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How this reader works is when the client insert his or her card through an NFC to gain access to the vestibule, so the reader turns green and it unlocks the door. Or you can use genetic insert swipe. So it opens and it process invalidates your card, and then it opens the door. Cristhian Fierro: Hi there. My name is Cristian Fierro. I am the leader of the department software of Firmware and QA team, and our main goal is provide support and solution to the stakeholdersb like management and other external users, and in the software area, in the firmware area. Neil Libor: Hi, I'm Neil Libor, and I've been working here in Parabit for six years. I am in charge of the quality department. So, our job is to test software and hardware, make sure it meets the customer requirements and standards. We have five staff under me and I've been loving working here so far. MD Bhuiyan: Hi, this is MD Bhuiyan. I'm, I'm working here, as a software test engineer. So we have a very good teams. We have five of us. So especially we all are helping each other and we have a very good collaboration between our team, especially for our supervisor and our manager Cris. They're very helpful. They help us. Anything we needed, for the qa, this is really, really good for us to learn. Akash Ghosh: Hey, my name is Akash. I'm a part of quality team and I work as a software test engineer. So basically my day-to-day job is to doing testing now, writing test cases, test plan, and work with the test lab to make sure everything is working perfect. We make sure to there is no issues in the production, so we basically run some load tests and stress tests, and make sure everything works good in production and in our environment as well. Neil Libor: We are in charge of testing all the software and hardwares and make sure that it aligns with the customer requirements and standards. So, we do a lot of progression testing. So here at the back of me, this is our test lab, controller panels. So we simulate everything that, we release to the customer, both software, firmware, and we monitor these, controllers 24 7. I'm gonna show you how the access control system works. So this is the reader, and we have here the controller, right? This is the reader where this installed in front of the branch where you want to gain access to the atm. So how this one works is when the client insert his or her card through an NFC to gain access to the vestibule, so the reader turns green and it unlocks the door. Or you can use genetic insert swipe. So it opens and it process invalidates your card, and then it opens the door. So that's the basic usage of the access control. So, aside from that, we have a lot of other door supervision where we can detect skimming, overlay skimming or NFC skimming, any need tampering on the rear. We have all of those detection Cristhian Fierro: In a day-to-day. I, I love what I'm doing. I like programming and I like how we can convert some, like an, some needs and convert it in a code and provide a solution to them to satisfy what they are needed and see the result in, in a real world. MD Bhuiyan: I really enjoy problem solving. So engineering is all about, solve the problem designing. So in order to solve the problem, then you have to follow some criteria. Like, you have to follow some test plan, test design, test cases, and we need to execute in them, make sure all our works fine. So I really enjoy that kind of things and a finding a bug. And so then we need to create the bug tickets into the developer, so make sure so then they fix it and we test it again. So make sure everything goes through. So I like those kind of work, like, you know, day by day problem solving so that I feels, you know, that's make me chose this field. Akash Ghosh: What I like about being tune testing is to, you know, find bugs and, you know, see any issues that's happening and, you know, debugging those issues and, you know, finding the root causes of it and, you know, try to solve it. Neil Libor: I love working in the as an in the, in the engineering department, particularly in the quality because like we get to detect issues and be able to like, identify them. So it's like, it's it's like it's our pride to be able to detect bugs, issues before it'll reach the customer.

Subscribe to our podcast on Apple or Spotify to listen to this podcast and receive updates on new episodes. Listen to the audio-only version with playback controls here . Savannah Jones 0:03 Hi, welcome to the podcast that's brought to you by Parabit Systems. I'm your host Savannah and we're going to be talking with Robert Iraggi today Business Development at Parabit. And today we're going to be discussing the changes and developments in the Trade show Industry. And, Robert, thank you so much for joining me today. I appreciate it. I'm really excited to hear about trade shows, because we've gone a couple years without trade shows where we're jumping back into it. Robert Iraggi 0:28 Thank you very much, Savannah, yes, I lived through the '08, '09 economic downturn, when big companies stopped going to trade shows for a couple of years. And then all of a sudden in 2010 and beyond, they started going back. So it's a very, very, very resilient industry that is very relevant. And it's near and dear to my heart. I've been going to them since 1998. Savannah Jones 0:48 Robert wanted to go ahead and let's talk about your experience with trade shows so far this year, opposed to previous years. Robert Iraggi 0:56 Well we're not back from pre-pandemic levels yet Savannah, it's still a work in progress. I think people feel more comfortable with the mask initiatives and with touching people's hands, fist pumping, whatever it may be, there's been a lot of little idiosyncrasies that have come to the market because of changes in cultures and stuff because of the pandemic. But I think it's definitely definitely on the way back. You know, trade shows are super functional, you're putting buyers and sellers in the same room. And instead of traveling to 50 different cities to see 50 different buyers and sellers, you can go to one city at one time, have a good time, have dinner with a client and see different things as the time goes on. So I think we're getting back we're not exactly where we were before. But I think there's going to be a huge evolution as well. We know that the virtual tradeshow did not work, we tried it, we did our best with it, it just was not something that was going to ever really be something that was going to make a dent in what we know as the trade show culture. So I'm excited to say that things are coming on its way back. But as far as it being exactly back, it's not there. Savannah Jones 1:59 So let's talk a little bit about the virtual. What was the problem there? Why didn't that take off? And why isn't that continuing? Robert Iraggi 2:07 I worked for a trade show for a very long time, there was all kinds of expensive software that let you as an avatar, go to a trade show and see things it was super, super cool. But it was really, really, really expensive. And the same way that a quote unquote print magazine and a digital magazine are different, they're not viewed the same way. It's the exact same thing with a trade show. You know a trade show, you need to be there, within touch, feel, whether it's commercial, AV or security or anything where you have to hear, touch and feel a product, not the same on a video screen. And I think that that can be a very, very good thing as a filler going forward. I think that a trade show, a lot of the times industry is say oh two trade shows in one industry is too much if the same show was doing it. Maybe they have one a year and they do a monthly or every three or four months, some kind of a symposium in the middle by integrating different technologies with digital technology, and seeing where it is. But it's never going to take the place of an in-person show, touching, feeling seeing your client. It's a wonderful thing. Savannah Jones 3:06 So it was a new venture, the virtual and that was an absolute necessity. And so how have you guys implemented new techniques and the things that you needed to do to get up to speed after the pandemic? Like what does that look like? How have things evolved? Robert Iraggi 3:22 I think people that are going to shows now, it used to be just like an automatic thing. Oh, it's the show of the biggest show of the industry, we have to go we have to be there, not the case any longer. I mean, a lot of the times if you have a big job and you're an integrator, you're going to a show you're probably going to do that job because you're making money rather than spending money on learning about new products and everything else. But I think that we're seeing a very good mix of quality over quantity. And I think any trade show exhibitor will take that any day of the week. You'd rather have 10 very good leads than 100 not so good leads. You want buyers to see your latest products, and you need a reason to go to the show, you need a reason to go there to go into a booth to check out a product or products. And I think that the emphasis is still on making the show current, making it an exciting place to be and making each booth a place to stop by and as an exhibitor, I think you have to do that. And keep the people engaged in everything else. It's also a blend of people that are coming to see who you are and other people that are pre-scheduling meetings, saying that I know that Parabit is going to be at the show, I can't wait to see them. That kind of thing, or what's next for Parabit. Let's go and check out their booth and see what's next. And I think it's a good thing for the industry will make an add value and add technology and products that people can use. Savannah Jones 4:35 Well, having attended shows in the past as an attendee versus now where you're primarily exhibiting what are some of the biggest ways to draw people towards a booth. Robert Iraggi 4:45 I think it doesn't matter size they say and we say size matters. I don't think it does. You know, I've been to booths that are humongous in size and they had nothing going on. It's like okay, it's a big space. Got a nice little coffee bar but with what's really there what's the meat and potatoes? People going shows nowadays to get educated, to see people, to learn about things. You can have a 10 by 10 and make it engaging. I know that our last show we had a pylon with all the different things that we did in that booth. With technology, it was very, very engaging and interesting. And I think people, you know, they'd like the premiums too, the free hats and everything else, that's a way of drawing people in. We always have a phone charger in our booth, which is wonderful. You need to charge to plug in your phone. And while you're plugging in your phone for 15 minutes, check out the new products that we have here on our booth. And I think other companies can definitely learn from the fact that you know, you're at the show, you may be a big name and an important name, but you also have to provide value and a reason for people to stop in, come and say hi, and see what's new. Because a lot of the times the new companies are the ones that get the most play because people are curious, what's new, who's who is this company? What do they do. And I think it's also a delicate balance of showing just enough in your booth to get people interested without giving away everything, because then they can see everything before they even walk in, they may not walk in. But if it looks interesting, and it looks like fun, they're going to come in and say hi. Savannah Jones 6:04 So you're saying having something physical in the booth is a draw, do it. Robert Iraggi 6:07 I think absolutely. I mean, I've, I've gone to shows that in industries where they have one show once a year, and you know what, it's the one time you can showcase your products. I've had people put prototypes under big glass cases and saying, you know, it doesn't work yet. But this is what it looks like. And this what it does, if nothing else, you know, I think everybody wants what they can't have, you know, you get a company like Uggs that keep their production limit down, and they make cool products, and everybody wants them. So it keeps the price supply and demand type influx as well. But I think it's very important for people to see the products that are new, even if it's just an update of a current product, and it shows exactly what's coming. Even if it's not available or shipping today, it gives people hope, hey, this is what's next, this is what's happening. And a lot of these shows are good because they are good for the dealer slash integrator to get educated on what the product can do. You know, if an end user sees it's fine, it's not a big deal. But the dealer, contractor, integrator, are the people that are going to be educating their buyers on how it works. And I think these shows are very, very important in the in the formative stages to show them what's happening, what we're working on. And what we're doing. Savannah Jones 6:07 Well, if there's one product that Parabit makes that you would recommend for all exhibitors to put in their booths, what would it be? Robert Iraggi 7:23 I gotta say, our mobile phone charging stations. And I have a lot of friends in the industry that actually are looking to buy them from Parabit themselves. Because they have demo rooms, they have seminar rooms, they have areas of their booth or another offsite meeting room that they want people to come in and stay. And again, the great thing about charging a dead phone at a trade show, and we all have them is that you need at least 10-15 minutes to get some kind of juice back in your phone, what do you do, and you're not going to leave the $1,000 phone and go and get a cup of coffee and come back, you're going to plug it into the phone, the phone into the into the charger, you're going to hold that phone or put it on the shelf. And you're going to listen to whatever's going on in that booth, whether it be a musical demo, or some kind of a presentation of what's going on. So I think definitely something like that can get people engaged you know, it always helps to have a coffeemaker or something else too. But something that's functional that some people can actually use and have it free of charge or something will be something good to have in their booth. Well, Robert, Savannah Jones 8:17 is there anything else that you want to add in regards to trade shows like where they have been pre-pandemic, post-pandemic and and what you guys are doing at Parabit and kind of how things are starting to unfold as we move into the busy fall season? Robert Iraggi 8:32 That's a great question Savannah. In my old industry I was there for almost 25 years, we went to the same cities every year. And they were smart because they put them in bigger cities, easier to get to, the "Las Vegas's," the "Orlando's" the places that had direct flights and stuff. But I think the charming character, and it would really brings the people out I think are the smaller cities, or the lesser cities with cities you don't think to get to, for a trade show or for a conference because it really really adds, you know, element and flair to a conference. And it gives people a reason to go. The shows that we've been to especially Parabit transcend in every industry, from security, to banking, to aviation and all things in between for commercial facilities. So I think that we've had a really, really broad stroke of showing different products out of our product tree, as we call it, and giving people a good chance to learn about what's going on. Because even if we have, let's say 20 products that we make, you never know what someone's going to come in and give. The last thing I'll say about that also is I think trade shows really, really give a good off the record thing between a manufacturer and a buyer. Hey, what do you think of this product? Hey, how can we make this product better? What don't we have in our product lineup that you guys can use, sell to an end user and go from there? And I think it's a lot of cool things that can happen at trade shows that keep people engaged, get their opinion going. And at the end of the day when my bosses always used to say this that you know, it doesn't matter if you're a president of a company or the secretary, everybody wants to feel useful, feel important and feel like their voice matters. And I think at a trade show, it's something definitely, definitely, definitely you can do to make your stamp on a product or an innovation or an idea. And I think that's a very, very important thing there in the trade show market. Savannah Jones 10:19 Well Robert thank you so much for your time today. I appreciate it. Robert Iraggi 10:22 Thank you very much, Savannah, always good to see you. Savannah Jones 10:25 If there's anything you'd like to find out about Parabit you can do that at parabit.com.

