The Pedi Center in Bakersfield, California is an urgent care facility for children. The doctors and nurses at the facility see over 15,000 patients per year. In 2005, Carrie Champness, Facility Director, decided to install video cameras to better manage the facility and her employees. When the cameras were installed, she found that she was able to manage her employees and the operations of the facility. From ensuring that her facility was appropriately staffed to monitoring cash transactions, the cameras helped her monitor operations even when she wasn’t at the facility.

“I could easily check to see the number of patients in the waiting area to determine if we were overstaffed or understaffed and then quickly make adjustments so that our patients were better served,” said Champness. Additionally, she found she was able to better manage cash operations by placing cameras near the check out stations.

Make it Mobile

In 2010, the need arose to provide the video on a mobile platform as Carrie was traveling in the area and was not able to physically be in the facility as regularly. With C3, she found that she was able to manage her facility just as well if she was there or watching behind her computer. “C3 allowed me to make my job mobile,” said Champness. She accesses her video cameras with her iPad or iPhone.

Result

With the addition of the mobile viewing capability with C3, Champness now is able to manage the business no matter where she is. The operational capability of the video now allows her to better manage her facility and save money at the same time.

We are looking for a developer (2-5 years of experience) with solid Java background (Java web stack, server side standalone apps or GUI apps). The developer will build applications for our video surveillance mobile solutions incorporated across the world. This is a great opportunity to grow your knowledge of mobile technologies while building innovative Java solutions. You will have to think outside the box and tackle challenging problems. Our software is used by many government agencies and therefore this candidate must be a U.S. Citizen. This candidate must have good communication skills, a both written and verbal. Prior mobile app development experience (any platform) is a plus. Any experience with network connected apps (http, raw sockets or otherwise) is welcome.

You’ll be working on our next generation mobile clients as well as Java based server side software and have the chance to touch a wide variety of real world uses of video in Federal agencies, law enforcement, public safety and enterprises.

Please send resumes to info@lextechlabs.com

Operational Use of Video

Reed City School District has been in existence since 1872 and now includes six buildings housing over 2,000 students, teachers, staff and administration.  The school district supports an administration building as well as its own transportation facility and does provide both public and private schools for K-12.  The facilities and transportation director, Paul Lewis, found that he had a need to manage these multiple buildings and operations.  To assist him, he chose to install 56 video cameras to assist him in his management.

The school district is rated as a top notch school in the area and therefore, the director wanted to remain on the cutting edge to ensure smooth operations of the facilities.  With the assistance of the Lextech Labs C3 technology, Lewis was able install the mobile solution so that cameras could be accessed after hours.

Solution

With C3, the director is now able to watch video after hours to check unauthorized access to buildings, monitor contracted custodial activities, track fueling station activities at transportation facilities, remotely check parking lots for snow removal and parking issues, and to operationally place cameras to ensure they are viewing the high value assets.

Result

Through the assistance of Lextech Labs, Lewis and his staff are now able to manage these facilities much more effectively.  Due to recent budget cuts, the staff has been reduced and they are finding it easier to manage their facilities using C3. Additionally, they have been able to manage fueling and utilities costs by monitoring facilities.  Through this, they were able to reduce some of their costs.

Remote Inspections Using Mobile Video

Organizations are now engaging in remote inspections using mobile video technology to cut costs, improve safety and boost quality. Putting video into the hands of experts through smart phones and tablets allows them to oversee processes wherever they are.

Recording video to conduct an investigation can be helpful from a liability perspective but that same information can be more valuable when used to manage business processes in real time. Remote inspections go beyond watching employees at cash registers by driving more value from video overall. Areas where remote inspections are making an impact today include facilities management, critical equipment and processes management, remote manufacturing, high value manufacturing or high risk employee activities.

Facility managers with large or distributed sites face a challenge in physically having their team cover all areas to keep things running smoothly. One multi facility organization is using mobile video on iPhones. Through mobile access to roof mounted cameras, their facilities team can monitor roof conditions, looking for storm damage or winter ice build-up. Facilities teams are typically mobile and having access to conditions in real time lets them better manage repair, upgrade and safety issues.

