ADPRO Release Focuses on Electronic Point-of-Sale Interfacing and Enhanced Software Integration

10/08/05 - Xtralis Pty Ltd have released a highly flexible interface which enables customers such as retailers and bankers to detect and verify fraudulent activities. Industry studies show that retailers on average lose between 1.5 and 3% of revenue per annum and that employee theft is the single largest contributor to this. In times of such extreme margin pressure, the FastTrace EPOS interface is the ultimate tool to identify and stamp-out these losses. Xtralis Pty Ltd has also released an enhanced software integration capability for Video Central. This enables third-party applications such as Alarm Monitoring Software to manage video alarms generated by the comprehensive suite of ADPRO video transmission equipment. Central Stations now have the option of using the powerful Video Central solution or managing all of their sites through a unified User Interface. In addition to these major new features, Xtralis Pty Ltd have further increased system integrity and efficiency in ADPRO FastTrace and Video Central through a series of new refinements. Expanded feature descriptions are detailed below.

EPOS Interface tackles Staff Theft.

By using the new EPOS Interface, retailers reduce losses through:

Identifying fraudulent employee activity
Producing compelling evidence to confront perpetrators and encourage admissions of guilt
Generating evidence admissible in court should the employer wish to seek conviction, and
Actively deterring employees when made aware of the capability

With industry studies estimating staff theft to constitute 47% of total store losses, retailers can go out of business if they don’t tackle this head-on. Currently if a retailer suspects staff of fraud, it is difficult to ‘catch someone in-the-act’ and then even harder to prove it. These situations often turn into a ‘he-said, she-said’ stalemate. Employers need a means of detecting crime – and generating evidence sufficient for an employment court to dismiss an employee or a criminal court to convict.

The ADPRO EPOS Interface links video and audio with serial data from devices such as Electronic Point-of-Sale (EPOS), Electronic Cash Registers (ECR) and Automatic Teller Machines (ATM). Up to 16 devices can be linked to a single FastTrace system, and the interface provides a high degree of configurability to operate in many different scenarios. The recording behaviour of the FastTrace system can also be altered based on the transactions. The EPOS Interface is a licensed feature which is purchased separately.

Central Stations can now manage ADPRO video alarms from third-party software applications thereby reducing training, hardware, tech support, and administration costs. Enhanced software integration capability now enables the integration of Video Central functionality into third party applications such as control room management software. Central Stations benefit from lower training costs for staff and increased efficiency through a consistent interface. The Microsoft COM interface has been significantly re-developed in the current release to provide more options and greater flexibility. Vendors who make use of this enhanced capability, can offer video alarm management of the full suite of ADPRO video transmission equipment from their own User Interface.

Central Stations who have traditionally monitored conventional alarms are increasingly wanting to offer their customers premium remote video monitoring services. Operators are familiar with the existing alarm management interface and therefore management want to leverage previous investments in staff training and hardware into the new domain of video monitoring. Equally, many Central Stations have run their alarm and video operations as separate entities for many years. This has suited them as Operators have needed different skills for each side of the business. However as the number of connections increases – the Central Station wants to increase efficiencies in the centre by consolidating the two sides. They now want all Operators to be able to manage all alarms from a single User Interface. The new enhanced software integration capability of Video Central addresses each of these scenarios.

Double Password Protection offers additional privacy feature. European labour laws require that two suitably authorised individuals are present to view recorded video. The new release introduces an option requiring two users to log into Video Central to review stored video from FastTrace. As well as complying with labour laws, this increased system security option ensures that video footage cannot be viewed unless there is a legitimate reason to do so – and there is agreement by two predetermined persons or roles that this is necessary. Employees and customers can feel secure that their privacy is being maintained.

New feature enables on-site guards to quickly isolate multiple detectors so they can undertake site patrols. Sites with local guards may want to temporarily isolate specific areas containing multiple detectors while they conduct periodic guard tours – however they do not want to completely disarm the entire system. At the completion of the tour, they then want to revert the areas back to their fully armed state. Guards therefore need a way of quickly achieving this without having to isolate / unisolate each input individually. A macro command has been added to Video Central to enable multiple isolate / unisolate commands to be issued from a hot spot on an Interactive Diagram. With a single click of a mouse, a guard can now isolate all detectors in a pre-determined area and then unisolate them at the completion of the tour.

New features maximise system up-time. FastTrace is the backbone of a customer’s site security and the key component enabling remote management of critical incidents. Therefore any issues that compromise system integrity have to be minimised or eliminated and a full audit trail needs to be preserved. Complementing powerful existing features such as “SitePulse” and “Digital Evidence”, the latest release sees further optimisation of system up-time and logging. A system is only as strong as it’s weakest link, and with the full end-to-end solution of Detectors, video transmission and alarm management software – ADPRO ensures the most rigorous system performance available on the market.

Interactive Diagram Cache further increases speed of operation of Video Central. A new feature which locally caches Interactive Diagrams, reduces the time that maps take to load, which in turn improves system and Operator performance. Video Central Operators need to be able to quickly navigate around interactive site maps with a minimum of down-time. However when Interactive Diagram file sizes get large, system performance can be compromised as it takes time for each view to load. Therefore a cache for the Interactive Diagrams has been added to the Video Central User Interface. When a diagram is loaded, Video Central will first check if the map is available locally and check the version against the one stored in the database. If they match, the map will be loaded locally. If they do not match, Video Central will download the map and store in its cache.

The ADPRO FastTrace is specifically designed for a diverse range of high security, multiple site industries that require centralised security and surveillance management, such as banks, utilities, telcos, retail sites, and transportation.

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About Xtralis Pty Ltd

Xtralis Pty Ltd is a global leader in very early warning smoke detection systems and sophisticated video-based security solutions. Xtralis products protect high-value, business-critical assets across the world. Xtralis operates a global network of companies in Australia, Asia, the United Kingdom and the Americas, including 13 offices across North America. Xtralis brands include VESDA® and ADPRO®.

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