Day: December 25, 2025

Merit Medical Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of proprietary disposable medical devices, has successfully implemented an integrated physical solution combining video management with access control. Founded in 1987 and headquartered in South Jordan, Utah, Merit employs approximately 7,000 people worldwide and operates manufacturing facilities across multiple continents, producing interventional, diagnostic, and therapeutic devices for hospitals and healthcare facilities. To enhance their operations, Merit Medical has created a unified platform by integrating their access control system into their video management software (VMS). This strategic integration allows their personnel to manage both video surveillance and access control through a single, map-based interface. Working with longtime integration partner Stone Security, a BearCom Company, Merit has developed a comprehensive solution that transforms how they verify identity, track movements, and respond to events across their global operations. Challenge: Managing disparate systems Managing separate video and access control systems created operational inefficiencies for Merit’s team. With operators constantly switching between platforms, incident response times were slower than desired. Visual verification of access credentials required manual coordination between systems, while investigating historical activity meant navigating two separate databases. Additionally, training staff on multiple systems increased onboarding time, and all of this created the need for a more unified, efficient approach. Solution: Seamless platform integration Merit Medical implemented an integrated solution combining Milestone XProtect video management software (VMS) with their existing S2 NetBox access control system. Working with Milestone Premier Partner Stone Security, Merit leveraged the ORBNET Systems connector to unite these platforms, standardizing on network video cameras from Axis Communications throughout their facilities. The solution incorporates door controllers, credential verification, and visual recognition into Merit’s existing VMS-based mapping system. This integration provides a single interface for operations, allowing staff to verify identity, control access, and review events seamlessly. Results: Greater efficiency through combined solution The integrated platform has significantly enhanced Merit’s operational effectiveness and security posture. Staff can now verify credential use against live video, eliminating the need to switch between systems. Investigation times have decreased dramatically, with operators able to quickly retrieve access events and corresponding video data. Visual verification has strengthened perimeter protection and access protocols, while the streamlined system has reduced training requirements for new personnel and improved overall response. “We started experiencing some attention-to-detail issues when instead of momentarily unlocking a door in S2, users were unlocking it and leaving it open, so we’d unknowingly have that access open for hours. By switching over to the Milestone platform and bringing S2 into it, we solved that problem pretty quickly,” said Craig Meyer, Director of Global Security at Merit Medical. At-a-glance verification allows officers to quickly confirm that the credential user matches the authorized individual. For facilities with 24/7 operations, this significantly improves their ability to monitor multiple entry points simultaneously. Fast investigations and compliance Investigating incidents now takes Merit’s team minutes instead of hours. When investigating an event, staff can start with either door access records or video data, then seamlessly connect the two. If they see unusual access to a restricted area, they can immediately pull up video of who entered. Similarly, if suspicious activity appears on camera, they can instantly check which badges were used nearby. This eliminates the frustrating back-and-forth between separate systems, allowing the team to resolve incidents much faster. “This capability has been a game-changer for Merit’s team, saving hours of investigation time while providing indisputable evidence of who accessed which areas and when,” commented Andy Schreyer, Vice President, Security Technology & Marketing, Stone Security. Each access event in the system has a bookmarked video clip, allowing rapid confirmation of who used the credential. This helps identify potential violations such as tailgating, credential sharing, or unauthorized access attempts. For a company operating in the regulated medical device industry, this level of documentation and verification provides essential compliance support. The system’s verification capabilities extend beyond access control to include complex investigations. When unusual patterns are detected, personnel can rapidly review a person’s movement throughout the facility, matching video evidence with access records to create a complete timeline of events. This integrated approach has proven particularly valuable for internal investigations requiring complete documentation and evidence. Operational transformation Merit’s team works much more efficiently thanks to their combined video and access control system. Staff can see doors and cameras on the same digital maps, allowing them to quickly help employees who need access while responding faster to potential concerns. When someone needs help at an entrance, the team can immediately see who is there and unlock it with just a few clicks, saving time and improving protection in one simple workflow. As Merit continues to expand its integrated approach, they are leveraging the flexibility of Milestone’s open platform to create increasingly sophisticated operations. By bringing together video, access control and mapping in a unified system, they have established a solution that scales with their growing global business while maintaining operational simplicity and effectiveness. “Our access-integrated VMS-based mapping approach has been fundamental to our success. It has allowed us to creatively solve challenges in ways we could not have imagined when we started this journey. The strength of this solution comes from the collaboration with all partners. What’s most impressive is how seamlessly everything works together, providing us with a foundation that continues to evolve as our global operations grow,” said Craig Meyer, Director of Global Security at Merit Medical. Read More

