Mahwah, NJ. This year’s ISC West, the United States’ premier security technology exhibition (held March 17–20 in Las Vegas), provides the stage for the introduction to the North American market of Commend Inc.’s Symphony, the world’s first cloud-based Intercom security platform, incorporating ‘Privacy and Security by Design’. Symphony is designed to enable security officers of large-scale building complexes to collect security-critical information in real time. This allows for extremely efficient security workflows in everyday situations as well as emergencies.
The first stage of Commend’s comprehensive cloud-based security platform focuses primarily on door/gate communication and control for residential associations, property developers and operators of large-scale buildings. Symphony offers a range of innovative cloud services to make even complex solutions in demanding system environments secure and easy to manage. For example, it can automatically detect devices on the network, which makes it possible to centrally configure and manage complex building communication arrangements from anywhere in the world using securely integrated mobile devices. Symphony is Commend’s answer to growing efficiency and security requirements for public buildings.
In addition to the exhibits and presentations at the booth, visitors on March 19 will be treated to a special launch event, where they will have the chance to experience the full range of Symphony’s capabilities in an engaging live demonstration (see end of this press release for details on time and location).
The first of Symphony’s cloud services is already up and running, offering commercial customers a range of value-adding features on a new technical basis. The core function is a secure, intuitive handling of video-enhanced door calls in building reception areas. Staff are able to receive and answer intercom calls from anywhere in the world, either over a mobile smart device or at a physical intercom station. Multiple building entrance and reception areas can easily be consolidated into customer-specific groups and zones. Best of all, there is no need for users to modify their existing hardware or cabling. Call points and entrance hall directories can be conveniently updated remotely at the push of a button, making manual replacement of individual door labels and building directories a thing of the past.
It is functions like these that make Symphony particularly well-suited for property managers, as it eliminates the need to change name labels manually when residents move in or out. Symphony's Cloud solution can be enabled across any number of individual networks, allowing the system to be deployed very flexibly for all residents in a building or network of buildings. Customers also benefit from the services’ extensive scalability, which makes them suitable for anything from a single-resident building to a multi-functional, globally networked building complex.
A smart building is not necessarily secure
“Symphony is a significant milestone on the way to tomorrow’s digital way of providing building security and communication,” says Commend Inc.’s President, Tom Reilly. Anyone can install a cloud-based door call system, he explains, but today’s security challenges require the ‘data privacy and security by design’ approach embraced by the Symphony platform. “The key for Commend was to bring to bear our decades of experience in secure building solutions. This allowed us to leverage today’s cloud technologies safely and responsibly to support the crucial day-to-day protection of persons and assets in an economically efficient way.”
Symphony: A door to a world of possibilities
The door and gate communication service introduction in Las Vegas marks the kick-off to a whole range of future services currently under development at Commend’s laboratories. Future cloud-based Symphony services are intended to further raise the bar in terms of security and efficiency, especially by intelligently networking different sub-systems and functions such as video surveillance, sensors, emergency communication, access control and user management. This has huge benefits, for example when it comes to verifying alarms and identifying false alarms automatically. Other scenarios include providing information to visitors for easy orientation in multi-tenant and office buildings, either via stationary terminals or on mobile devices. With its cloud service as the ‘brains’ behind the system, Symphony ensures a smooth, well-orchestrated performance of all connected systems for the ultimate benefit of residents, workers and visitors.
PSBD: The key to secure cloud technologies
Symphony is built around the principle of ‘Privacy and Security by Design’ (PSBD). The idea is to ensure full data privacy while meeting latest IT security standards, including the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In developing Symphony, Commend’s engineers focused particularly on making the communication lines as tap-proof as possible to ensure the protection of users’ privacy and to safeguard the data against theft, manipulation and espionage. There are also special security features built into the cloud services to provide additional sustained protection. These include, for example, a permanent vulnerability screening to identify unusual system activities and support countermeasures early on.
For further information and updates on the availability of new services visit www.commend.com.
Symphony live demonstration at ISC West on 19 March:
Times: 11:00 am, 12:30 pm, 2:00 pm, 3:30 pm
Location: Meeting Room Veronese 2406, Sands Expo, Las Vegas, NV
About Commend
Commend (www.commend.com) is a global provider of communication systems and solutions for emergency and threat response that enable an efficient, quick-responding management of public buildings, industrial facilities and public traffic infrastructures. Whether it’s providing customer service in a noisy car park, managing an emergency situation in an industrial facility or responding to school violence, Commend systems provide reliable assistance in terms of efficient, clear communication and responding to challenging situations. In everyday use, the systems help to ensure economically efficient workflows. Commend is headquartered in Salzburg, Austria and employs about 200 staff at its head office, with about 500 people maintaining a global partner network under the Commend Group of companies. Commend in the Americas is headquartered in Mahwah, NJ, about an hour outside of New York City. The Commend Group is a member of the Dutch-based listed TKH Group (www.tkhgroup.com).
