Less staff means more remote monitoring for many organizations. Having a remote monitoring system, like the SecurityProbe, can help lighten the load of working with less. With a price point that usually falls below $2,000 for a complete system, it can mean a considerable savings over staffing each location, or even worse, not monitoring it all. In this scenario, one person can monitor the well-being of several locations.

Event monitoring is more than just security though. This means integrating a system that will account for fire prevention, temperature and humidity monitoring, as well as the more standard door and window security or even motion detection. This gives the end user a more hands on approach without actually having to be on site.

So in the midst of downsizing corporations, there are ways to maintain eyes and ears in places that house expensive equipment, but may not necessarily need to house live employees.

~ Jon Mills
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There should also be a number of sensors in place that can detect when anyone, authorized or unauthorized, accesses the data center.  The following 5 tips show how Ravica can offer effective solutions for that final line of defense.

• Install the Right SensorProbe. For optimum security monitoring, choose a SecurityProbe model.  The SecurityProbe has the same easy-to-use web interface as the BitSight with a Linux operating system that offers 128 MB of Flash and 64 MB of SDRAM.  With 8 ports for sensors and connections for 4 external cameras on each SecurityProbe, you can monitor all of your security conditions from a single interface.
• Monitor All Potential Entry Points. In order for a security breach to occur, an unauthorized person must be able to physically gain access to the data center and do so unnoticed.  Make sure that doesn’t happen by installing a security sensor on every door, window, or emergency exit that could provide access to the data center.  The security sensor has a magnetic open/close switch that will trigger an automatic alert when any entry point is accessed.
• Install Motion Detectors. As another line of defense, install a motion detector at key locations that will alert security personnel that a potential security issue is occurring.  The Ravica motion sensor has a RJ45 jack to plug directly into a port on the SecurityProbe.
• Integrate High Quality Security Cameras. Install a variety of security cameras including fixed and Pan/Tilt cameras that can proactively capture crucial images as the events occur.  With the Ravica web-interface, you can set up notifications that will automatically trigger a time-stamped, picture log when an event occurs with the security sensor, motion detector or any other sensor.  The pictures are captured in a standard JPEG format at up to 640 x 480 pixels, so you get a clear image of the event.
• Send a LOUD and Clear Message Regarding Security. Not only can notifications be set up to send email, voice, or text alerts to security personnel when a potential security breach is occurring; you can also include a siren/strobe light that can be triggered automatically by an alarm status on any other sensor.  The siren/strobe can also be triggered manually from the web-interface, deterring nefarious activity and giving a call-to-action signal to other personnel in the vicinity of the breach.

Whether your data center is large or small, Ravica can be part of the solution to help you protect your physical and intellectual assets from theft or sabotage.

I have no idea what sort of back-up notification system for camera failure the TSA has set-up, but after reading about the Newark incident, I wanted to find out what kind of notifications are available for cameras connected to the Ravica SecurityProbe.  I played around with the demo interface that we have set up in our office and found that with the Notification Wizard there is an easy way to set up email (or voice or text. . .) notifications if one of the cameras connected to the SecurityProbe goes into a critical state, because it is broken or has been disconnected.  The following is a step-by-step procedure for making sure that a broken camera in your facility never goes unnoticed.

1.  Within the Ravica web-interface, click on the Notification tab and select “Begin Notification Wizard” from the menu on the right side of the screen.

2.  Select the notification type that you want to set-up.  Ravica supports almost any notification type that you could want from SNMP traps to sirens, emails to automated telephone messages.  In this example, we’ll set it up so that an email is sent to the security desk whenever the surveillance camera goes into a critical state.

3.  Enter the desired Action name, such as “Email Security Desk” and the email addresses of the individuals or groups that you would like notified when a problem arises.

4.  You can customize the email text that will be sent.  If you want, you can even attach a picture of the latest log or the current image on the selected camera.

5.  The next few pages go through the SNMP settings and resend intervals that you would like to set-up.

6. Link the camera to the email action.  Select the camera name in the Sensor column and make sure that “No Camera Signal Detector” is checked.

7.  On the final screen, there will be a list of all the sensor notifications that are set up for the SecurityProbe.  From this screen you can edit or delete an existing notification or create a new one.

That is all there is to it.  Now the security desk will get an email anytime the camera loses a signal and the problem can be resolved immediately.  Having a simple notification system, such as this, in place at the Newark Airport could have resolved the broken camera issue long before the breach occurred.  It probably wouldn’t  have helped out with the absent security guard, but that is a whole other issue. . .

I am a fan of the good ol’ fashion fake tree. Nothing says Happy Holiday’s like the smell of, well… plastic. But as I understand it, there are some 33 million American homes that go the natural route with their tree selection. However, improperly hydrated Christmas trees can pose a very real safety concern. According to the U.S. Fire Administration, “Christmas trees account for 200 fires annually, resulting in 6 deaths, 25 injuries and more than $6 million in property damage.”

