Chris Larocca, president and CEO of Nortek Control, says that one of the things he’s always loved about the Nortek Control security market businesses is the deep technology they produce. And, according to Larocca, after doubling down on research and development during the pandemic, the company is ready to release its most technologically advanced product to date: the 2GIG EDGE Security and Automation Panel.

“The launch of the 2GIG EDGE is the most innovative and disruptive panel in the industry,” Larocca said. “It’s embedded with a lot of analytics, including face recognition — I’m really excited about it.”

While the product didn’t launch until March, it’s already an award winner, receiving the Consumer Technology Association’s security and surveillance product of the year award at the virtual CES show in January.

And consumers aren’t the only ones that will benefit from the panel — the 2GIG EDGE was designed with systems integrators in mind.

“We’ve made it really easy for our installers to go in, get the product installed, set up quickly and move on to the next project, because we know for our installers, time is money,” said Nortek Control Vice President of Product Management Quinto Petrucci. “We made it as flexible as possible and retained a lot of the features our dealers love. It fully supports all the existing sensors and devices out there. It supports up to four partitions in one panel, which gives them four independent security systems with one control panel. And from a programming perspective, it’s the same intuitive panel, so if you’re familiar with our existing panels, this will be really easy to learn.”

Petrucci says the 2GIG EDGE is meant to be the center of the smart home, where end users interact on a daily basis. This is why the Nortek Control team put so much effort into the design of the panel. Compared to the 2GIG GC2e, the EDGE is 50 percent thinner; the screen size is twice as big; the resolution is five times better; the 1.6 GHz quad-core processor is four times faster and more powerful; and the audio is twice as good, with double the speakers and microphones, and added noise and echo cancelation.

This is also one of the first smart home panels that can be disarmed using facial recognition technology.

“It’s not just a panel,” Petrucci said. “What’s special about this product is all of the technology that went into this to essentially create a new platform. And Nortek Control can continue to add new features technologies allowing dealers and integrators to offer a panel that continues to add value to their investment.”

The product was also built to enhance privacy — a growing concern for end users since the increase in cyber-attacks during the pandemic. It’s fully encrypted, and users can turn the cameras off whenever they would like. In addition, all of the biometric data is stored and evaluated on the edge, so no private information is sent over the internet to the cloud. Once the user profile is deleted from the device, that information is gone forever.

“We built this from the ground up, so it’s fully encrypted from how we communicate to the internet and to the devices,” Petrucci said. “And this is not something you design once and forget about — this is an ongoing thing we test to meet the latest and greatest cyber standards.”

To introduce 2GIG EDGE Security Panel, the Nortek Control team has put more effort into marketing than ever before. This, along with offering training every day for more than the next two months, should be of benefit to integrators and dealers.

“Another first we’re providing to our dealers is our PRO portal,” said Nortek Control Vice President of Marketing Richard Pugnier. “This is the first time we’ve offered something like this to our dealers where they can log into a system and gain complete access to all of the marketing assets they will need to be successful in the field.

“One of the great things about this is that a lot of these dealers are the small businesses without big marketing teams to create all these assets for them. With the PRO portal, dealers are able to customize every aspect of these materials by adding their own logo. … plus, we’re really giving this the full court press supporting them with additional marketing and high-impact advertising.”

Learn more at www.2GIG.com. — By Courtney Wolfe, SDM Managing Editor //

“In the past, DICE has been perceived solely as an automation software company for monitoring stations,” said Avi Lupo, DICE Corporation co-president. “However, the security industry has evolved from just a basic alarm panel and a central station providing simple alarm services. With the DICE Matrix Integrator and our new technologies, we are offering integration companies, and the industry as a whole, a new way of doing business.”

Matrix Integrator is a complete platform with services such as video verification, remote guarding, virtual guard tours, business management and a virtual doorman — all using advanced video analytics, artificial intelligence and cloud recording of events. This includes object detection and human behavior analysis with real-time notification.

