The interviewed Vallejo’s assistant superintendent Mel Jordan about the exacqVision VMS security system that had been installed throughout the school district:

Video from Jesse Bethel High School’s surveillance cameras pointed the way for Vallejo police to find, and identify the suspects in the brutal beating of a student last week. The district’s assistant superintendent Mel Jordan said the video is high quality, and everything seen by the cameras is recorded. "This system is a very positive system," he said.

Even more impressive is how the Vallejo schools paid for the cameras. The district stopped paying $40,000 a month for private security guards who Jordan said didn’t deter vandals. "We weren’t hitting the mark. We were looking at somewhere in the neighborhood of $200,000 and $300,000 of vandalism," Jordan said.

Instead the district redirected the money toward buying the new surveillance system. Jordan said "It’s worth every dollar and more."

Just this month, those cameras caught vandals spray painting graffiti on a wall at Hogan High.

What we were able to do is go back in time and look at that then, then pull it off of there and then transmit it to the police officer," Jordan said.

You can see the entire video report here (opens new window):

http://cbs5.com/video/?id=45003@kpix.dayport.com

Screenshots from the story:

Bob Peach, President of REP Marketing Solutions, is no stranger to us. He was with the Northeast rep firm we partnered with back when we owned Integral Technologies. Bob became a manufacturer’s representative in 1995 and in the last 15 years has established himself as an expert in the security field.  Manufacturers such as American Dynamics and Sony have regularly called on him to evaluate product direction and present on their behalf at consultant symposiums and strategic opportunities nationally.

REP Marketing provides complete pre- and post-sale technical assistance, order entry service, and sales support.  They have extensive background in product knowledge and technology and how it relates to customer applications. REP Marketing offers specialization in CCTV, Access Control, IP Based Systems, Communication Systems and Infrastructure Systems. In addition to Exacq, REP Marketing’s product line includes other leading IP security products, including Arecont Vision megapixel IP cameras.

REP Marketing can be contacted as follows:

REP Marketing Solutions, Inc.
Web: www.repms.net
Phone: 800-977-2116
e-mail: bob@repms.net

We welcome Bob and the REP Marketing Solutions team to our Exacq family of representatives. Our complete listing of North American Reps can be found here.

Prosource Sales & Marketing - Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming
Prosource covers the Rocky Mountain states for Exacq. Jeff Lambert, President of Prosource, has extensive experience in IP security, both as a Rep and in the past as a Regional Sales Manager with Sanyo.In addition to Exacq, Prosource reps other leading IP security products, including IP megapixel camera vendor Arecont Vision, and wireless broadband solution vendor HauteSpot.

Prosource can be reached as follows

Prosource Sales & Marketing
Web: www.prosourcesm.com
Phone: 303-257-2079
e-mail: jlambert@prosourcesm.com

Bencsik Associates, Inc. - Florida
Bencsik covers the state of Florida for Exacq. We have a long association with Bencsik, starting back a decade ago when they were our rep partner back at Integral Technologies. Based in Ocala, Bencsik has offices in northern, central and southern Florida. In addition to Exacq, Bencsik represents several complementary lines such as access control partner IDenticard, audio and camera vendor TOA, and IP camera partner Vivotek.

Bencsik can be reached as follows

Bencsik Associates, Inc.
Web: www.bencsik.com 
Phone: 800-342-0197
e-mail: sales@bencsik.com

Anacon Solutions - Canada
Anacon is a Canadian Rep firm with several offices coast to coast specializing in CCTV, IP & AV products with 30 years of industry experience. Their staff of seven includes tech support, sales, customer service and administration. In addition to Exacq, Anacon represents megapixel IP camera vendor IQinVision, camera vendor Samsung GVI, and camera housing vendor VideoTec.

Anacon can be reached as follows

Anacon Solutions
Web: www.anaconsolutions.com
Phone: 888-867-0002
e-mail: info@anaconsolutions.com

We welcome Prosource, Bencsik and Anacon to our family of Exacq manufacturers Reps. Our complete list of North American Rep firms is here.

