iComply - Experts & Thought Leaders

Secutech India 2018 opens this week amid growing industry demand for products in the security, fire and safety industries. The trade fair will take place in Mumbai from 5 – 7 April at the Bombay Exhibition Centre, and will provide regional buyers the opportunity to source products from some of the world’s leading safety and security brands. With India’s accelerating economic growth continuing to drive industry demand, the fair presents an ideal opportunity for leading players to network and trade with each other under one roof. Under the themes of intelligent security, fire & safety and security solutions for manufacturing facilities, the fair will play host to some of the latest technological innovations. Products and solutions will encompass cutting edge developments for manufacturing facilities, hospitals and schools AI enabled smart city solutions Products and solutions will encompass cutting edge developments in areas including AI and deep learning technologies, low light cameras, smart city, traffic monitoring, license plate recognition and security for manufacturing facilities, hospitals and schools. Showcasing these products and solutions will be some of the world’s most advanced companies as they compete to meet market demands in over 15,000 sqm of exhibition space. Represented amongst more than 120 participating companies will be key industry players including: Axis Video Systems, Boon Edam Entrance Technology, CP Plus, Dahua Technology, Enterprise Software Solutions Lab, Genius Vision Digital, Globus Infocom, Halma, HID, Honeywell, iComply Veracity Surveillance, Milestone Systems, Infinova, Naffco, Prama Hikvision, Seagate Technology HDD, Tyco Fire & Security, Uniview, Videonetics, Allied Telesis, Vivotek, and ZKTeco. Fire Safety and Security Conclaves Sourcing products from these companies will be buyers representing diverse vertical market sectors including transportation, construction, finance, retail, hospitality and real estate with approximately 25,000 buyers expected to be in attendance. These will include local manufacturers, commercial building owners, system integrators, distributors, real estate developers, project owners and government bodies. In order to encourage networking and promote discussion relevant to the key issues facing India’s security and fire & safety industries, a series of specialised seminar programmes will be held during the fair. Two separate conclaves – the Safety and Security Conclave and the Fire and Safety Conclave will welcome industry and business leaders such as Puneet Garkhel (Partner, PwC), Mala Singh (Co-Chairman, IGBC Green Residential Societies Rating System), and Deepak Pokhariyal (Vice President, Reliance Industries). The Security Consultant’s Association of India will co-organise the SECONA Shield Awards Key discussions The platform will facilitate discussions on current trends and future developments relating to key industry topics including: Smart cities and infrastructure, moving beyond the smart city paradigm Critical infrastructure – risk mitigation strategies and integrated operations centre Banking and information security: preparing for the unexpected New age technologies in the banking sector, convergence of cyber security and physical security Intelligent IoT – the role of artificial intelligence SECONA shield awards Meanwhile, the Security Consultant’s Association of India will co-organise the SECONA Shield Awards. Taking place on 6th April, the awards will recognise top players in India’s security market. Nominations will be focused in 11 categories including innovative product of the year in security software, security product of the year, and safe city project of the year.

Veracity, a provider of innovative and intelligent solutions that solve real-world challenges in IP video systems, is showcasing a new suite of products at IFSEC 2017 which neatly brings together the three cornerstones of its successful business: IP transmission, storage and display. Acquisition of iComply Ltd Following on from its acquisition of security Command & Control software manufacturer iComply Ltd, Veracity’s largest-ever IFSEC stand is built around a walk-through Control Room, promoting its integrated security management platform powered by the powerful VTAS Pro™. Bringing together new and legacy third-party video recording systems, VTAS Pro combines them with other security systems such as access control, ANPR, guard tours and building management. This provides a unified and coherent system for management and control of single or multiple sites, allowing system operators to be far more efficient in responding to incidents. Command & Control solution VTAS Pro is fully integrated with Veracity’s TRINITY® direct-to-storage architecture and, fundamental to that, the advanced COLDSTORE® surveillance storage system. It also features a full video and media wall display option which can be reconfigured on the fly and in response to specific incidents or emergency situations. Live views may be mixed with playback and media streams such as broadcast news, online data streams, maps or other graphical displays. The solution brings a new level of cost-effectiveness to the integrated Command & Control system market The end-to-end Command & Control solution is highly scalable and supports a large number of operator workstations, with shared incident management, alarm receiving coordination and capable of handling thousands of remote sites. The system can provide integration with access control, building management, intruder detection, VOIP intercom systems and video analytics including ANPR and facial recognition. Several native security functions can be added to the system in a modular, customisable way such as guard tour, lone worker monitoring, dispatch, alarm monitoring and key management. The solution brings a new level of cost-effectiveness to the integrated Command & Control system market. HIGHWIRE Powerstar Base 4 Encoder Replacement Kit Veracity will also be presenting the new HIGHWIRE Powerstar™ Base 4 Encoder Replacement Kit, containing a HIGHWIRE Powerstar Base 4 unit, four HIGHWIRE Powerstar Camera units and a 57V DC power supply (region-specific). This product bundle is a simple and cost-effective replacement for legacy analogue video encoders, allowing a customer to upgrade to IP cameras by re-using the coax cable and powering the new IP cameras with POE over coax. These innovative solutions will be on display on stand F1050 at IFSEC between the 20th and 22nd June 2017 at the ExCeL in London, as well as the integration between COLDSTORE and Vista CCTV’s qulu VMS. Other examples of COLDSTORE integrations can be seen on global marketing partner Hanwha Techwin Europe’s stand (no. G800), where it will be demonstrated working with SSM and WiseNET cameras.

