SALTO XS4 GEO Cylinder and The JustIN  Mobile Interface

SALTO’s range of compact electronic cylinder locks are designed for doors where fitting a full-sized conventional handle and lock is not possible or needed. These cylinder locks, like the other SALTO products, are totally free of wires and are networked through the SALTO Virtual Network and SALTO Wireless network.

 

Several models are available including half cylinder, cylinder with thumb turn, double cylinder, padlock, and with a wide variety of profiles, e.g., Euro profile, UK oval, Swiss Round, Australian oval, Scandinavian profiles, ANSI profiles.

 

These locks can be integrated into existing Brivo infrastructure, among other manufacturers. It is also common for SALTO secured facilities to include interior facing panic bars to equip emergency exit doors with the ability to trigger a panic alarm as soon as they are pushed open.

 

In order to bring smartphones into the access control environment, SALTO uses their JustIN technology to integrate smartphones with their locks. JustIN Mobile BLE permits doors to be opened via smartphone, turning the phone into an update terminal for credentials.

 

This is accomplished through Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), a standard for communicating between a smartphone and electronic locks. The mobile key is provided Over the Air (OTA) from proprietary management software to an installed JustIN Mobile app on a registered and verified smartphone. After this, the user will receive a message that a new key has been provided and information on which doors he now has the access rights to.

 

After this, the user only needs to present the smartphone to the lock in order to gain access. All data including the mobile key are encrypted and secured against cloning.

 

Because users can get these mobile keys at any time and any place, access control solutions are given greater flexibility when issuing and receiving rights without losing out on security.

 

This system can be used in conjunction with or as a replacement of RFID credentials.

 

Another SALTO protocol for phone based access control integration is JustIN mSVN.

 

JustIN mSVN (mobile SALTO Virtual Network), is technology for updating access rights for any credentials using mobile communications. It makes use of the mSVN app and the NFC interface of smartphones. Through this technology, the SVN can be expanded to spots with no online wall reader. Access rights are updated via direct communication between the phone and the credential instead.

 

Any new access rights or blacklist information are communicated to the user from a server to the mSVN app. The smartphone will then serve as the update point for any new credentials moving forward, taking the place of what an XS4 online reader would usually do. All data is encrypted and secured using Mifare DESFire EV1 technology.

 

Security Technology of South Texas is an authorized integrator for many surveillance and access control manufacturers and has designed systems with this kind of functionality.

 

Please contact us at  admin@gostst.com on our website

 

or via phone at  210-446-4863   24/7

Salto Systems: XS4

From its beginning in 2001, SALTO has had one objective: to create an industry leading access control system that is both simple to use and highly efficient. SALTO systems gives users the ability to control their access needs and secure all points of entry without complex and costly wiring build-outs. Their solutions are simple to install, cost-effective, and designed to be future-proof. SALTO’s SVN platform was the result–the world’s first stand-alone, battery powered electronic locks for access control systems.
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Since then, SALTO has continued to introduce innovations with a major impact on electronic security. With both online and real-time technology, SALTO’s XS4 access control platform augments the security of any building environment through securing nearly any door and allowing the monitoring and control of every user. These systems are networked wirelessly to enable integration with existing systems without running a new backbone through the facility.
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The SALTO Virtual Network (SVN) is the back-end of wireless connection which allows and access control system to grow from just a small number of doors and users to beyond, seamlessly. Locks can read, receive and write through an encrypted data-on-card system through RFID. A smartcard is used for user authentication.
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When the card is presented even to an off-line door, access control is maintained and the door also writes data such as blacklist information and battery status onto the card. This smartcard can then transmit this information to a server through online wall readers which can receive information from these cards at any location on-site.
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Here is a breakdown of the access control chain when the smartcard interacts with the wall reader:
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-A user access event occurs, the card transmits to the system via wall reader.
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-Wall reader now transmits back to the card: This includes deleted card list, updated user access rights, and expiry date renovation.
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-Through the server the following functions can be performed: Users added or deleted remotely, User profiles updated, event audit trail created, device battery report initiated.
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In review, the benefit of a SALTO lock is in their ability to affordably and quickly be integrated into an access control environment with rapid ability to scale. The locks, wall readers, and smartcards can communicate wirelessly and securely, and there is no need to endure the costly and time-consuming process of drilling, running, and testing wires. These locks are used across all access control environments, from schools and hospitals to businesses and government sites.
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Security Technology of South Texas is an authorized integrator for many surveillance and access control manufacturers and has designed systems with this kind of functionality.

