iFacility inFocus Summer 2014

Wouldn’t it be far more convenient, with far less disruption and hassle, if you could have your CCTV and security systems installed at exactly the same time as your new EPOS solution?Yes, we thought so too! Which is why we’ve teamed-up with market leader in up-to-date EPOS technologies, Wedderburn & Co… the only company with over 170 years’ experience in POS… to o�er you a complete security and EPOS solution.

It makes perfect sense… one integrated, innovative and coste�ective solution; from one specialist supplier, with one point of contact; all installed in just one hit: what could be easier than that?

If you think we could help you with your retail installation call us on 01749 600600 or drop an email to [email protected]

Innovative Retail Solutions

SUMMER ISSUE 2014

INSIDE IFACILITYJust a little of what’s been going-on ‘back at the coalface’.PAGE 4

ASK THE EXPERTViewing your dataon an iPhone orsmartphone.PAGE 4

JOINED-UPTHINKINGBringing you joined up retail solutions with EPOS giant,Wedderburn & Co.PAGE 4

HELPING HERTZHow Hertz achieved gold star standards with iFacility.PAGE 3

TECH TALKAn in-depth look at video analytics.PAGE 3

OK, SO JUST WHAT IS IP?Cutting through the jargon to explain what it can do for you. PAGE 2

MEET ADAMLiving up to the title of Innovation &ImplementationManager! PAGE 2

REWARDINGREFERRALS!How you can getyour £100 Amazon voucher. PAGE 1

IN THIS ISSUE:

Inside iFacility If it’s cutting edge... it’ll be InFocus!

Welcome to the �rst edition of InFocus – your inside-trackon the world of cutting-edge security and surveillance.It’s a quarterly mix of product, service and industry news,with case studies, technical insights, topical interviews…and why not ‘Ask Our Experts’ for answers to all yourniggling questions?

It’s been a busy end to 2013 and start to 2014 here at iFacility:we’ve opened new o�ces in Leeds, launched our new website andintroduced two new brochures; �nd out more on page 2.

Talking of things new… we love adopting, adapting and exploitingthe latest technologies… it’s how we helped Hertz upgrade to‘Hertz Gold’ at its prestigious Birmingham Airport site: check itout on page 3.

Plus there’s a guide to IP and what it can do for you, a discussionabout video analytics and an interview with our ‘ice-bathing’Innovation & Implementation Manager, Adam Burden; read allabout it on page 2.

I hope you enjoy InFocus; and remember… if you’ve got a question, we’ve got an expert! Ask away at [email protected]

Regards

Would you like a £100 Amazon voucher?

Yes – we’re giving them away!All you have to do is make a referral which turns into an order for us and we’ll give you a £100 Amazon voucher… simple as that.

'To make a referral (or referrals - you're welcome to send more than one) just send an email with the company name and, if you have one, a contact name to [email protected].' You'll qualify for a £100 voucher for every successful referral that you make.

Have you seen ourgreat new website yet?

It’s packed full ofinformation aboutsecurity and surveillance,and not just about thegreat products andservices we o�er…there’s a handy guide tohelp you make sure yoursecurity system complies with all therelevant legislation and we’ll be adding loads of otheruseful resources too. Is there anything you speci�callywant to know about? Let us know on [email protected].

And if you’ve not seen the site yet, then why not take aquick look?

www.ifacility.co.ukWe hope you like it as much as we do!

And what about our new brochures?

To accompany the new website, we’vecreated a brand new corporate brochure(and there’s a version especially for youif you’re in retail too). They’re both lovelylittle fold-out pieces, giving you a �avourof just how much our solutions could do for you and yourbusiness. To get a copy, simply call our sales team with your details.

Last but not least, there’s our new Northern o�ces!

And to �nish our ‘new’ news for this issue, we’ve openedour new Northern o�ce in Leeds… at 4100 Park Approach,Thorpe Park, Leeds, LS15 8GB

This new base – supported by our team of engineers based across the country – will allow us to provide an even more e�cient service to those of our clients with premises inthe North Midlands, North of England and Scotland.

One of the most common questions weget asked is: “Can I view it on myiPhone or Smartphone?”

Your Security Specialists

The simple answer is “Yes”.

Because our systems are all totally up-to-the-minute IP-based solutions, you can access your data - live or historic - on youy iPhone or other smartphone, plus laptops, tablets and PCs (in fact, anything with an internet connection) from anywhere in the World, whenever you want to; no exceptions, no exclusions.

Simply login at your convenience and away you go...it’s simple, it’s guaranteed secure and clients tell us it saves them time, e�ort and often expense too.

