Motorola Solutions, Inc. - Experts & Thought Leaders

U.K. fire and rescue services (FRSs) Hereford and Worcester FRS, Shropshire FRS,  Cleveland Fire Brigade, and Country Durham & Darlington FRS have selected Motorola Solutions to deploy a new Control Room Solution (CRS) utilising a shared control room platform to allow the four control rooms to work independently as well as a collaborative services hub. The new solution integrates workflows from initial call-taking to dispatch, into an intuitive and unified response system. It will standardise data and processes and provide control room staff with the ability to more quickly respond to incidents and be able to scale operations and capabilities in times of high demand. New multi-agency hub “Our control room is an essential function and the first point of contact to our communities in any emergency," said Jon Pryce, Chief Fire Officer, Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service. “By creating this new multi-agency hub, our four fire services can manage incidents together when they need to, such as in spate conditions, when a control room may need to cover a large amount of incoming 999 calls. The new Control Room Solution will help  us to maximise the capabilities of our control room staff and use the latest technology to mobilise and coordinate front-line staff." Standardisation “By adopting this innovative approach, fire and rescue services can enhance capabilities, improve service delivery, and minimise costs by sharing the same underlying infrastructure,” said Fergus Mayne, U.K. and Ireland country manager at Motorola Solutions. “By choosing a hub solution, emergency services foster standardisation for seamless information exchange during joint operations and increase scalability to accommodate varying demand levels especially leading to faster response times.” Integrated communication control system The four Fire & Rescue Services working together operate 77 fire stations, covering a population of 2.5 million people. As part of the deployment, the shared platform encompasses an integrated communication control system (ICCS) for call-taking, computer-aided dispatch (CAD), and data recording to help each FRS increase the effectiveness and resilience of incident response.

Students of all ages are back in the classroom this fall and as they sit at their desks, in the cafeteria or outside, a reliable, comprehensive physical security ecosystem is pivotal. Whether it’s initiating a school-wide lockdown with one button, alerting school officials of a propped door or detecting vaping and bullying in bathrooms, Motorola Solutions’ technology - on display at GSX 2024 - is playing an essential role in school safety and security.  Access control technologies One such school is The Greater Dayton School in Ohio, protecting its students with Motorola Solutions' Safer Schools technologies. Aiming to be one of the safest schools in the US, its physical security ecosystem includes Avigilon video security cameras across campus, access control protecting all doors, radio communications that connect staff and security, and HALO smart sensors to detect vape and keyword alerts, like "help" or "emergency." All of these technologies are integrated seamlessly. “Our students and staff can stay focused on learning because we have Motorola Solutions technology running in the background, improving both our daily operations and our emergency readiness,” said AJ Stich, the founding principal of The Greater Dayton School. “We have peace of mind knowing our cameras and access control technologies can help us to secure the school in the event of a dangerous threat.” New and enhanced technologies “From cameras built with artificial intelligence to smart sensors, access control and body cameras, we’re helping schools, hospitals, businesses, retailers, manufacturers and venues cut down on response times, increase efficiency and streamline workflows,” said Alex Castaneda, corporate vice president, North America Video Security & Access Control Sales at Motorola Solutions. “New products and flexible integrations are expanding and enhancing the capabilities we offer to our customers.” Motorola Solutions will be highlighting a range of new and enhanced technologies at GSX 2024: Avigilon Security Suite: New devices and analytics including the Avigilon L6A enterprise license plate camera, Avigilon Alta Video analytics for expanded appearance search and the integration of Avigilon Alta Access with Mercury Security intelligent controllers that provides users with more cloud-based capabilities. SentryERS: A physical panic button for Initiating lockdown protocols with the push of a button, alerting first responders during an emergency while providing live video, voice, text and GPS location data. Pelco Sarix Enhanced Duo: Offering two sensors in one camera for comprehensive coverage of open spaces, areas with multiple entrances/exits or locations requiring multi-directional video security. Attendees can learn how Motorola Solutions is solving for safer communities, schools and businesses at GSX in Orlando, September 23 - 25.

