26 April 2016

Global surveillance business Synectics has begun an international roll-out of the latest release of its field-proven Synergy 3 command and control software. Designed to aid operator productivity and critical decision making, the new features and enhancements of Synergy 3, exclusively previewed at this year’s Security and Counter Terror Expo 2016, offer improved incident management, evidence processing, workflow support and resiliency measures. Synergy 3’s incident management tools now include improved timeline functionality, workflow creation and a new bookmarking tool that allows operators to tag specific activity. Commentary can also be created within the video timeline in order to provide additional incident context for evidentiary review. The ability to deliver this level of signposting and detailed information is particularly beneficial for incident escalation – for example allowing a central command centre to rapidly review and understand the situation from a remote sub-site. For inter-departmental or agency collaboration, this is an essential component of ‘smart city’ principles.  Reporting functionality has been streamlined to offer improved filtering and the ability to add interactive hyperlinks to appropriate video and incident content, without having to leave the reporting screen. Metadata recording, statistical reporting and data mining capabilities (for example the ability to access quick view POS data) – all new features – are designed to support and increase efficiencies for incident investigation, management and review. David Aindow, Product and Technology Director at Synectics, said: “As well as being vital to mission-critical decision making for sectors such as oil and gas, CNI and transportation (particularly from a security or operational safety perspective), having the ability to more quickly access and process relevant data benefits cash-critical sectors, such as gaming, by enabling rapid investigation of fraud or theft incidents.” This latest release of Synergy 3 also offers market-leading innovation in terms of external news feed integration. David continued: “For the sectors we serve, situational awareness is vital and – in today’s world – that awareness often has to extend beyond the boundaries of a specific site or organisation. “That’s why we’ve ensured that Synergy 3 now enables users to integrate real-time information from sources such as social feeds and Government Threat Level Indicators. Informed decision making drives better results and ultimately, that’s what our solutions are all about.” In addition to improving awareness of external factors that may impact on security, safety or efficiency, this latest Synergy 3 release also ensures operators are alert to the ‘health’ of the system itself. An updated integral health checking feature now ‘self-monitors’ and continuously tracks for ‘pre-fail conditions’ to alert operators to any potential upcoming issues so that preventative action can be taken in order to avoid downtime. David Aindow concluded: “The open platform architecture of Synergy 3 unlocks so much potential through third party integration – putting vital information at operators’ fingertips. Protecting that information and minimising any potential loss through system downtime has always been a key strength of our solutions. The enhanced built-in health check feature in Synergy 3 is another example of our commitment to data and system resiliency.”