new generation of intercoms is modular and network-based. This means that if we can get a network wire to the door and the person who needs to answer the intercom, we’re in business. No longer does the person answering have to be next to the door, or even in the same building.

If we need to add a door or a master station, we just add them to the network and program them in. Need to add a button for a new tenant? Add it on. Need to add a reader to unlock the door? Add it on. Need to see and record who is at the door through a camera? Add it on. Need to have a directory of people that can get called directly… I think you get the idea.

The possibilities are pretty large with the next generation of intercoms. Both Axis and 2N have strong lines of network-based intercoms. The newer intercoms can do everything the older generation can do.

Here are some of the newer intercom possibilities:

  • Answering the intercom at another building, cell phone call or through a mobile application.
  • Recording the video (up to 6MP) at the door through a video management system (VMS). By the way, this is the best facial capture placement of a camera. It is eye level and the people look right into it.
  • Call one or many answering stations at the same time, then roll to another answering station if the first one doesn’t answer. There is no limit to the combinations or answering stations that can be called at the same time or tied together in a chain.
  • Connect the door station and/or answering station to an existing (or hosted) IP phone system. Then the doors can call any phone number programmed into the system.
  • Release the door from any answering station directly or through the access control system.
  • Have a directory of people to call like an apartment of a multi-tenant commercial building. The directory can be updated through the software so labels do not have to be printed/replaced.
  • Have multiple hardware buttons (up to 146) to call an answering station directly.
  • Use a card, fingerprint, Bluetooth or keypad to unlock the door at the intercom.
  • Have an audio induction loop for hearing impaired people.

The new generation of intercoms can adapt to any need. If you need an intercom system or need to replace your old one, let Kenton Brothers show you the possibilities!

 

Next Generation Intercoms