Commercial IP Video Surveillance – 2019 Technology Update [VIDEO]

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Avigilon CameraBy David Strickland, Vice President of Kenton Brothers

Avigilon – Pushing the Envelope!

Avigilon has started 2019 with a bang! They announced several new offerings including the new H4 multisensor camera. Also, they’ve announced the expansion of the Appearance Search™ analytic offering and their continued refinement of their Artificial Intelligence appliance.

This video runs through several of the newest features of Avigilon hardware and software. (Look inside for the surprise introduction of Motorola products to the line!)

Kenton Brothers Inc. is proud to represent Avigilon and it’s cutting edge, always evolving technology. For a demonstration in our state-of-the-art multimedia showroom please contact us today!

Kenton Brothers Guide to Cannabis Security – Part 1

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Cannabis SecuritySince the passage of medical marijuana by Missouri voters in November 2018, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has begun work to develop rules and regulations for the industry. Looking to other states, such as California and Colorado, will help policy makers in developing regulatory and safety standards. Even with these guides in place, medical marijuana may not be available for purchase until January 2020.

Timeline

While the timeline for rollout seems lengthy, this timeline can be advantageous to business owners preparing to engage in the industry. As with any business, there will be a lot of decisions to make and red tape to navigate. One significant component that should be well thought through, especially for medical marijuana and cannabis-related businesses, is security.

From cultivation to manufacturing, testing, transportation and dispensing companies, security will not only be a fundamental component to business success, it will also serve as required factor in facilitating efficient operations that help comply with regulations.

In this three-part blog series, Kenton Brothers will provide you with our layered approach to cannabis security. First, we’ll introduce you to the concept of Seed-to-Sale tracking. In following posts, we’ll help you understand how integrated systems like commercial video surveillance and access control can help you monitor interactions with product.

Seed-to-Sale Tracking: Enhancing Cannabis Security and Operational Efficiency

Following the example of other states who have already implemented medical marijuana will likely result in the implementation of “Seed to Sale” tracking regulations.

States will require growers to track plants with a unique RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag. With this tag, growers will be able to quickly inventory each plant. However, the RFID tag is not only relevant to growers. This tag will create data as the plant moves through the supply chain.

Why are these RFID tags good for businesses? It creates efficiency in inventory and sales. It’s also more efficient to help you meet compliance standards. RFID tags create real-time data that can be securely backed up and stored in the cloud. It’s also extremely powerful for point-of-sale purchases. Using RFID tags can integrate with sales software to help manage inventory – making it a valuable cannabis security tool from seed to sale.

In addition to securely implementing business operations, RFID tags provide data to regulators. This helps state departments monitor things like the outputs between growers or identify food safety issues in products like infused oils and edibles.

Coming Soon

Part II – How security systems integrators like Kenton Brothers can help businesses implement unified video surveillance and access control

Part III – Security Must-Haves for Cannabis Security – vaults, parking gates, intrusion detection, ID scanning, visitor mgmt

Evergy substation project: 10,742 miles… 221 sites… in 8 weeks? Sure, we can do that.

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By Neal Bellamy, IT Director at Kenton Brothers

Last September, evergy approached us about a project that would add access control to 221 of their remote locations. The remote locations have been built over a period of more than fifty years with various locking hardware at each location. So, the mission was to go loaded for bear and make sure the technicians had every possible combination of lock, cylinder, and other hardware they might need as they went on their routes each week.

Adding access control to remote locations can be challenging.

Starting Before DawnMost, if not all, of their sites don’t have a network connection back to the evergy headquarters. Some don’t even have cellphone coverage. That’s where Abloy Cliq comes in. Cliq is a technology where every lock has circuitry built in. Every key for the lock has additional technology and a battery. When a key is presented to the physical lock, it powers up the lock, exchanges information, and either allows or denies entry.

Both the key and the lock store the transaction, so there’s never a concern about lost data. Every week, the key has to be “refreshed” at a networked location. While being refreshed, the key sends every lock it has touched back to the system and the system updates the allowed locks back to the key. This provides evergy an audit trail of every lock and what was accessed for the week.

