In today’s environment, stop bacteria and microbes at the door.

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BacteriaBy Gina Stuelke, CEO of Kenton Brothers.

To protect against the spread of bacteria and other dangerous microbes, it’s important to consider the role of high touch door hardware in a publicly-used building. Visitors and occupants continuously handle door levers and exit devices. Bacteria and other microbes can live on these hardware surfaces for hours, transferring from one person to another. Did you know that door hardware can be protected against the growth of many microbes?

How can Kenton Brothers help?

Kenton Brothers offers locks and hardware with antimicrobial technology that has an added layer of protection against the growth of bacteria to protect the hardware. An antimicrobial is a substance that acts to inhibit the growth of microorganisms and suppresses microorganism reproduction. This provides an added level of protection against damaging microbes such as bacteria that can cause stains, odors and product deterioration.

Why do we need antimicrobial hardware? Because it’s 99.9% cleaner than unprotected surfaces.

Bacteria can double every 20 minutes on unprotected surfaces. Antimicrobial protection works to continuously fight off microbes and protect the hardware.

The antimicrobial coating is incorporated into the finish during the manufacturing process and will not wash off or wear away. The coating lasts for the lifetime of the hardware finish.

How does it work?

When microbes come in contact with the product surface, the antimicrobial protection penetrates the cell wall of the microorganism and disrupts the cell, making the microorganism unable to grow and reproduce.

Antimicrobial protection is effective against most common bacteria that cause stains, odors and product degradation. While this technology is 99.9% cleaner than unprotected surfaces, it is not designed to protect users from disease causing microorganisms.

Consumer safety is a fundamental concern for us. Antimicrobial hardware products are approved by the US EPA and have a history of safe use in door hardware.

To learn more about antimicrobial hardware, please give us a call!

Share your commercial video surveillance system feed with your local police department.

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By Neal Bellamy, IT Director at Kenton Brothers.

Video cameras are everywhere in the world today. These cameras can help a city gain more situational awareness and help police fight crimes better than ever before.

Wouldn’t it be nice if the police could access any camera… at any time?

Unfortunately, video management systems can be complicated. Most video management systems are not compatible with each other. However, there is hope.

Share your commercial video surveillance feed with your local police departmentIt starts with a standard.
In order for video management systems to communicate, they must first speak the same language. In the security camera space, there is already a common standard called ONVIF (www.onvif.org ). The standard is pretty widespread. If the standard is followed, it allows for video to be streamed between a client (usually a camera) and a server (usually a video management system). The ONVIF standard does not guarantee that all of the camera’s features can be accessed, but it’s a good starting point for basic video streaming. And it works with a bridge.

What if instead of a camera being ONVIF compliant, we made a commercial video management system act like an ONVIF compliant camera or multiple cameras? The video management system is already receiving video streams… Could it send the camera stream it’s receiving somewhere else as well?

That’s exactly what Milestone is doing.

Milestone Systems

Milestone commercial video surveillance LogoMilestone systems (www.milestonesys.com) has released a server component called “ONVIF Bridge”. This allows your Milestone server system to rebroadcast the video that is being sent to another server. As long as the receiving server is ONVIF compliant (most are) it will be able to see, and optionally record, the video.

So how does this solve our problem?

If a company wants to loan some, or all of their cameras out to a police department, they can under the following conditions:

1) The company is using a Milestone system that’s compatible with ONVIF Bridge
2) The Police department can connect to ONVIF Cameras

With those two things in place, the police department could use your cameras to help with situational awareness and help solve crimes.

In our lab at Kenton Brothers, we were able to successfully connect the Milestone ONVIF Bridge to Avigilon and Genetec systems.

If you would like to know more about how to connect your cameras to your local police department, give us a call!

A Call for Backup – Providing Support for the KCPD

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By Gina Stuelke, CEO of Kenton Brothers.

Kansas City Police Department Benefit: A Call for BackupCongratulations to the Kansas City Police Department on their successful benefit on Friday, February 28th! Our City’s law enforcement officers hear and see things daily that most of us are fortunate we never have to imagine. The benefit made a difference for the city’s officers by raising support funds for psychologists to help these officers deal with the gruesome and life threatening issues they deal with every day.

