When innovation is at its best, it solves a problem, makes life more efficient and generates some money.
Check, check and check, for integrator MSA Security which has launched SmartTech, a Department of Homeland Security Safety Act certified solution that aims to solve delays at security checkpoints while enhancing safety.
SmartTech uses high-speed video and VoIP configuration to instantly transmit questionable images from a security checkpoint X-ray machine to the MSA Emergency Operations Center in New York for real-time analysis by a team of bomb technicians. So if a security professional working a checkpoint at a high-volume professional building, sports venue, transportation hub, mailroom or a loading dock – all target applications for MSA Security – scans an image in a bag of something he isn’t sure about, he can share that image with MSA staffed bomb experts who will give a real-time thumbs up or thumbs down.
SmartTech offers customers an opportunity to avoid unnecessary, costly evacuations. “When you evacuate an average corporate building with several hundred employees in it, they’ll be out of that building for an hour or two. That’s probably several thousand dollars of lost productivity. So SmartTech is sort of a no-brainer with respect to ROI,” says Dan Briggs, VP of business development for MSA Security.
SmartTech is a subscription service with single-unit retail price of $9,360 annually, and MSA Security makes the case that the full yearly cost of deploying SmartTech is less than 2 percent of a one-hour evacuation if there are 5,900 employees involved.
There is also the obvious benefit of enlisting bomb technicians that Smart- Tech offers. The MSA SmartTech Team staffs active and retired bomb squad personnel. “Most security integrators don’t have the resources to provide this benefit to customers,” Briggs says.
The hardware installation part is simple, according to Briggs. “MSA can send the hardware for them to install or we’ll install it. Basically, all they need is an Internet connection.”
This article was originally published by our content partner Commercial Integrator