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Please contact us at

admin@gostst.com on our website


or via phone at  210-446-4863   24/7

Intelligent Video Solutions: Why Not Go DIY For Your Security

In the same way that in order to keep our health, most recognize the value of seeing a medical practitioner regularly for checkups and necessary tests. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, many enterprises do not carry this philosophy with them and into their security environments. They might budget for product yet not budget for professional services and assess performance of those products to determine the risk of a breach.

Taking a “set and forget” attitude to security systems can cause a system of sub-optimally configured and deployed security tools. Not properly integrating, testing, and re-integrating is a part of why some of today’s enterprises find “themselves with massively complex, disparate and expensive-to-manage security infrastructures that, when all is said and done, are largely ineffective against modern adversaries.”

Some organizations assume that original equipment manufacturers (OEM) should be the best resource and point of contact for deploying, optimizing, and fine-tuning their security services and platforms. But OEMs are simply the manufacturers and not security systems integrators (SSIs).

This tends to limit their knowledge to only their particular suite of technology, and because it is typical for a mid-range and larger commercial project to require integration between the equipment of multiple manufacturers. This is the kind of work that we do here at STST and through our professional integrations services, we can “provide strategic guidance on infrastructure rationalization and optimization.”

Adopting a DIY approach or trying to have a tech-savvy employee handle it all internally is one of the quickest ways to fall prey to a data breach. Using existing, internal staff to deploy and integrate new tech can lead to problems from configuration issues, sub-optimal overall performance, to of course all out system failure. Some studies from OEMs suggest that as many as 95% of clients who experience a data breach set up and integrated their systems themselves.

Aside from all this, using an SSI to plan-out, source, design, implement, and test your access control and/or surveillance project is much more likely to save you money in the long or even short run.

Having a company of specialists such as STST always in your contacts gives you the peace of mind that the people who built your system, and therefore have a much more intimate knowledge of it, will be around to service your project moving into the future.

A poorly installed “DIY” system may not only waste money in that it may simply be of poor quality or poor design implementation, but also keeps your company at risk to the attacks and break ins you were trying to prevent in the first place.

From schools, offices, clinical facilities, HOA pools and much more, STST has the knowledge and experience to install or effectively upgrade existing infrastructure in a meaningful way that will hold together and ultimately, get results.

Even though huge volumes of video data are collected every day, most statistics indicate that only 10 percent of this data is ever used. The majority of data collected loses its value very quickly after being generated. The reason for this? Our primary focus tends to be delivering the correct information in a crisis or providing it as evidence after criminal activity has taken place. This causes much data to be “wasted” in the sense that we lose our on the opportunity to perform useful analytics.

Video analytics is an increasingly powerful tool. It helps to improve usability of these vast amounts of video information. Analytics software acts as the “brain” of a surveillance system and is built into IP cameras themselves or processed in separate computing infrastructure. This creates a smarter system that “knows” what it sees and alerts guards to potential threats as soon as an alarm rule or condition is met. Analytics gives operators the chance to act faster and more efficiently with better intel.

Video analytics is like an ever-vigilant system operator within the security system itself. It captures data like a panopticon, seeing all in every monitored scene around the clock. Content analysis information, a form of video metadata, is stored as well. As they reduce operating costs and increase efficiency, intelligent cameras deliver a solid return on investment which can be measured in tangible results to the business or other setting in which it operates.

