Questions and Answers From the Top: Luis Orbegoso
- By Security Products Staff
- Sep 10, 2009
Lenel Systems International, part of the
UTC Fire & Security Unit of United Technologies,
has a long list of enterprise-scale
applications—a who's who of top companies
and institutions worldwide—that
all depend on the company to integrate
their security management functions. The
latest addition is SkyPoint, a highly intuitive
user interface for video surveillance
system management that simplifies how
users handle video and boosts the productivity
of security personnel.
We spoke with Luis Orbegoso, president
of Lenel, about how SkyPoint fits
into the product portfolio and what lies
ahead for the company.
Q. What makes your new video management
solution noteworthy?
A. Video has been a core offering
at Lenel going back more than
a decade. We were among the first to
grasp the importance of integrating
video with access control and other aspects
of a comprehensive security system.
We also were early proponents of
network-based video when many others
were still thinking analog, and we've
been actively promoting open systems
since early on.
What SkyPoint does is build on that
foundation to boost the functionality,
accessibility and value of video on the
network to a new level. It puts enterprise
video control and system management
at your fingertips. SkyPoint is built
around the same open-architecture principles
that are core to our beliefs, and it
provides powerful tools to improve how
users interact with video while changing
the way video is managed.
Q. How does SkyPoint fit with the
other parts of Lenel's business?
A. SkyPoint's ability to integrate
with other systems provides mission-
critical interoperability. Our focus
at Lenel has always been providing
innovative, open and comprehensive
management solutions. We pride ourselves
on being able to integrate synergistic,
best-of-breed solutions from
other companies to provide greater
value for our customers. We partnered
with On-Net Surveillance Systems because
of its superior interface technology
and ability to seamlessly integrate
with OnGuard and Lenel's core video
products. Customers, our value-added
resellers and consultants all tell us how
important it is to have a powerful and
usable video management system.
Q. What makes SkyPoint different
from other video management
software solutions?
A. Three big attributes set it apart:
ease of use, scalability and the
ability to integrate with systems from
various manufacturers. SkyPoint's ease
of use results from a highly intuitive interface
that is simple to use. An optional
touchscreen provides an instinctive way
of performing actions to control video,
such as tapping, clicking or dragging
locations on the screen.
SkyPoint doesn't employ control
panels or elaborate menus so the operator
simply uses the functions that are
relevant to the current situation and
nothing more. Users don't have to remember
codes or locations for cameras
or camera groups. It's all drag-anddrop
operation.
Although it is easy to use, Sky-
Point's functionality is rich and sophisticated.
Scalability allows users to
expand their system from a few cameras
to thousands of cameras as their
needs dictate. It also is ideal for applications
with multiple remote facilities
and clients because it can centralize
surveillance under one roof, while allowing
remote facilities to monitor
and control their sites independently.
An example might be transportation
infrastructure such as a subway system
or a government facility.
Open architecture also enables integrators
to incorporate SkyPoint into
virtually any existing video surveillance
system or as part of a larger enterprise
level security system. It provides system
designers with the versatility to tailor
SkyPoint to meet very specific system
requirements, including support of
popular models from nearly every manufacturer.
Q. How does SkyPoint fit with
Lenel's existing customer base?
A. SkyPoint is a great addition to
any existing video surveillance
system that employs a large number
of cameras. As video surveillance systems'
capabilities expand to capture
and record thousands of cameras, they
have surpassed operators' abilities to
monitor all these sources in real time.
It would require hundreds of operators
to attentively view thousands of cameras,
which is just not feasible. SkyPoint
offers an intelligent solution by incorporating
video analytics and alarm interfaces
to trigger real-time video and
notify security personnel. The user gets
immediate access to unlimited cameras,
only has to look at what he or she needs
and can push video to any monitor or
video wall in the network. This allows
security staff to access the critical video
they need and drive a strong response
and investigation.
For investigations after an incident,
there are easy-to-use tools to review
extended segments of video in a single
step or to generate thumbnails of time
intervals and detected motion. The
functionality is truly amazing, and even
those who aren't necessarily computer
savvy can be comfortable operating the
system after very little training.
SkyPoint's extreme functionality
and intelligence also reduces the number
of operators typically required to
monitor and control large-scale video
surveillance systems, which contributes
to reducing total cost of ownership.
Q. How will SkyPoint affect Lenel's
future?
A. Given Lenel's continued support
of open-architecture solutions,
SkyPoint will be highly integrated
with Lenel and other UTC solutions.
Our initial release of SkyPoint as a
stand-alone video system provides
command and control of virtually any
manufacturers' video cameras and recorders.
Future releases will expand
capabilities to enable control of Lenel
video solutions as well. Ultimately,
SkyPoint will be integrated into future
versions of Lenel's OnGuard security
management platform.
The integration of access control
and video surveillance systems is the
first critical step in achieving enterpriselevel
operation on a single control platform.
When we deliver on SkyPoint's
seamless integration with OnGuard,
customers small and large will have a
compelling new way to see security.