Watch Axis Communication's Stephen Joseph and Parabit's Rob Leiponis discuss the benefits of optimized video surveillance sensor placement, and how it can have a major impact on security and retail engagement. Subscribe to our podcast on Apple or Spotify to listen to this podcast and receive updates on new episodes. Listen to the audio-only version with playback controls here . Hilary Kennedy: Hey there, welcome to A Bit About, a Parabit Systems podcast. I'm your host, Hilary Kennedy, and today's episode is going to dive into how technology is enabling a smarter and safer world by creating network solutions that provide insights for improving security and some new ways of doing business. And I have two great guests joining me on the show today to share their insight. First, Rob Leiponis, President and CEO of Parabit Systems, which is a leading global provider of innovative hardware and software solutions serving critical infrastructure. And since founding the Long Island based company in 1995, Rob has driven the development of technology deployed by hundreds of financial institutions throughout North America and Europe. And Rob draws on tremendous experience that spans 35 plus years. And then our second guest is Stephen Joseph, Segment Development Manager of Banking and Finance of Axis Communications. And Steven is responsible for strategy development for the banking segment, education development for internal and external customers. He speaks at national conferences and has a host of other critical roles. So it goes without saying that both of them will have a wealth of knowledge to share on improving security, and how cameras are enabling data analytics that the world needs. So welcome to the show, gentlemen. Stephen Joseph: Hi Hilary, thank you. Rob Leiponis: Thank you. Hilary Kennedy: Alright, so first, I want to start off with effective facial image capture. It supports safety and security, as well as you know, retail and marketing. So what are some of the challenges, though, when it comes to capturing good facial images? Stephen Joseph: Well, for the most part, capturing good facial images are really important, especially when you're dealing with customer-facing environments. Specifically, and for me, it's most of the time in the banking and finance institutions, and it can also be in retail as well, where you see customers coming on a regular basis. And one of the main challenges that a lot of these businesses have is being able to place cameras at an optimal location to be able to capture great facial images. When incidents occur, and law enforcement is called in and they need to capture or be able to get evidence as it relates to who may have perpetrated a crime, being able to have that optimal image to be able to recognize and provide forensic detail is really, really important in those use cases. Hilary Kennedy: And, Rob, do you have any thoughts on that too? You know, what are some of those challenges when it comes to capturing good facial images. Rob Leiponis: Just basically eliminating any type of obstructions that can come from any existing cameras that they would like to leverage for analytics, to installing or repositioning a more discreet camera that's closer to the actual face to eliminate the possibility of someone coming in obstruction, of all the images of the people's faces as they walk in and out of retail facilities, transportation hubs, you know, loading docks and logistics facilities. I think it's important, from an access control perspective, from an artificial intelligence perspective, to be able to leverage that technology that's so great, and that's been helping create such a life-safety environment for the world. To be able to maximize the investment by placing those images in the sensors close to people's faces. Hilary Kennedy: It's so true. It's helped in so many countless different situations, especially where safety's involved. And I heard both of you mentioned analytics and so Steven, I want to direct this at you can you give an example of the capabilities of analytics when effective facial image capture is achieved? Stephen Joseph: Absolutely. There's a lot to know with regards to facial capture. People use the term interchangeably, but there are different levels of capturing faces. You have traditional face capture where you just you know, capturing an image of a person's face, you know that it's an individual, whether it's male or female. You have facial detection, where you're able to actually detect that it's a face. Facial recognition, being able to recognize who that individual is. Facial identification, where you're actually able to, with 100% certainty, be able to determine that that individual matches face that you currently have in some type of database. And you see this a lot in law enforcement where they're looking through databases, and we see this a lot on TV where you see somebody looking through a mug shot book, right? They're trying to do forensic identification. And they're comparing faces that are known faces, to help someone identify that person. And when you have proper placement of cameras or video cameras in these cases, and if you walk into most establishments, today, you're going to see a camera. It's either going to be on the ceiling, or it's going to be on a wall. Normally, it's far back from where that person is actually standing. But the types of topics that we're trying to discuss today has to do with having a proper placement of an image sensor that allows you to get a great shot of a person's face. When it comes down to facial detection, you need about four pixels. And you think about pixels and you think about let's say 1080P or 4k television, there are pixels in that image. You need about four pixels across a person's face to actually get facial detection. In order to get facial recognition you need about 20 pixels across the face. To do identification, you need about 40 to 80 pixels across the face. So that gives you an example of the different levels of facial capture, facial detection, that you can look be looking for. Hilary Kennedy: Well it's so interesting, because you can't go in any store anymore without you know being able to see the cameras. So Rob, I would love for you to tell us a little bit about when it comes to retail and marketing. How is facial image capture the most beneficial there? Rob Leiponis: So, facial capture is good for determining what type of content that you may want to display on various digital signage, or sending messages to tellers in a platform that a certain person with a certain profile has walked in, or back they may be a customer of yours. So that way you can target or create more targeted questions in order to convert that customer to a better service that they may be providing for them. Notification of a customer arrival like in a Nordstrom experience where you know when a customer arrives, there's a sales rep that's assigned to that person every time they walk into the store. Through analytics, that person could get notified immediately that their premier customers are walking in the southeast entrance of the building and provide a better greeting experience for them. Hilary Kennedy: And something that I want to touch on because we can't have this conversation without talking about AI. So Steven, you know, we've got some new developments in how we operate as a society that have come out of the pandemic such as mask wearing so how does deep AI come into play where cameras are concerned? Stephen Joseph: Oh, it comes into play in a big way. I mean, AI is a really really big topic. You know, we see a lot of interest in the area of AI or analytics as it relates to behavior. So whether it's utilizing video surveillance products to do sound detection, to run analytics to count people. We see it a lot with facial detection analytics to do things like capture facial expressions to determine whether or not your customer is happy or not. And we we see this going on today and this technology exists. And during the pandemic we had partners that were actually utilizing or trying to test out their analytics that we were traditionally used for security use cases, and taking them to actually use them for things like social distancing. Trying to detect whether someone was actually wearing a mask or not. And then taking that information and using it to drive back-end systems, so you can have system integration with other systems. Let's say people are waiting in line a long time being able to trigger and play music, let's say in a lobby area where people are waiting inside of financial institution or even in a retail shop. So analytics or AI is really being used in a lot of different ways, and there are a lot of different use cases that are being developed every single day.cCstomers or businesses are starting to find new ways to utilize AI and analytics in ways that we've never even thought of before. Hilary Kennedy: That really is fascinating and I love the use of it to find out if your customers are smiling and happy. I love that because you know they're gonna do what they can to keep you there and feeling good. Stephen Joseph: Absolutely. Hilary Kennedy: So Rob, I want to ask you this question the proper placement of cameras that is critical to the effectiveness of the analytics and of course the demand for analytics just keeps increasing. So what are some enclosure types that should be considered? Rob Leiponis: Our most popular unit that we see moving mostly is our doorway cameras. I mean, placing doorway cameras around any entrance or exit way gives you complete control from, as Steven mentioned, AI and facial analytics and knowing, as you said, whether a person's sad or happy as they're entering or exiting a facility. So it's really a key to me. A very key position point as well as transaction points. You know, as you're developing other retail experiences when the person is there the actual cashier can be receiving messages because they know who you are your approach and suggest additional sales. So you know, really at the point where people are spending, entering and exiting facilities, as well as those transaction points, I think are really key places to place covert or the discreet cameras that Axis sells. Hilary Kennedy: Incredibly helpful. Well, Steven, I would love for you to share with us a few security success stories within some of the industries that you serve. Stephen Joseph: Well, we've done several different pilots utilizing video surveillance and analytics using proper camera placement. One of the most important ones is being able to detect loitering with analytics and proper camera placement. We see this a lot, especially in financial institutions, where you walk into an ATM lobby, and there might be somebody hanging out in there, a suspicious character or whatever the case might be. And especially happens in cold climates, where people coming out of a cold to stay warm. You know one, it poses a security problem. A potential security problem and also poses a potential customer safety issue, or customer experience issue. So we helped a major financial institution within the northeast to deploy some of our video surveillance products properly placed in the right place with the use of analytics to be able to detect loitering inside an ATM vestibule. So that one, it creates a safe space for customers to come in. You start dealing with different key stakeholders. So you have security, you have operations, you have an overall marketing aspect for you know, being able to protect your brand when you can have a safe environment for customers to come into. So it creates a better customer experience. And also we worked with some major ATM manufacturers to be able to integrate video surveillance products and place them around the fascia of ATMs to be able to capture faces when people are standing at the ATM. Because normally what happens is someone will come in, especially a perpetrator, will come in with a baseball cap on they'll tilt their head down. So being able to place image sensors or cameras at the proper placement at an ATM helps a lot with being able to capture faces at an ATM. So that solves a big problem for them. Because then they get great information, great forensic detail, and they have good evidence to turn over to a law enforcement. Hilary Kennedy: It's a great example, because I think all of us have gone to an ATM and gone inside and seen some people hanging out and thought like, “Oh, I don't know,” especially if you're withdrawing a lot of cash. So that's a great example. And one thing I want to touch on before we wrap up, you know we've seen a lot of stories about e-commerce and those kinds of things, but let's chat about the use of these technologies in those brick and mortar locations. Why is that so important? Stephen Joseph: Well, it's definitely important because we see a lot of, there's a challenge, right? More people, especially with the pandemic, we saw the use and the need for online e commerce, right? But then again, it does create a challenge for brick and mortar operations. Nobody wants to see their favorite retail shop go away. So again, utilizing analytics and video surveillance and proper placement of products really helps create the ability to capture data, to be able to take that data, ingest it, and then utilize it to get information to know how many people are coming into a retail shop. Do I need to kind of downsize the retail shop? Maybe I don't need to have as large a retail space as I used to. Maybe I just need to have a smaller space. But you still need a place where customers want to go and they feel comfortable. Sometimes people still want that ability to go in and touch, right? They want to be able to have hands-on with that product. So we don't want brick and mortar to go away, but we do want when customers come into those environments, to take what used to be traditional security products and use them in a smarter way. So we're creating a smarter, safer environment for the customer. We're able to capture data, and we're able to create an overall better experience for those customers when they do come into those brick and mortar spaces. Hilary Kennedy: Well, I have loved this conversation today because I feel safer already having spoken to the two of you. So, that is going to wrap up this episode of A Bit About, but I do want to say thank you again to Rob Leiponis with Parabit Systems and Stephen Joseph at Axis Communications, for joining me today and sharing your insight. Thank you so much. Stephen Joseph: Thanks for having me. Rob Leiponis: Thank you. Hilary Kennedy: And I want to thank all of our listeners and watchers for joining us for the episode. We always appreciate it and if you would like more episodes of the podcast, and to stay up to date with everything that we have coming out in the future, make sure to subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify or wherever you prefer to listen to podcasts. We’ll be back soon with another episode, but until then, I have been your host Hilary Kennedy. Thank you for watching.

