BGW Technologies’ Mark Shannon Talks i-PRO Active Guard 3.0 Makes Finding Critical Moments Easy.
BGW Technologies’ Mark Shannon Talks i-PRO Active Guard 3.0 – i-PRO Active Guard 3.0 uses generative AI-powered free text search using natural language to make finding critical moments easy for operational security teams.
Anyone who has worked in security operations knows the pain of hunting through hours of footage trying to find one specific moment. According to Mark Shannon, national product manager at BGW Technologies, it’s traditionally been one of the most time-consuming parts of the job, and often the most frustrating, especially when time is critical. That’s the problem i-PRO Active Guard 3.0 was built to solve.
“Working alongside i-PRO’s AI-enabled cameras and VMS platform Milestone XProtect, Active Guard 3.0 turns your video system into something much smarter than a recording tool,” explains Shannon, “Instead of scrubbing through footage manually, operators can search for people, vehicles, events and anomalies using AI-generated metadata.”
“Each of these objects will have many attributes allocated to even further refine your search. The standout new feature in this release is Generative AI-powered Free Text Search, which does exactly what it sounds like. You type what you’re looking for in plain language, and the system finds it.”
According to Shannon, security teams are dealing with more video data than ever before, but what matters most is being able to find the right information quickly and so it can be acted on.
“Think about a transport hub dealing with a safety incident,” Shannon says. “Rather than pulling up camera after camera and fast-forwarding through recordings, an operator can just type something like, ‘person who fell down near platform’ and get straight to the incident in the footage. It’s a significant shift in how investigations work on the ground.”
“With growing cyber safety concerns, we are often asked how data is being secured, and it’s a valid question. But one thing worth flagging for organisations with strict data policies, Active Guard 3.0 runs entirely on premises. No cloud processing, no data leaving the site.”
“Many critical infrastructure sites deliberately limit internet connectivity to minimise cyber risk. By embedding Generative AI directly into the Active Guard server, operators get access to powerful search capabilities while keeping full control of their data.”
Shannon says that further improving search capabilities, i-PRO has added Person Image Similarity Search, using re-identification technology to track visually similar individuals across multiple cameras.
“This feature is extremely useful in real-world situations where lighting, angles and clothing can vary between shots,” Shannon says.
“For integrators, there’s good news on the compatibility front too. Active Guard 3.0 works with Milestone XProtect, and can extend smarter search to non-AI cameras via i-PRO’s X-Series processing relay. Existing i-PRO AI camera users can also access the new features without needing to swap out hardware.”
According to Shannon, Active Guard 3.0 gives security professionals a more intuitive way to interact with video data.
“Instead of adapting their investigations to the technology, the technology adapts to the way people naturally search for information,” he says. “It’s a genuine way to save time and money. If you’d like a demo, reach out to your local BGW Technologies Branch, where the team will be able to take you through the new features.“
You can learn more about i-PRO Active Guard here, contact BGW Technologies here or read more SEN news here.
i-PRO Active Guard 3.0 Features
- Generative AI-powered Free Text Search using natural language
- Search across people, vehicles and events using AI metadata
- Person Image Similarity Search with re-identification technology
- Up to 98 searchable attributes for forensic investigations
- Real-time alerts and advanced forensic search capabilities
- On-premises deployment with no internet connection required
- Milestone Integration
- Compatible with existing i-PRO AI camera deployments
- Support for extending analytics to compatible non-AI cameras
- Reduced investigation times and improved operational efficiency.
“BGW Technologies’ Mark Shannon Talks i-PRO Active Guard 3.0 Makes Finding Critical Moments Easy.”
