SAN JOSE, Calif., Cisco announced continued adoption of its Connected Physical Security solutions on school, college and university campuses, with several new customers deploying this technology to address numerous challenges, from student and staff safety to vandalism and natural-disaster response.

Schools across the U.S. and internationally have deployed Cisco’s Internet Protocol (IP)-based video surveillance, access control and first-response communication technology over their existing network to centralize and increase the efficiency of their campus safety operations. Recent Cisco deployments include those by Bryant University, Council Rock (Penn.) School District, Fort Worth (Texas) Independent School District, Harrisonville (Mo.) School District, Glen Cove (N.Y.) School District, Judson (Texas) Independent School District, Lewis-Clark State University, Loughborough University and Queens College, among others.

Lending insight into this trend, a recent study led by the Clarus Research Group and commissioned by Cisco, found that student and faculty safety continues to be one of the most important issues facing school, college and university administrators today. Out of 600 education and information technology administrators polled in the study, physical security/campus notification ranked as one of the two top technology investment priorities this year, along with energy efficiency.

Cisco will demonstrate its Connected Physical Security technology for the education sector at the International Society for Technology and Education’s Annual Conference and Exhibition, ISTE 2010, in booth 2032. In addition, Cisco will showcase its broad portfolio of Connected Learning solutions, including video-enabled teaching and learning, Web-based collaboration, Cisco TelePresenceTM systems and more.

Facts:
By centralizing safety and security measures atop the IP network, several schools have been able to significantly expand the reach and quality of their campus safety procedures across multiple locations and with greater cost efficiency. For example:
Bryant University, located in Rhode Island, deployed Cisco IPICS (IP Interoperability and Collaboration System) to heighten emergency communications between public safety agencies and campus officials. With IPICS, Bryant was able to create a virtual communications network, wherein city police and fire agencies could collaborate with campus police to improve incident management and overall response time to incidents on campus or in the surrounding community.
The Council Rock School District, located in Pennsylvania, used its existing IP network as a platform to integrate video surveillance and physical access control. Council Rock was able to manage video camera feeds and door-access control across multiple campuses from one location, creating greater district-wide situational awareness and productivity among campus safety officers.
Cisco Video Surveillance Manager and IP cameras enable access to real-time and archived video from any camera in the school district, and integrate with existing and new cameras, video analytics, and other systems using open standards.
Cisco Physical Access Control enables remotely controlled lockdowns to isolate safety incidents, reduces personnel requirements for entry monitoring, and integrates with Cisco video surveillance to increase situational awareness for campus safety officials.
Cisco IPICS provides communications interoperability to campus safety officials using any analog or digital radio system, and enables the sharing of multimedia data such as videos, images and Web links with campus first responders in real time.
The Cisco Validated Design Program for Education provides lab-validated, fully documented network architectures for the integration of multiple Cisco technologies with select third-party products. A broad range of services support the design, deployment and long-term ownership of these systems.