Companies working with distributed or third party manufacturing often have challenges during specific steps of a manufacturing process that impact quality and yield. The operations team is now able to remotely check their live processes at any time. This ensures that the right process is being followed and allows leaders to help with additional training or guidance as issues are identified.

High risk employee activities is another area where remote inspection can impact employee behavior, lower risks and reduce costs. A good example is a transportation organization seeing rising costs from accidents. Their drives operate equipment that doesn’t require a rigorous driver certification but the equipment is large enough to cause serious accidents if used improperly. By installing in-vehicle cameras watching both the drivers and the road, they can enforce their expectations of safe driving practices. Managers (who are also mobile) can check in on drivers during their shift using mobile video on Blackberry phones and watch live job performance as well as access recordings of a shift.

Remote inspections not only provide the peace of mind that procedures are being followed but they allow actively engaging experts to help with issues.

An energy firm extended the value of their security video infrastructure through remote inspections of critical equipment using iPads. Machinery and process experts who travel between locations can access remote facility cameras wherever they are. The person with deep knowledge is often not at the physical facility where their expertise is required. These experts can then help local personnel troubleshoot issues or perform spot inspections Mobile video puts the information in the expert’s hands allowing them to extend their reach.

Here are a few questions that can help you identify places that mobile remote inspections can be of value:

1. What business processes require a knowledgable worker to move around a facility to check on people or processes? Can they get the information they need visually?
2. What decisions needs to be made in real time based on the condition or status of something? Is the person making that decision always in front of a computer or are they mobile?
3. What high risk activities occur where there are problems today? Rather than someone physically standing over the process, would regular spot checks by a remote expert help with that problem?

From the answers you should be able to start formulating ideas on where mobile remote inspections can help improve quality and cut costs.

Technology to Improve Student Safety
Arthur Phillip High School is a comprehensive Government high school that is located in the CBD of Parramatta, a city in the greater Sydney metropolitan area in Australia. The school staffs around 150 teachers and administrators and supports 1600 students. They also support two school sites which are intersected by a reasonably busy road and are close to a major transport interchange.

The school is proud to be an Apple Distinguished School and strive to constantly use technology to improve student engagement, which is one of the reasons that C3 was a logical addition for their security solution. They currently have approximately 400 MacBooks that the students can borrow for a lesson (much like textbooks) and 200 iMacs in labs or teacher staffrooms. The school has an extensive computer network and wireless network, including a laser link to connect each campus. They also boast a second wireless network across both campuses, linked by fibre bored under the road and 850 Lenovo laptops. The school and its staff are clearly pioneers in using technology in education.

The school believed it was time to apply that technology to their security infrastructure. About three and a half years ago, Arthur Phillip High School was invited to apply for some Government funding specifically for improving our security. This was in the wake of concern over security threats to infrastructure and other community facilities, racial tensions in the community and a gang invasion of another nearby metropolitan school. The school was awarded the funds an they did improve their perimeter security (7ft fencing, upgraded door and entry point, and access control gates), internal site security (access control system for internal and external building entries). The previous CCTV installation was antiquated and unreliable, therefore the school also used the funds to upgrade their system.

Solution
Through the assistance of their integrator, Independent Locks, the school was able to integrate the existing analog (which gives better pictures than ever before), utilizing the schools existing network with IP cameras (as a new network was being installed to support the BER which ultimately will serve 1000 students and teaching staff), install a large server with Milestone as the VMS and plan for expansion in phases 2 and 3 (which have since been implemented) for more cameras and monitoring screens.

From a security viewpoint, the school staff felt confident that they we were getting a robust and comprehensive solution. The worst security incidents reported thus far have been “visits” by students from other schools, ranging from visiting friends to intimidating students. Some staff remain concerned about potential invasions but the system has made them more at ease.

The deputy principal, Brad Main, deals with some of the more major issues in the school, particularly student misbehavior. The new camera system with C3 has assisted in the investigation of stolen property, and has resolved some fights. And C3 even assisted remotely when adult education supervisor was having trouble closing the gates, by viewing him with C3 on the iPad, the deputy principal was able to solve the problem.

