Genetec was created on the belief that technology can break down barriers and improve the day-to-day lives of users. More than 25 years later, the company is still striving to push the boundaries to meet school, university, and hospital physical security needs and to help campus protection professionals and administrators stay ahead in a complex, ever-changing world.
Campus Safety caught up with Bruce A. Canal, who is a school security subject matter expert and the education account executive for Genetec. In the following interview, he discusses how Genetec’s offering address the needs of education and healthcare campuses and more.
Bruce A. Canal, Education Executive Lead, Genetec
Campus Safety: How do your company and its offerings address the needs of hospitals, schools and/or universities?
Bruce Canal: Large campuses are inherently complex environments. In addition to maintaining strong security measures, they want to have a welcoming environment where people can easily go about their daily routines. Campus security measures should protect people and property without making people feel watched or fenced in. Thankfully, innovative technology and software solutions can enhance safety in unobtrusive ways.
For campuses of various sizes, Genetec™ offers unified access control, video management, intrusion monitoring, analytics, and other solutions that enhance security without impeding the flow of traffic. Since all security activities are managed in one unified platform, operators can easily monitor their systems from a centralized security operations center (SOC) or through their mobile devices. As an open architecture platform, Genetec can integrate various hardware solutions to meet the unique needs of each campus, and organizations can often reuse existing infrastructure when upgrading their systems.
CS: What else is new or noteworthy about your company for 2024?
Canal: Genetec has launched Security Center SaaS: a scalable, open, and unified software as a service solution (SaaS). Security Center SaaS allows organizations to move components and sites to the cloud based on their needs and requirements. It combines access control, video management, forensic search, intrusion monitoring, automation, and many other advanced security capabilities.
Related Article: How Physical Security Can Improve Campus Policy and Procedure Compliance
Cloud solutions offer an alternative, especially for campuses that have limited IT resources to manage and maintain servers and hardware. While some institutions have transitioned fully to a cloud-based system, many find a hybrid solution appealing. A hybrid approach provides flexibility. They can move to the cloud at their own pace, keeping some of the hardware or components they purchased while reducing the need for on-site servers to maintain.
CS: What is your company’s overall value proposition to schools, universities and/or hospitals? Why should they do business with you?
Canal: Genetec offers use-case-driven and outcome-based solutions. We engage with our integrators, our third party partners, and customers to determine the right solutions for each project. Since our systems are based on open architecture, we can work with top technology partners to provide a complete solution for each customer’s unique needs. As your campus grows or manufacturers introduce technology, an open architecture solution allows you to invest in new solutions that meet your changing goals or needs.
CS: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Canal: When beginning to consider new security technology, a good place to start is a threat assessment. Identify what risks you need to mitigate and the problems or pain points you experience. Look for solutions that help you reduce friction and streamline your operations.
Related Article: How to Secure an Open Campus
Genetec is a leader in unified campus security solutions that simplify operations. Using Genetec solutions, your security team can manage and interpret data from video surveillance, access control, intrusion detection, and other systems all in one place. Operators can quickly identify potential threats and view related data, such as video feeds or access control logs, without switching between systems to find information. Everything they need to enhance campus safety and security can be found on the same interface, providing a reliable solution to streamline response and improve efficiency. genetec.com.
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