Taking campus security to the next level with unification
The University of Calgary standardizes on Security Center to manage access control, video surveillance, ALPR, analytics, intercom, and intrusion detection systems across all campuses.
The company
The University of Calgary (UCalgary) is a top comprehensive research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. With origins dating back to the early 1900s, UCalgary became autonomous in 1966. Over 50 years later, the university has more than 33,000 enrolled students and 5,000 staff across its five campuses, field stations, and other facilities. The main campus is home to 11 of the university’s 14 faculties and spans more than 200 hectares near the impressive Rocky Mountains. Other campuses include Foothills campus, Downtown campus, Spy Hill campus, and a remote campus offering nursing programs in Doha, Qatar.
The challenge
As years passed, the team began feeling the brunt of aging security technology. Each video and access control system was independently managed and owned by various departments. Going to different sites to retrieve video evidence from digital video recorders (DVRs) or requesting the information from faculty contacts created roadblocks during investigations. And since some DVRs were also not securely locked away, the university had concerns about data security and privacy. Maintaining the outdated security technology was also becoming time-consuming and costly. The UCalgary knew it was time for a major security upgrade.
The solution
Unified and efficient response
“Security Center allows us to manage situations on campus more effectively. Our operators can pull up video to see exactly what happened and share information with security personnel,’ said Gysen.
Easy map-based navigation
Operators use Plan Manager – the map-based interface – to quickly locate doors, cameras, intrusion points, and intercoms. This makes it easier to navigate the various campuses and buildings.
Smooth access control migration
UCalgary used the import tool to upload batches of cardholder data into Security Center. The Security Center Active Directory integration is also helping to streamline migration processes moving forward.
Analytics-boosted investigations
UCalgary uses BriefCam analytics within Security Center to speed up investigations. These include object removed or left behind, direction, dwell time, and crossline detection.
“Genetec Security Center was the optimal solution that allowed us to bring all our security systems together under one umbrella. The unified platform also gave us access to built-in tools and analytics that would help us address cybersecurity and privacy, as well as enhance our overall situational awareness.”
Brian Whitelaw, Chief of Campus Security, University of Calgary
Results
Today, the UCalgary team works from a security operations center (SOC) on the main campus, using Security Center to manage access control, video surveillance, automatic license plate recognition, analytics, intercom, and intrusion detection across all sites. They currently have over 2,000 doors, 2,300 cameras, 45 intercom stations, 40 intrusion detection sensors, and various BriefCam analytics within Security Center. They also use the AutoVu Free-Flow for convenient gateless parking.
According to Rick Gysen, the Director of Campus Security at the University of Calgary, “Right now, we think this is a very exciting time to be standardizing on Genetec Security Center. Technology is evolving at such a fast pace and we now have the foundation to be able to accommodate new innovation. We also have so much flexibility in how we can adapt and expand our security platform. We’re free to keep evolving our security initiatives to better protect our campus community.’