Peter Cope

7:15 AM7:15 AM 60%

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Meet Adam Burden… our Innovation & Implementation Manager‘Innovation & Implementation Manager’: it’s a big job title but luckily for us, Adam’s not scared of a challenge!

What is IP and what does it mean for you? IP networked video security solutions; HD CCTVnetwork cameras; the migration from traditionalanalogue to today’s IP… great jargon, but do you �ndyourself wondering just what it all means and moreimportantly, what can it do for you?

If you do, rest assured you’re not alone. So here’s our quickintroduction to IP security and surveillance.

There are two main elements to an IP-based security solution, the IP base and the security cameras:

IP simply means Internet Protocol, so an IP security system is simply one which can be accessed, monitored and controlled / adjusted via the internet. Which means you can see – even control – what’s happen-ing at your sites from wherever you are in the World and on the rare occasion they need to, our engineers can trouble-shoot most issues without the time and expense of a site visit. Our IP solutions also store all your footage in MyFacility, which gives you instant online access to your data, 24/7/365.

HD cameras are an integral part of most new IP securityinstallations although, unusually in the industry, we canincorporate your existing analogue cameras too.In addition to delivering clearer images for more accurate

identi�cation, HD… or High De�nition… cameras have bettersensitivity in low lighting, better performance in strongbacklighting and wider areas of surveillance, all of which meansyou have more options for camera location and can possiblyreduce camera numbers too, delivering signi�cant cost savings.Our HD cameras are also equipped with ‘intelligent’ technology, sorather than always being on you can set appropriate ‘trigger’ parame-ters; and the analytic capabilities o�er business planning and marketing opportunities as well as enhanced security.

With these two main elements in place, you can add a myriad offeatures and functions to your IP solution to make it much morethan just a security system... and make sure it’s tailored to deliverexactly what your business needs. Perhaps you would like tointegrate surveillance with access control, building managementand/or your burglar alarm systems? Maybe footfall data could helpyou maximise sales and/or workload management? Or couldremote and/or multi-site monitoring help you increase yoursta�ng e�ciencies?

There may be many more possibilities and bene�ts speci�cto your individual circumstances too. Our team is always happy to explore the potential with you, so if you’d like to discover more, just give them a call on 01749 600 600 or email [email protected]

Q. I have to ask – what does an Innovation &Implementation Manager do?Adam Lots of things! It’s really di�cult to pin down and explain ina few words; I guess it’s all about ‘managing growth by assessinginternal issues and implementing solutions’… but that sounds waymore boring than it is!

Q. How did you get into it in the �rst place?Adam I did an apprenticeship here at iFacility in 2006, but thatwas more on the technical side than I am now. I wanted to get intomanagement, so I went to do a degree in business andmanagement at Bournemouth Uni and now I’m back here, using mydegree to implement and improve internal processes and systems.

Q. Is there a typical day in the life of Adam Burden?Adam No, de�nitely not. The work’s so varied; I get lots thrown at me! Our company is full of great ideas– it’s my job to catch those ideas,slow them down and �nd a way to make them work for us (not allof them do!)

Q. So what sort of things do you work on?Adam It’s a really eclectic mix – everything from strategic stu� geared towards growth and scalability to creating job descriptions,rewriting processes and making sure the training and manuals fornew software are up to scratch. And I work a lot with the customerservices team, helping to make what they do more e�cient and timely.

Q. Do you work directly with customers too?Adam No, mine’s a ‘behind the scenes’ role – but it is focussed onmaking sure everything we do is geared towards customer needs.Quality and excellence in our systems, processes and procedurescan only make things better for our customers.

Q. So, what do you like best about your job?Adam I love the variety. It’s a real privilege to have this overview ofthe whole business – I get to step back,take in the bigger picture and implement changes which I reallyhope are helping build better work patterns and a better workplace.

Q. But is there anything you’re not so keen on?Adam Not really, but as I’m not starting with a blank canvas, it’s often a matter of untangling what’s gone before and managing change; it’s slower than starting afresh and change can be challenging.

Q. Sounds full-on, so how do you relax?Adam Life is busy! I got married last year, moved house and started this job; and I’m a leader at a local church, which is almost another job in itself.

Q. And a little bird told me something about ice bathing?Adam Ah, yes. I have friends in Norway and every New Year we doa charity Ice Bathe to raise money for an orphanage in Kenya. It’srun by just one guy, with no formal funding whatsoever and newchildren arriving all the time, so he needs to buy more land. Thisyear the ice was thinner and the water warmer than usual – but atabout 1°C, it was still FREEZING cold!