The area of security is evolving within the retail environment. Advanced security systems can now provide increased sales potential as well as top-of-the-line security. Subscribe to our podcast on Apple or Spotify to listen to this podcast and receive updates on new episodes. Listen to the audio-only version with playback controls here . Hilary Kennedy: Hey there! Welcome to A Bit About, a Parabit Systems’ podcast. I am your host Hillary Kennedy, and today's episode is going to explore leveraging security systems to drive value in retail. And giving a CEO’s perspective on this will be Rob Leiponis, the President and CEO of Parabit Systems, which is a leading global provider of innovative hardware and software solutions serving critical infrastructure. And since founding the Long Island-based company in 1995, Rob has driven the development of technology deployed by hundreds of financial institutions throughout North America and Europe. And Rob draws on some tremendous experience, spanning 35 plus years collaborating with innovation labs of the top, tier-one financial institutions, as well as serving leading national, regional and community banks and credit unions. A very busy guy, thank you so much for joining me today, Rob. Rob Leiponis: Thank you, Hilary. Good morning, everybody. Hilary Kennedy: All right, so I want to just dive right in. First of all, I want to start with viable use cases where integrated technology has the potential to transcend perceived application limitations for broader value within an organization. So what are some ways that retail systems can improve customer experience and support modern targeted marketing opportunities? Rob Leiponis: Sure, I mean, through the ability to do analytics and as well as demographic identification through surveillance systems, leveraging security systems to help retail organizations identify customers, identify patterns of purchases, traffic flows of people, are really powerful solutions and, you know, security departments typically tend to be a cost center where retail is a profit center. So, we find that many of our customers are now leveraging the demand and the use cases that can be provided by security systems for the security department in order to fund the expansion of some of these cameras that are getting much better and much more acute imagery of people's faces and their patterns as they move around retail environments or airport environments, as well as public facilities. Hilary Kennedy: Well, and as we've seen here, the pandemic, it escalated things in lots of ways, but it escalated a strong need for those mechanisms to control customer entrances, like you mentioned, of events or maybe at the airport, education, metal, retail, other types of facilities. So credentialing, it's really expanded beyond just identification. So can you share how security solutions are vital in these current times? Rob Leiponis: Sure. I mean, facial analytics has just been an incredible resource for law enforcement and as well as retail operations to be able to identify, anticipating, you know, traffic flows of customers crime events, and it's been, a powerful solution in many sectors out there to just help customers or help our retail departments be able to plan better resources as well as perform analytics in terms of identifying their flow of traffic of customers to be able to leverage more targeted questions of, you know, consumers, like in a high-end retail environment where customers that come into the facility that as they walk in the cameras can identify them and through integration with back end systems, the actual retail staff can get notified of those people entering their facilities. So that way, they can provide much higher levels of customer service, you know, in really high-end store environments like Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus or Macy's. You know, those types of environments would benefit greatly from using these types of analytics in order to better serve their customers to give a much better customer experience, as well as still taking advantage of all the security features that come from the systems that can push out these analytics. Some of the more high-end partners that we deal with also have edge power built into the hardware that are driving these actual cameras and cameras, sensors, so that can actually do very rapid scans and identification of patterns and people as they're entering and exiting their facilities. So it's really providing you know, a much safer environment for people as well as being able to identify patterns of customers and criminals. So really there's just an invaluable source of a better lifestyle and a better customer service experience for for all of us. Hilary Kennedy: Well, I know you've touched on this a little bit, I would love for you to kind of further explain how having that more transparent communication and accountability between security and retail leads to that improved customer experience and operational efficiency. You know, especially when it comes to things like background checks, or watch list status or even contact tracing. Rob Leiponis: Right. I mean, through the analytics, as people are entering facilities as guests or visitors and if they're validated or entered into their database, their information could be associated with their their analytics of their face, as they enter a facility. So, real-time background checks can be performed for you know, in high risk areas on people that are entering facilities so that way notifications can be sent out to security departments as well as law enforcement, that if in the event that there's someone that's on a watch list that the local law enforcement as well as federal can respond very quickly to mitigate any type of high-end risks that could cause a hideous crime or event. Hilary Kennedy: That does give you a valuable peace of mind. When it comes to systems like this, you know, cost is always a factor. So how does investment in integrated technology solutions that support multiple departments, how does that provide cost effective value? Rob Leiponis: Well, it's a big deterrent on losses that retail organizations are experiencing as well as, you know, attacks on different types of consumers and tourists. So, really you can't put a price tag on that. And plus, with the pricing of surveillance systems have come down dramatically over the years. So, to be able to utilize and leverage that type of technology provide a safer environment, you really can't put a price tag on it. But I mean, the systems that are available are out there that provide incredible analytics to be able to leverage incredible experiences for consumers, for their staff, provides a lot better transparency in terms of identifying a customer being able to back in a profile on that customer, so when that customer walks in and the retailer is notified that you can target more important questions on how to really engage that person to have a much more successful sales experience with them. Hilary Kennedy: I love it and I think you know, to your point all of us have become very hyper aware of what environment seems safe especially after the past, you know, year and a half safety's at the forefront of everybody's mind. So that is very helpful. And Rob, Parabit is the fourth company that you founded, which is amazing, and it serves five out of the world's top 10 financial institutions and 14 of the top 15 US retail banks. That's incredible. So you have been offering these niche solutions to banks for years, but you recently released the pair of MMR 2.0 with Bluetooth. I want to hear about this cutting edge solution. Rob Leiponis: Oh, it's an amazing solution that we've gotten huge demand from recent trade shows that we've attended on it where we're creating a retail access control environment where for high-end stores and for our banking community user experiences customers can scan a QR code on the front of a front of a building, download their information, take a picture of their driver's license, do an instant background check on that person and they could be issued a credential to enter a facility. Basically we're in the process of moving visitor management out to the storefronts of the building. So it provides a lot more flexibility in the utilization of building lobbies, as well as entrance ways of buildings and also taking that credentialing of those people as they walk into a facility, we have API's that integrate to digital signage displays, teller platforms, DVR systems, ATMs, that you can now change the content on those technologies as that person comes in based upon their demographics or based upon their financial portfolio that's assigned to them through the financial institution. The same application could be used in high-end retail stores, where they have a lot of incidents where, you know, they're smash and grabs where they, you know, come into a store, grab a bunch of merchandise. Where now you can install an access control system and provide better security for your staff as well as mitigate losses. The integration of this technology is similar to the analytics of cameras and the systems where you can know your customer better, you can better position your staff to be more successful in their sales experience during their workday. So there's a lot of development and there's other future use cases that we're we've come across by collaborating with some of our clients that we're adding to our backlog list to develop into the system as we get ready to release it. Hilary Kennedy: That's amazing. And you know what great peace of mind, like you mentioned, for the employees who work at these businesses to know that that sort of technology is available. It's amazing. So we've kind of seen over the past year have especially retail habits they've changed in the industry is really searching for the new retail experience that kind of keeps everybody engaged. So can you touch on some of the trends that you're seeing in the industry? Rob Leiponis: Well, I see a consolidation in the size of retail stores to a smaller form factor where some of those retail stores are becoming distribution hubs for their goods. More technology can be implemented to those facilities to better help those customers with their purchases and as well as cross selling them on other systems or other products that that consumer may be interested in. A lot of self-service retail storefronts, like the Amazon platform where you can walk into a store and if you lift something off the shelf and you have it in your hand for more than 15 seconds, you basically have purchased it. So there's a lot of there's a lot of new and creative ways to help people self-serve themselves in public environments to minimize contact with service personnel, you know, as well as just to keep the world safer, you know, there's less contact unfortunately, that's the world that we're going into and what we're becoming. I hope this is the last of of what we're experiencing with COVID, but I doubt it very much. But you know, we just need to focus on minimizing the amount of human touch points that are so that way we can all keep ourselves a lot safer than we have been in the past. Hilary Kennedy: Right, and the self-service, you know, sometimes you're just not in the mood to do the small talk about the weather. Sometimes it's nice to be able to make the purchase on your own and go about your day. Well, that is actually going to do it for this episode of A Bit About. Thank you, Rob Leiponis, the President and CEO of Parabit Systems. Thanks so much for joining me today and sharing a CEO’s perspective on all of this. Rob Leiponis: Thank you Hillary, you're great and I appreciate everybody's been able to attend the podcast. Thank you very much and have a great day. Hilary Kennedy: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you again to all our listeners and people watching. Thanks for joining us for this episode. We appreciate it. So, if you'd like to see more episodes of the podcast and stay up to date with our future episodes, make sure to subscribe on Apple podcasts or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. We'll be back soon with another episode. But until then, I've been your host Hilary. Thanks for joining us.

Watch BRO airport's Bryant Walker and Parabit's Rob Leiponis discuss the practical application of airport innovation at the BRO new passenger terminal, and where they think future airport technology is headed. Subscribe to our podcast on Apple or Spotify to listen to this podcast and receive updates on new episodes. Listen to the audio-only version with playback controls here . James Kent: Hello and welcome to this live podcast brought to you by Parabit Systems. I'm your host James Kent. There's a saying at the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport located in Brownsville, Texas and that is, "let the journey take flight." And we're going to talk about some exciting news that is sure to bring a lot of journeys to passenger's futures. Earlier this year, a new passenger terminal opened up at the BRO, and that is great news indeed as BRO is the closest airport to South Padre Island. We're going to get into a lot of cool specifics about this project, and the state-of-the-art technology in place in the new terminal, and to help me do that are my two guests. First I am pleased to welcome on the show, Bryant Walker. Bryant is the Assistant City Manager and Aviation Administrator for the city of Brownsville. Bryant welcome. Bryant Walker: Thank you very much. I'm glad to be here. James Kent: And next we have Rob Leiponis, the CEO and President of Parabit Systems. Parabit is a strategic partner on this project and was heavily involved in many of the technology systems deployed throughout the new terminal. Rob a warm welcome to you, too. Rob Leiponis: Thank you very much. James Kent: Bryant, take me through the need for this new passenger terminal and how it's going to impact the economy for Brownsville in the Lower Rio Grande Valley. Bryant Walker: Well, initially the economic impact is just massive just from the construction alone. The previous terminal was outdated, outmoded. Built in 1972, it had outlived its useful life. It didn't comply with most of the regulations out there for TSA, for CBP, for the international component to the airport. So, it had a high, high maintenance cost just on a day-to-day use. So, if you put all that together. It was necessary to build the new terminal. So, when we started to build the new terminal, again, the economic impact of building it and retaining what was here, a lot of people said, "build it and they'll come," and actually the inverse works as well, "if you don't build it, they'll leave." So, just to maintain the jobs, maintain the service and connectivity for the community, we had to build a new one. So, when we did that we wanted to make sure that we future-proof, the terminal itself, and built the technology and components in it that we could expand on and integrate technologies that yet don't exist, as well as the latest technology that Parabit provided a lot of when we built this. So we expanded the terminal from initial 37,000 square feet, old terminal, we expanded this one into a 92,000 square foot terminal with a complete compliant FIS and checkpoint for security and those types of things. And then of course we did add a lot of those technology components, everything from the, you know, for the curb to gate passenger experience. I'm not sure, I think that answers your question. James Kent: Yeah, but you know to make sure that this new terminal was truly state of the art and could meet the needs of not only today's passengers but the future demands, what was critical to build into the terminal to support those needs, especially when you're not sure what those needs might be? Bryant Walker: Well, certainly the infrastructure itself. You've got to make sure that you have adequate power. We looked at the fiber for any data connectivity for the again those future needs that we're unaware of. So, we really built the infrastructure in here. You know, behind the scenes we put in a lot of drainage and underground utility corridors and things like that. So, it's easily modifiable in the future, but in the building itself, we actually ran additional conduit that's in excess of what we need for the access control, for the CCTV, and even a lot of the biometrics. So, all that we built it into the design very early in that design phase, so that we can add everything that we wanted as well as the future technologies as they roll out. James Kent: Absolutely. I want to bring Parabit back into the conversation. Rob, take me through some of the solutions you provided for this terminal project. I'm sure there are many considerations that the average person would never factor in, but that your team needed to put in place to make this project a success. Rob Leiponis: Several products that we introduced to Bryant and his team, one of which is, you know, installing analytic cameras at all touch points from entering the facility to exiting the facility. We wanted to create an environment that, through facial recognition, they would be able to eventually tie into back-end systems to be able to identify people as they're entering facilities, and then until they get to the point, and they exit the jet bridge and get on the plane and as well as supervised if they get off the plane and meander back into the terminal. Various different digital touch points built into the welcome center, built into kiosks. As well as curbside pylons with information on the terminal itself and the services that are provided by the terminal, as well as attractions in the area. We also have provided and worked closely with Bryant in the CPP, with the FIS podiums where we created a kind of like a future-proof enclosure that addressed all the needs of the technology that's utilized today, but as well as makes the enclosure completely expandable to address any future analytics that the CPP and FIS introduced into those areas. And charging stations which