Flexible, scalable and easy to implement and use, Matrix Integrator not only offers a new way of selling video surveillance, but also provides additional recurring revenue every month. Using DICE’s hybrid technology, integrators can bridge to a professional central monitoring station of their choice at any time.

“Central stations are not required, but it is an option,” Lupo said. “Some services are managed and require operators to handle them, while others are automatic and can be provided without staff. So central stations are providing managed services for the integrator, but the technology and control is in the hands of the integration company.”

For more information, visit www.dicecorp.com. //

“We recognize that our customers need to deliver business outcomes like managing complex security requirements and providing healthier, more productive environments,” said Manish Sharma, vice president, chief technology and chief product officer for Honeywell Building Technologies. “By working with IDEMIA we will create an intelligent building ecosystem that better addresses our customers’ key challenges and drives their desired outcomes. Whether it’s a commercial office building, a hospital or an airport, we have the ability to change the way people experience and interact with buildings for the better.”

Honeywell and IDEMIA will work together to deliver more powerful integrations through aligned product creation and joint product roadmaps. The integrated offerings will allow building operators to respond rapidly and effectively to alarms or incidents by providing an incident workflow package that allows Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to be configured, reducing compliance exceptions, security risks and response times.
IDEMIA products also support Honeywell’s Healthy Buildings solutions, which help building owners improve building environments; operate more cleanly and safely; and encourage sustained compliance with changing building standards, safety guidelines, government-issued regulations and a company’s risk management policies. Honeywell’s Healthy Buildings solutions provide a holistic view of a building’s health based on key factors such as indoor air quality, occupant flow, personal protection equipment analytics, contactless access, thermal screening, social distancing and sanitation efficacy.
Learn more about Honeywell and IDEMIA collaborations at security.honeywell.com. //

“By bringing these new nonproprietary options to market with partners such as Veridt, HID and Mercury, we are offering government customers a choice of simple-to-deploy and cost-effective solutions so that they can easily comply with FICAM requirements while leveraging the most robust and extensible software solution on the market,” said Justin Himelberger, enterprise systems business development manager, Federal & DOD, Genetec.

Veridt Stealth Series readers provide a full complement of identity and access management solutions for traditional and trusted PACS using PIV, TWIC and CAC based credentials. This family of readers encompasses both biometric and non-biometric configurations while offering fixed, wireless and mobile platforms. Veridt readers are well known for their compact design and operating capability in the harshest environments.

“We are pleased to work with Genetec to offer our joint U.S.-Federal market customers FICAM-compliant solutions that will enable them to comply with the most stringent access and identity federal standards as well as the flexibility to maintain and protect their investment for years to come,” said Bryce Lamers, director of sales and marketing at Veridt.

Learn more at www.genetec.com. //

Released in 2020, the StoneLock GO delivers a frictionless authentication of users and simplified enrollment intentionally built to protect the user’s privacy through its proprietary, “faceless” recognition technology for global enterprises. Tyco Software House C•CURE 9000 access control solution allows customers to integrate seamlessly with critical security and business applications, while empowering customers with full control through a single user interface.

When combined with the StoneLock GO, the security of C•CURE 9000 is enhanced to ensure only pre-authorized employees are permitted contactless access to secured areas. The integration offers a user friendly, simplified operational interface, eliminating the need to carry a badge or present credentials to a reader, unless required by multi-factor authentication.

“Johnson Controls prides itself on its technological excellence through the ability to leverage new, innovative solutions, such as the recent launch of OpenBlue,” said Kelsey Bourk, OEM product manager for Tyco Software House. “The integration delivers our customers seamless access for ultimate security protection and answers the critical security issues of today.”

As the need to protect personal security and sensitive information in a contactless manner grows exponentially due to the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, StoneLock’s biometric readers utilize near-infrared technology to ensure the safe, fast and accurate authentication of enrolled users. The GO captures unique templates of enrolled users that are unrecognizable outside of the StoneLock system, while making it universally compatible with all users regardless of gender, race, age or nationality.

For more information about StoneLock, visit www.stonelock.com. //