Motorola Solutions has acquired Noggin, a global provider of cloud-based business continuity planning, operational resilience and critical event management (CEM) software. The company is headquartered in Sydney, Australia, with a global footprint of customers. Noggin’s software helps enterprises and critical infrastructure anticipate, prepare for and efficiently respond to incidents. The company’s integrated platform offers flexible workflows and checklists, built-in maps and situational awareness dashboards to help streamline incident management and strengthen business resilience. Noggin’s software With a single, easy-to-use interface, Noggin’s software enables response teams to communicate directly, follow unified procedures and view the same operating picture during everyday incidents or emergencies. Noggin’s software enables response teams to communicate directly, follow unified procedures “Our technology investments to connect those in need with those who can help are more critical than ever,” said Greg Brown, chairman and CEO, Motorola Solutions. “Noggin enables the operational resilience and incident management capabilities that are essential as industries globally continue to see threats scale in number and complexity.”  Motorola Solutions’ portfolio Noggin is an excellent complement to Motorola Solutions’ portfolio of emergency coordination solutions, adding business continuity planning, operational resilience and CEM software that helps make enterprise security more accessible and actionable.  The acquisition of Noggin further strengthens Motorola Solutions’ ability to connect public safety agencies and enterprises, enabling the collaboration that’s critical for a more proactive approach to safety and security.  Adverse events and disruptions “Together with Motorola Solutions, we will continue to help enterprises quickly respond and manage all types of adverse events and disruptions,” said James Boddam-Whetham, CEO, Noggin. “We are thrilled about this new step in our journey that will allow us to offer our solutions to an expanded customer base.” Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

With the new year well underway, 2023 seems almost like a distant memory. However, a bit of distance might be just the thing to enable us to examine the impact of the year 2023 on the physical security marketplace. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What factors had the biggest impact on the security marketplace in 2023? 