we've always found through all of the projects that we've done with many of our airport customers. We basically have leveraged charging all from the land side area to the air side area of the terminal to make a very comfortable experience. Since, you know, most people their phones are constantly in their hands, so we wanted to address their needs for power. So that was a very important aspect which Bryant was very open into looking into the designs that we had proposed and had eventually deployed. James Kent: Rob, I feel like we're talking about a science fiction movie here, it's amazing. All of this technology really does sound like the future is now. Obviously, with the new terminal opening at the beginning of this year, a portion of the construction had to take place during COVID-19. How did the pandemic affect the construction of the new terminal and what, if anything, about the design changed as a result? Bryant Walker: I'll be glad to field that one. So as the pandemic rolled out, what we saw as an impact to the project itself was really supply chain issues. So, we were looking at products and materials that the contractor needed to actually make the terminal, you know, complete on time. Those were the challenges we really faced. For the terminal itself, we'd actually envisioned being able to build out those additional technologies and even phase some things in. That's why we built in conduits that we had no use for when we started construction. So, sort of a lot of the elements that Rob was talking about, the cameras in doorways , were things that were posed for biometric access control. As technologies, advanced over the past year and a half even, very recent history here, where there's a lot of ticket lists, baggage handling and there's even LPRs, license plate readers, for parking systems and things like that. So, there's a lot of technologies that incorporate using cameras, facial recognition and everything, and not just like the access control, but also the touchless ticketing and check-in services for the airlines. So, we knew we wanted all of that in the terminal at some point. So as our budget sort of expanded a little bit over the project, we were able to go back to a Parabit and incorporate the same technology, so we had consistency throughout the terminal. So, whether it's the CCTV, whether it's access control, or whether it's even supporting the efforts of the airlines, and having their biometric check-ins and everything, all of those devices are the same that run on the same system and supported by the same backbone. So that allows us to have flexibility even in our maintenance and keep those costs, controllable as well. So, it’s a whole ecosystem of technology, it's not just a single device here or there. So, again, as we expanded the project, we did want to have more touchless points, we wanted to have less, you know, less things to spread any of these germs and things that are going around right now. So we did add the antimicrobial surfaces that Parabit provided for all of our countertops, like, virtually every countertop and table within the terminal has this antimicrobial coating. Some sort of, I'm not a scientist, maybe Rob can elaborate but it's some sort of silver oxide or... Rob Leiponis: It's a silver ion-based product that has like a five-year life expectancy to kill any bacteria that comes in contact with the surface. Bryant Walker: That really helps, you know, ease passenger's concerns, and then on top of that we didn't want to, you know, messing with plugs and touching everything, so Parabit provided us with the wireless charging units for literally every table within the terminal right now. And, and then of course the back of seating charging, they provide as well, which also gives us a marketing surface, since it is above the seating itself. So, all these were benefits not just for COVID. I mean COVID was certainly a concern, but like I said it's more of a supply chain concern than how we actually operate the airport. As we operate the airport we are looking to do as much protection, as much touchless interaction as we can. And again, antimicrobial surfaces and the touchless access control through facial verification with the security system we have. But then, as Rob pointed out, every portal, every doorway, and a lot of the counters, the ticket counters, the gate counters, they all have cameras built in, so that we can tie those in when the airlines are ready to start moving to the biometric entry and exit. So, there's really three phases, there's the airline cameras and access control or touchless and ticketing and all that, there's the access control and security component for the airport, and there's also the CBP component. Rob kind of touched on the podiums that we provided for the CBP. So, we collaborated with headquarters in DC to CBP so they could move from a booth, the very large obtrusive thing in the CBP, Federal Inspection station check in area. We move from that to a much more slim, purpose-built podium that does have all these touchless interactive devices so you can, you know, the user can go through and actually scan their own documents. And it's built to accept future devices that CBP will provide for scanning your entry and exit documents, passports, IDs and everything like that, as well as a fingerprint station, so that they don't have to interact directly with the agent on duty, they just interact with the devices that are there. Then there's also, like I said, the built-in camera, which is going to capture the biometric images as well, and match that to the manifest. So, there's three components to the imaging aspect of it, and all that's provided by Parabit in a nice, sleek design that the airport was looking for. James Kent: Well, I think it's a great example of what you were talking about, that you were thinking ahead in this planning, really thought about the future, because frictionless experiences, now as a result of the pandemic, is a priority for passengers, and it sounds like that you didn't have to do too much to suddenly integrate that when the pandemic hit, it was already something that you were focused on, right? Bryant Walker: That's correct. I mean, you know, from the design standpoint we met with the airport administration as well as the design team and engineers. And we indicated that we wanted ability to do anything with this. If we want this terminal to be able to live the longest possible life, we needed to make sure that we were prepared for the unknown. And being able to use devices that are modular, the devices that Parabit provided, whether it's the charging stations the wireless charging, which is here for, it's going to be here for quite a while, I would imagine. But even that is backwards. It's going to be something we can backward compatibility, work with so that we can make adjustments in the future without it being obtrusive. So wireless chargers we have are all flush with the counters, I mean, there’s no wires anywhere. You just lay your devices on that, and they charge up. The cameras are built into the doorways and portals, so they're very discreet. And even their counter mounted units, those things are able to be upgraded. If the technology, if the sensors, improve, we can actually go into the modules and remove those, swap them out. And we're in a position to continue to progress and upgrade with the technology as it improves. So, I think everybody on the team was really looking at the future and making sure that we didn't paint ourselves into a corner. James Kent: Now the new terminal, is it primarily focused on leisure travel with its close proximity to South Padre Island or is it a multi-focus terminal. Bryant Walker: Well historically the airport's not been able to support larger aircraft because of the size of the facility, it was really the bottleneck for the for the service that the airport could provide to the community. The terminal was so small it could really only handle the small regional jets. That gave us a customer base that was about 85% business travel. So now that we have the new terminal, we can actually accommodate aircraft up to a triple seven, certainly all of the low-cost and ultra-low-cost carriers which fly the larger small aircraft like even A320s, A319s, 737s, we can we can accommodate those now. We can get low-cost carriers in here so we we fully expect to be recovering a lot of what we call "leakage," traffic that is taking a different mode of travel or using a different airport. So, they're having to travel farther right now to get to their final destination, because this airport was insufficient before we built this terminal. We're in a much more competitive advantage for the leisure travel. So, we're expecting it to level out and be about 50/50 when we're done. Brownsville has a very large, a lot of people are unaware that Brownsville does have such a large industrial base. So, we have a lot of business travel, the consequences of that. James Kent: That's fantastic. Now, Rob, the main phase of the project is complete, but Parabit's work isn't necessarily over. How will Parabit continue to work with the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport to ensure the technology and solutions required carry on into the future? Rob Leiponis: We're continuing in a support capacity to upgrade content as required on the various different digital signage platforms. We're working closely with the provider Genetec to integrate all of the cameras into the video management system. Genetec is a very open platform for leveraging analytics as well as recording video, but as well as the access camera platform, or the products that we installed in all the doorway and counter mount cameras are edge products. They can actually run the analytics on the actual device itself. It's a very powerful tool. Many of our banking customers have deployed this product throughout their teller stations and doorways of their branches. And as we continue to develop new products and new innovation, Bryant has been very receptive to evaluating and considering the products that we have developed. We have some new products that we're developing for supervising bathroom areas that don't involve a camera that will help in maintaining a very healthy environment for people using the various bathrooms and public access areas. As well as access control systems for private lounges, because now that airports are now starting to become meeting places where people may be flying in for a day or so, many airports are now looking at creating conference spaces. So that way, travelers or business people can come and fly into an airport, have two or three meetings airside, and then just get back on the plane and leave. So we have a new retail access solution that will bring it to the market in September. We're having actually several dialogues with international and domestic airports that are interested in the solution. James Kent: That's actually, that's a great idea. I used to travel in my past, and you know what just meeting up with somebody was very important, and if we could have had a meeting place at the airport man that would have been fantastic. So, we're closing in on our time today, Bryant, what has you most excited about the new terminal, and where things are headed as more and more people return to travel for leisure for business and everything in between? Bryant Walker: Really, I think that the opening up of the markets providing the service. That's really got me excited for the community. So that we can provide routes and destinations that people hadn't previously dreamed of coming directly into Brownsville. And we're fortunate to work with a company like Parabit, and he mentioned Genetec, and some others, which is another great thing about Parabit. All of their devices are so compatible and interchangeable, it's scalable, it's backward compatible with some of our legacy systems. I mean there's so many benefits to us and the technology that we built in here. I think that it creates that seamless curb to gate experience airports are really trying to drive towards now. So that when you show up to the airport, whether it's your parking, whether it's checking in with the airlines and ticketing, biometric access controls, and being able to self-bag tag things. All these steps and components, and even the TSA is getting in on it. They've got a cat system where you just feed your IDs into it. All the systems that we're working on here, really need to have that compatibility. Like I said before, it's an ecosystem. It's future proofing the terminal. Making sure that we can just move forward without having to worry that we're stuck with some sort of legacy something or another. So, we've been able to work with Parabit to provide the components, provide the technology that will help us achieve that. So, I'm really excited about the future of travel, and this terminal is providing all the functionality to make that happen. James Kent: And Rob, same question. What are you looking most forward to about the new terminal? Rob Leiponis: I just like the receptiveness that we received from Bryant and his team on the new technology that we were able to present to them. What my vision is, I mean creating a safe environment, for the airport staff, airline staff, customers coming in to visit, vendors as well. Trying to develop as many contactless touchpoints as possible, make people feel comfortable traveling as well as coming to work. These are extremely important things in the security world as it is today. I mean, we hope that this is the, you know, that would be nice to say that this is the end of any type of pandemic, but that's probably not a reality, so we have to all continue to work together to create all different types of contactless touch points to have people feel comfortable. We're working now on some projects with a partner to possibly roll out robots to perform different types of UVC, as well as chemical, disinfecting or cleaning of areas, as well as delivery of materials, and pick up materials or mail. I think automation is, you know, we're just at the brink of it. I mean, we keep thinking that we've gotten to a point where there's so much technology, but we're just at the tip of it because the world is evolving based upon this pandemic. And I think it's extremely important for us to be focusing on eliminating as many touch points that exists. Common touchpoints, it's been a bane to our existence with this recent pandemic, and that's really the focus of our business. James Kent: I love it. I love it. All right, Bryant, Rob, that about does it for now. Any last words from either one of you before we go? Bryant? Bryant Walker: I would say keep an eye out for Brownsville. It's growing by leaps and bounds. I don't know if you've seen on the news recently, but we're now launching rockets. There's one on the monitor here behind me. They're preparing to do some tests for that, sub-orbital tests. And all the people that use all the facilities around here fly in and out of this airport. For me, I mean, visit while you can. It's going to get busier and busier and busier and then it's just going to be more expensive and harder to get down here. So, I would encourage anybody listening to come take a look and come enjoy it. Enjoy what we've been able to install, and how convenient, easy the airport itself is to use. If you compare it to some of the larger airports in the major hubs around, a lot of people just dread going to the airport. We're looking to use the technologies, use the automation that Rob's talking about, to make it pleasurable experience. The customer service, and the customer experience is what the whole industry is really focused on, and I think we really hit it out of the park with this. James Kent: Sounds great. Rob, do you have any other last words? Rob Leiponis: No. It's just, it's been a pleasure to work with Bryant on this project. He's got great vision, so does his team. And really looking forward to seeing how we can establish other relationships like this and do something like we've done for Bryant and even take it beyond. Because we're a big collaborator with our client base. We spend a lot of time understanding what their needs are and trying to figure out how to create a future-proof technology that will always provide the ability to upgrade. Whatever it is that we provide to that client to the latest and greatest of what's available. James Kent: And if folks want to get in touch with Parabit, or if they want to get more information about the new terminal at BRO, what's the best way for them to do that? Bryant Walker: Well, for the airport, just, it's really easy we have all of our social media. You go to FlyBrownsville.com . We've got links there for, whether it's Facebook, Instagram or anything else that you're partial to. Or all the information is just available on the website itself. So that's FlyBrownsville.com . I'd check that out. James Kent: And Rob? Rob Leiponis: Parabit, visit our website , you know, we have the ability to chat with us off our website. We also are attending many tradeshows to try to support the airline industry. We're on the ground again. We went to one trade show, we're on track to do six more this year. So, visit us at any of our trade shows, and we do a lot of webinars, so if anybody's interested in any of the solutions that we provide, or discussing a custom concept, we do a lot of collaboration via webinar and WebEx solutions. So, those are the best ways to get us. James Kent: All right, big thanks to my guests, Bryant Walker, Assistant City Manager and Aviation Administrator for the city of Brownsville, Texas, and Rob Leiponis, CEO and President of Parabit Systems. Bryant, Rob, take care. Rob Leiponis: Thank you, have a good day. Bryant Walker: Thank you, James. James Kent: All right, and thanks once again for joining us for this look at the new passenger terminal at Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport, or airport code BRO. We'll be back with more episodes, but until then, I'm your host James Kent. Let's talk again soon.

