Day: December 6, 2022

Everbridge, the global company in critical event management (CEM) and national public warning software solutions, recently announced that the State of New Jersey expanded its use of the company’s Public Safety solutions to communicate with residents across the state in times of emergency. The New Jersey State Police added Everbridge’s Resident Connection and Integrated Public Alert & Warning System IPAWS solutions to maximize the reach of their critical citizen alerts, allowing public safety officials to reach the state’s nine million residents in the event of a crisis such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding. This year marks the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, the costliest and most devastating storm to impact New Jersey. As learned during Sandy, and subsequent severe weather events that affected the Garden State, a critical part of any crisis response is the ability to share accurate information in a timely manner to the right population. Resident Connection enables Everbridge customers to target potentially life-saving communications to impacted areas by simply drawing geo-fenced shapes on a map, allowing local, county, and state government leaders to quickly and accurately reach the largest number of people in those zones. Recipients may include the most vulnerable and often underserved populations such as residents with special needs; dependence on supplemental oxygen or medications; cognitive, visual, or hearing impairment; and those lacking Internet access. Additionally, through Everbridge, New Jersey State Police is now able to access FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS), which utilizes several communication pathways to reach the public, including: the Emergency Alert System (EAS) to deliver alerts via AM, FM and satellite radio, as well as broadcast, cable and satellite TV; Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) to deliver notifications to cell phones and mobile devices based on location, even if cellular networks are overloaded and can no longer support calls, text and emails; and integration with voice sirens, digital road signs, and emergency telephone networks. “First responders work around the clock to protect citizens from critical events like wildfires, hurricanes and the pandemic,” said Francis Willett, Principal Product Manager for Everbridge Public Safety, “New Jersey is ahead of the curve when it comes to ensuring that the public receives potentially life-saving information, while at the same time improving message timeliness and accuracy when a crisis demands their full attention.” Everbridge serves more than 300 organizations throughout the state of New Jersey, including local and county governments, hospitals, schools, retailers, corporations, and financial services providers. Everbridge also supports the states of Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, Oregon, and West Virginia; the 18 local jurisdictions comprising the National Capital Region (NCR); and thousands of municipal, territorial, and tribal governments, including 22 of the 25 largest U.S. cities.  

Interface Systems, a leading managed service provider delivering business security, managed network, UCaaS, and business intelligence solutions to distributed enterprises, recently announced that MOD Pizza, the largest fast-casual pizza concept and one of the fastest growing restaurant brands in North America, has chosen Interface to implement a comprehensive upgrade of physical security infrastructure for more than 420 of its company-owned restaurants. By consolidating physical security operations with Interface, MOD Pizza has improved security while reducing false alarm costs by over 95% and monthly subscription costs by over 15%. With a mission to hire people that have barriers to hiring, including those who were formerly incarcerated, individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD), and those who have struggled with housing insecurity or are recovering from addiction, MOD Pizza is committed to creating a safe environment for its 10,000 Squad members (employees) and patrons. However, legacy camera and alarm systems required frequent manual intervention which was unnecessarily adding to their employees’ workload and disrupting their focus on customers. The asset protection team at MOD Pizza evaluated different vendors to tackle the complex challenge of streamlining technology implementation while creating a foundation that would allow the addition of advanced security capabilities in the future. MOD Pizza chose Interface to deploy hybrid network video recorders (NVRs) to leverage their legacy analog camera investments and installed the latest IP cameras at new locations. With NVRs in place, security footage from analog cameras can now be converted into digital format and stored on the cloud for easier access, review, and analysis. “By avoiding a complete rip-andreplace approach to camera installation, Interface was able to deliver significant cost savings without compromising MOD Pizza’s ability to implement advanced security solutions and analytics in the future,” said Swanson. MOD Pizza’s legacy alarm systems resulted in frequent operational disruption and false alarm penalties, and employee confidence in the alarm solution was fast eroding. To solve this problem, Interface deployed a video-verified alarm solution that includes verification of every alarm event by trained intervention specialists. This has significantly reduced wasted effort by restaurant managers to physically check the location during non-business hours, and eliminated costly false alarm penalties. “We have seen over 95% reduction in false alarms since we implemented Interface’s video verified alarm solution. Our field teams love the fact that they have secure, browser-based access to configure our alarm system which significantly frees up their time to do other things,” said Swanson. In addition, Interface deployed a centralized cloud-based video management system to easily find video recordings, across any location, for investigations and securely share the recordings with law enforcement or use video clips for internal training purposes. “The integrated solution is now up and running across over 420 MOD Pizza locations delivering significant operational efficiencies, improved productivity, and cost savings. We reduced our subscription costs by over 15% by combining our alarm and video management services.” said Swanson. By consolidating all business security operations with Interface, MOD Pizza is now in a position to offer a significantly improved work environment for its employees, along with discreet, always-on security coverage for customers. With an advanced security solution now in place across hundreds of its restaurants, MOD Pizza is piloting a next-generation video analytics solution to optimize restaurant layout, improve customer experience, and uncover real-time intelligence to streamline restaurant operations.  

