Genetec Updates Security Platform with Health Monitoring

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 01/19/12

Network-based security vendor Genetec has done a major makeover of its one-stop security platform. Version 5.1 of Security Center includes features for monitoring the "health" of components being monitored, multi-tiered compatibility for phased upgrading, and a bunch of other changes intended to satisfy users.

A major focus of the new release is an emphasis on monitoring the status of security applications, servers, and edge devices in order to enable administrators to be proactive about potential problems. New reports provide information about the uptime history of components and current performance status.

Another key addition to Security Center is its forward and backward compatibility. Genetec customers can upgrade their main server, while still leaving client and other server applications at a previous version. Likewise, the central monitoring server of a virtual system can remain at its current version, while remote independent systems can be upgraded to the latest edition of Security Center.

The company has added new features to the video surveillance aspects of the product: video trickling, uninterrupted video streaming, and auxiliary archiver. Video trickling retrieves video on demand from IP cameras and encoders with edge-recording capabilities, or the video can be retrieved on schedule for longer-term storage within Genetec archiving servers. The auxiliary archiver allows organizations to record video from cameras already being recorded by main archivers, but on alternate recording schedules and settings. Uninterrupted video streaming directs video to continue streaming to Security Center client applications even if the main server or other components go offline.

A new global cardholder management function gives the customer a way to synchronize cardholders, credentials, and other data among remote independent sites. A school can use this feature to administer its cardholder population from a central location. It also allows the school to provide a single card to users for all facilities versus assigning multiple credentials to a single cardholder.

The new release integrates with Microsoft Active Directory to handle connections to multiple AD servers, which is useful in organizations with large implementations of AD or multi-tenant applications. The AD integration also supports synchronizing AD attributes to cardholder custom fields.

"With this release, Genetec has devoted a substantial amount of effort to facilitate and enrich deployment, maintenance, and long-term product care functionalities," said Senior Product Manager Jimmy Palatsoukas. "This latest release will allow customers to phase in their upgrades, as well as continuously monitor the health and up-time of their system beyond what is typically available in the industry today."