Visitor Management: Innovative solutions in response to some of the biggest challenges around hospital security Subscribe to our podcast on Apple or Spotify to listen to this podcast and receive updates on new episodes. Listen to the audio-only version with playback controls here . Gabrielle: Hello and welcome to a live video podcast brought to you by Parabit Systems. My name is Gabrielle and I'll be your host for today's episode. Today we're joined by Rob Leiponis, CEO of Parabit Systems, Kevin Whaley, Director of Safety and Security at the George Washington University Hospital, and Stephen Biscotti, Director of Safety and Security at Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital. And in today's episode, we're going to be talking about what goes into modernizing healthcare security today. Thank you for joining and welcome. So let's go ahead and get started with a little introduction. If you can tell me a little bit about George Washington University Hospital and your role within it. Let's go ahead and start with Rob. Rob Leiponis: Hi, my name is Rob Leiponis from Parabit Systems, we're the provider of visitor management solutions , especially kiosks hardware and software for both of our clients on the on the chat with us today. Kevin Whaley: George Washington University Hospital is a hospital located in the nation's capital, Washington DC. It's a level one trauma center, we have 400 plus beds. It's a unique environment, we have an inpatient mental health unit and EDA that can see between two to 350 patients a day. So it's a pretty active environment inside of an urban, you know, Washington DC. So it has it's a, it's a unique place to work. From day to day, we see all kinds of different things here in the nation's capitol. Gabrielle: I bet, thank you, and Steven. Stephen Biscotti: Good afternoon, everybody. Stephen Biscotti, Director of Safety and Security at Mount Sinai, South Nassau in Oceanside, New York located in Long Island, we are a 455 bed hospital. We are at capacity on most days. And we have a visitor census of approximately 1,000 visitors per day, pre COVID. And we're running about 350 visitors per day post COVID. Gabrielle: Wow, wonderful. So this next question is for Kevin and Steven, although Rob, feel free to jump in if you have something to add. From your respective positions as directors of safety and security, what do you think are some of the biggest challenges around hospital security in general, but also more specifically at GWU and South Nassau? Let's go ahead and start with Kevin. Kevin Whaley: Yeah, so the challenges you have is healthcare security is unlike any other type of security, in that you're in an environment where folks are coming here, not because you're having a good day, you're not sitting home saying we want to do today, Oh, honey, your wife or husband wherever I go the hospital sit in emergency room for four and a half or eight hours and watch free cable TV, you know. You're here because you're sick, injured or hurt or someone you care about is sick, injured or hurt. So that adds a level of tension and anxiety throughout the facility. You know, we've got folks that, you know, unfortunately, someone can pass, you know, every day and someone's born every day. And we deal with everything in between that. So trying to balance that challenge while trying to provide a safe and secure environment for all of our patients that and our visitors here at the hospital can be challenging, and trying to have that balance to demonstrate empathy, while also trying to keep everybody safe and trying to make sure that folks act appropriately, and so we can treat them to provide the highest level of health care services we can here at GW hospital. Gabrielle: Absolutely. And Steven, what do you think some of the biggest challenges are around hospital security? Stephen Biscotti: Well, I have to concur with Kevin, I think this is you know, it can be interchangeable of visitor management and workplace violence, you know, visitor management , where we have a very strict visitor policy in place where it's only two visitors per day, from 12 to 8. And as you can see what's happening around the world, especially here in the United States, especially in ER, workplace violence is on the rise. So we try to provide the highest level of safety and security to our patients and staff and visitors 365 days a year. And it's very, very challenging, believe me. Gabrielle: Oh, I do believe you. There's plenty of challenges that go along with security. And, you know, with the presence of these challenges attached specifically to hospital security, you were able to come up with an innovative solution in response. So can you please speak a little to how you came up with the idea of implementing a visitor management system? And what exactly led you to the solution? Let's go ahead and start with Kevin. Kevin Whaley: Yeah, so it's a unique story. So for me, it came to me when I'd been traveling for work a lot. Pre COVID, I'd been traveling a lot for work, and I was at the airport. And I just realized over time, the difference between, you know when you stand in line, and go up to the counter and there's like four or five people at the counter and you had five or six staff members back there checking you and checking your bags and wherever and how over the last several years, they transitioned to having kiosks. So you can have six or seven kiosks out there. And you have one person who stands there and can manage six or seven kiosks and direct folks and check them and so on and so forth. So that's kind of where the original idea came to me as far as looking at other options as far as kiosks were concerned. And then also for us, it was a matter of finding a ah, partners to say more than one partners, to, that were willing to work with us to take what our physical process was here at GW hospital of screening visitors coming in and checking them, which was the visitor comes in, we asked them who they're here to visit provide the patient's name, we verify that patient's name by printed out census, or in or in the computer and SMS, but then asked for a photo ID, we look at the photo ID, we then had to imprint their name on a little sign in sheet. And then we would issue a color wristband that was specific for that particular day, and then tell that visitor where they're going in the hospital that particular unit before they're going to. So, trying to find a partner that was willing to take that manual process and put it into technology. We were fortunate enough to partner with Parabit and Stopware, through PassagePoint, to the actual VMS, sorry, visitor management system itself, the software, to develop from a thought to actually implementation to actually physically rolling it out here at GW hospital. So where we are able to actually verify a visitor to the patient by HL7 integrations that systems integration between the Parabit and our SMS software, so that in real time when a patient comes in and checks into kiosk or at the workstation, you type into visitors patients name that verifies a., is the patient here in the hospital, and b., can they receive visitors. And if they have to Steven's point earlier, we're at one visitor per patient per day, code protocols to say now as well to make sure they haven't had already had a visit for the day. So it's like I said, from going from a thought implementation and working with Rob and his team have been phenomenal to bring us integration. We're very, very excited about this. Gabrielle: That's incredible. And Steven, what led you to the solution? Stephen Biscotti: Well, almost similar to Kevin, my doctor's office, my dentist office, and my eye doctor all utilize kiosks. So I actually had the permission of the offices to take a picture of their systems and spoke with my leadership here and says why can't we bring visitor management into the hospital. And we do it we do have an open architectural design. We implemented kiosks at a multitude of entrances, our main entrance, our ambulatory entrance and our emergency room entrance. And the whole premise behind that was the Parabit Systems requires a either a New York state driver's license or a passport, it captures the photo, it also takes a picture, we were able to obtain the personal information of the individual, and we store it on our network. And we have a network that can store for infinity. So God forbid, we did have to go back and take a look at someone for whatever the issue may be, an unusual occurrence, etc. We have the ability of going back and locate an individual and have him already identified. Gabrielle: Absolutely, and you know, keeping tabs as you described on visitor management, it's just such an important component of hospital security. And this solution you created is a great way to take care of that responsibility. And you know, that kind of leads us into our next question, which is, what is your philosophy on visitor management in the healthcare space? And a follow up to that? What do you think are the gaps and traditional hospital visitor management systems? Let's go ahead and start with Kevin. Kevin Whaley: Yeah, so typically, what I noticed was I mentioned earlier about having been able to partner and finding Rob and finding our partners at Stopware was, there's, I want to say a dozen other visitor management systems out there that really aren't really visitor management. It's more like a visitor tracking sort of software because it doesn't have this technology to where you can integrate in HL7 integration so it's going to require your IT team within your hospital to work with PassagePoint and Parabit to develop the codes and all the directory, I'm not an IT guy, but that's how they did it. For working together to where you have that real confirmation of that a visitor is here to see an actual patient that's in your hospital versus the other systems where yes, they scan your ID yes, they take your picture. And yes, you put in the patient's name but they don't have that, that integration to go to verify that that patient is actually in your hospital. That patient can have a visitor for instance for us we have a special attention list. So we have visitors that as I said we're a level one trauma center. So I've got patients here that are victims of gunshots, violence, stabbings, domestic violence. I've got being here in Washington DC we have we call Hallo Protectee that can be anyone from a government official to a foreign dignitary could be here at the hospital seeking treatment or visiting a patient. So there's a level of visitor restrictions here at the hospital and to seize point my hospital here is not an open campus. It's a closed campus. So we control our entry points to the public to the ED entrance and our main entrance. So, having that true visitor management really makes a difference for us and to seize point earlier about being able to go back. We've been, after utilizing the system we've been able to not only go back and look at nefarious acts, for instance, patient who was an outpatient radiology stole the receptionist cell phone from the front desk and walk out the front door. So we have identified who that patient was getting name, ID, and so on and so forth, and we contacted law enforcement, all the information available for that. Gabrielle: Awesome. And Steven, what is your philosophy on visitor management in the healthcare space? Stephen Biscotti: So I have to concur with Kevin on all facets of what he just said. But it was vetting out the vendor, what was going to be the best fit for South Nassau and luckily for us, Parabit is only about a 20 minute drive away. So going with the local vendor was very, very important the HL licensing also attracted us to Parabit , which does create that integration that Kevin just spoke about, and implementing other hardware and software security applications. And of course, the denominator in this entire package is staffing. And we have a very high level of staffing. We only hire high level, high level, security professionals, retired law enforcement and veterans here at South Nassau. Gabrielle: Absolutely. And do you have any actionable steps that hospitals and healthcare systems can take today to get just one step closer to modernizing their current security system, so they're up to date, Kevin? Kevin Whaley: Ah, biggest recommendation I would recommend is working with your integrators. I think to Steve's point earlier, I'm not around the corner from Rob and Parabit , but his partners, Heather Glezen is one of the folks that works for Rob have been great partners with me, I got to go up to Parabit, they're located in Long Island, New York, I took the train to the Long Island express train for the first time in my life, that was an adventure, to say the least. But I got to go and go and meet with Rob and his team as engineers to literally discuss the fabrication and they've actually designed and fabricated the kiosks to meet our needs. And what I mean by that is that here at GW, we don't use what other systems may have a visitor sticker, as you see a lot of folks wearing the stickers on their clothes, we worked with Parabit to manufacture and design to Kiosks to be able to hold and maintain wristbands. So our when we're done checking in, it prints out a wristband on that wristband has the date, it has the patient's room, they're going to the bed and the floor number for that visitor, the biggest important thing as I said, there's that date there for us. So that when someone's coming back in the next day or something like that, we make sure that we give them an updated wristband by checking them back into the kiosk. That's where I look at it as far as system integration. The more systems you can integrate the two underneath each other, for instance, your video, your access control, and your visitor management . Underneath one umbrella, the more integrated they are, the better off you'll be and to be able to expand as well we've grown healthcare security , so ever changing. Nothing's set in stone in healthcare, you got to be able to flow and ebb with the changes in times and the environments that you have. So my recommendation would be to partner with a good integrate, find a good integrator if you can do and partner with them to work on any and all the challenges that we see every single day in healthcare. Gabrielle: Absolutely. Those are some great steps to take. And Steven, do you have any actionable insights? Stephen Biscotti: So again, I'm going to agree with everything that Kevin said, I think you really have to look from the outside of the box in look at what your architectural design is, I think we've partnered with a very good company in Parabit and, this is just the beginning. We need to implement more security control systems. We need to down the road, I think, you know, looking at best practices, rolled up competitive hospitals out there that are useful in the optical access control turnstiles, which just act as another layer, another barrier for visitor management for visitor control, trying to keep everybody on the up and up, trying to keep everybody happy, keeping the lines down and getting them through as quickly as possible. So, you do go to some hospitals. You know, we all visit hospitals and nobody wants to wait on the long lines like Disney has, and what happens people start getting upset. They become irate and they start venting on the wrong people, they're venting on the people that are looking to help themselves. So we're trying to look outside the box with a think tank to see how we could streamline that process, segregating the employees coming into the institution from a multitude of employee entrances and keeping the community coming into a main entrance. So taking all of that in into consideration, there's a lot of work that still needs to be done in the healthcare