iComply and its VTAS Pro platform have delivered integrated solutions to several clients over the years Veracity, a provider of innovative, intelligent solutions that solve real-world IP video challenges in transmission, storage, and display, has announced the full acquisition of iComply, a software provider of integrated command and control security solutions. The agreement includes all operational staff, software, intellectual property, ongoing business, and also iComply’s sales and support subsidiary in India. Veracity will maintain iComply as a separate business and will immediately expand its operations including an imminent move to larger premises near Leeds. VTAS Pro platform Over the last fifteen years, iComply and its VTAS Pro platform have delivered integrated solutions to an expanding portfolio of clients including London’s Tower Bridge, Boots UK, ITV, the 2014 G20 Summit, and many city-wide projects including Nottingham City Council and Leeds City Council. The modular software solution supports a range of access control, CCTV, fire, alarm, and other security equipment vendors, including industry leaders such as Veracity, Bosch, Honeywell, Paxton, Axis, Hanwha Techwin, and Milestone. With iComply, customers can build control centre environments that have greater situational awareness with integrated functionality to seamlessly deliver incident management and more effective command and control processes. “We have worked with iComply on a number of major projects and its innovative technology has proven itself adept at integrating with a wide range of systems to deliver control rooms that are more efficient and reliable,” says Alastair McLeod, Group CEO of Veracity, “With this acquisition, we extend our technical capability and broaden our target market. We will progress the iComply concept to the next level while maintaining an independent and multi-vendor approach which is at the core of its unique value.” Advanced modular integration platform At the heart of iComply’s VTAS Pro software solution is an advanced modular integration platform that gives operators flexible and immediate control over complex surveillance and security functions, including visual information received from IP and deployable CCTV cameras combined with interactive maps and incident management. VTAS Pro allows for complex workflows to be dynamically processed with a high degree of automation to allow information to be shared with the correct team members even in the most challenging environments.VTAS Pro modular components also include alarm receiving, dispatch, guard tour, incident management, asset tracking and lone worker—all of which are integrated within an advanced management reporting engine to ensure compliance with regulatory, best practice and audit requirements. Having iComply within a larger and highly regarded company such as Veracity provides us with confidence that they will grow and support the solution Comprehensive command and control system Neil Harvey, Head of CCTV and Security at Nottingham City Council, has worked closely with iComply for its control centre requirements for over 10 years and commented, “Our use of VTAS Pro has been pivotal in allowing us to deliver a comprehensive command and control system with an inherent flexibility that has allowed us to adapt to new requirements while minimising the challenges of technology integration. For us, having iComply within a larger and highly regarded company such as Veracity provides us with confidence that they will grow and support the solution allowing us to gain more from our investment.”Michael Gallagher will remain in charge of iComply business development and also be responsible for running sales, support, and operations for the business. He is delighted with the acquisition by Veracity, stating: "The iComply team is immensely pleased with the acquisition, as this will enable iComply to accelerate both its sales and software development plans with the support and backing of Veracity.''COLDSTORE surveillance storage systemVeracity have made a long-term commitment to expanding the iComply framework to include a wider range of vendors and technologies as well as enabling Veracity channel partners to deliver fully integrated end-to-end solutions. Veracity will also utilise its innovative technologies within VTAS Pro including its COLDSTORE surveillance storage system and TRINTY, a unique system architecture that eliminates NVR servers by allowing IP cameras to record directly to COLDSTORE disk arrays. “Veracity has had a decade of continual growth and today we are a profitable and stable company that has championed the use of innovative technology to help solve some of the most challenging issues facing the security industry,” adds McLeod, “iComply is a natural fit for us and enables us to expand our strategy of delivering high-end security solutions at a lower total cost of ownership while helping system integrators and consultants offer better value to their customers.”VTAS Pro will be sold through existing iComply channels in the UK and India and through Veracity channel partners elsewhere with the full support of the Veracity Group.