Version 4.0 is available for download here. Key features in the 4.0 Release:

• New Mapping feature
• Enterprise Server Option
• Active Directory / LDAP support
• Enhanced Webserver 2.0 Browser-based thin client
• S2 NetBox support

Here are some of the features in detail:

New - Mapping
Mapping functionality has been fully integrated into the exacqVision user interface. Maps seamlessly co-exist with cameras, and any view or layout can have any combination of cameras and maps. Maps can be imported from a variety of image file sources, and cameras can be easily placed on maps creating custom map views. Maps can be shared among users both on a stand-alone system and across an enterprise deployment  Any number of maps can be created and displayed simultaneously.

An additional mapping feature with the exacqVision Enterprise Server Option, also new for 4.0, allows for maps to be nested in a hierarchical format. You could have a high-level map of the country, with nested maps of campus sites located around the country, each of which in turn could have nested maps of buildings, floors, wings, etc. Video and alarm events from lower-level nested maps can “bubble up” to the top level map, giving the user a global view of all alarms and activities across the enterprise deployment.

Here is a brief video that describes the new Mapping feature:

New - Enterprise Server Option
A new option is available with exacqVision 4.0, the Enterprise Server Option. This optional add-on, enabled at the server level, adds unique user administration and server administration functionality useful in an enterprise deployment of many exacqVision servers.

Enterprise user administration functionality included in the Enterprise Server Option include Active Directory integration for organizations with existing Active Directory/LDAP servers; Enterprise User Administration, for easy user administration across the deployment when Active Directory is not desployed, and Multi-Level Mapping, enabling nested, hierarchical maps-within-maps across the deployment.

Any exacqVision server can have the Enterprise Server Option enabled, at time of order or at any point. Enterprise-enabled servers and standard servers can co-exist, and Enterprise Server functionality will be available on the servers that have the Enterprise option.

Here’s a brief video overview of the new Enterprise Server Option:

Active Directory / LDAP Support
As part of the new exacqVision Enterprise Server Option, support has been added for Active Directory/LDAP integration. System administrators can now configure exacqVision permissions and privileges for accounts that exist on an Active Directory server. For organizations that have implement Active Directory for user accounts, this enables easy deployment of exacqVision in an enterprise setting, as the user accounts are already created.

Connecting to existing Active Directory servers is straightforward. The exacqVision System Setup page now has an additional “Enterprise” tab for adding the Active Directory server information:

Quick Start Guides for configuring exacqVision and Active Directory for Windows, Linux and Mac will be available on our Manuals & Specs page soon.

Enterprise User Setup
For enterprise deployments that do not employ Active Directory, the new Enterprise User Setup has been added to the exacqVision Enterprise Server Option. The Enterprise User Setup allows for user administration across the exacqVision enterprise. A single entry to create or edit a user profile is made, and then automatically pushed out to all selected servers across the deployment.

exacqVision Webserver 2.0
The latest version of the exacqVision Webserver, which is included at no charge with exacqVision software, incorporates a number of enhancements, including multi-server viewing, multi-camera search and playback, PTZ control, and an updated user interface.

exacqVision Webserver allows the use of fully-featured browser-based thin clients. The browser-based client works on any web browser, no ActiveX needed. The browser-based client also functions fully on any javascript-enabled browser, which includes those on the iPhone and Android mobile phone platforms. Additionally, a Simple mode is available for WAP browsers on basic non-smart phones.

The exacqVision Webserver provides an easy way to view video where deploying a full exacqVision client isn’t practical. Law enforcement can access video streams from school surveillance systems from the laptop in their car; organizations could provide limited camera access to the outside world for clients and customers.

Additionally, because the Webserver transcodes the video in real time, it is extremely useful in restricted-bandwidth connections. The Webserver can scale back the resolution on any camera in real-time, in effect enabling multi-streaming from any camera.

Here’s a brief video overview of the exacqVision Webserver 2.0:

S2 NetBox Integration
exacqVision is now supported in the Video Management System for S2 Netbox access control systems. S2 NetBox Version 4.0 Build 376, released in January of 2010 is required, as is the new exacqVision Webserver 2.0. Additionally, the exacqVision OVID driver is needed, available from either the S2 or Exacq websites.