community. But I think, working collectively, like we do here in Long Island, with our other hospitals and our security director forum that we have here in Long Island, we do meet quarterly, and we discuss what's happening in the healthcare community and what's out there. And we do, and we do invite vendors in and see what they have, and what might be the best practice job, not just today, but for the future as well. Gabrielle: Absolutely. And those are great steps to have now in the present and working towards the future towards hospital security. Rob, do you have anything to add here? Rob Leiponis: Yeah, the just creating a, you know, a solution that improves workflows improves security validates credentials of people being able to validate that, you know, if someone is allowed into a space with for a certain amount of time, and then not allowing them in afterwards, as a second visitor, being able to do background checks on on people as they enter the facility and blocking out people from entering facilities that shouldn't be visiting patients within the hospital. And just eliminating contact points. I mean, so to me, visitor management is a is a much more efficient solution served as a kiosk solution than it is as a man guard solution, because it eliminates the interface of people handling credentials back and forth to a guard and to the people that are visiting the hospitals in this day and age, you really want to minimize how much contact that you have. You come into with people all of our kiosks are have antimicrobial touch points, protection on them. The newer kiosks that we're that we're fabricating have antimicrobial powder coating surfaces that we're implementing. So we're all about trying to constantly innovate what we create, work with our partners to address their specific needs, understand their work flows, and, and work with our partner with our partner Stopware to come up with the solutions that directly satisfy all of their work requirements. So that way they can minimize the cost and provide a safer environment for the hospital industry. Gabrielle : Absolutely, and that constant innovation is what is keeping you guys so successful. And just ahead of the curve when it comes to hospital security. Well, just thank you so much for these actionable insights when it comes to modern modernizing healthcare, security and hospitals. And I want to ask, Do you have any last thoughts or points you'd like to share for the audience watching? Rob Leiponis: I just think it's really important for you know, as Steve and Kevin had outlined that, you know, visitor management is one point. But integrating biometrics with, like Steven mentioned, with turnstiles with utilizing solutions that will work with fingerprint scanning or facial recognition, so that way visitors can be pre screened before they enter a facility. So there's even more of a of a of a better security measure to, to minimize, you know, any threats that may that potentially could come into the hospital, automate the in the workflows to make it less expensive to operate their hospitals and provide us a safer environment, I think is extremely important. You know, improving security , surveillance measures throughout the facility, to protect the staff, as well as the patients I think is imperative in these days and times. Unfortunately, as we all are experiencing, unfortunately, the world is increasingly and rapidly becoming an unsafer place. So we're constantly needing to stay on the edge and develop technologies to protect, you know, the patients, the visitors and the employees of the hospital industry. Gabrielle: Absolutely, well thank you for that. And well, that's all we have for today's content. So just a big thank you to Kevin, Steven and Rob for joining us today. And speaking to how we can Modernize Healthcare security solutions. If you want to check out more content from Parabit Systems. Look for this podcast on Spotify, Apple Music or wherever it is you get your podcast set. Thanks again for joining us. Thank you.

One of the biggest trends that we've seen on the healthcare side has actually been self-registration, allowing a visitor to approach a kiosk, follow specific guidelines and policies that they have to meet and be able to get a badge for themselves without using hospital manpower resources. We're thrilled to announce our collaboration with STOPware on an exciting episode exploring Visitor Management, Tech Innovations, and Strategic Alliances. Listen now for valuable insights and engaging conversation! Watch the video on the A Bit About Media Center here . Listen on the A Bit About Media Center here . Listen on Spotify or Apple . work with other systems that these hospitals already have in place. Gabrielle: Hello everyone and welcome to another podcast episode brought to you by Parabit. I'm your host for today, Gabrielle. And right now I'm thrilled to be joined by Bob Hrisicak, who's Vice President of sales at Parabit, as well as Phil Mantia, Vice President of sales at STOPware and Sara Markle, Strategic Account Manager at STOPware. And in today's episode, we dive into the realm of Visitor Management within the healthcare industry, just focusing on the collaboration between STOPware and Parabit. Joining us here today are the experts behind the collaboration. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Thank you very much. Absolutely. So to set the stage, let's go ahead and go between each of you and just give our audience a little bit on your background of your name, title, and just what you do within your role. Phil Mantia: All right, excellent. I could start. My name is Phil Mantia, VP of sales at STOPware. So I work with the enterprise sales team, working with end users on providing the right solution based on their Visitor Management needs. We're also very customer facing. So besides the sales side, we get very involved in project management and the implementation and training side of Visitor Management as well. Phil Mantia: Awesome. I'll go ahead. Hi everybody. My name is Sara Markle. I am one of the strategic account managers at STOPware. I've been with the company for about five years. So really also alongside with Phil, focus on pre and post sales. So from everything from determining visitor policies to moving forward to deciding what's next with a lot of our customers. Bob Hrisicak: I'm Bob Hrisicak, vice president of sales at Parabit Systems. I've been with the organization 14 years. Parabit Systems is a manufacturing company. We manufacture kiosks, digital displays for airports, a lot of building hard access systems for banks and financial institutions. And we're based here on Long Island and we're also in very different industries as well as hospitals, healthcare, I should say, banking, schools and things of that nature, but mostly on the manufacturing side, Parabit Systems. Gabrielle: Fantastic. Well, thank you everyone. I'd love to hear a little bit more as well. A brief background on STOPware as a company. They've been pioneering the lobby security software marketplace for quite some time now. So love to learn a little bit more about STOPware as well as their flagship product, Passagepoint. So please tell us a little bit more. Phil Mantia: Yeah, absolutely. So just to get started, STOPware introduced Passagepoint to the security market back in 1997. So we really are considered pioneers in the Visitor Management space. Most organizations weren't using Visitor Management back then. It was really the traditional logbook where they were basically handwriting visitor information and handwriting badges. And what we saw initially way back then was a lot of customers wanted to move to Visitor Management just to move to the electronic age, start keeping stuff in a database, an electronic database that they could access, start printing nicer type badges and things like that. So initially, our type of product was really more of a badging solution. But over the years, especially in healthcare, there's been a lot of events, a lot of things that have happened and the need for Visitor Management has really evolved. So our focus as a company is 100% Visitor Management. That's all we concentrate on. And we're always looking, listening to feedback from customers on new trends and new features that are going to add value to the marketplace. And we also continuously develop our product to stay on the forefront of the new technologies and offerings that are out there. Gabrielle: Fantastic. And Sara, did you have anything to add there? Sara Markle: Yeah, I think what's kind of nice and unique about our company is we do have like an in- house engineering team. So we take a lot of feedback, as Phil mentioned, from customers of all kinds to figure out product enhancements and other custom development and all the things along those lines. So we stay really on top of the market because we're constantly receiving feedback from our customers. Gabrielle: Well, I'd like to also focus a little bit more on the partnership between STOPware and Parabit. Just ultimately, how do these two companies come together in order to deliver just a complete hardware and software Visitor Management solution, but more particularly within the healthcare industry? Could you take us through that? Phil Mantia: Yeah, absolutely. So for us, what we always saw on the Visitor Management side would be hospitals managing visitors at a desk. Okay, so the visitor would come into a lobby, they would go to an information desk, a security desk and be processed. One of the biggest trends that we've seen on the healthcare side has actually been self-registration, allowing a visitor to approach a kiosk, follow specific guidelines and policies that they have to meet and be able to get a badge for themselves without using hospital manpower resources. So this was a great partnership for us with Parabit because they're true manufacturers. They don't just have something off the shelf that they can offer. A lot of our success stories have been special projects where things had to be developed and things had to be created. We're really the experts on the software side. Parabit's the expert on the hardware side. Coming together, the customer actually gets the best of both. We have some really good success stories with Parabit from planning all the way to deployment that we share with other customers. But ideally, it's just Parabit's ability to provide what's needed for the customer in terms of hardware and also being able to support that hardware for the customer. And then anything on the software side, that's really where it's more of a partnership where we work together to provide the best solution possible. Gabrielle: Bob, could you share a little bit more on the hardware side of things? Bob Hrisicak: Yeah, just going back with Phil stated, I guess we go back many years ago when we met at trade shows. That's where we were introduced to each other. And I would get calls from the end user, you know, I need a kiosk and I would say, okay, what's the software? They would say, Passagepoint STOPware. And that's how we started to build our relationship. On the hardware side, really, it all depends on what STOPware can support. And over the years, we designed our kiosks based on what the hardware they can support with their application. So we don't have kiosks that sit on the shelf. It's like the March of the Wooden Soldiers. We make things as the orders come in. So it gives us the flexibility to customize the kiosk based on their requirements of what they're looking to achieve. You know, most of the devices in there change over time. As we all know, technology changes quickly, and the devices we put in maybe six or seven years ago could be end of life. So we manufacture our kiosk where we can retrofit anything that may change down the road. So it's a good investment on the customer when they make a kiosk. If something changes, we can retrofit it. And sometimes we can do that in the field versus shipping something back to us. So it's been a good partnership with our friends at Passagepoint or STOPware, depending on which word you'd like to use, STOPware makes it easy for me. And we've probably been doing projects together for the last eight or nine years. Gabrielle: Good partnership, plenty of great success stories. I'm sure some challenges come along though with these success stories. So what do you think were some of the unique, more of the unique challenges faced when working specifically within the healthcare space? How are Parabit and both STOPware, as we're collaborating with the success solutions, but also with these challenges, how are you working together to navigate any and all of challenges that might have come to you guys? Sara Markle: Yeah, absolutely. From the STOPware side, I think our software is very policy driven. So one solution at one location is going to be completely different from a hospital somewhere else. So for us, it's really important that we define a visitor policy with our customers. You know, a visitor policy could be, what are you going to do when they arrive on site and they're on a watch list? What are their badges going to look like? Asking questions like that is really important from our side, because then when we're in there and we're configuring, we know exactly what to do. We don't have to go back to those policy makers. I'm sure you can imagine with hospitals, those conversations take a while because there's many different types of people that can come in. It's a high stress environment. And we used to really specifically work with security. That's completely changed. You know, we're working with security, we're working with IT, we're working with nursing staff. So the personnel on these calls has completely changed. You know, of course, obviously dealing with patient information as well, we deal with things like HIPAA. It's really important that we maintain those guidelines. So we have lots of conversations about that just to make sure we're in line with what the hospital wants. And as I kind of mentioned at the beginning, predominantly Visitor Management back in the day was really focusing on inpatient visitors versus now it's really anyone coming on site, you know, outpatients, outpatient visitors, contractors, vendors, depending on the different type of category, there could be a completely different workflow. So really being able to define those policies, define those guidelines, and be able to actually execute them can be a challenge. For us, we definitely have figured out ways and approaches to assist our customers with asking these questions, but it can still, you know, be a bit of a challenge depending on where we're working at. Gabrielle: And Phil, do you have anything to follow up with that? Phil Mantia: Yeah. So, I mean, I would just add, you know, in the past, I mean, going back years ago, we used to really work with security in the hospital where kind of like just to build on what Sara said earlier, now we're dealing with patient relations and administration. You know, there's so many different departments that are focused on Visitor Management. Security makes sense to have, you know, be in charge of Visitor Management, but, you know, for them, it was always using our product as a security product. You know, strong rules and policies that people have to meet to get the badge. Where we see other departments in the hospital like patient relations, they're more focused on the visitor experience, right? They want you to go through the rules and the policies, but they don't want you standing on line for 10 minutes or making it so difficult for you to come in. So I think communication with all these different players in the healthcare environment is really important. And ultimately, you know, it's to find that balance between a secure solution and a good visitor experience for that specific end