The Challenge The rapid growth of data has created a financial burden As one of the world’s leading manufacturing corporations, Toyota has been steadily expanding its business over the years. In Vietnam, it operates one of Southeast Asia’s primary automobile manufacturing plants, producing tens of thousands of vehicles annually. The company’s data has grown significantly for both operational services and critical data protection. This rapid expansion has led to an increased need for data storage and backups, posing a substantial financial burden for the business. Tape backups are inefficient for large scale recovery In addition, while tape backups were once valued for their isolation and resistance to tampering, they became inefficient for Toyota’s growing data needs. Managing and recovering large-scale data became impractical, adding a heavy manual workload for the IT team. Need for a resilient disaster recovery solution Toyota Motor Vietnam required a solution that not only isolates and safeguards data against unexpected events but also enables rapid system recovery to maintain business continuity. This would ensure the continuous operation of their production system, safeguarding their reputation and market position. The Solution Comprehensive backup strategy for critical and operational data Assessing options from different providers in the market, Toyota Motor Vietnam decided to use Synology’s SA, UC, RS series, and ActiveProtect Appliances to enhance their data protection strategy. They established two protection plans to safeguard critical data and daily operational data. For critical data, Toyota Motor Vietnam uses ActiveProtect DP7400 at its headquarters to perform immutable backups for 50 virtual machines (VMs) and essential servers. A secondary immutable backup copy is stored on a remote DP7400 appliance, ensuring resilience against cyber threats. This approach adheres to the 3-2-1-1-0 backup policy, incorporating multiple copies, immutability, and zero backup errors. For daily operational workloads, 150 VMs are backed up directly to Synology SA3410, a petabyte-scale storage device tailored for growing storage needs. With the built-in data protection application, Active Backup for Business (ABB), the SA3410 securely backs up 150 VMs, ensuring reliable on-premises data storage. For enhanced protection, Snapshot Replication replicates VM backups from SA3410 to five remote Synology RackStation units, providing an extra layer of security and disaster recovery. In addition to its backup role, the ActiveProtect DP7400 also functions as a management server at headquarters, streamlining backup management for the infrastructure through a single interface. It provides visibility into daily operations, such as the status of backups, backup copies, and storage usage, allowing Toyota Motor Vietnam to monitor the entire infrastructure’s backup SLA (Service Level Agreement) on a single dashboard. Synology’s storage solution has increased our business resilience. It is reliable, secure, and provides future-proof scalability for our growing business data Bui Ta HoanIT Division Head, Toyota Motor Vietnam Active-active SAN server deployed for high availability in critical environments To guarantee optimal operational performance and high availability (HA) for their essential data, Toyota Motor Vietnam deployed Synology’s UC SAN server and expansion unit as their corporate storage server. This active-active SAN storage, with two independent controllers, is specifically designed to ensure uninterrupted operations in critical environments, addressing the unique demands of Toyota’s production line. The Benefits 75% decrease in backup costs By replacing its previous backup setup – which required separate hardware, software, and individual licenses – Toyota Motor Vietnam significantly reduced complexity and maintenance efforts. With Synology’s integrated data protection solution, IT management is now streamlined, leading to a 75% cost reduction in protecting the company’s enterprise workloads. Faster large-scale recovery with tape-free backups Toyota has eliminated its reliance on tape backups, reducing operational overhead and manual maintenance. Unlike tapes, which require multiple reads for recovery and lack built-in verification, ActiveProtect ensures instant restore and fast, reliable recovery by verifying backup integrity and allowing direct restoration from specific versions. This significantly improves recovery speed and reliability for critical workloads. A comprehensive solution to enhance business resilience Synology’s solutions seamlessly integrate with Toyota’s existing IT infrastructure, providing reliable protection for their business. On-premises ABB backups secure the company’s virtual environments, while Snapshot Replication offers additional offsite protection. The addition of the ActiveProtect Appliance DP7400 also strengthens Toyota’s system by improving operational efficiency and enhancing data security. With cluster-based management and built-in WORM (Write Once, Read Many) storage mechanism, Toyota Motor Vietnam can protect critical data from cyber threats and ensure rapid recovery. This solution allows them to confidently scale its storage while maintaining security and business continuity. Read More