Genetec Inc. announces new version of unified IP security platform, Security Center

Security Center version 5.5 gives administrators greater control and protection of their security infrastructure

Genetec, a provider of open-architecture, unified IP security solutions has announced version 5.5 of Security Center, the company’s open architecture, unified IP security platform that combines access control, video surveillance, ALPR, and communications. Security Center 5.5 offers a new disaster recovery mode, enhanced levels of authentication and encryption, augmented video archiving and export management capabilities, and new choices of supported access control hardware. With innovative capabilities designed to help organisations better secure their sites, version 5.5 gives administrators greater control and protection of their security infrastructure. Security Center 5.5 is available now via the Genetec worldwide channel partner distribution network.

Unified platform enhancements

With a new disaster recovery mode that allows the configuration of multiple failover directory servers at remote sites, Security Center 5.5 allows customers to implement more elaborate disaster recovery plans for their security platform. In the event of a disaster, failover servers at geographically disparate location can immediately take control and ensure organisations continue to have access to their security platform and protect their people and assets.

Offering a powerful yet efficient user experience remains a paramount driver for Security Center development. In this latest release, map-centric monitoring offers enhanced, fluid map scaling for zooming effortlessly in and out of maps—from floorplans to satellite imagery—along with the option to geo-reference dynamic objects on a map with actual geographic coordinates for greater awareness, and add new map layers. With map layering, operators can add or remove details from a map in real-time to narrow or broaden visualisation of a site. To further simplify alarm management, Security Center 5.5 features alarm grouping and filtering so that operators can group alarms visually by type, state, or priority, as well as handle entire collections of alarms, such as acknowledging or forwarding an entire group.

As part of a continuous effort to grow its ecosystem of technology partners and facilitate integration to Security Center, Genetec offers two flavours of its Software Development Kit (SDK). The Basic SDK is a freely-available package used to connect to Security Center and access configuration information, events and alarms in real-time, as well as make changes or add new tasks to the monitoring client app. A simplified online enrolment and acceptance process, that is largely automated, gives users quick access. An advanced SDK package offers all the elements of the Basic SDK with access to additional tools required by more complex integrations, and is available through Genetec certified channel partners.

Omnicast™ video management enhancements

Building on the advanced cybersecurity measures introduced in Security Center 5.4, and the company’s ongoing commitment to ‘Security of Security’, version 5.5 offers a ‘hardened’ protocol that protects against potential hacking and non-authorised internal access. When users request to access video feeds, new authentication and authorisation steps are in place to protect video data and privacy. By default, only secured media stream requests are accepted, ensuring the app or person making the request is authenticated to avoid any unauthorised requests. Token-based authentication is applied for authorising and authenticating RTSP video requests, TLS encryption for securely transmitting these user authentication tokens, and RTSP over TLS for another level of video stream encryption while in transit.

Security Center 5.5 also offers users the ability to finely manage exported or saved content, such as video clips and snapshots, which facilitates modifications prior to sharing inside or outside an organisation. Examples include the blurring and masking of snapshots to protect privacy, editing saved video clips to remove either sensitive or less valuable content and then re-exporting the final clips, adding new bookmarks to better qualify a recorded scene, and more. Sharing is made simpler by exporting video to the widely used MP4 format so as to leverage common off-the-shelf video players and eliminate the need for proprietary video players.

Synergis™ access control enhancements

Security Center 5.5 also features new access control capabilities to improve organisational security, protect sensitive information, and increase customers' choice of access control hardware.

Through the support of the latest firmware running on the Synergis™ Cloud Link appliance alongside Mercury Security controllers, organisations are able to extend the reach of their security platform with Allegion Schlage AD-300 Hardwired and AD-400 Wireless electronic locks. Organisations can also unify controller-based and electronic lock-based security systems in the process for a more inclusive approach to access control.

Security Center 5.5 introduces Peer-to-Peer (P2P) communications between Synergis Cloud Link appliances enabling global IO linking and global antipassback. Even when connectivity to the server is unavailable, Synergis Cloud Link appliances have the intelligence to share information across the network, like inputs triggering outputs across appliances and by extending the functionality of antipassback to areas managed by multiple appliances. This added flexibility enables users to move away from relying on constant connection to the server that improves overall security.

For greater protection of confidential and sensitive data, additional means of encrypting communications have been implemented between the Synergis Cloud Link appliance and the server along with numerous industry-leading Genetec access control hardware partners, including Mercury Security (EP controllers) and ASSA ABLOY (IP locks). The primary goal is to ensure secure communications throughout a customer’s entire access control infrastructure.