If a key is broken or damaged, evergy personnel can get the audit log directly from the locks at their remote locations. The system requires no internet, network or power at the access control location, making it versatile.

Abloy Cliq bridges the gap between offline and online access control systems.

After safety and Cliq training, four of our technicians were sent out on a mission.

We weren’t sure of the locking hardware at each site. Every site was a potentially new situation. Sometimes we would get onsite and discover that a padlock needed to be replaced. Other times, we needed to spend 6-8 hours worth of work doing discovery. Sometimes our team started before dawn.

State PoliceThankfully, mother nature held off on snowstorms until after the project was completed. And apparently, if you drive a white van around substations in the middle of a farmer’s field, the state police might be called.

Even though the project was fast and furious, our technicians did an excellent job. They kept a great attitude in spite of the long hours and changing requirements. They adapted to each new challenge and secured all 221 sites for evergy within 8 weeks.

The Kenton Brothers Retail Counter [Video]

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By Ryan Kaullen

Kenton Brothers can trace its customer service roots back to 1897. Our Retail Counter, customer-facing environment is at the forefront of service for our customers. Every day, our customers are coming in with various needs as a result of their businesses growing and evolving. That’s where the Kenton Brothers Retail Counter comes in. It’s a resource for their overall facilities physical security needs. Those needs come in the form of keying, part repairs, parts ordering, security needs, and knowledge database.

Our customers rely on the Retail Counter to be the gatekeepers for physical security at their facilities. Our internal database of records is guarded by checks and balances specifically outlined by our customers. Approvals must be followed every time. The Retail Counter staff works tirelessly to make sure requests are correctly followed and delivered on time.

Over the years, the Retail Counter has grown from a key shop to a full service solution for our customers.

The Retail Counter can help customers create and manage key systems, duplicate keys, re-key, order parts, repair parts and the list goes on. We welcome local walk-ins every day, but not all of our customers are local. We have customers across the country that rely on our knowledge and products to protect them. One day the Retail Counter Staff is cutting keys for a customer in Texas and the next they’re working with a customer in Arizona. We have thousands of key blanks and cylinders on hand, thousands of lines of in-stock product, as well as thousands more available through our vendors, and decades of experience to back it up.

From the entire Kenton Brothers staff, we invite you to allow Kenton Brothers and the Retail Counter Staff to help protect the people, property, possessions, you hold dear.

What is GSA? And why should I care that Kenton Brothers has GSA Certified Technicians?

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By Kristen Harper, Controller and HR Manager at Kenton Brothers

Kenton Brothers: GSA Certified TechniciansGSA stands for General Services Administration which is a government agency that was established in 1949. The agency’s primary purpose is to manage government buildings and real estate, and provide product and service procurement support.

Putting it simply, government businesses are required to carry what is known as a GSA standard of equipment such as locks, vaults, safes, etc. For a security professional to work on these GSA standards of equipment, they must be highly trained technicians that have gone through the most in depth clearances to ensure safety of all government documents.

So, how does Kenton Brothers fit into the GSA mix?

Kenton Brothers: GSA Certified

GSA Certified Drill Rig created for drilling red label GSA Containers.

We employ GSA certified technicians that have the knowledge and expertise to work on, and within, these products and highly regulated areas. Our technicians have gone through weeks of extensive training that includes training and qualification as a GSA approved container and vault door inspector.

By becoming a GSA approved Inspector, our technicians are also qualified to perform re-certification inspections on GSA containers when there is any reason to doubt their security integrity. These qualifications have been approved by GSA, and are valuable credentials for anyone performing work on GSA Containers or vault doors. Additionally, our technicians are experts in Safety Deposit, Mechanical Lock Combination, Containers and much more.

Let’s test your GSA knowledge…

Question: Do you know what the three levels of classified materials are?

Answer: Top Secret, Secret and Confidential

Each one of these levels requires specific special processes and procedures to test, evaluate and inspection of the equipment. This is just one more way Kenton Brothers is working hard to ensure we’re protecting people, property and possessions and keeping you ALL SECURE.