Millennium Installs ICT For Safeguard Storage.
Millennium Installs ICT For Safeguard – Security integrator Millenium Security Solutions has installed an ICT Protege GX access control, alarm and automation solution for self-storage facility, Safeguard, which needed alarm identification and remote site management to reduce onsite staffing without compromising security.
Millennium deployed a unified ICT Protege GX solution to meet these operational requirements, combining access control, intrusion detection, IP alarm monitoring, mobile site control and automated configuration tools into a single system.
This is a good-sized application, supporting nearly 300 storage unit doors, providing Safeguard head office control of user credentials and site functions, delivering alarm reporting to monitoring centres supported by 4G backup.
Safeguard’s Hautapu facility in Cambridge near Hamilton in New Zealand, is the reference deployment in the overall application. The site includes 234 storage units within a fully gated and alarmed compound. Safeguard selected the ICT platform for its ability to support long-term development and custom integration.
The relationship between Safeguard and Millennium Technology spans more than a decade, giving both parties a deep understanding of self-storage security operations.
Millennium Technology built the solution around Protege GX, extending the platform through custom software tools developed using the Protege GX SOAP Web Service API. This automation reduced setup and configuration time by around 90 per cent, addressing one of the core challenges in self-storage environments where large numbers of doors must be wired, programmed and commissioned cost-effectively.
According to Danie Harmse, operations manager at Millennium Technology, using ICT allowed greater solutions development.
“The legacy systems were designed with specific functionalities in mind, but thanks to the intelligence of ICT, we can develop new solutions,” Harmse said. “This is one of the things I appreciate about ICT – the ability to create tools that simplify our lives.”
Operationally, Safeguard staff no longer need to attend sites to manage customer PIN issues or access changes. Head office managers can modify credentials, permissions and system settings remotely.
According to Terry King, managing director at Safeguard, from a head office point of view, ICT makes operational processes a lot better.
“My general manager and operations manager can make changes and do things that we wouldn’t be able to do with the other systems,” King said.
With the new system, customers receive their access PIN within seconds of registration and payment, while onsite staff use the Protege Mobile App to open gates, roller doors and lighting directly from a smartphone while moving around the facility.
According to Harmse, alarm monitoring accuracy was a key requirement.
“Traditional self-storage systems typically identify only that an alarm occurred, without indicating which unit triggered the event,” Harmse said. “Using ICT ArmorIP monitoring, Safeguard receives IP-based alarm reporting that identifies the precise unit in alarm.
“With ICT and ArmorIP, if unit C1 is forced open, our monitoring company will call and tell them unit C1 just opened and has an alarm. There’s no need for anyone to log onto the system to check what is happening which makes our customers’ lives easier.
“A Protege 4G Cellular Modem provides a secondary reporting path during power or network outages, ensuring alarm continuity and maintaining event response capability.”
The scale of the installation required careful cost and infrastructure planning.
According to Millenium director, Barry Mitchell, the Millenium team “are problem solvers by nature, so challenges are what we deal with every day”.
“If you look around Safeguard there’s almost 300 doors to wire in,” Mitchell said. “Trying to do that cost-effectively is always a challenge. But ICT helps us to deliver that by centralizing that solution.”
Centralisation has also enabled Safeguard to operate smaller facilities without permanent onsite managers and to support remote customer service models.
According to Terry King, this means Safeguard doesn’t have to have a manager onsite, freeing up options and management resources.
“It also gives us options to use a call centre for facilities under 150 units,” King explains. “Being able to open units and gates for particular customers at particular times is something that’s going to be beneficial for us moving forward. Storage is becoming a technology-based business, and ICT gives us better options around that.”
You can learn more about Millenium here or read more SEN news here.
ICT Products Installed For Safeguard Include
- Protege GX security management platform
- Protege Mobile App
- ArmorIP IP alarm monitoring
- Protege 4G Cellular Modem
- DIN Rail enclosures
- tSec keypad readers
- Vandalproof reader covers
- Protege GX SOAP Web Service API integration tools.
“Millennium Installs ICT For Safeguard Storage.”