The school is currently using four installs of C3. It is installed on iPhone and iPad allowing access to video of school entry points, administration, corridors, play areas and gymnasium from about 60 cameras.

Result
The overall cost for C3 was less than 2% of Arthur Phillip High School’s overall security infrastructure budget. And deputy principal, Brad Main, said, “it took less than 10 minutes to install C3.” The use of mobile video surveillance allows administrators to have a 24/7 view of the school and the students to keep them safe. “Our budget would not allow this type of live security, but with C3 we are able to provide the right level of security for our students and staff,” said Main.

POSITION:
Mobile Developer – Android, Blackberry, iPhone

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Think, design and then build (frequently used brain a must)
Understand requirements and big picture view of the system to be developed
Develop quality software in multiple languages & platforms
Quickly learn new technologies (concepts, tools, utilities) and be productive with them

REQUIREMENTS:

2+ years hands on software development in Java
1+ year of Android or Blackberry mobile development
Good communication skills, both written and verbal
Experience with network software development (http, raw sockets or otherwise)

DESIRED SKILLS:

Streaming video or video codec experience
Server side Java and/or PHP
Objective C & iPhone development
Systems level knowledge including scaling systems in multi-server environments, load testing, interfacing many disparate systems, fault tolerance & security is a plus

REQUIRED SKILLS:

U.S. Citizenship required
Excellent written, documentation and communication skills
Ability to build and maintain strong interpersonal relationships
Ability to quickly learn new systems and work well in a team
If you’d like to be a part of our team and are based in the Chicago, Illinois area (no telecommuting please), send your resume and samples of your work to careers@lextechlabs.com.

There’s an old saying, “You can never be too rich, or too safe.” Lextech Labs in Lisle, IL has helped this come to fruition by marrying security and the latest, advanced technology.

The Edison and Chicago Innovation award winner has given businesses and the security industry the iRa C3, a new breed of video command center that helps the user control, command, and communicate seamlessly through several live camera feeds through the Web, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and BlackBerry devices.

Click here to read the balance of the article.

Participants included:

• Alex Bratton – CEO, Lextech Labs and Lextech Global Services for their innovation with the iRa C3 intuitive video command center.
• Rhon Daguro – Co-Founder and CEO, Touch Taste Technologies, People’s Choice Award winner for their innovation with TouchLife Interactive Tables.
• Mike Samson – Co-Founder, crowdSpring for their innovation with an online crowd-sourcing marketplace.
• John Vasilj – Chief Technology Officer, Chicago Transit Authority for their innovation with CTA’s Bus Tracker.

Discussions for the evening were centered around innovation, what characteristics a leader needs to have to direct and inspire innovation in their organization, how to recruit and retain talented IT staff in the Chicago region and what benefits companies see who win the Chicago Innovation Award.  When asked how innovation helps or affects an organization, John Vasilji, from CTA, said innovation can assist in motivating personnel in a depressed economy.  ”When employees are looking at furlough days, innovation can be a rallying factor.”  Alex Bratton said that a leader needs to be a catalyst for innovation in an organization when asked what characteristics a leader needs to have.  ”Sometimes, you need to be the catalyst and then just get out of the way.  We also need to be OK with failure so that we can learn from our mistakes.”

An audience member then asked the panel to speak to the talent pool in the Chicago area for IT personnel and managers.  Alex Bratton offered that Lextech Labs and the sister company Lextech Global Services were looking at ways to recruit talent to Chicago by using creative telecommuting methods.  Crowdspring, Co-Founder, Mike Samson, pointed out that through technology you can connect talent to a direct need from around the world.

In the last question of the night, the panel was asked to talk about how winning the Chicago Innovation Awards has helped their company grow.  Lextech Labs CEO, Alex Bratton, said that the company has received interest from multiple government agencies by being able to show the Sun Times Article on the Innovation Award.   Rhon Daguro then shared his story how the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas sought Touch Taste Technologies out after seeing the announcement on their award win.  And the product and service is now being installed in the Hard Rock Hotel.