UNIFIED SECURITY SYSTEMShave been around for several years now. More than just integration, these systems incorporate two or more systems into a single pane of glass — usually from a single manufacturer, giving security integrators and their customers the proverbial “one throat to choke.” While their advantages are often seen at the enterprise level, today’s unified systems can be deployed at almost any size facility; are less complex and less expensive than in the past; incorporate more integrations and technologies than ever before; and are increasingly attractive to customers.
John Becker, vice president, global sales, AMAG Technology, Hawthorne, Calif., points to two recent trends that are repositioning unified systems in the market. “One is based around maintenance and operations,” he says. “They are less complex to install and maintain. We want the integrator to be able to install on-site quickly; and when an operator is using it we want it to be simple. The other trend is the feature set. They are not just monitoring alarms or video. Today they are using analytics to parse data.”