So far, Adam has raised an amazing £8000 for the orphanage – andhe’s crazy enough to be planning more ice bathing for New Year2015 – as we said in the introduction, he likes a challenge!

You can help Adam raise money for the charity - Rain Edge International - or discover more by visiting their website: http://www.rainedge.net/

Tech Talk: Video Analytics

If you’d like to find out how video analytics can benefit your business, give us a call on 01749 600 600 or email us at [email protected]

With video surveillance booming there’s a massive amount of footagebeing recorded, but to be honest, much of it is never watched orreviewed; add to that the hit-and-miss nature of human monitoringand it’s no surprise many events, activities and suspicious behavioursaren’t spotted in time to prevent incidents occurring. Seems a bit of awaste of a surveillance system, doesn’t it?

But there are systems which can help you make the most ofyour footage… and in less time too!

Video Analytics (or Video Content Analysis) has been speci�callydeveloped to automatically analyse and tag surveillance video inreal-time, and initiate appropriate responses when pre-setparameters are breached.

Which means your CCTV system could include capabilities rangingfrom video motion detection and audio detection to more advancedfunctionality such as camera tampering detection, people counting,cross line detection and vehicle license plate recognition. Whentriggered, these systems can initiate video recording, alarms orother actions; alert operators or �eld personnel; even provide earlywarnings of situations which could be potential risk scenarios…ultimately enabling operators to be more proactive in preventingcrime rather than reacting or analysing after the fact.

It’s all about making video surveillance systems smarter,more accurate and more cost-e�ective.

With video analytics, surveillance systems can deliver moretargeted and speci�c information, which leads to less reliance on

manned guarding and more e�cient use of manpower, as feweroperators can monitor even large installations. It’s also quicker toretrieve your stored data, because the automatically applied ‘tags’enable the system to �nd the right footage in a matter of seconds.

These systems can reduce your network load and storage needstoo. For instance, rather than recording hours of inactivity, systemswith motion and audio detection record and save only footagewhich contains activity. And by processing as much as possible ofthe video in the cameras themselves, the load on your network issigni�cantly reduced.

Opening-up potential for improving your business…

We are already building intelligent video systems which extract video and data from surveillance streams and integrate it with other applications, such as retail management systems or access control systems.

For example, in retail stores we can analyse customer behaviours: say the number of people stopping by a particular shelf, the popular routes through the shop, even queue times and abandonment. In airports, we can measure the queue time between entering and exiting a check-in point, helping direct sta� and minimise waiting time for travellers.

Delivering higher ROI

With the number of applications growing all the time – developingin capability, complexity and functionality too – video analyticsmakes it possible for you to extract greater bene�t out of yourvideo surveillance infrastructure and thus achieve a higher returnon your investment.

A Gold Star from Hertz!When Hertz wanted to upgrade its existing car rental site atBirmingham Airport to ‘Hertz Gold’, we were very proud to be selected as its chosen provider for this complex installation.

Alongside providing the faster ‘Hertz Gold’ reservations,rentals and returns for customers, the company alsowanted to improve general security and Health and Safetyat its separate valeting and fuelling centre. So, there wouldbe many and varied demands on the system, from standardintruder alarms right through to active tra�c management… and it all needed to be easy and intuitive for sta� to use too.

After a thorough assessment of the facility and discussionswith management and sta�, we speci�ed a fully integratedsolution, incorporating IP megapixel CCTV cameras,automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, asecure barrier and blocker tra�c management system andintruder alarms across the two locations.

Our high de�nition CCTV cameras and intruder alarmsprovide security for both sites, with an entry and exitdesign speci�cally created to act as a deterrent againstopportunist criminals. We also created an entirely bespoke

access control system, tailored to this particular Hertz facility. Automatic barriers and rising kerbs give sta� complete control over who enters and exits, whilst intelligent ANPR cameras integrate completely with the Hertz system for fast and e�cient customer service; they also provide greater visibility of Hertz �eet movements too.

But that’s not all!

As well as security, the CCTV system delivers other bene�ts. For instance, in the event of an incident, it can be utilised to recall evidence; and our remote login facility allows management to review the operation at any time, from their computer or smart phone, irrespective of where they are, reducing the need for costly and time consuming personal visits.

We’re pleased to say Barry Fulbrook, Director of CorporateSecurity at Hertz, is delighted with the results: “iFacility has shown complete dedication to ensure the product �ts our requirements, meets expectation and continues to do so. They have a good knowledge of the systems to be installed and have provided excellent after-sales service”.