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home automation
gUiDE

smart commercial security:

Fire and Video Monitoring with Access Control

once encountered only in movies

featuring the lair of a James bond-type begin fighting the fire with a local water

villain or a heist from a super-secure sprinkler or through chemical means and Modern video systems have image
museum, commercial video surveillance oxygen deprivation. Moreover, because enhancement, greater storage capabili-

systems have become economical, com- the system is smart, it will at first activate ties for longer data retention, and more
mon, and easy to use. digital technology suppression measures only in the area built-in intelligence that can respond

has replaced passive analog videotape nearest the fire, reducing unnecessary to highly customizable and specific

so that these smart systems exhibit damage via a focused response. The alerts—such as a person’s lingering too
hitherto impossible programmed- system will detect when the fire is extin- long in one area of a monitored room. In

response integration. They help protect guished and can shut off any activated turn, the intelligence provides for user-
a business from fire and liability while response mechanisms accordingly. Mean- customizable responses, from sending

strengthening its security and give while, it can notify the fire department a high-resolution image to a designated

owners a flexible, granular, and robust and any other designated responders.
cell phone to alerting police.
means of managing access control.

Video monitoring
Access control
Fire suppression
Less than 20 years ago, the first few contemporary businesses of

The National fire Protection Associa- networked camera could send only a any size rely on conventional locks
tion estimated that in 2012 the united low-resolution image at one frame per and metal keys for access control

States experienced almost half a million second over the Internet. Today, a conflu- because of a key’s limited flexibility,

structural fires, causing about 2,500 ence of improved technologies in video, difficult change implementation, and
deaths and 15,000 injuries. These fires re- audio, bandwidth, and security, along lack of record-keeping. Card readers

sulted in $9.6 billion in property damage. with economies of scale, is making high- can integrate with other smart devices
Today’s fire monitoring and fire-suppres- resolution digital video both affordable to operate gates and doors, as well as

sion systems are linked to local fire, police, and essential for commercial enterprises. activate image recording and send alerts

and other first-responder departments to These systems protect against obvious or alarms as needed. Moreover, modern
minimize both loss of life and property.
risks such as shoplifting and break-ins and control systems can passively track and

The systems use sensors located constantly gather physical evidence in the record all building traffic and respond
throughout a structure to detect a fire event of litigation affecting the enterprise. immediately to both individual and

from the presence of heat, smoke, or Should a passerby, for example, claim that global access updates.

carbon monoxide as soon as the fire starts. he or she has fallen in your store, surveil-
They then send a wireless or wired signal lance video is available to verify or rebut

to an automated control system that can
the would-be litigant’s account.
For help installing or upgrading secu-

rity systems in your enterprise, contact
Safet Systems (865-693-0095).

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