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Dec. 14, 2015 — HID Global is the trusted source for innovative products, solutions, and services that help millions of customers around the globe create, manage, and use secure identities. Founded in 1991, the company has since been acquired by ASSA ABLOY, and today employs over 2,200 people worldwide with international offices that support more than 100 countries.
Recently, HID Global decided to consolidate corporate functions, manufacturing, distribution, and sales operations in a new World Headquarters and North American Operations Center. Located in Austin, Texas, the headquarters features 250,000 square feet of manufacturing, office, and warehouse space on 22 acres.
As a leading security provider with many established industry partnerships, HID Global had many options for video surveillance and access control software. After considering several solutions following the issuance of a public tender, the company chose a proposal submitted by Convergint Technologies, a service-based global integrator. Convergint recommended Genetec Security Center, a unified security platform which includes Omnicast IP video surveillance, Synergis IP access control, and other third-party systems, such as intrusion detection, in one intuitive solution.
“The proposal put together by Convergint for Security Center was comprehensive and competitive from a value versus features perspective” said Dean Young, global physical security manager, HID Global. “With Security Center, we were able to get strong video management capabilities for monitoring and investigations, a proven access control solution, and unified intrusion detection, all within one complete solution.”
HID Global uses Security Center to manage numerous Axis Communications network cameras and doors spread throughout the new headquarters. A dedicated security team actively monitors video and access-control events, and the unified security interface makes handling alarms or reviewing video simple and efficient.
“The ability to manage both video surveillance and access control from one unified interface is a huge time-saver for our security team. All of the information that they need is right there within one application. This helps us remain proactive in keeping our new headquarters secure,” Young said.
On weekends, or after business hours, security personnel use the Remote Security Desk feature to securely connect to the system to address any incoming alarms, support on-site security personnel, review video to determine whether immediate response is required, and even remotely grant or deny access to the building.
“Having a secure remote connection to our Security Center platform allows our team to make informed decisions, even when we’re not on site,” Young added.
Various on-schedule and on-motion recording configurations were programmed within Security Center to ensure that the system runs as efficiently as possible. The organization is also leveraging the powerful reliability features of Security Center such as redundant and failover archiving to achieve uninterrupted system access and data protection.
Leveraging the open architecture of the unified security platform, HID Global was able to add many of its own access control devices to secure the expansive two-level building. Some of these include biometric readers, facial recognition readers, HID EVO V1000 network access controllers, Edge EVO EH400-K network controllers, and various other HID readers/controllers.
As security industry leaders, Genetec and HID Global have established an alliance that dates back over a decade. For years, their teams have worked side by side to align product roadmaps and guarantee deep levels of integrations which allow their mutual customers to get the most of out their technology investments. The extensive compatibility of Security Center with HID Global products ensures that the company can continue to add and test new access-control devices and card technologies as they are engineered and released.
“Genetec is one of our key technology partners and has always been focused on supporting our latest access-control devices. As we continue to launch new innovations, we are confident that Security Center will be able to keep up with our system’s evolution,” said Jason Bohrer, vice president, global operations.
Using Synergis, HID Global was able to create cardholder groups and set highly granular cardholder privileges to allow employees to access various areas of the building depending on their roles. The company has also set up dual-authentication rules in Synergis, so that only employees with permission can access certain high-security areas.
As the organization continues to grow, the security team feels confident in their ability to protect and secure the building using Genetec Security Center. While no plans are in place yet, HID Global could easily expand their use of the Security Center platform to encompass other facilities around the world and centralize monitoring of all sites at its headquarters using the Genetec Federation feature.
Genetec develops open-platform software, hardware and cloud-based services for the physical security and public safety industry. Its flagship product, Security Center, unifies IP-based video surveillance, access control, and license automatic plate recognition (ALPR) into one platform. For more information, visit www.genetec.com.
