The Story
UBC's challenge was to find a unified enterprise solution that wouldn't compromise its 24/7 security operation and allowed it to scale as the campus continues to grow. The university needed a seamless integration of services that provided safety and was unobtrusive to students, but could work at scale to meet growing demand.
Providing a Unified View
Keeping students and staff safe is a top priority in any educational environment. This job was made harder by the separate platforms UBC was using for access control and alarms. Shortcomings of their legacy system, were also top of mind as John Molnar, Access Services Manager at UBC, and his team set out to find a solution that would minimize risks and provide a clear picture of what is happening on campus.
"We needed to migrate towards a technology that wasn't simply the latest revision of an antiquated platform," says Molnar. This made the provider decision "critically important."
After investigating multiple options, Molnar and his team chose ICT. Using Protege GX as the heart of a large-scale enterprise solution enabled integration of alarms, student management and other campus systems, and Armor IP alarm reporting. This would provide Molnar and his team with a real-time, 360-degree view of the campus, and enable them to respond quickly to any issues that might arise.
Confidence to Scale
The first instances of ICT product on campus were large scale installations of Protege GX during construction of the high-profile Pharmaceutical Sciences and Earth Sciences institutional research buildings in 2012. "It was imperative that the electronic access and security systems be operational for occupancy," Molnar says. "With ICT's support, this was achieved."
Nurturing with Support and Training
UBC was in the unique position of being self-installers with their 9 strong team on campus. This meant that all staff had to be brought up to speed with the equipment and provided with training to facilitate the early stages of installation.
"ICT provided support through the steepest part of our learning curve," says Molnar. "The technical certification process really helped our staff gain a thorough understanding of ICT's hardware and software products."
