UBM Live’s Security Portfolio have announced that icomply are finalists for the Integrated Security Solution of the Year at the Security Excellence Awards 2012.  We’re delighted to see our integrated software solution V-TAS Pro alongside highly esteemed companies such as Risco Group and the Olympic Delivery Authority.  The past 12 months has been a whirlwind of new projects and new customers for icomply, and we’re happy that our success has been recognised by the Security Excellence Awards

One of icomply’s true success stories has been the Alarm Receiving Centre (ARC) at Edinburgh City Council.  They have over 200 occupied and vacant properties that were secured by a myriad of disparate manned guarding and alarm monitoring companies.  With the sites spread across a vast area, and no standard operating procedure in place, the cost of safeguarding the properties created a huge drain on the council’s resources.

One central ARC

With the introduction of a smaller dedicated in-house security team, icomply created one central ARC and installed the security application platform, V-TAS Pro. The open platform caters for incoming alarms from different systems in a uniformed manner, such as PAC Access Control, Honeywell alarm panels and Redwall perimeter detection.  Operators can display, control and archive CCTV images from different camera manufacturers at every site, transmitted over the dedicated wireless network, broadband and 3G.

By utilising V-TAS Pro vehicle tracking and lone working modules, the ARC schedules guard tours with RFID checkpoints, sets up lone working check calls, and responds to alarm activations by deploying personnel.  The V-TAS Pro database produces graphically enriched reports of incidents, mapped on an incident map to identify emerging patterns.

Triggering alarm receiving

The open software platform at Edinburgh City Council allows the ARC to maximise legacy equipment that exists in each premises, whilst introducing functional security applications designed specifically for the ARC.  The security team find V-TAS Pro much more efficient, accurate and user-friendly.  When an alarm is generated, visual verification using CCTV is presented automatically, preventing constant monitoring.  The front end system is entirely customisable, from the priority of each alarm, to the multiple independent steams displayed on the media wall.  The lone working module ensures the safety of staff, as a missed check call triggers an alarm and their position can be determined on the interactive map using mobile phone GPS devices.

Edinburgh City Council currently save £000’s per month by using in-house systems.  The ARC provides other council departments with services, which saves in excess of £250k/year.  The automatic reporting functions that replaced paper based systems saves an estimated 72 man hours per month.  Now the ARC can justify expenditure to Edinburgh Council and demonstrate the efficiency of functions like alarm response times and guard tours.  “These reports have now become a great advert for our services, providing irrefutable and detailed evidence”, Frank MacFadden, General Manager of Security.