Technology is driving new opportunities in the security industry. Innovation trends include artificial intelligence (AI), edge-based systems, mobile systems, a greater focus on software, and efforts to simplify operation of security systems, even as capabilities become more complex. ISC West 2022 reflected these changing trends. “In addition to emphasising technology innovation, ISC West also reflected an industry that is resilient, dedicated and passionate,” said Mary Beth Shaughnessy, the Event Director of ISC Security Events. ISC West 2022 “Almost 12,000 dealers, installers, integrators, end users and consultants reconnected at ISC West 2022, and there were nearly 20,000 total industry professionals in attendance (including manufacturers),” adds Mary Beth Shaughnessy. The 550 exhibitors and brands on display reflected an industry that has come through the COVID-19 pandemic in better shape than ever, poised for even greater success in the years ahead. Turning video and access control into knowledge Deployment of AI to ‘watch video’ can inform users of what’s happening in real-time Motorola Solutions emphasized several themes that were heard repeatedly throughout the show. “One trend is fulfilling the need to turn video and access control into sources of knowledge, inside the enterprise,” said John Kedzierzski, Motorola Solutions’ Senior Vice President of Video Security and Access Control. Deployment of AI to ‘watch video’ can inform users of what’s happening in real-time, while monitoring access control yields the equivalent of an operating system inside a building. Using the Cloud offers consumer ease-of-use to systems The second trend listed by Motorola Solutions is working to bring the consumer ease-of-use experience into enterprise security solution applications. Professional security systems were previously complicated to buy, install, manage and upgrade. However, using the Cloud, even distributed enterprises can bring consumer ease-of-use to systems, from improving the out-of-box installation experience to boosting the ability to manage the system. Transition to ‘mobile first’ interfaces The third trend emphasised by Motorola Solutions is transition to ‘mobile first’ interfaces, reflecting the need for busy security executives to be on-the-go, but with full access to their systems, without being chained to their desks. Since the last springtime ISC West show in 2019, Motorola Solutions has grown rapidly, both organically and through acquisition of IndigoVision, Pelco, Openpath, Envysion, and Ava Security. Cloud-based Orchestrate system Integration is simple through a ‘drag-and-drop’ approach that doesn’t involve writing code In addition, the company is making it easier to integrate video and access control systems with Motorola’s radio systems, typically carried by security guards. The cloud-based Orchestrate system translates ‘events’ from access control and video, to trigger notifications on a mobile radio. Integration is simple through a ‘drag-and-drop’ approach that doesn’t involve writing code. Simplifying implementation of AI Artificial Intelligence (AI) has traditionally been associated with the use of large servers or even intelligence in the Cloud. Several exhibitors at ISC West helped to change that misconception. For example, Oosto offers a simpler and more economical approach. They supply edge appliances for AI. The purpose-built Vision AI appliance, a small box, puts intelligence at the ‘near edge’, by connecting to up to five cameras. Easy and dependable ‘failover’ ensures redundancy without a big investment, and the system can work with any IP camera, including an end user’s installed base of cameras. Oosto’s TCO (total cost of ownership) calculator Oosto’s TCO (total cost of ownership) calculator spells out how much a customer can save versus using a big server, including lower costs such and power and cooling. AI was probably the biggest buzzword at ISC West, but there was also emphasis on the practical results of applying AI to physical security. Artificial Intelligence (AI) - the biggest buzzword at ISC West I believe our purpose is to bring buzzwords, like Cloud and AI together in a way that is useful to end-users" “What surprises me (at the show) is that there is a lot of generic marketing of AI, but we are trying to step back from our analytics and look at applications that serve certain end-users,” said Jeff Corrall, Vice President - Product Management at March Networks, adding “As an industry, we are still at the stage of AI as a buzzword.” Jeff Corrall further said, “I believe our purpose is to bring buzzwords, like Cloud and AI together in a way that is useful to end-users. We have to live with the buzzwords, but what we really want is to apply them. That creates a stickiness with the end-user — when high technology is making a difference.” March Networks Labs address specific end-user problems and then apply their systems to provide a solution. Jeff Corrall adds, “A lot of AI is responding to what the customer is asking for, and we are stepping back and making sure the end-user will use it on a consistent basis.” ‘Edge versus cloud’ was a common theme at ISC West Edge versus Cloud ‘Edge versus cloud’ was a common theme at ISC West, pondering where in a system the ‘intelligence’, such as AI and machine learning, as well as other functionality, should reside. Among the companies addressing the quandary was Axis Communications, which focused on the issue using a racing theme at their presentation to the industry press. The winner of the ‘race?’ - The combination of both approaches working together as a team, of course. AXIS Speed Monitor on exhibit One introduction at the show was the AXIS Speed Monitor, a speed detection app available using ACAP Axis Communications also highlighted the deep learning analytics of the ARPEC 8 camera chip (introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic), which will be deployed across their camera line. One introduction at the show was the AXIS Speed Monitor, a speed detection app available using ACAP (Axis Camera Application Platform), the capability to load ‘apps’ onto camera chips at the edge. They also introduced the D4100-E Network strobe siren (a smart edge device), the Audio Manager Pro (a cloud-based software system enabling zoning and callouts for specific areas in a building), the W101 body worn cameras with GPS capabilities, and a Barcode Reader for doorstop applications (another ACAP app). ‘App Store’ approach to expanding applications Azena is at the centre of expanding applications at the edge, promoting new applications through an ‘App Store’ approach that sells software apps that can be loaded onto cameras that are equipped with Azena’s operating system. In the last couple of years, the company (formerly known as Security and Safety Things) has expanded its offerings. There are currently 108 apps in the store from 30 to 40 app developers. There are 14 camera models (from six manufacturers) that are commercially available and run their operating system. The newest camera is a fisheye model from Vivotek. “What we have seen is that a lot of the use cases are pretty unique,” said Fabio Marti, Vice President - Marketing for Azena. Two examples are an application that monitors a flame to ensure it is burning cleanly (no smoke). Another system monitors nets covering fish farms to avoid birds getting tangled up in the nets. Fabio Marti said “A challenge is to find new business avenues for integrators. Everybody is not eager to look beyond their comfort zone.” Focusing on software to ensure user experience Software systems are one of the major focal points for innovation in security systems Software systems are one of the major focal points for innovation in security systems and Verkada is focusing on how software innovation can improve systems. “For decades, innovation was on the hardware front,” said Filip Kaliszan, Verkada’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), adding “We saw an opportunity for more innovation on the software side. The customer experience revolves around software.” Ensuring an end-to-end experience “We want to guarantee an end-to-end experience,” adds Filip Kaliszan. As a new company with a ‘hybrid cloud’ approach, Verkada focused on appealing to end users to convince them of the value proposition. Once an end user was convinced, Verkada brought in an integrator partner to deliver the solution. In effect, Verkada finds demand and brings that demand to the integrator. Software-centric operation of a modern building Verkada is broadly focused on ‘software-centric operation of a modern building.’ After starting out in video, Verkada has since expanded into systems for access control, alarm systems, and other categories. They use a combination of third-party hardware and equipment that is custom designed to work seamlessly with their software systems. Verkada’s end goal is to put the various systems together into a platform. They will continue building each product category, which will eventually be unified into ‘the operating system for the building of the future.’

The “Roaring Twenties” was a decade of economic growth and widespread prosperity, driven by recovery from devastation, a construction boom, and welcoming of new technologies such as automobiles and electricity. As we look ahead to the big picture of the 2020s, 100 years later, are there parallels that suggest a successful decade ahead? Might recovery from the devastation of COVID-19 help to drive even higher levels of economic growth and technical innovation? We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: Does the new decade represent a new “Roaring Twenties” for the physical security market?