Events handled by S2 NetBox can initiate video recording, change camera telemetry, or pop up video on one of the display monitors. Likewise, exacqVision-initiated events such as motion or video loss can be annunciated on the security system.

We’ll do a more detailed blog post on the S2 integration separately.

Recent Releases
With this release we continue to make rapid progress with exacqVision, and incremental releases have hit about every 2 months. A large number of new features have been added in a short period of time. You can see the full release history of exacqVision here:
exacqVision Release History

Download and Installation
As always, the latest versions of exacqVision client and server software can easily and quickly be copied over existing versions while retaining all user settings. The latest versions can always be downloaded from the exacqVision Downloads page, or you can click on ‘Check for Updates‘ within the ‘About‘ box in the exacqVision software.

exacqVision Server software is available in both Windows and Linux versions, and the exacqVision client software is available in Windows, Linux and Macintosh native versions. Any version of exacqVision client can connect to any version of exacqVision server.

This training class is a day-long technical course that involves all aspects of specifying, quoting, installing, configuring and using the exacqVision IP video surveillance products. Upon completion, attendees have the knowledge to be able to easily complete an entire system installation on their own. The training class is one of the requirements for exacqVision Certified Reseller status.

In addition to expanding the training schedule for 2010, we will also be adding some advanced courses, with more in-depth information on networking, storage, enterprise deployment, integration (access control, POS, etc), and more.

The schedule for the next couple of months is as follows:

• Jan 26, 2010 - Chicago
• Feb 2, 2010 - Portland
• Feb 4, 2010 - Sacramento
• Feb 18, 2010 - Indianapolis
• Feb 25, 2010 - Minneapolis
• Mar 3, 2010 - Houston
• Mar 5, 2010 - Las Vegas

Details, including registration information, are on our training page. The training courses are open to all exacqVision resellers

CV Reps, our representative for Northern California and the Pacific Northwest, put together the following video to help promote the training to their resellers. We like this video:

Version 3.7 is available for download here. Key features in the 3.7 Release:

• New My Systems Page
     - Substantially Improved for Enterprise deployments
     - Detailed Server information
     - Real-time server status updates
• Support for AD-RS422 Analog PTZ protocol
• New IP camera models from ACTi, Axis & Vivotek

Here are some of the features in detail:

New - My Systems Page
The My Systems page in exacqVision Version 3.7 has been completely revamped. Designed with Enterprise deployments in mind, the new page lets you view detailed information and real-time status of all connected servers from a single client window. From this page you can see:

• Server name, model number serial number, IP address
• Server software version number
• Real-Time connection status
• License type (Standard or Enterprise)
• Software Update Subscription status
• Real-Time alarm events (for Enterprise-licensed servers)

Here is a brief video that describes the features of the new My Systems page:

American Dynamics AD-RS422 Analog PTZ Protocol Support
Support has been added for American Dynamics’ AD-RS422 Analog PTZ Protocol in Version 3.7. This is in addition to the other analog PTZ protocols already supported, including Pelco D/P, GE-Impac, GE-ASCII, Bosch, and Panasonic.

The AD-RS422 protocol is used to control the entire line of SpeedDome and SpeedDome Optima cameras from American Dynamics. A detailed document on this protocol is available on American Dynamics’ web site here.
http://www.americandynamics.net/WebApps/getDocument.aspx?filename=8000-2694-01_B_E.pdf

New IP camera support
Support has been added for a number of new models of IP cameras from our existing supported IP camera vendors, including:

	ACTi TCD-2500 Single-Channel H.264 Video Encoder
	Axis P1343 H.264 SVGA network camera and the P1344 H.264 1Mpixel HD network camera
	Vivotek IP7361 Outdoor Megapixel Day-Night IP camera

Under-the-hood Enhancements
exacqVision Version 3.7 incorporates a number of new under-the-hood enhancements in preparation for the upcoming exacqVision Version 4.0 in January 2010, which will include the new Mapping feature, as well as new Enterprise features such as Active Directory/LDAP support.