First responders navigate high pressure and challenging situations every day, and it is imperative that their communications devices are not only reliable and intuitive, but also provide valuable real-time information. After more than two years of extensive field testing, market research and piloting by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and Miami-Dade Police Department, Miami-Dade County has awarded Motorola Solutions a deal worth $165 million over 10 years for its top-of-the-line APX NEXT™ radios. “This is a life safety product,” said Alfredo ‘Freddy’ Ramirez III, Director, Miami-Dade Police Department and Chief of Safety and Emergency Response, Miami-Dade Police Department and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, “Our end-users here in fire and police have done extensive studies on this product. There is no other one like it. It has great capabilities that are not seen in the market that will enhance not only officer safety, but our ability to service the community in a more strategic and safer way. This product with Motorola is a next-generation type of communication device that the first responders of Miami-Dade County deserve.” The contract includes APX NEXT radios for the Miami-Dade Police Department and APX NEXT XE radios, which are purpose-built to meet the demands of firefighters, for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue. It also includes six new radio sites to increase coverage for the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue communications system, which Motorola Solutions will support through maintenance and improvements. APX NEXT radios, along with radios from multiple vendors, went through rigorous testing against stringent criteria with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and Miami-Dade Police Department ahead of the contract signing. This included confirming compatibility with the county-wide radio system and other nearby regional radio systems, as well as testing LTE broadband in coverage gap areas and demonstrating the durability of the devices through training exercises. “The new radios have new technology, such as personnel level tracking with GPS over LTE, and text and picture messaging,” said another Public Safety Official involved with the testing of the new radios, “They include agency interoperability that we don’t have today, where we can quickly bring channels together. They also include additional coverage expansion, so these radios have capability from us to communicate outside the county, outside of our traditional radio systems. They have computer-aided dispatch (CAD) messaging – bi-directional CAD messaging – so it will significantly decrease the amount of time for units to receive information from the CAD system.” Miami-Dade joins a growing list of agencies who are now using APX NEXT for public safety communications in the state of Florida and across the country. The deployment of radios and additional communications equipment is currently underway, with a full radio replacement and system refresh expected to span the next year. Motorola Solutions is a global leader in public safety and enterprise security. Our solutions in land mobile radio communications, video security & access control and command center software, bolstered by managed & support services, create an integrated technology ecosystem to help make communities safer and businesses stay productive and secure. At Motorola Solutions, they are ushering in a new era in public safety and security.  

New Matter 1.0 standard lays the foundation for wider adoption and future market applications and innovation in the smart home. Elevates consumer experience and provides great potential for lowering energy consumption through intelligent, connected IoT solutions. One of industry’s first Matter 1.0-certified products and right-fit and ready-to-use hardware solutions accelerate creation of innovative and sustainable smart home devices & services. Smart home solutions increase consumers’ convenience while reducing energy consumption and lowering consumers’ carbon footprints. However, different device ecosystems, products and protocols have made implementing a truly connected, secured smart home difficult until now. The Connectivity Standards Alliance’s (CSA) newly released Matter 1.0 specification helps alleviate these challenges by offering one unified standard for device makers to follow for many smart home applications including smart locks, lighting, thermostats, security systems, sensors and media devices. Infineon Technologies AG, a world leading company in IoT and power solutions, has joined CSA and more than 280 companies to pioneer the game-changing Matter standard to make ease-ofuse, interoperability, security and sustainability a reality in the smart home. “Our homes are the center of our daily activities, from work to leisure,” said Thomas Rosteck, Division President Connected Secure Systems at Infineon, “We believe that having one standard solves the fragmentation of the smart home market, which will be the key in opening doors to drive better connectivity, digitalization and decarbonization in this market. The Matter initiative and Infineon’s integrated Matter solutions will allow consumers to customize, connect and control their smart home experience in a simple and secured way, while optimizing energy usage in the most effective manner.” Matter 1.0 will accelerate adoption of smart home solutions by proving interoperability and backwards-compatibility of devices from different brands and operating systems. Infineon leaders sit on the CSA board, underscoring the company’s commitment to advancing global standards and helping to shape the future of IoT in the smart home. The world leader in hardware-based security solutions, also leads major security teams covering topics such as encryption, device attestation and integrity as well as security certification of smart home devices. Smart Home market to grow rapidly According to market research firm ABI Research, by 2030, more than 1.5 billion Matter certified devices will ship annually. In addition, over that period, a vast range of consumer robotics, smart appliances, and other emerging smart home device types are expected to be drawn into smart home system engagement. Beyond convenience and automation, connected devices and services in the smart home will provide energy-efficient solutions to solve social and environmental challenges. Within total worldwide electricity consumption, residential buildings make up 29 percent. Space cooling, heating and refrigeration are among the largest power consumers. Here, the interconnection of smart things opens up great potential for reducing energy consumption. For example, smart home networks can learn users’ personal temperature preferences in different situations to adapt them automatically. Sensor-based controls can turn off lights, heating and air conditioning when no one is in the room. And intelligent smart home networks can start washing machines or car charging when renewable energies are available. With one out of six people in the world being aged 60 years or over by 2030, smart home solutions can also help seniors to stay independently and more comfortably in their own homes. Elevating consumer experience and sustainability with Matter solutions Infineon’s leading technology portfolio of rightfit and ready-to-use solutions accelerates the creation of innovative smart home products that meet today’s and tomorrow’s demand for connected, smart, safe and energy-efficient homes – allowing best possible user experience and enabling new services. Our Matter solutions include: The new PSoC® 62S2 Wi-Fi BT Pioneer Kit helps developers and engineers achieve reliable, ultra-low power Matter over Wi-Fi solutions and helps them get to market faster. The combination of PSoC™ 6x ULP MCU and AIROC™ CYW43xx Bluetooth/ Wi-Fi SoCs supports a very reliable, low power implementation of Matter over Wi-Fi edge devices, while provisioning over Bluetooth/ Bluetooth Low Energy. The high-performance, low-power AIROC™ CYW30739 multi-protocol SoC (Bluetooth Low Energy 5.3, IEEE 802.15.4) is one of the first to complete Thread 1.3 certification, the foundation for Matter over Thread devices. Matter-compatible OPTIGA™ security solutions easily integrate into embedded systems to protect the confidentiality, integrity and authenticity of information and devices. The solutions scale from basic authentication chips to sophisticated implementations.