Ben Jobrack, Product Manager, Aiphone tells SJA the importance of integrating audio systems into security infrastructure.
My name is Ben Jobrack and I’m Product Manager at Aiphone.
My job is to lead the organization’s development efforts around AiphoneCloud, our intercom management platform that also allows us to build a lot of very interesting integrations with our partners and other products in the market.
I work with our customers to understand what their problems are – their pain points – working with engineers to solve those issues and then empowering our sales and marketing teams to be successful when discussing and selling the solutions to customers.
When designing an audio system, it’s important to not just think about what devices you may need, but where those devices should go and what their purpose is.
You’re going to place a video intercom at a door in a very different location than you would a siren or mass notification speaker.
These are also different kinds of equipment to something like an interior paging speaker, which is designed to provide audio over a larger area, usually via a set of speakers.
So you really need to think about the purpose of your audio system and what you want it to be used for.
In the future, we’re going to see many more highly specialized audio devices.
It’s not a niche that has developed as rapidly as the surveillance camera industry or the credential part of the access control marketplace has.
Now, we’re envisioning somewhat of an audio revolution, where we’re transforming the way these devices are used and how much of a critical component they are to new security systems. That’s coming in in two parts.
First, there are a lot of new devices that have audio components.
Standards like SIP and ONVIF are evolving to accommodate these new devices and how they work with other parts of systems or platforms.
They are also taking into consideration how these devices are managed.
From a cloud perspective, we’re seeing integrations that are extremely useful for embedding audio into other systems.
When there is a single point of contact between two products, it creates a faster and smoother process for the customer.
So, we are making it as easy as possible to embed audio into integrated systems.
Typically, this can be done at a large scale via a cloud integration or cloud managed system.
That’s how we’re looking to transform the industry and we’re seeing a lot more of that moving forward.
We’re excited to work with our existing and new partners in this space as they look to bring audio into their security products.
By far, the largest growth opportunities for audio in the security industry are some of the traditional verticals where it hasn’t reached that critical mass yet, for example the education market.
However, every year we see more and more schools take the leap to improve their security via audio.
One of the best ways to ensure security is to create a perimeter.
For schools and campuses, we are seeing increasing uses of access control that lock everyone else outside.
But how do you then speak to this person? Â
Centralized security allows you to have a hub where you can keep doors locked but also speak to others outside of the perimeter and let them in if need be.
This is also true of the healthcare industry, where we’re trying to deliver higher standards of patient care.
It’s always so important to interact with people, but how can we do that when we have overnight shifts or reduced staffing levels?
Audio systems mean people can stay in touch with ease.
An integrated system affords operators a single pane of glass, which is almost like a cliche at this point, but so many people are still striving for that goal.
A single piece of operational software allows users to access audio and video information in one place.
If I see someone on a camera, I may want to talk to them. How quickly can I make that happen?
Well, with an integrated system where audio is embedded in video management software, it’s as easy as clicking a button – as opposed to having to switch software or to a different device.
We’re seeing that become increasingly in demand, especially for larger enterprise-scale projects, but it’s also filtering down to the smaller consumer space where people just expect that ease of use.
I think one of the benefits of an integrated system is that from a support standpoint, you will only need to approach one manufacturer when you have an issue.
However, if you’re trying to combine products with three different pieces of software and five different vendors, it can be troublesome and frustrating for users to get the help they need without knowing exactly where to go.
My biggest piece of advice would be to look for partners and manufacturers who are using common standards and protocols.
Not locking yourself into one vendor means that you can build complete solutions that are give you flexibility moving forward, avoiding long-term vendor lock-in.
If you do have an issue with one piece of equipment, or the way one piece of software works, you don’t have to throw out everything to replace one piece.
The consumer can save a lot of money in the long run by only having to replace one piece and not the entire system.
Aiphone is increasingly looking to work with third party partners and the advent of our new IP intercoms and especially AiphoneCloud, shows how open and welcome we are to working with partners in our security industry, delivering better integrated solutions to our mutual customers.
This article was originally published in the November edition of Security Journal Americas. To read your FREE digital edition, click here.