Category Archives: Use of Technology

Panic Button and Other Security Systems for Schools

Active Shooter Emergencies

Safety and Security in SchoolsActive shooter situations have become a significant security issue. Many articles have been written about this. Solutions range from increased technology, active shooter drills in schools, and of course, gun control.  Ann Hampton Callaway even wrote a song, Thoughts and Prayers.

A recent article, Active Shooter Drills May Not Stop A School Shooting — But This Method Could, was published November 27, 2019, in NPR news. It discussed the issues with active shooter drills. The article suggested that it was much better to provide threat assessment as a proactive approach to safety in schools. The objective would be to “identify students who are doing concerning behavior or may be in distress and getting them the help they need before they even resort to violence as an option.”

As a technology company, all we can do is suggest technology that can be used to prevent, control, and manage active shooter situations.

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History of Kintronics

Kintronics is Forty!

 

Kintronics was founded May, 1977.  The Kintronics history is one of change.  Over the years, we constantly reinvented ourselves to assure that we were providing the right technology products to the market.

About-Kintronics-concept

In the beginning, we were a small regional distributor providing electronic components such as relays, power supplies, and monitors. In 1989 we hired a more technical staff, and our business model changed.  We started selling complete systems such as CD-ROM drives and CD-recorders to schools and libraries. We provided a high level of technical support, and service. As technology changed, so did the products we offered. The CD-ROM drives became network attached CD-ROM servers, and in 1990 we added optical disc libraries from Panasonic that automated archiving of computer data.

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The History of Video Surveillance

Evolution from Closed Circuit TV to Ubiquitous IP Camera Surveillance

By Bob Mesnik

From the early beginnings of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), it was somewhat controversial.  It was designed to increase our security and safety, but does it threaten our privacy?  How has video surveillance changed over the years?  This article reviews the history of surveillance and how it has evolved into a technology that has become part of our lives.

 

CCTV of V2 launchHistory

 

Video surveillance is not new; it has been around for quite a while.  One of the first recorded application for closed circuit television system (CCTV) was back in 1942.  It was used to view the launch of V2 rockets in Germany.   In the US, commercial surveillance applications began around 1947.  In 1957 a number of companies such as General Precision Labs (GPL division), provided CCTV camera systems for education, medical and industrial applications.

 

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An IP Prescription for Hospitals

How IP Camera Systems and IP Access Control Systems Increase Safety in Hospitals

By Virginia Fair

 

hospital safety and securityThe following appeared on NBCLA.com, the website of the Los Angeles NBC affiliate station.

“A man who allegedly dressed as a nurse to fool security personnel was arrested for stealing medical supplies from a Fountain Valley Hospital, police announced Monday. The suspect is accused of stealing from Fountain Valley Regional Hospital three separate times since May.”

 

Fountain Valley Regional Hospital is not alone. According to the 2012 Crime and Security Trends Survey, underwritten by the Foundation of the International Association for Healthcare Security and Safety (IAHSS), the crime rate of hospitals rose by close to 37 percent in just two years, from slightly less than 15,000 in 2010 to over 20,500 in 2012. This increase occurred in all crime categories: larceny, theft, simple assault, vandalism, rape and sexual assault. The highest-ever number of homicides occurred, as well, with 8 reported by responding hospitals.

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Challenging Real Time Applications for IP Cameras 

Interview with Todd Vohs of Holstein AG Services About IP Camera with WDR
by Virginia Fair

 

holsteinAG ServicesIn our thirty years of being, Kintronics has had the pleasure of doing business with the armed forces, the education sector, library systems, and businesses of every stripe and niche, not to mention quite a few enterprising individuals intent on monitoring such natural phenomena as

  • salmon swimming upstream
  • seals in underground caves
  • eagles nesting in trees
  • Hawks perched in New York City’s famed Washington Square.

 

However, we rarely get a chance to see any of our IP cameras in action once they leave Kintronics.  That was, until we had the pleasure of doing business with Todd Vohs of Holstein AG Services. He’d consulted with Keaton Baker, one of our sales engineers, in February, for suggestions about a camera that would help him overcome lighting problems he was encountering in monitoring his warehouse out in Iowa. Keaton recommended an IQ862, a camera with Wide Dynamic Range.

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Let the Recorder Beware

You can record audio and video but be careful of the law

by Virginia Fair

 

cartoon recording echoThese premises are under video surveillance.
Convenience stores post this no nonsense warning at their front doors.  Banks who display a height chart at their exit door are indirectly issuing the same warning.

 

This conversation may be recorded for training purposes.

Most if not all companies and utilities issue this warning before connecting a customer to a representative.

 

IP camera surveillance is a given these days. In most cases the camera warnings are intended to warn the “bad guys”, and the recording notice is for “the rest of us.” The majority of people take these messages as givens and the concept rarely registers.

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How Surge Protectors Work

Ligtning’s Thief, by Virginia Fair

surge protectors and lightningOnce upon a time a major university installed IP cameras throughout its campus in reaction to a wave of violence perpetrated against female students. All went well until a passing thunderstorm brought a lightning strike which just happened to hit an IP camera mounted on the parapet of a dorm. Of course the camera was destroyed, but have you ever heard the phrase “greased lightning”? It’s a very descriptive term for within seconds, the surge created by the lightning traveled through the IP camera system, and the network destroying both the server and the switch, creating havoc right down to the network cards in students’ laptops at the end of the cable runs.

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IP Cameras in Action: Fighting Fires with Technology

FirefightersHow the University of Montana College of Forestry uses the IP camera system
by Virginia Fair

 

When a customer calls Kintronics seeking information about IP cameras, our sales engineers ask questions such as “What are your objectives? What do you want to monitor?” And “In what type of environment will you be mounting the camera?”  They are accustomed to hearing answers like parking areas, corridors, storerooms, entry areas, rear exits, elevators and so on. But every once in a while, the answer is unique and intriguing.

 

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What is the Best Price for Your IP Camera System? 

guy-with-watchesThe other day I was walking down a street in Manhattan and I saw a guy selling watches.   There was one watch that looked just like an expensive Rolex, but cost only $50. What a deal, I thought.   I think everyone tries to find the best deal. Unfortunately, we sometimes forget that old maxim, “you get what you pay for”.  I know I do.  How many times have we gotten burned by this?

 

I’m not sure how to tell if the watch is worth $50, but I can provide some guidance about what to consider when purchasing an IP camera.

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How Technology Can Help in Active Shooter Situations

This article was updated on 2/18/2018

Crime scene at schoolWe have seen more and more incidences on school campuses that involve active shooters.  In the wake of this violence many colleges, universities, and elementary schools are searching for ways to respond to this threat.

 

There has been a lot of discussion about how to react. With the latest tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the discussion continues.  Emma Gonzalez, a senior at the high school, provided excellent perspective on the situation when she said, “Since the time of the Founding Fathers and since they added the Second Amendment to the Constitution, our guns have developed at a rate that leaves me dizzy. The guns have changed, but our laws have not”.

 

Of course, the best way to prevent these tragedies is to prevent the gunman from getting the guns. Unfortunately, it is not easy to do. The only thing we can offer is advice on how technology can help.

 

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