user. Gabrielle: And Bob. Bob Hrisicak: Yeah, from where I sit on the hardware side, some of the challenges that Sara and Phil, I see a lot, but they don't really give any thought to when it comes down to how quickly they want someone to sign in. And it adds to a lot of, you know, check-in time like Phil said earlier. But one of the unique things we do with STOPware is that before a kiosk ships our facility, they remote in and check all the devices. We do our checking as well, but they'll set up a test here on our kiosk to make sure when it gets to the end user, it's performing on the way they wanted the system to design. As far as the workflow, the printing of the badge, we also do dispensing of prox cords out of the kiosk. So before it ships from our factory here, Phil and his team remote in with their engineers and do some testing before it gets to the end user. And that's primarily where most of our success has been. When it gets there, you know, all the troubleshooting is out of the way and it's really becomes a plug and play device really. Gabrielle: Well, both companies actually recently exhibited at the IAHSS trade show. So could you share maybe some key takeaways from the show or maybe even some trends in patient Visitor Management that you feel that have also had an impact on Parabit and STOPware, just how these trends you've seen influence strategy and solution? Bob Hrisicak: Can I take that first? Because it was our first time going to the show. And so I was a new kid on the block and speaking a lot of the security directors there, they're similar to what Sara and Phil said. Now, everyone needs to buy into the program. In the past, security would buy the product, they bring IT in and some other folks and everybody was getting caught by surprises. And there was a lot of pushback because no one really had an involvement in it. So my discussions with security when they came past the Parabit booth was to make sure that you buy in, get all the players that are going to participate in the program. It's not only security, it's community affairs, it's the IT department because they have to support it. It's who's going to staff the kiosk, who's going to become like an ambassador to educate the visitor and how to use it. If it needs to be replaced paper, whose function is to do that and avoids a lot of finger pointing. And it makes the experience better when you have everybody buy into the solution. Gabrielle: And Sara? Sara Markle: Yeah, absolutely. So we've been going to IAHSS for a couple of years. So we had a lot of traction this year, which was really good to see. There was a lot of interest in self-service, which was really good to talk about, especially having Bob there. A lot of interest in self-service of maybe 100% of the Visitor Management registration is going to go on at the kiosk, maybe 80%. So there was a nice mix of some people wanting badges to be printed behind the desk to give that pleasant experience of handing over the badge and being able to smile at the visitor coming on site. So for us, we do have the option to take it as self-service as we want or have a backup receptionist as we like to call them. But majority of the conversations were around the self-service trend. Also for us with Visitor Management, I'm sure you can imagine that that comes with managing many different kinds of visitors, people maybe that you don't want on site or VIPs coming on site as well. So also a lot of conversation about managing restrictions based off patients, if they have approved visitors that they want to see on site or maybe restraining orders on file for other visitors. So a lot of conversation about being able to manage those temperamental visitors, as one would say. And then also the option for access control integration. For anyone that's not familiar, access control would be giving temporary credentials to visitors coming on site. This could be contractors or vendors. This could also even be inpatient visitors that need to go to a specific elevator to go where their patient is. So unlike other years, I feel like the conversations are all very generic around just Visitor Management and badging visitors and getting rid of their paper log books. But I think Visitor Management is more of a trend now. So it's interesting to see people coming in with very specific questions about some of our more robust modules on the market right now. Gabrielle: And Phil, do you have anything to add to that? Phil Mantia: No, I mean, I think those are primarily the trends that we are seeing. I would also say that we are seeing a lot in terms of restrictions, patient restrictions, that hospitals want to automatically communicate to people at the desk. Maybe a patient in a room doesn't want to see a certain visitor, or maybe they already have a bunch of people in their room and we don't want to let other people up. So the ability to integrate with other hospital systems is another big trend that we're seeing. So they can get real-time information at the desk when they're giving the badge out. Gabrielle: Well, as we're nearing the close of the conversation here, do any of you have any last thoughts you'd like to leave with our audience? Phil Mantia: So I have something to add. I mean, in terms of hospitals, when we speak to them and we see hospitals trying other types of solutions on the market to manage visitors. And what I would say is it's very important to have a system that's going to integrate with other hospital systems that are in their environment. Because what we used to see a lot of at a front desk is somebody signs a visitor into Passagepoint, and then they have to go to another screen to look up where the patient is. And then they have to go to another screen to see if this person's on a bad guy list or if there's restrictions. And we have so many integration points in our software and in our kiosk solutions as well with Parabit that makes it really easy to manage everything from one screen. And that ultimately is going to result in your visitors are going to wait less time on lines. They're going to get their badges quicker. They're going to be happier coming and going, which is what we see a lot of focus on in hospitals also. So once again, not just security, which I know is primary at the hospital, but factoring in the experience side of it. Sara Markle: Yeah, absolutely. To piggyback off that, of course, we want secure solutions and we want everybody on site to feel secure, but it's really important to also keep in mind the visitor experience, the patient experience, the employee experience. All of those can be assisted by having a policy-based system or something that really considers all workflows. We also have found that some of the most successful deployments really kind of use our system to its full capacity. So that means utilizing our REST API tool to be able to create more custom workflows and integrate with other systems. So one system isn't going to fit all of these hospital solutions. We can get really specific and utilize our other technology to be able to work with other systems that these hospitals already have in place. Bob Hrisicak: I guess my closing remark is for those that need a kiosk is always check with your provider, your software provider, what devices that you support. A lot of the desktop devices, not necessarily a good for self-service kiosks. So when I get inquiries for a kiosk, it's generic. I need a kiosk and they're not specific to what their requirements are. So with our friends at PassagePoint STOPware, we have that defined. So if somebody calls in, I already know what their hardware support requires. So it's an easy quoting of the kiosk and the end result to the end user is something that performs based on their expectations. Gabrielle: Fantastic. Well, that wraps up the conversation for today. So thank you to Bob Hrisicak, Vice President of Sales at Parabit. Also Phil Mantia, Vice President of Sales at STOPware and Sara Markle, Strategic Account Manager at STOPware. Thanks so much for being on the podcast. Thank you everyone. You're welcome. Take care. Gabrielle: Absolutely. And as always, if you want to learn more, please visit parabit.com and look for this podcast wherever it is you get your podcasts at. I've been your host, Gabrielle. Thanks for tuning in. Email sales@parabit.com for more info. Visit our Visitor Management page to view all Parabit Visitor Management solutions.

As the retail banking environment continuously transforms into a digital environment with many new AI digital touch points via mobile web and self-service technology, improvements in asset and facility security, customer safety, and best-in-class customer experience have never been more important. Consumer banking and private banking offices, teller less branches, ATM and ITM facilities are becoming more streamlined, architecturally open, and filled with digital consumer and retail business technology. The need for branded unstaffed brick-and-mortar banking facilities has been growing over the last several years. As self-service banking facilities are deployed, the supervision and security of these facilities has become a priority. Considering accelerated loitering, confrontation, and poor sanitary events. Effective managed access to retail and remote banking facilities helps protect customers, assets, and supports knowledge-based decisions that save organizational time and expense. Our access control solution, secures facilities, supports nimble response to potential threats while delivering a premiere customer experience. Effective control over who enters and when customers exit your facilities is more critical than ever. Customers gain secure access to your ATM lobbies and branches using our Parabit MMR BT reader. With their debit or credit cards via NFC or magnetic strike cards, with wearable tech or mobile wallets, or with Bluetooth via a bank or credit union's mobile banking app. With today's heightened security concerns and attacks within remote banking ATM, ITM and autonomous banking environments. It's critical to know who and when someone enters or exits your remote facilities. Upon customers entering the facility, a door contact supervises your facility door status. An active presence detector senses when a person enters the facility and alerts when they overstay their welcome. A light sensor trigger sends an event message if lighting falls below compliance levels or presents a liability for a customer's safety. The Parabit Access Control ecosystem keeps your customers safe, and helps secure your facility from potential threats such as loitering, low light levels. And door supervision because an open or unlocked door is the leading cause of an unsafe remote banking environment. When a customer attempts to access the lobby in the doors do not open, staff or vendors who attempt to override the lobby locking system but cannot enter the lobby, if a customer is unable to exit the lobby, if a person enters the lobby but does not engage any self-service equipment, a text and or an email is sent. NFC and magnetic stripe cardholders identified as suspicious or considerable risk can be denied access or allowed access. Allowed access supports dispatching law enforcement to confront or arrest the suspicious person. In addition to supervising the facility, if the MMR reader detects skimming or tamper event, a text and or an email is sent. Our Parabit Access Control software suite provides robust remote monitoring, configuration, diagnostics, reporting, and supervision features that are hosted on SaaS, LAN or WAN, cellular to ethernet environments. Parabit access control keeps your customers safe and facilities secure. For more information about our access control products, contact us today. Email sales@parabit.com or inquire here .

Kiosk users can view and acknowledge alerts, notifications, disclaimers, agreements and more. Upon a visitor's check-in the host receives notifications via email, and/or SMS. Managing visitors is often manual and inefficient. Prioritize safety and security to help manage the workplace and provide an improved experience for all. The Self-Service Venus Visitor Management kiosk is an effective solution to streamline the check in process, save time and protect the premises. Visitors engaged with the kiosk, scanning a driver's license or passport. Capture a photo to be displayed on the visitor badge. Based on your specifications, the system verifies the individual, then the kiosk prints a badge or wristband and or dispenses an access control card. Kiosk users can view and acknowledge alerts, notifications, disclaimers, agreements and more. Upon a visitor's check-in the host receives notifications via email, and/or SMS. It also integrates with building access control, HR, federal and state background or watch lists systems and more and generates notifications and reports on these events. It's ideal for environments that control access for visitors, customers, contractors or employees from healthcare to corporate. Parabit kiosks are expertly designed and constructed here in the US. Our designers and engineers manufacture the body, then integrate peripherals. Standard peripherals include cameras, barcode readers, document scanners and more. Once the software integration is completed, tested within a client UAT environment, the kiosk is ready for installation. The Venus model is available as a 19 or 17 inch touchscreen monitor or tablet in either portrait or landscape orientation. powdercoating finishes available in standard or custom colors with a variety of branding options. We provide a kiosk configuration for every interior and exterior use case that gives you the flexibility your business needs. Optimize customer experience self-service and security with our visitor, vehicle, vendor and employee management kiosks. See all Parabit Kiosks here . Transcription: Managing visitors is often manual and inefficient. Prioritize safety and security to help manage the workplace and provide an improved experience for all. The self-service Venus visitor management kiosk is an effective solution to streamline the check-in process save time, and protect the premises. Visitors engage with the kiosk, scanning a driver's license, or passport, Capture a photo to be displayed on the visitor badge. Based on your specifications, the system verifies the individual. Then the kiosk prints a badge or wristband and or dispenses an access control card. Kiosk users can view and acknowledge alerts, notifications, disclaimers, agreements, and more. Upon a visitor's check-in, the host receives notifications via email and or SMS. It also integrates with building access control, HR, federal and state background, or watch list systems, and more, and generates notifications and reports on these events. It's ideal for environments that control access for visitors, customers, contractors, or employees from health care to corporate. Parabit kiosks are expertly designed and constructed here in the US. Our designers and engineers manufacture the body then integrate peripherals. Standard peripherals include cameras, barcode readers, document scanners, and more. Once the software integration is completed, tested within a client UAT environment, the kiosk is ready for installation. The Venus model is available as a nineteen or seventeen inch touchscreen monitor or tablet in either portrait or landscape orientation. Powder coating finishes available in standard or custom colors with a variety of branding options. We provide a kiosk configuration every interior and exterior use case. That gives you the flexibility your business needs. Optimize customer experience, self-service, and security with our visitor, vehicle, vendor, and employee management kiosks. Learn more at parabit.com. For more information, please email sales@parabit.com , or fill out our contact form here .