Recent Releases
With this release we continue to make rapid progress with exacqVision, and incremental releases have hit about every 2 months. A large number of new features have been added in a short period of time. You can see the full release history of exacqVision here:
exacqVision Release History

Download and Installation
As always, the latest versions of exacqVision client and server software can easily and quickly be copied over existing versions while retaining all user settings. The latest versions can always be downloaded from the exacqVision Downloads page, or you can click on ‘Check for Updates‘ within the ‘About‘ box in the exacqVision software.

exacqVision Server software is available in both Windows and Linux versions, and the exacqVision client software is available in Windows, Linux and Macintosh native versions. Any version of exacqVision client can connect to any version of exacqVision server.

We were there showing the upcoming Version 3.7 of exacqVision software in the Winsted booth, and there were crowds in the booth both days, all day long. exacqVision was also being featured in other parts of the show, including the StarDot booth.

Geoff Kohl of SecurityInfoWatch.com came by and talked with us, and he featured Exacq in his extensive Podcast coverage of the ISC East show. We appreciate the complimentary things he had to say about us.

You can find the specific Episode #44 of the SIW Radio Podcast here:
http://www.securityinfowatch.com/root+level/episode-44-isc-east-2009-coverage

You can also listen to the ISC East episode directly here:
SIW Radio - Episode 44 - ISC East 2009 Coverage

Geoff’s comments about Exacq start at exactly 7:00 minutes in.

Our thanks to Winsted, StarDot, and the organizers of ISC for a great show.

Many of our channel partners are certainly familiar with Rob and have worked with him in the past. He brings a wealth of security industry and channel management experience having spent many years with IDenticard in Regional, National and Executive sales management roles. After IDenticard Rob held sales director positions with our friends at PSA Security Network, with Verint, and most recently with VideoNEXT.

Rob can be reached at rmunro@exacq.com

Welcome aboard, Rob!

Exacq Technologies, Firetide, IQinVision and Pivot3, all open-system vendors, participated in a joint live demonstration of IP technology interoperability at ASIS 2009. Wireless connectivity, megapixel cameras, Smartphone viewing, and smart storage were all on display in an interoperability demo that had one message: It’s easy.

“As open systems vendors, we had several goals for the demonstration. In addition to promoting how open the industry has become and the benefits of being open, another important goal we all had was to demonstrate that this is not intimidating,” explained Roger Shuman, marketing manager for Exacq, Indianapolis. “We didn’t cross-train our technicians or prep them months in advance to set up this system here at ASIS. We did this in addition to setting up all our booths at the same time, and it was fine. We just all showed up at the show floor and set it up, and it was easy – even with the limitations that a show floor can bring.”

What did the companies set up? The live demonstration featured wireless distribution, storage and playback of HD/megapixel video over wireless networks across separate booths on the ASIS show floor. High-resolution video from IQeye megapixel cameras was streamed from vendor booths over Firetide wireless network links. The video was subsequently captured and displayed remotely using the exacqVision video management system running on Pivot3 iSCSI SAN storage with embedded virtual servers. Centrally captured video was then viewable and searchable from remote computers in each of the partner booths and on smart phones.

The open architecture demonstrated by the companies allows customers the ability to select the highest quality components from a wide variety of manufacturers instead of being limited to offerings from one vendor. How is the interoperability between these four specific companies possible? “We are all non-proprietary companies and we are all IP-based, which means the products are essentially plug-and-play,” Bodell explained.

By demonstrating the ease of set-up on the ASIS show floor, the companies hoped to reduce the “perceived risk” or difficulty in setting up systems like this.

“Traditionally, I think integrators tended to be wary of IP things because it looked like it would be complicated,” said Lee Caswell, chief marketing officer, Pivot 3, Palo Alto, Calif. “We are finding by reducing the perceived risk of making this work in the field, people have more of a chance to get excited about it and embrace what it could mean for their company.”

The full article can be read at the SDM Magazine site here. Our thanks again to everyone at Pivot3, Firetide and IQinVision for making this a successful demo.