Let’s take a look at what exactly is possible using intelligent video:

Smart IP cameras are able to classify the objects they see on their own. Objects entering or leaving the scene can be identified as a person, car, bike, truck, or other object. Because the camera can differentiate objects, it can be told to only alert in the case of a break-in, ignoring things like leaves in the wind or animals wondering through. New low-light cameras allow color-filtering even in scenes with very little ambient light. Even at night, color detection is possible in this way.

Alarm detection can be set to be even more specialized. Rules can be configured to look for specialized behavior patterns such as fighting, running, loitering, path following, abandoned luggage, entering an area, and more. The alarm engine in each camera coordinates with the others in a logical way to interpret this information and determine threat status. All this allows for a very robust alarm condition solution and prevents false and missed alarms.

What’s more, stored metadata enables forensic analysis at a later time. This means that retroactive searches for a specific car or person is possible even if it was not a determined item of interest until well after the event was recorded. Metadata is compact and only barely adds to the size of recordings. It is quick and easy to search through to find a specific event.

The logical next step is to continue to improve analytics for video metadata until we approach 100 percent practical use. Predictive analysis of human traffic patterns can predict shoplifting and identify potential events before they take place, and the more data that can be made useful the more accurate these types of predictions will be.

The same technology can monitor customer dwell time at different displays in a store and determine the effectiveness of in-store advertising and product locations. Analyzing customer engagement with these displays can help increase customer engagement with products and lead to increased sales and revenue. As the IoT expands, this type of technology will be more and more critical as there will be many more points of data to analyze. There is no way to fully anticipate the eventual effects this will have on our industry or the world at large.

 

Please contact us through email at admin@gostst.com

Through our website form

Or via phone at  210-446-4863   24/7

Acadian Monitoring

STST has partnered with Acadian for their industry leading monitoring services since our beginning. Having a reliable monitoring service is critical in making the most of a camera intensive installation; without someone watching out for activity on your video feeds, the usefulness of the system is diminished. Acadian monitors several analytics from different video manufacturers. They also monitor motion-based triggers in cases where the camera is focused on a limited area with an analytics box drawn around the area of interest. 90 percent of what they monitor are external cameras using video analytics.
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Traditional analytics are triggered using something called pixel modification formulas, while newer systems are starting to make use of machine learning driven formulas. In video analytics, most companies will make use of basically the same set of rules for triggering events and avoiding false alarms, even if they give them different names and trademarks for branding purposes. Below we will take a look at these rule sets.
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Person and Vehicle Detection
This rule is used to alert on a person or vehicle when they have entered a zone specified to disallow their presence. This is the most common rule. Adjustments can be made for area size and time limits for the presence of the person or vehicle.
Group Gathering
As the name implies, this rule alerts the monitoring center when a group of people above a certain number have gathered in the specified area. This rule is often applied in high activity residential areas and in low income housing projects.
Loitering
The typical amount of time set for event generation in the case of loitering is 30 seconds. Often employed by businesses with sidewalks facing their front, this analytic is able to limit false alarms from innocent people walking by but is still capable of triggering an event in the case of a breaking and entering attempt. This rule is not recommended if the front facing doors are glass.
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Acadian also monitors thermal cameras. Thermal imaging is recommended in environments with low lighting or foliage that obscures a normal camera’s view.
Moving into the next decade, analytics will continue to be a critical part of the security and access control environment. Should machine learning advance as many project, these algorithms should be expected to become increasingly more robust and powerful, leading to the near elimination of false alarms and an almost human presence for all cameras and access control devices with analytics enabled. The total effects of machine learning are still somewhat speculative, but assuming any growth in the field, the possibilities may even exceed our current imagination.

 

STST Inc. is South Texas’ source for professionally designed and integrated security and access control systems.

To set up an appointment to get a quote on your project,

Call us at 210-446-6306  

or send an email through our website at