Avigilon now adds appearance alerts to ACC 7.4 commercial video management software to provide AI-enabled user interface

Avigilon Corp., a Motorola Solutions company, announced on Monday its latest version of video management software, Avigilon Control Center (ACC) 7.4, which incorporates artificial intelligence-powered facial recognition technology.

The new “appearance alerts” capability will help commercial organizations, such as educational institutions and hospitals, accelerate response times by identifying people of interest in enterprise settings. For example, the technology can alert the security team at a local high school when a banned or flagged individual has entered the campus.

People of interest are identified based on a secure, controlled watch list created and maintained by authorized users at the commercial organization. For organizations that use the new ACC software and license their Avigilon cameras for facial recognition, cameras will seek to identify potential matches based on the watch list. If a potential match is found, the user is alerted within the ACC software, and security personnel can then determine whether further investigation or action is necessary.

Earlier this year, Motorola Solutions entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Avigilon in an all-cash transaction that will enhance Motorola Solutions’ portfolio of mission-critical communications technologies. Under the terms of the agreement, Motorola Solutions will acquire all of Avigilon’s outstanding shares for CAD$27.00 per share. The enterprise value of the transaction is approximately US$1.0 billion including Avigilon’s net debt.

Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Avigilon designs, develops and manufactures advanced security surveillance solutions, including video analytics, network video management software and hardware, surveillance cameras, and access control solutions. 

Avigilon products are used by a range of commercial and government customers including critical infrastructure, airports, government facilities, public venues, healthcare centers and retail. The company holds more than 750 U.S. and international patents.

ACC’s new facial recognition capabilities reflect Motorola Solutions’ commitment to the responsible use of artificial intelligence as well as individual privacy rights. Data stewardship is integral to these new capabilities, and build compliance controls into products to support this. 

For example, user authentication is required for these capabilities, audit logs of user actions are generated, data retention periods for the watch list can be specified within the application, and records can be expunged or deleted on demand as well as verified through auditing and reporting. Data is locally hosted, owned and controlled by the business or school. The data used to train the AI algorithms is also thoroughly evaluated, ensuring sufficient quantity, quality and diversity to ensure high accuracy and consistent performance. 

“Our latest ACC software delivers substantial benefits to our commercial customers by offering facial recognition technology in a secure and controlled manner,” said John Kedzierski, senior vice president, Video Security Solutions, Motorola Solutions. “The appearance alerts capability enables our customers to move from a reactive approach – staring at a wall of video feeds where critical information can be easily missed – to a proactive approach that brings important information directly to authorized users so they can make better-informed decisions.”

“It’s important to note that we view facial recognition as an aid that can improve the decision-making of the user – it does not make consequential decisions or initiate actions on its own. We refer to this approach as ‘human in the loop,’ and it is foundational to the way we apply AI,” added Kedzierski.

  

ACC 7.4 software is now available for download. 

Unisys releases Stealth(identity) SaaS, its cloud-based offering for secure biometric identity management

Unisys has announced availability of Unisys Stealth(identity) Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), its cloud-based version of the company's biometric identity management software. The new offering brings the biometric identity proofing and authentication capabilities of Stealth(identity) to both large and small enterprises by leveraging the agility, ease of deployment and cost-effectiveness of Microsoft Azure.

With the release of the new SaaS version of Stealth(identity), Unisys delivers large-scale biometric solutions for citizen identification and border security programs around the world and making those capabilities available to smaller enterprises and organizations through the cloud – conveniently and cost-effectively. 

When combined with the strength of other security offerings – such as Unisys Stealth microsegmentation software to isolate devices or users at the first sign of compromise – Stealth(identity) is an essential component of a zero trust network. 

Stealth(identity) SaaS will support multiple forms of biometric authentication technologies, including facial recognition as well as behavioral biometrics, with the ability to integrate new biometric modalities in the future.

Stealth(identity) combines open technology architecture, extensive client experience, with latest techniques in multi-modal biometric identity management to give you automated, high-volume, near-perfect identity verification accuracy. With plug-and-play integration, Stealth(identity) works seamlessly with both current biometric technologies and any new technologies that users may want to adopt – future-proofing organization and securing tomorrow.

Stealth(identity) strengthens defense against identity fraud by establishing trusted identities of individuals across multiple physical and digital channels. It also provides comprehensive control of biometric management processes and the flexibility to adapt to and leverage advancements in technology to consistently stay ahead of fraudsters.

Compared to on-premise identity solutions, Stealth(identity) SaaS delivers a faster return on investment as an easy-to-consume and integrated cloud offering that utilizes a subscription-based pricing model which supports operating expenses budgeting. It also supports single sign-on capabilities to add a layer of biometrics-based protection to applications for e-commerce, banking, transportation and any application within the enterprise that leverages biometrics for authentication.

"By offering Stealth(identity) as a cloud-based service, Unisys is leveraging our experience in delivering large-scale national ID and border protection biometric implementations and making them available for smaller-scale enterprise implementations like online banking or airline passenger boarding or second factor biometric authentication," said Vishal Gupta, chief technology officer and senior vice president of technology, Unisys. "Stealth(identity) gives clients a simplified, cost-saving effective way of addressing the problem of identity fraud by establishing accurate, unique, verified and irrefutable identities – resulting in greater security and convenience."