Genetec Updates Security Platform with Health Monitoring

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."

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • white desk with an open digital tablet showing AI-related icons like gears and neural networks

    Elon University and AAC&U Release Student Guide to AI

    A new publication from Elon University 's Imagining the Digital Future Center and the American Association of Colleges and Universities offers students key principles for navigating college in the age of artificial intelligence.

  • glowing blue nodes connected by thin lines in an abstract network on a dark gray to black gradient background

    Report: Generative AI Taking Over SD-WAN Management

    In a few years, nearly three quarters of network operators will use generative AI for SD-WAN management, according to a new report from research firm Gartner.

  • landscape photo with an AI rubber stamp on top

    California AI Watermarking Bill Garners OpenAI Support

    ChatGPT creator OpenAI is backing a California bill that would require tech companies to label AI-generated content in the form of a digital "watermark." The proposed legislation, known as the "California Digital Content Provenance Standards" (AB 3211), aims to ensure transparency in digital media by identifying content created through artificial intelligence. This requirement would apply to a broad range of AI-generated material, from harmless memes to deepfakes that could be used to spread misinformation about political candidates.

  • file folders floating in the clouds, with glowing AI circuitry and data lines intertwined

    OneDrive Update Adds AI Agents, Copilot Interactions

    Microsoft has announced new enterprise capabilities in its OneDrive cloud storage service, many of which leverage the company's Copilot AI technologies.