Parallel Hosts Higher Education Public Safety Network

The Higher Education Public Safety Network (HEPSN) met Tuesday, March 12th at Parallel Technologies’ home office in Eden Prairie, MN.

Public Safety professionals from various colleges and universities came together to learn about successes and discuss challenges they face at their respective institutions.

A special thanks to Tom McCluney, facilities manager from Normandale Community College for presenting on their story and success with Lifecycle Management. This project was a multi-year process involving Facilities Management, IT, Public Safety and their respective executives – all working together to develop a plan for building lifecycle management into their budget each year to ensure ongoing reliability, security, and health of their security devices.  They are now able to keep software support agreements up to date, replace cameras, access control panels and more on a predetermined cycle. The success of this project was truly a result of the collaboration between all of these key decision makers within the organization.

Another great discussion surrounded schools finding creative ways to collaborate on their security needs. One question presented was how to answer the phone for their officers when their dispatch office was not occupied; another institution provided a solution using an Interconnect on their mobile radios to answer phone calls.

Nate Ruhland, one of Parallel’s Systems Engineers, presented on analytics in regards to cameras. Reviewing features such as people counting and sound analytics, Ruhland showed the variety of cases where analytics have been deployed.

Following the meeting, Ruhland met with the representatives of those institutions who use Genetec’s Security Center. He went in depth on key features and functionality of the platform. The discussion delved further into analytics and how they integrate into Security Center – as well as how institutions are utilizing the platform in various ways including automating tasks, alarm response, and license plate recognition.

Want to learn more about Parallel’s Physical Security offerings? Visit our Physical Security page >>