Simple fire prevention tips
Prevention is, obviously, the best approach. If you have a natural tree, make sure to keep it watered. A wet tree is a safe tree. In fact, the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) created this very telling side-by-side comparison of the flamability of a dry tree vs. a tree that had been watered regularly.

Protecting what’s important
The next step is protection. In the event that there is a fire, easily accessable fire extinguishers and planned exit routes for the family could be a matter of life and death.

Any working smoke detector is a plus (remember to test the batteries regularly), but having a more advanced system that can send alerts to you anywhere is a healthy step in reduntant protection. A SecurityProbe could be set up to take pictures of your tree and send them along with a text or email to your iPhone or Blackberry. That way you know exactly what the situation is back at home, even while you are at the mall doing your last minute shopping. It can even be set up to make an outgoing call with Skype to ensure that you and your local fire department are on the scene as soon as physically possible.

So don’t forget, while enjoying a beautiful Christmas tree can set the mood for a joyous holiday like nothing else, safety measures do need to be taken. Make sure to protect your home or office by follow a few simple steps.

~ Jon Mills
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At first, I gave her a demonstration of the BitSight2 for temperature and humidity monitoring. It has two sensor ports, so she could monitor inside and outside, then view the data via a web browser from inside her house.

Almost jokingly, I then showed her the SecurityProbe with camera capabilities and she loved the thought of being able to see the dogs. Also, with several sensor ports, she could add smoke, water and other sensors, if she discovers a need in the future. Mostly, the cameras were a huge hit. “I can see if they are all huddled up or walking around and being active,” she said.

It’s nice to sell outside of the data room temperature monitoring market.

- Mike

This company just added a new international sales department. The work hours for the new employee were going to be 4:00am to 1:00pm. They wanted to know if they could utilize the picture log to record when people go in and out of the front door. They also wanted to limit the time frame for these pictures.

I did a bit of research and found out the answer was yes! You can set a time frame on the camera motion sensor and you can have the picture emailed or stored on the FTP server.  Now, they would get an alert and a picture when someone came through the door.

At this point, they could figure out who came through the door. They then wanted to know if too many people were going through the door during the early morning hours. To do this, we used a Syslog/Eventlog application that allows you to set a threshold. Each time an image was taken with the camera, an alert would be sent to the Syslog/Eventlog manager. If a threshold was met, let say five, then an email would be sent to the security office.

The customer was excited and wanted to implement this in the coming weeks. I can’t wait to see how it comes out.

-Jimmy D

We also receive calls about security. This is something we can cover in a few different ways:

1. Using a contact security sensor on all doors or windows.
2. Motion detectors have been the topic of a few blogs.
3. We can install strobe lights that can indicate security breaches.
4. We can also install security cameras, which take pictures based on movement.

Pictures, like the ones above, can be emailed and/or archived, depending on the business needs. Sensitivity can also be adjusted.

Our equipment isn’t limited to specialized temperature and humidity monitoring. Please keep us in mind for security as well.

- Mike

Typical applications for our camera solutions include:

• hallway or cashier surveillance
• rooftop monitoring
• heightened data center security

Below is a screenshot from our web site that was given to us by a customer. What is nice about our solution is that most of the shelf cameras will work with our hardware. Even pan, tilt and zoom hardware can be plugged in. Basically, any camera that supports the industry standard Pelco-D bus.

The maximum rate is 30 fps at 320×240 pixels with “fast network” selected. Thus, the frame rate depends on the number of enabled camera channels, image size (320×240 or 640×480 pixels), and network speed option selected – slow or fast. We can also attach microphones so that you can listen in…

- Mike

That’s where the motion detector comes in. It works not only with the SecurityProbe line, but with the BitSight2 and BitSight8 as well. The beauty of the motion detector sensor is that you can daisy chain up to 10 sensors to work off a single intelligent sensor port. And at just $125 per sensor, users can easily cover a good sized data room with motion detection and still have an extra intelligent sensor port on even a BitSight2 for monitoring temperature and humidity.

So keep the motion detector sensor in mind when speccing out a new data room or when adding security monitoring measures to an existing one. It is a very affordable alternative, when it is simply not possible to have eyes and ears on your secure locations.

For more information about our security monitoring solutions, call us at 207-324-8173.

~ Jon Mills
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Yosemite National Park
California likes their state parks. They have a web site showing off how they measure smoke ozone levels, particulate matter levels and more. The site provides air quality and smoke monitoring trends as well as web cameras. The cameras actually allow you to see the differences in air quality. I thought it was cool.

Ravica provides smoke detectors for $125.00 and security cameras on the SecurityProbe for $1,795.00. These probes also monitor temperature, humidity, water, etc., and it supports SNMP, so that you can trend the data over time.

Our services department can set you up with a monitoring web page like Yosemite. Just tell us what you need and we’ll help you get started.

- Mike