Welcome to the New Era of Alarms (2)
Max Shen
Senior Product Marketing Manager
Today, we embark on the next chapter of our Alarms product line with the launch of the new Verkada Alarms. Unlike traditional systems, our new Alarms offering enables versatile arming and disarming, informed alarm response, fewer false alarms, and easy management at scale.
Verkada has been in the alarms business for three years. During this time, we’ve learned about many of the headaches that exist with traditional alarm systems today, such as sites being left disarmed, a lack of information when responding to an alarm, and costly false alarms. To address these, we’ve invested in a brand new software experience.
But solving these problems isn’t enough; it also needs to be easy to replace a legacy alarm system with Verkada. Regardless of how great the software is, organizations simply won’t be able to switch over if it’s too time-consuming or cost prohibitive. That’s why we also built new hardware that reuses the existing sensors and wiring at any site—eliminating the need for a full rip-and-replace.
To understand the benefits, let’s hear directly from one of our beta customers already protecting their site with new Alarms.
A modern, software-first alarm system
Smart, versatile arming and disarming
A common pain point with traditional alarm systems is that sites are often unintentionally left disarmed. With Verkada Alarms, organizations have full visibility across thousands of locations on our cloud-based Command platform, making it easy to check if sites are armed when they should be, and remotely arm/disarm if needed.
Legacy systems are often left disarmed in the first place because they must rely on someone remembering to arm them. With Verkada Alarms, organizations can automatically arm and disarm each site or partition with a schedule. For sites that don’t have a predictable schedule, smart schedules (coming soon) allow for auto-arming after a certain period of sensor and camera inactivity.
Verkada not only makes it easy to manage disarming via traditional key codes, but will soon allow organizations with Verkada Access Control or Intercoms to disarm with credentials like cards, fobs, phones, or Apple Watches. This eliminates the need for employees to remember codes and gives admins visibility into who disarmed the system without creating individual codes.
Calm and informed alarm response
With traditional systems, responding to an alarm can be stressful. The agent may not know what exactly tripped the sensor and the employee is forced to decide whether to dispatch police with virtually no information. In contrast, Verkada Alarms helps users stay calm, informed, and confidently choose the best response.
It starts with a clear, actionable notification, which also includes a GIF of the trigger event if a camera has been paired. If video verification is enabled, an agent will first review the footage and dismiss the alarm if no person is seen, avoiding the dreaded 2AM phone call.
Every alarm notification also includes a pre-authenticated link to the live incident report, allowing users to see even more details, pull up the local contacts, and follow every step the agent is taking – including a transcript of every call. All of this information is archived in Command for future reference.
Unlike traditional alarm systems, which often require costly integration work to enable video verification, Verkada allows organizations to pair cameras with sensors in just a few clicks, and this includes even non-Verkada cameras via Command Connector.
Fewer false alarms
In addition to sensors, organizations can trigger alarms with Verkada cameras, which can screen out many false alarms with AI-based person detection coupled with agent verification.
Organizations can configure precise trigger rules by specifying regions of interest and loitering thresholds. With automated testing against historical footage, Verkada makes it easy to understand how often the alarm would get triggered and fine-tune the rule to minimize or even eliminate false alarms.
Using outdoor cameras, organizations can extend protection to their perimeter, such as access-controlled equipment yards or fenced parking lots. Cameras can detect intruders on approach, and agents can talk down intruders via the BZ11 Horn before they can do damage.
Scalable and IT-friendly
Verkada Alarms is designed to scale, allowing organizations to standardize and centrally manage their alarm systems across thousands of sites on one dashboard.
Unlike traditional alarm systems, which require calling the alarm company for any change or issue, Verkada Alarms can be self-managed like any modern IT equipment. Admins can manage key codes and modify alarm response flows in a few clicks, even if they’re not on site. Command also provides full visibility down to the sensor level so that organizations can troubleshoot issues, avoiding costly service calls.
Cost-effective takeover of legacy systems
The new Alarms software operates on a new hardware architecture that allows for easy takeover of existing wired sensors, making it cost-effective for organizations to get the benefits of Verkada.
It starts with the BP52 Alarm Panel, the central brain of the alarm system. With 32 input zones, 4 RS485 outputs, and 2 relay outputs, organizations can replace any traditional panel with the BP52 and have all devices and sensors in their site covered.
Alongside the BP52, we’re excited to announce the BE32 Expander and BK22 Keypad. Both devices connect to the panel via RS485 wiring, allowing organizations to reuse any existing 4-wire cabling. The expander consolidates multiple wired sensors into a single cable run to the alarm panel, allowing for easy takeover of existing installs where expanders are already in use at a distance from the panel. Additionally, the panel, expander, and keypad all have built-in support for Verkada wireless sensors.
For high availability, our next generation LTE backup device and LiFePO4 batteries integrate seamlessly into the BP52 panel. Because the panel operates locally with expanders and keypads, organizations only need one cellular backup device for an entire site.
Like Verkada’s other cloud-managed products, organizations can check the health of their devices anytime and set up offline device alerts in Command to avoid silent failures.
Resources
The new Alarms hardware and software will be available in the US starting November 19, 2024. Availability in other countries will be coming soon.
For more information on pricing and product details, please check out the following resources:
For a personalized demo or quote, contract your Verkada sales representative or email [email protected]. To see new Alarms in action, be sure to watch our launch event.
