Boosting safety and efficiency: New VMS enhances Mississippi security

Image courtesy of Salient Systems.

In alignment with the state of Mississippi’s mission of “Empowering Mississippi citizens to stay connected and engaged with their government,” a new video management system (VMS) is being installed throughout more than 150 state boards, commissions and agencies in order to help ensure safety for thousands of constituents who access state services daily.

Determining the right path to success wasn’t a quick process. The elaborate undertaking of converting all state of Mississippi buildings from its legacy video system, which included analog cameras across a disparate video platform, to match their standard of excellence took a lot of planning. This involved researching and interviewing multiple manufacturers of IP cameras and video management systems. The plan was strategic, as it was important to state officials to find an open architecture solution that could utilize as much existing technology as possible, thereby preserving current taxpayer investment.

After a thorough evaluation, the decision came down to three competitive VMSs, all based on total cost-of ownership, scalability requirements, software performance capabilities, along with support assessments. Salient’s CompleteView was ultimately selected.

Once selected, another strategic decision was made to have personnel from the state handle the design and installation of CompleteView internally rather than engage outside consulting. This has proved to be an effective option, allowing them to tailor each installation to suit individual property needs. The state works through the channel for procurement, then handles all programming and administration internally, offering them the most flexibility while still achieving uniformity across each deployment as well as complete control of the process.

The conversion to the new VMS is underway and will take approximately three to five years to complete. The state will now benefit from a centralized platform that allows for greater administrative control, as well as a product that meets the state of Mississippi standard for NDAA compliance.

The state’s technical team is committed to keeping the system updated as Salient releases newer versions of its software each quarter. These upgrades ensure they are taking advantage of all security enhancements and feature improvements that the system has to offer.

The state has also planned integration of its access control system, Open Options, with CompleteView, tying video directly to specific door openings. This gives state personnel an enhanced view into their security operations, with quick and easy auditing of badge events through a single interface. Further initiatives will explore the addition of AI video analytics to add weapons detection, appearance search, and cross-camera tracking — all to help speed up investigations.

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