New York airports achieve customer satisfaction and return on investment through digital signage and self-service welcome centers . Originally published by: Visitors to New York area airports – JFK, LaGuardia and Newark International – are booking hotels faster, finding transportation into the city easier and not experiencing the typical headaches involved in travelling to the USA’s busiest city. Meanwhile the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the governing body of the aforementioned airports, is providing better customer service and moving swiftly towards a serious ROI in its arrival terminal technology. That technology is a series of digital Welcome Centers , designed and implemented by Parabit Systems of Roosevelt, New York. With its arches brightly coloured in yellow and blue, passengers are welcomed into New York with helpful kiosks, digital signs and brochure displays to accommodate their stay in the city and surrounding areas. But the passengers are not the only ones to reap the benefits of the Welcome Centers. Since the units were installed, the Port Authority has been able to enhance customer service while capitalising on revenue opportunities related to ground transportation, ATMs and digital signage advertising. The Technology In what is being called “One of the best examples of the integration of digital signage and kiosks in one enclosure,” Parabit created the Welcome Center design several years ago specifically for the Port Authority. The yellow and blue arch design gives a single, identifiable look to all arrival areas in the largest three airports in the region. The idea is that no matter which airport a passenger might arrive into, they will have an icon showing them where to get served for hotels, flight information, lost baggage, car rental reservations and ground transportation. “After some research, we learned that in Roman times the arch always served as a welcoming icon into a city,” says Robert Leiponis, CEO of Parabit Systems. “We’ve designed our Welcome Centers in the Port Authority’s airports with this in mind. The core concept is based on the arch, which resonates with travellers either consciously or subconsciously as a welcome sign to New York City.” The key technological trait is the expandability of the unit. The Welcome Centers are modular, so they can be scaled up or down as the requirements of the airport change and as terminals are improved via their reconstruction. They feature interchangeable panels that can house electronics such as interactive information and telephone kiosks , digital signs , ticketing machines , and Parabit’s latest application, the Virtual Concierge , which promotes a green effort by providing digital brochures that can be emailed and/or printed. Set to be released later this year, Parabit’s Virtual Concierge solution will eliminate thousands of tourism brochures that clutter arrival areas. The application turns a touchscreen into an interactive database of local attractions, allowing travellers to access multimedia content on their attractions/services provided. The application is installed in several beta locations and will be ready for production release by the end of 2011. Along with Parabit’s Virtual Concierge application, a Remote Content Manager and a back-end management website is provided that allows advertisers to log in and update their virtual brochures/media. Parabit has developed a low-profile card-dispensing kiosk and is attempting to work with the New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) to create an interface to dispense a MetroCard, as typically MTA ticketing kiosks are quite large. Device-charging kiosks, which charge travellers’ mobile phones and other devices for a small fee, are also scheduled to roll out to the Welcome Centers next year. For the Port Authority, the Welcome Centers have solved a location-based issue through consolidation of services. “We had separate desks for information, ground transportation, ticketing, etc,” says Ralph Tragale, the Port Authority Aviation Department’s assistant director of public affairs. “There were too many desks and they were spread across the arrivals area. We saw an opportunity to centralise the functions in the terminal.” Customer Service The Welcome Centers don’t completely eliminate human interaction, however. “Sometimes you need a person to talk to in the case of a complicated trasportation issue,” Leiponis says. “For this reason we have integrated desks into each Welcome Center where a Customer Care Representative can be placed.” A Port Authority Customer Care Representative, also known as a Redcoat, is a Port Authority vendor that provides concierge services at the Welcome Center when needed. Former help-desk employees have found the Welcome Center as a better way to provide customer service. “In the airport business, safety and security is paramount, but a close second is the customer experience,” Tragale says. “The Welcome Centers have helped us better allocate resources.” There have been some improvements to the arrivals areas of the Port Authority’s airports thanks to the installation of the Welcome Centers. For example, as part of the design Parabit placed a railing system around the Welcome Centers that creates a barrier between arriving travellers and unlicensed cab drivers. Travellers are therefore able to explore practical and cost-effective transportation options into the city. The ROI The Welcome Centers are providing an ROI to the Port Authority in several ways, although using them to create extra revenue streams wasn’t the original intent. The Welcome Centers use digital signage to show advertisements placed by businesses looking to reach travelers in an engaging way. Once enticed by an advertisement presented via the digital signage, the traveler is drawn in and exposed to other promotional messages at kiosk level. Also, airports typically have hotel phone boards at their welcome centres that feature local hotels that pay a fee to have their name listed on the board. The Port Authority is taking this concept further by digitising these boards and integrating them into the Welcome Centers. The Port Authority says the model could be extended to include car rental companies, town car services, restaurants, attractions and other transportation companies. “Anytime you can bring in a technology that can supplement and/or allow labour to be redeployed to more effective duties and increase revenue, you’ll get the attention of airports,” said Leiponis. Building on Success The Welcome Center project is shaping up to be the beginning of a beautiful relationship between Parabit and the Port Authority. Parabit originally won the contract because of its ability to provide a complete turnkey solution that demonstrated an understanding of design, manufacturing and the integration of digital signage and various kiosk solutions. The Port Authority has since signed a contract to expand the Welcome Center technology to its AirTrain JFK rail stations that connect JFK Airport to New York City’s subway, bus, commuter trains and airport parking lots. At the two AirTrain remote terminal locations (Howard Beach and Jamaica), Parabit has installed a more rugged Welcome Center solution. For the other 10 AirTrain Stations Parabit has designed a monolithic interactive digital signage kiosk using 42" touchscreens and 26" digital displays. Travellers can use these screens to search destinations within the NY Metro area and get directions via the public transportation network that the MTA manages.

Organizations utilize visitor management to oversee visitor-related information. This includes individuals like customers, agents, investors, clients, couriers, and interviewees - essentially anyone who is not a current or former employee. Previously, manual logbooks were employed for data management, but now, visitor management systems have streamlined the process through digital registration. These systems bolster security by mandating digital registration and ensuring that visitor data is securely managed by authorized personnel using digital tools. Moreover, the software's advanced features safeguard visitor privacy by restricting access to their own data. Privacy is particularly crucial for legal and financial service firms. To ensure privacy and prevent potential data breaches that could expose sensitive information, maintaining secure logbooks for visitor records is necessary. A robust visitor management system enables effective tracking of entrances and exits, while software security solutions provide an extra layer of defense by accurately identifying visitors. Modern systems even leverage biometric technology to fortify security and create a safe lobby environment. The global market for visitor management systems is projected to experience substantial growth, with the market size expected to reach USD 2.7 billion by 2032, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.4%. These systems assist organizations in tracking visitor-related data, enhancing security, and safeguarding privacy. The market is segmented based on components, deployment modes, organization sizes, and regions. The Asia Pacific region is set to dominate the market, while North America has witnessed rapid expansion. In the global visitor management system market, the software segment commands the largest market share. Businesses utilize visitor management software to reinforce security measures for employees, assets, and data, while also making a notable market impact. Conversely, the service segment holds the second-largest market share, driven by the adoption of visitor control software as a service (SaaS) in educational institutions. This software enables administrators to screen visitors, verify credentials, and restrict access to unauthorized individuals. Cloud-based solutions take precedence in the global visitor management system market. The growth of cloud-based solutions can be attributed to their scalability in accommodating changes in usage patterns, client demands, and business expansion. With software hosted on cloud-based servers, organizations can effectively leverage digital technologies. Large enterprises dominate the market share in the global visitor management system market. These corporations, operating globally with various departments such as finance, human resources, sales, marketing, and research & development, contribute to this segment. In contrast, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), typically managed by individuals or small groups, represent a smaller portion of the market. Asia Pacific holds the largest market share in the global visitor management system market. The region's adoption of visitor management software and services is driven by the commercialization of artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, as well as the pursuit of further advancements in utilizing these technologies. Economies like China, India, and Japan are experiencing rapid market expansion, supported by regulations such as Singapore's Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), which encourages the implementation of visitor control systems and services. North America exhibits the fastest market growth, fueled by the implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) to enhance organizational processes. The region benefits from a strong economy, growing end-use sectors, and an established industry that has effectively embraced visitor management software. To read the Research report visit globenewswire.com here . View all Parabit Visitor Management solutions here . Email sales@parabit.com or call +1 516.378.4800

“Throughout the history of aviation security, employees have been directly responsible or assisted in the facilitation of numerous attacks.” leadingedgestrategies.com Employee screening podiums, also known as access control checkpoints or security checkpoints, are essential components of aviation security measures. They are designed to ensure the safety and security of airports and airline operations by screening employees who have access to secure areas of an airport. The article “ Addressing the gap in employee screening ” on smithsdetection.com mentions, “The insider threat at airports can manifest itself in drug and/or weapon smuggling or, in extreme cases, the use of explosive devices in the facility or on commercial aircraft. To stop it, airport security needs to be able to see it – airports not screening employees moving into secure areas are operating blindly with no idea what someone may have in a bag, package or about their person as they move around. By establishing security screening in designated areas, airport operators can gain the necessary visibility into potential insider threats.” Employee screening podiums are used to verify the identities of individuals entering secure areas of an airport. They help prevent unauthorized access and ensure that only authorized personnel with valid credentials can enter sensitive areas such as the airside, restricted zones, or operational areas. These podiums typically incorporate various security measures to control access. Common features include: Identification Verification: Employees are required to present their identification credentials, such as an employee ID badge, smart card, or biometric identification, at the podium. Access Control Systems: The podiums are often integrated with access control systems, which verify the credentials presented by the employee and grant or deny access accordingly. Screening Equipment: Some employee screening podiums may include additional security measures such as metal detectors, X-ray machines, or explosive trace detection systems to screen employees and their belongings for prohibited items. Employee screening podiums in aviation are designed to comply with various regulations and standards, including those set by regulatory bodies such as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and relevant local authorities. These standards ensure that the screening process is effective, consistent, and meets the required security levels. The Parabit Employee Screening Podium is innovative and reliable and offers a durable, convenient, and secure platform that facilitates biometric-based and touchless employee processing. The design of this podium considers future requirements, supporting integrated workstations, current processing devices, and seamless migration to technological upgrades. Constructed using top-quality materials, these podiums are built to withstand rigorous usage and seamlessly integrate into existing environments. Additionally, the Parabit Employee Screening Podium can be customized to incorporate various security devices based on specific client needs, providing a comprehensive and adaptable screening solution. We love this quote from the article “ A giant security gap at U.S. airports? Most workers not screened daily ” on CNN.com, “‘You don’t have to be a security expert – a fifth-grader can tell you if you are checking at the top end, at the front end of the airport, you’ve got to be checking the back end of the airport,” he said.’” The specific screening procedures may vary depending on the airport and the level of access being granted. Generally, employees are required to approach the podium, present their credentials, and undergo any necessary security checks, such as passing through a metal detector or having their belongings screened. The screening process aims to identify any potential security threats and ensure compliance with security protocols. Employee screening podiums are often monitored by security personnel to ensure proper screening procedures are followed. They may also be equipped with surveillance cameras to record the screening process for audit and investigative purposes. It's important to note that specific details and procedures may vary between airports and countries, as security measures are subject to local regulations and the individual airport's security program. The article U.S. Airports Scrutinized: Should You Re-Check Your Employees? on activescreening.com states, “Letting the potential cost of post-hire screening determine your actions now, can cost you big time in the end. When it comes to protecting your employees and the thousands, or maybe millions, of people visiting our nation’s airports everyday, it seems like common sense to spend the money on such a worthwhile cause.” Email sales@parabit.com or call +1 516.378.4800 for more information. Ask a question here