Openpath introduced Lockdown Solution, giving authorized users the ability to lock and unlock any door, zone or building in case of emergency -- including active shooter, other emergency incidents, and natural disasters -- from a mobile device or third-party trigger, remotely or wired. Openpath's patented Triple-Unlock technology works over WiFi, LTE, and Bluetooth, guaranteeing a fast and reliable connection, which is imperative for emergency situations.
Openpath's Lockdown Solution is highly customizable and addresses the different needs that offices, schools, campuses, hospitals and places of worship have in emergency situations. Plans can be created for each situation based on locations, zones, permissions, and protocols, and integrates with a wide range of activation methods including gunshot detectors, glass-break detectors, AWS IoT buttons, panic buttons, wired triggers, and mobile phones.
In addition, the Lockdown Solution is capable of alerting first responders of an incident via email/SMS. The alert provides those first responders with a real-time video feed from all the relevant cameras in the lockdown zone so that they can see exactly what is happening and respond accordingly. This video capability is powered through Openpath's integration with AI-powered video surveillance provider Camio. Not only does Camio provide live, searchable video streams, they also offer playback from immediately before the lockdown event to help expedite triage of any emergency situation.
"Every second matter in an emergency situation, so having the capability to lockdown an office, building or campus -- instantly from anywhere -- has become a must-have and not just a 'nice to have' capability for any organization," said Ryan Schonfeld, CEO of the RAS Security Group, Consulting, and Investigations. "Lockdown functionality, in conjunction with proper training, is important for any organization as it gives employees, students, staff and security personnel one more tool in responding to physical threats, natural disasters and other emergency situations."
"We had to approach this problem and think about the user experience for both the occupants in a building and the first responders sent to help them," said James Segil, co-founder and President of Openpath. "If you're hiding in a closet, for example, you can't get to the panic button mounted on the hallway wall, so leveraging your mobile phone to activate a lockdown made sense. Sending live video feeds to first responders was a brilliant addition, and Camio's cloud-based technology solved the problem of getting the feed outside the firewall so first responders could know exactly what was going on inside the building."
According to a study by RapidSOS, a solution that could improve first-responder response times by only one minute would save thousands of lives across the nation. First responders need immediate access to the building, including the parking garage/gates, elevators, lobby entry, and office door access. Legacy lockdown solutions lack planning flexibility, do not offer mobile phone enablement or the ability to activate a lockdown from any location, and cannot offer real-time video feed for first responders.
With Openpath's Lockdown Solution, protocols can be customized to fit different security situations and building/campus layouts. For instance, a suspicious package may require a different type of lockdown than an active shooter or another violence event. This level of flexibility gives security teams yet another powerful set of tools to help them respond to an incident.