Veracity, the Scottish company specialising in IP video transmission, storage and display, has made a small but significant acquisition that has the potential to impact its business profoundly, according to the company. Known for its COLDSTORE surveillance storage system and other video products, Veracity is expanding its scope with the acquisition of I-Comply Ltd. (icomply), a provider of command-and-control software whose UK customer base includes universities, hospitals, cities and power and water utilities.   Veracity and icomply have previously worked together on several projects, so the technologies are already integrated, and Veracity plans to leverage the acquisition to introduce a new command-and-control product line to the US market, likely to be announced around ISC West. Icomply command-and-control software Icomply’s product is a command-and-control software system (sometimes called a PSIM, or physical security information management system). Veracity plans to sell software based on icomply’s technology under the Veracity brand in the US market, but will keep the separate brands in the United Kingdom, where icomply is better known. Icomply has existing integrations with many third-party systems from international brands, including major access control, video management, fire and alarm systems such as Bosch, Honeywell, Axis and Hanwha Techwin. Entering the US market, Veracity expects to add additional sales support and maintenance personnel, and a development team will expand integrations to third party systems that are more common to the US market. In addition to command-and-control functions, the software offers a suite of modules to provide functions such as key management, lone worker protection, mapping, and guard tour management. The configuration of the system to be introduced into the US market is still to be determined. Potential growth Icomply has about 20 employees, which will be added to Veracity’s 50 employees. The icomply team will remain, and will move into larger premises near Leeds (UK). At current sales levels, icomply will make up about 10 percent of Veracity’s revenue, but hopes are high for rapid growth. Alastair McLeod, group CEO of Veracity, says the small company has plenty of unrealised potential. He projects sales could double this year, and then double again in 2018 (admittedly from a small base) – and that doesn’t even count any potential sales in the United States. “We know the engineers, and the product has developed considerably until it is now mature. The architecture is quite elegant, which makes it easy to add on modules.” “We have worked with this company for some years, know them, have done projects with them,” says McLeod. “We know the engineers, and the product has developed considerably until it is now mature. The architecture is quite elegant, which makes it easy to add on modules.” The acquisition will provide icomply the needed cashflow and capitalisation to jump-start sales, and to deliver needed technical support and rapid response to customer requests, he adds. Stability and longevity are important elements in the command-and-control systems market, notes McLeod: The systems are seen as a long-term investment that involves integrating various systems over a five- to 10-year period. “The backing of Veracity will make more customers comfortable moving to icomply,” McLeod notes. The icomply acquisition also includes a subsidiary in India that will boost Veracity’s presence in that market. Technical resources in India will help Veracity grow in the lucrative Middle East market, just a short plane flight away, where the need for long video retention times are a great fit for Veracity’s existing video storage products. Moving away from commoditisation McLeod sees the acquisition as a reflection of the need for companies in the security industry to move away from commoditised products. It will expand Veracity’s presence from one of supplying components to the system to supplying complete integrated solutions. “With this acquisition, we are moving up-market in terms of being able to supply whole systems,” he says. “And it’s a category that cannot be easily commoditised. There is an element of customisation and services. We want to become a part of the market that has more stability and resistance to price cutting.” “We want to control our own destiny,” McLeod says. “Our customers are asking us for a complete system – for everything to come from Veracity. They know the vagaries of buying bits from several companies – what if something doesn’t work? We can now approach customers that want an integrated solution.” The all-cash acquisition was closed in December 2016.