Kudos and thanks to Ed Elder (colliers.com) and Mark Thompson (countryclubbank.com) for acting as committee chairs for this year’s successful event with Chief Rick Smith!

I was lucky to try out Officer Sevier’s motorcycle and learn from SWAT specialists that joined our table for dinner.

Shout out to Dave and Holly Brucker and Todd and Melissa Howerton from StolenKC, who were also at our table. They do great work in helping Kansas Citians reclaim stolen vehicles and property (stolenkc.com). And you might like this recent article from KCTV5, “The backstory behind the Facebook page finding stolen KC items.”

Kansas City Police Department Benefit: A Call for Backup Kansas City Police Department Benefit: A Call for Backup

Kansas City Police Department Benefit: A Call for Backup Kansas City Police Department Benefit: A Call for Backup

 

Create Safer Worksites with Automated Patrols

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Depending on the industry, some worksites are safer than others. If your worksite is considered high risk for injury, then you probably struggle with finding, much less implementing, tools that provide the level of ongoing visibility that allows for swift and effective action. And, even if you have tools and systems in place, it still can be a struggle to catch every risk, everywhere, every time.

Enter Cobalt Robotics

That is why high-risk injury worksite leaders are embracing Cobalt Robotics to gain full situational awareness of their employees and facilities. Unlike distant cameras and fallible humans, Cobalt’s autonomous robots help ensure compliance in safety equipment and protocols so issues can be handled as they arise. These robots are the tool modern organizations need to enhance their safety operations.

Of course, robots cannot interact and intervene on the human level. So, Cobalt pairs its onsite robots with a remote Specialist Command Center staffed by people who are trained in your operations, safety rules/regulations and mandated protocols. Together, you gain unmatched coverage of your employees and single or multiple facilities to ensure action and accountability in real time. In other words, Cobalt protects your employees and worksites, allowing you to focus on other important matters.

Cobalt Robots in Real-World Situations

The following are just a few safety scenarios in which Cobalt robots create safer worksites.

Spill in Aisle 1

Cobalt RoboticsAs you and your employees know, spills are dangerous and can be difficult to detect on certain surfaces, especially if a liquid is clear. Cobalt’s robots autonomously roam your facility and can detect spills and alert for a cleanup.

And, should an employee slip and fall, the robot informs a specialist from Cobalt’s Command Center. The specialist assesses the employee’s injury and notifies the appropriate person for a report or 911.

Missing Safety Gear

The more safety gear required, the better the chance that a key piece can be missed, putting the employee and company compliance at risk. Cobalt’s robots stream stable, mobile video feeds for visibility of employees.

While a co-worker may not notice or call out missing safety gear or a supervisor is busy with other work, the robot can spot and remind an employee of what’s missing.

Clear a Path

In many work sites, there are designated paths for forklifts, machinery and foot traffic. Imagine a stack of palettes obstructing a forklift path. Or a service worker leaving a ladder where they shouldn’t. For the workers and site managers, going about their day-to-day duties, they might not notice these safety risks. But our robotic patrols are the best for detecting any anomaly and pairing it with human judgement to determine steps for resolution.

The Door is Ajar

Open DoorEntryways and doors to restricted areas can be purposely or accidentally left wide open, causing a number of risks.

A Cobalt robot can alert a Specialist and remain by the door until the issue is resolved to warn employees or restrict them from entering the area.

As an autonomous vehicle, the Cobalt robot patrols worksites along its designated route. If an employee asks for help or if it detects an anomaly, our Specialists can step in, pilot the robot, and interact with people through our video-enabled touchscreen.

Want to know more?

Robots such as Cobalt are already operating in a variety of industries to keep their worksites safer. Discover how Cobalt can reduce risk for your facilities and employees.

It’s easy to get started.

KCTV5 News Spot

Check out this news spot on the KCTV5 YouTube channel!

And here is the Kenton Brothers video about Cobalt Robotics

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.