Craig Dever of Inovonics gave Campus Safety magazine an overview of the company, as well as some helpful tips on the installation and use of mobile duress systems.

What would you say to campus protection professionals who are just discovering your company for the first time? 

Inovonics, a U.S. manufacturer of wireless security and duress sensors, allows campus protection professionals to add vital functionality to virtually any new or existing security system. Whether it’s fixed or mobile panic buttons or basic intrusion alarm monitoring, our combination of range and scalability offers the most efficient and cost effective way to enhance campus safety. For over 25 years, security professionals have relied on Inovonics wireless reliability and coverage in a wide variety of settings because of a simple concept:  “It just works.”

What would you say to hospital, school or university protection professionals who are already familiar with your product line and/or services?

As a current Inovonics customer, you’re aware of our range, reliability, flexibility and scalability. What you may not know is that we continue to evolve our product offerings to enable higher value applications, such as mobile duress and IP connectivity. These developments have allowed us to offer more features integrated with more systems than ever before. Our solutions will position you to respond more effectively to the evolving threats your facility, staff and visitors face every day.

Tell us about one particularly interesting deployment of your product or service.

Inovonics systems have been providing duress protection to vital personnel in the federal government for close to a decade.  By providing coverage across a very large campus with multiple buildings, we enable security forces to respond to threats quickly. And because the requirements of the system are frequently changing, the system must offer the ability to move, add and delete devices, all of which our wireless design easily accommodates.

Besides the usual, what really specific thing differentiates you from your competitors?

Range and reliability. Hospital, school and university environments can be very challenging, especially when you are talking about campuses. The Inovonics EchoStream network was designed with these types of facilities in mind, and no other wireless network can provide the radio coverage and message reliability that we can. Our systems meet the tough standards established by UL for alarm capture (99.99%) as well as the ability to cover multi-acre sites and support thousands of device end-points.

What’s the best application tip/tactic involving your solutions you’ve come across?

The key with any Inovonics system is the repeater network. Once installed, our repeaters allow for monitoring virtually anything. Whether using Inovonics duress pendants or alarm sensors, or a third party sensor tied to an Inovonics universal transmitter, a robust repeater network is a vital addition to any campus.

What one technical tip can you offer campuses about the deployments of your solutions?

Spend the time and money up front to make sure you install enough repeaters… not just for today’s needs, but to enable future applications as well.  The minor up front expense will more than pay for itself by future proofing your system.

Where do healthcare or educational institutions typically get tripped up on applications?

Institutions these days are investing heavily in their WiFi networks. As a result, they often mandate that multiple applications use these networks when, in fact, shared WiFi networks may not be appropriate for certain applications where life safety and physical security is required.

Do you have any other advice to hospitals, schools or universities?

Wireless systems continue to evolve and have become just as reliable as wired systems. When looking at new systems, it’s important to include wireless in any evaluation.

What is your favorite thing about working with hospital, school and university clients?

It’s always rewarding to work with institutions that are in the business of helping other people and seeing their reaction when the first alarm messages appear within seconds when the customer knows they’ve been routed across campus, through and around buildings.

Read the interview on Campus Safety's Website