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Several companies have been chasing the cloud video dream. We think one company, Verkada, has finally gotten there.
Several companies have been chasing the cloud video dream. We think one company, Verkada, has finally gotten there.
By David Strickland, Vice President of Kenton Brothers
The Federal Government alone experiences hundreds of thousands of digital assaults every day. Malicious actors are persistent, usually well-funded and constantly changing their tactics. They often exploit technologies from the identified Chinese companies to do so. The Administration shares Congress’ strong commitment to addressing insidious threats to the Nation’s national security and intellectual property.
Part A became effective on August 13, 2019. Part A prohibits the government from obtaining (through a contract or other instrument) certain telecommunications equipment (including video surveillance equipment) or services produced by the following covered entities and their subsidiaries and affiliates:
Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company and Dahua Technology Company are two of the largest Commercial Video surveillance manufacturers in the world. They operate and distribute through OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) over a 100 brands around the globe.
For a complete and updated list, check out IVPM here. IVPM is a great resource for ongoing list changes.
What may shock companies and agencies throughout the Midwest and beyond are a few of the names on those lists including:
The Department of Defense has the authority to add additional companies to this list at any time. Part B outlines that these items need to be removed by August 13, 2020 or a waiver needs to be submitted allowing for more time.
This order applies to all companies that do business with the Federal government. In any capacity, and at any level.
Part B prohibits the government from contracting with any entity that uses certain telecommunications equipment (including video surveillance equipment) or services produced by the entities listed in the statute.
Part B has been added to the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) at FAR subpart 4.21.
Please let Kenton Brothers know if you have questions on navigating Rule 889.
By David Strickland, Vice President of Kenton Brothers
In the news lately, there is a lot of talk about body cameras for police. There are a lot of positive reasons people are having these discussions.
These are very powerful reasons why body cameras work. Have you ever thought about how they can be used effectively in other types of businesses and security scenarios?
Some companies are requiring Fork lift drivers and stacker drivers to wear cameras. And they have had great success:
Some companies are utilizing body cameras to review technician work in the field to ensure accuracy of work compared to company specs.
This has improved output in the following ways:
At Kenton Brothers Systems for Security, we are proud to offer body worn cameras manufactured by our premier commercial video surveillance manufacturer Axis Communications.
The Axis camera solution offers several benefits:
“The same level of thoroughness has been applied throughout the solution, not just the camera unit. We took a holistic view of the customer requirement, from video capture in the field to presentation of evidence in the courtroom. This is where the openness became imperative – customers didn’t want to be forced into a specific VMS and EMS – and also drove key aspects related to security and ensuring the integrity of evidence.”
The new Axis body worn camera system features three main hardware components: the camera itself; the camera docking station (8-bay or 1-bay); and the system controller.
This camera captures video up to 1080p @30fps and audio through dual microphones for noise suppression capabilities. Wide dynamic range technology is employed to guarantee image quality in even the most challenging light conditions, while Axis Zipstream for body worn reduces the demands for storage. Battery power is designed to cover a ‘full shift’, with 12 hours of normal usage and the capability for charging in-car or from a power bank.
The docking station and the system controller are separate units. The system is scalable for large and cost-efficient body worn systems. The system controller provides a single integration and management point, and allows for fast and reliable video offloading (100Mbit per camera). All data is encrypted both at rest and in transfer using AES256 and TLS. In addition, video data can be fully end-to-end encrypted with specific integrations.
The camera also features built-in:
The Axis Body Worn Assistant mobile application allows users to review footage and add categories, descriptions and notes. The applications for this technology are endless.
We are very excited to offer this solution to our customers! Would you like to know more about the Axis Body Worn Camera Solution? Give us a call!
By Ryan Kaullen, Field Services Manager at Kenton Brothers
At Kenton Brothers, we get many types of requests for different scenarios and applications. We recently received a request from a customer in the Westport area of Kansas City, MO. The wanted to install video cameras at five separate buildings. And they wanted all of those video feeds to go into a video management system at one of the five locations. This can be a fairly challenging technical request. Our solution was to use Ubiquiti line-of-sight radios to communicate between the buildings. That way, we could stream the camera feeds to the centrally located recording server because they would all be on the same network.
The Ubiquiti radios are mounted on the roofs of the buildings and aimed at the main building where the recording service is housed. (All camera systems have to have a network path back to where the video is recorded.) When you’re physically located in a single building, this is a relatively easy task. In situations where there are two buildings, fiber is often in place between the buildings making a single network possible.
The picture above shows one of the Ubiquiti radios. As you can see, the buildings are several blocks apart. This physical challenge made a wireless connection the ideal solution. And at the same time, it’s the most cost effective for the customer while meeting their business needs and plans for future growth.
In the past, high speed wireless systems used to be expensive, unstable, and slow. New technology like Ubiquiti’s line of products has lowered the cost, improved the stability dramatically and allows dozens of cameras to be streamed at the same time. This technology has allowed customers to cover areas of their business with commercial video surveillance that wouldn’t have been an option financially a few years ago.
Kenton Brothers has deployed dozens of wireless commercial video surveillance systems over the past 7+ years. These have been successful projects resulting in happy customers. Why? Because we’re fixing pain points in their business and making them more secure.
At Kenton Brothers, it is our mission to Protect People, Property, & Possessions. Would you like to learn more about commercial video surveillance? Give us a call!
Avigilon’s face mask detection technology can determine if a person appears on camera without face protection… and alert your team.