Security distributor decides on its own security for inventory, employees

CHANTILLY, Va.—Global Surveillance System, a national distributor of video surveillance and low-voltage security equipment, had to decide what kind of security it would itself deploy at a brand new 3,000-square-foot warehouse and an office building here.

The distributor, which works with about 500 integrators and 20 major manufacturers, needed to protect its inventory as well as the 12 employees who work between the two buildings, said Bill Plunkett, GSS sales and marketing manager.

GSS selected its sites for the two new buildings last November, Plunkett said,  “then we said, 'What are we going to do for security?'”

It opted for an IP-based surveillance system, including video door stations, from Mobotix.

“Now we have two buildings all on one giant network,” Plunkett said.

Four AllroundDual M15 cameras with built-in video motion detector software capture a complete view of the warehouse, he said. Five more of those cameras were installed at the office building. The system does not require DVRs or NVRs for transmission and storage; data is stored on the cameras' SD cards. All employees can view footage from their computers, and Plunkett can also watch from his iPhone.

Importantly, the distribution supply chain is protected, Plunkett said.

“We can see the products coming through the loading dock. If someone says, 'I went to your office and delivered products, and I didn't get credit for all of them,' we can check the 360-degree footage,” Plunkett said.

Also, if a customer says it didn't receive an entire order, GSS can provide footage that shows the accurate number of products was loaded onto the outgoing truck.

“We can easily view more than one month of stored footage at any time,” he said.

Plunkett said he is especially pleased with the video door stations.

“We're a small operation here, we don't have someone stationed at the door to greet people,” he said.  Visitors, customers and vendors, once seen and vetted by an employee watching the feed from the T25 Hemispheric IP Video Door Stations, can now be buzzed in remotely.

Plunkett can also use the video door station data to verify employees' time sheets every two weeks, he said.

When the Chantilly warehouse and office building is closed, a monitoring company is responsible for the security system's alerts.