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Vicon to launch access

Vicon to launch access

HAUPPAGE, N.Y.--Vicon Industries announced in February it will unveil an all-new access control line at ISC West in April. Called Vicon SMS and developed in partnership with S2, it is IP-based and designed for integration with the company's ViconNet video management software.

Margie Gurwin, director of marketing at Vicon, said while the company supports standards efforts, for the time-being the company is trying to provide a seamless integration of access control and video management for its dealers. “We are continually integrating with third-party suppliers,” she said, “and in many cases our dealers don't carry those lines. And then we had to find another dealer, and that just convoluted the whole process. This just seemed like an obvious choice for us.”

Even with standards, Gurwin said, “the concept versus the reality are two different things ... What happens when the drivers for the Sony camera get updated and we designed for the previous version? Even though all of these manufacturers are touting open systems, they're not really. Yeah, we can see their cameras, but are we able to use all of the features that would be available to someone using their software? Not always. It depends on the manufacturer. If they only do cameras, it's to their advantage to provide all the features, but a company [that also makes video management software], they don't need to provide all the information.”

Gurwin acknowledged that IT directors are used to putting together their systems with the freedom of choosing different vendors for the component parts, “but they haven't dealt with security,” she said. “Coming into that as a new responsibility, they've discovered they don't have the same flexibility. Down the road, a lot of the hassles that might come into play will be eliminated if they pick a system from one manufacturer.”

The new Vicon access line is appliance-based and uses a browser-based GUI, based on the S2 design, and will be available to ship in late March.

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