OPTEX partners with a visual-verification technology from CHeKT for global security solutions
CHeKT’s device connects alarm panels and camera systems, sends immediate video to operators to confirm the need for a police response.
CHeKT, announces a partnership with OPTEX, the leading supplier of outdoor sensors for intrusion security. CHeKT delivers a visual-monitoring platform for alarm monitoring centers. This partnership with Optex will significantly advance the protection capabilities of security integrators globally.
The solution relies on “The CHeKT Bridge,” the first product brought to market by CHeKT, of Shreveport, Louisiana. With years of development, the CHeKT Bridge premiered in April 2018 at the ISC West trade show.
The vision of CHeKT is to allow an integrator to provide visual monitoring services at prices that compete with a traditional intrusion alarm. CHeKT’s President, Wes Usie says, “In today’s culture, when an integrator installs an alarm system and a video surveillance system at a location, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t provide that client with visual monitoring services.”
“There’s a recognized need in our industry for this exact technology,” said Mac Kokobo, president, and CEO of OPTEX, of Rancho Dominguez, California. “With CHeKT’s innovation, OPTEX has found technology that instantly amplifies the value of our sensors and creates truly proactive security systems.”
OPTEX will co-sell their existing and new products with the CHeKT Bridge in North America through its current distribution channels. Pricing of the device was not disclosed, but the companies expect to offer the CHeKT Bridge at a cost that allows integrators to remain competitive with existing alarm systems and provide a much higher level of service to the end user. Both companies recognize that a visual-monitoring solution must be affordable, scalable and adaptable.
“We’re thrilled to partner with OPTEX,” said John Milliron, CHeKT’s Vice President of Sales. “For OPTEX to invest in CHeKT is a tremendous validation of our innovation. The industry is changing rapidly and Integrators must decide if they will adopt innovative technologies to meet escalating consumer demands, police response requirements and false alarm ordinances. Ring, Nest and others have started a disruption that Integrators may not yet have a strategy to address. The CHeKT Visual Verification solution provides an adaptable smart integration of any alarm system and ONVIF video system, existing or new, providing a CS Operator a view of what caused an alarm to occur in just seconds. Together, we intend to reset the Alarm Industry’s best practices.”
The CHeKT Bridge pairs on-site cameras with sensors, on new or existing security panels. The platform-agnostic Bridge manages cameras locally allowing an operator to access video instantly, unencumbered by firewalls and login credentials. When a sensor of any kind goes into an alarm state, the alarm panel communicates the signal to the monitoring center. Simultaneously, the bridge sends the applicable video to the cloud for viewing by the operator processing the alarm, enabling visual verification of the situation and premises within 5 seconds. This powerful simplistic approach allows central stations to provide a much higher level of service without increasing signal traffic or increasing the time an operator spends processing an alarm signal. The operator can forward the clip, via SMS text, to the emergency contacts when additional verification is necessary, and to the police responding to the alarm.
“We’re impressed that CHeKT understands the needs of every stakeholder in the security space – end-users, integrators and installers, the operators who processes alarms and the emergency responders. This product is an exceptional response to those needs and, paired with our sensors, makes a formidable yet affordable security solution,” said Rob Blair, president of OPTEX’s Security Division.
OPTEX’s outdoor rated sensors create reliable detection across a premises’ exterior, detecting motion within inches of a building. With The Bridge connecting sensors and cameras and sending video immediately, “an operator can see troublesome behavior before a person breaks in through the door or window,” Blair said. “When you can communicate to the police that you are watching apparent criminal behavior, instead of reporting an alarm with no other context, the response is much quicker.”
Barriers into the visual monitoring space were over complicated setups that did not scale into an existing security system and monitoring centers. CHeKT has overcome these barriers and dealers can freely design a true security solution that detects a crime before a break-in happens. “The sensors and alarm systems were doing their jobs, and the camera systems were recording. However, those systems have worked in parallel, not in unison,” Usie said. “Past efforts to create visual monitoring have been cumbersome, slow, and expensive. We couldn’t find what was needed…that’s how CHeKT was born, a technology that enables operators to immediately visualize what tripped an alarm.”
