Industry News: Buffalo Public School District Modernizes its Security Footprint
Buffalo Public School District Modernizes Its Security Footprint
The Buffalo Public School District (BPSD) educates and serves more than 32,000 K-12 students across almost 60 facilities in western New York, making it the second-largest school district in the state. When it came time to update its security, the district looked at its older interior pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras and recorders. Some of this equipment produced a limited field of view, meaning that security teams could not observe some incidents or events.
In February 2024, i-PRO Co., Ltd., announced that it had provided the BPSD with updates to their previous video surveillance system, removing roughly 5,000 older cameras and replacing them with new vandal-resistant dome cameras, 360-degree fisheye network cameras, and strategically-placed multi-sensor cameras for coverage of the exteriors and common gathering sites. The new cameras’ abilities and range allowed the district to scale down the overall number of cameras installed, reducing maintenance needs and simplifying monitoring.
Mergers & Moves
Allegion Plc//Krieger Specialty Products LLC
Allegion, a global security products and solutions provider, acquired the manufacturer of high-performance special purpose doors and windows for commercial, industrial, and institutional markets. Krieger will operate as part of Allegion Americas, broadening the company’s product portfolio.
Security Services Holdings LLC and Southfield Capital//Summit Off Duty Services
North American security services provider Security Services Holdings (Protos) and private equity firm Southfield Capital acquired Summit, an off-duty police officer security provider, marking Protos’ tenth acquisition since partnering with Southfield.
Thoma Bravo, a software investment firm, agreed to acquire the enterprise software company for $1.5 billion. Once the all-cash transaction is complete, Everbridge will become a privately held company and able to continue meeting current and new customers’ demands. The agreement is expected to be completed pending shareholder and regulatory approvals, within the second quarter of 2024.
Public safety technology company Axon entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Dedrone, an airspace security company. Dedrone, which focuses on protecting against drone threats and using drones as first responders, will deepen Axon’s services portfolio, including in the areas of critical incident response and end-to-end drone solutions. Pending necessary approvals, the agreement will be finalized during the second quarter of 2024.
Pye-Barker Fire & Safety// First Trust Alarm Company
U.S. full-service fire protection, life safety, and security services provider Pye-Barker Fire & Safey bought the California-based fire alarm company. The move will add alarm services and expertise in alarms, security systems, and fire code compliance to Pye-Barker’s collection, along with a presence in the San Francisco Bay and Monterey Bay areas.
Eastern DataComm LLC//OSI Technology
Eastern DataComm, a safety and communications firm, acquired OSI, a tech solutions provider with more than 40 years of industry experience.
Awards
FrankieOne was awarded Fintech Organization of the Year in FinTech Australia’s 2024 Finnie Awards, which highlight outstanding achievements in the nation’s financial technology industry. FrankieOne is a RegTech company that provides a unified gateway into an ecosystem offering identity verification, Know Your Customer (KYC), and fraud prevention solutions.
The EdTech Breakthrough Awards program—which honors excellence in educational technology products, companies, and people—selected two-way radio communication technology provider Midland’s MB400 Business Radio as the winner of the 2024 Best Technology Solution for Student Safety award.
Elite Interactive Solutions, a remote video guarding company, won the 2024 Monitoring Technology Marvel Award, which recognizes monitoring centers that create or use modern technology and raise awareness about these new technologies.
The Security Industry Association named Evolon Technologies, Inc., a New Product Showcase award winner in the category of commercial monitoring services—specifically for Evolon’s product, Insites. Insites is a video surveillance as-a-service (VSaaS) platform for small- to medium-sized businesses.
Contracts
Strategic deals with multiple European military bases will result in global technology firm Sentrycs implementing its counter-UAS (uncrewed aerial systems) solutions to defend against small and commercial drones.
Norwegian oil and gas company Equinor announced a multi-year commercial agreement that will allow the energy provider to use Seeq’s analytics and artificial intelligence platform to support daily operations.
The U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command awarded BlueHalo a $95.4 million contract for developing an advanced Directed Energy prototype as part of a research program through the Aviation and Missile Technology Consortium. The contract will task BlueHalo with designing and building laser weapon systems.
Announcements
In its annual industry trend report from the Retail and Hospitality Information Sharing and Analysis Center found that cybercriminals continue to target the retail, hospitality, and travel sectors with increasingly sophisticated attacks.
Giesecke+Devrient announced the 100th implementation of a banknote inspection solution, marking the system’s presence in 36 countries worldwide. To help monitor and maintain high quality standards, the French central bank has purchased and installed a BPS X9 processing system.
Tech firms—including Match Group, Coinbase, Meta, and Ripple—created a new coalition to help prevent and disrupt online fraud and pig butchering scams.
Partnerships
Drones. IdeaForge Technology Inc. announced a partnership with U.S.-based artificial intelligence (AI) solutions company Skylark Labs to integrate self-evolving AI capabilities into ideaForge’s drones, which would be used for public safety and security purposes.
Money laundering. In Oman, aiNTEL and the Oman Credit and Financial Information Centre have partnered to improve financial defenses against money laundering, including with the centralization and adoption of a national electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) standard—a digital process that verifies a user’s identity—supported by artificial intelligence (AI).
Workforce management. Iris recognition technology and research firm Iris ID and management platform provider uClockit have collaborated so that a biometric solution can be used in the workforce management software, allowing administrators to decrease the likelihood of issues like time fraud.
Artificial intelligence. Palo Alto Networks partnered with IBM in an agreement to develop cybersecurity platforms that are supported by AI.
School security. KnowBe4, a security awareness training and simulated phishing platform, announced its collaboration with MobileMind, a professional learning hub for school districts. The integration offers a centralized place for K-12 school district administrators to track and report on completed KnowBe4 courses within MobileMind.
Garage safety. TKH is partnering with the University of Miami Health System to install and use an automated parking guidance system as part of the new addition to the healthcare site in Doral, Florida. The guidance system for the parking garage for UHealth Doral will assist and guide patients, visitors, and employees, reducing time to find a car or parking spot, managing traffic flow, and decreasing congestion.
Music asset protection. Global identity verification provider Veriff announced a strategic partnership with SonoSuite, a white-label SaaS digital technology provider for the music industry. The partnership will offer SonoSuite customers identity verification technology to mitigate the risk of identity fraud and secure music assets against unauthorized distribution, fake streaming, and fraudulent royalties.
