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InformaCast Access Control Integration

Learn how to integration Verkada Command with Singlewire Informacast

Verkada Command has the ability to integrate with InformaCast and gives you the ability to trigger a building lockdown via the traditional Command and Informacast methods, including:

  • Verkada lockdown via Command

  • Verkada panic buttons

  • Verkada alarms

  • InformaCast number via direct number dial

  • InformaCast Message Template

The person in distress has several options to send an alert and lock down the doors on-premise.

Integrate with InformaCast

To integrate with the InformaCast system, you can utilize the on-premise InformaCast hardware and Verkada’s hybrid-cloud physical security system to link the physical contact closure in each location with Command.

Components

InformaCast Fusion Server (virtual machine or a physical server)

This is the on-premise server that relays communication to the InformaCast Cloud.

Contact closure

This device physically integrates the Verkada access control system with the on-premise server.

Verkada door controller

The door controller manages the lockdown configuration on the Verkada side.

InformaCast Cloud

From Informacast Cloud, you can configure:

  • Message templates, which devices receive that message (IP speakers, digital signage, instant messaging platforms), and who receives that message.

  • The integration with the contact closure, and ultimately the integration with Verkada.

Architecture

This image illustrates a high-level view of how the different components communicate with each other.

Configuration

InformaCast Fusion Server

Refer to the InformaCast Fusion documentation. This can be either a Virtual Machine or a physical on-premise server.

Contact closure

Refer to the list of supported contact closures and configuration instructions.

In this example, a Barix Barionet 50 is used as the contact closure.

Wire the Barix inputs to the auxiliary outputs on the AC41, and the Barix outputs to the auxiliary inputs on the AC41. This allows the lockdown to be initiated from either system. The image highlights the inputs on the Barix and the outputs on the AC41.

To configure the contact closure, set up a Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) trap to the InformaCast Fusion server.

Verkada door controller

The door controller requires all the initial setup and the configuration of a lockdown via an auxiliary port. You need to configure an input/output (I/O) scenario.

InformaCast Cloud

The InformaCast Cloud is where all of the InformaCast configurations live. The 2 major parts of the configuration are recipients and notifications.

Recipients

Configure message recipients, including contact closures, IP speakers, paging systems, and email. This example focuses on the configuration of the contact closure.

Contact closures

This section is where you configure your contact closures. In this test environment, there is only one, but you could have one per location in a production environment.

1

Click the plus (+) icon to add the first contact closure.

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2

Configure the setting for the local contact closure and click Save.

3

Configure the input and output triggers on the contact closure, and click Save. This example shows the input, but the output is configured in the same manner.

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4

Configure the port ID that matches the correct input on the contact closure, the value to turn it off, the message template to send, and the recipients. Refer to the Singlewire Software documentation for information on how to identify the port ID for the supported contact closures.

This message gets sent to the contact closure as well as emails to users. We will review the message template in the next section.

Notifications

This portion of InformCast focuses on how the notifications appear. These examples use the message templates, where the emergency lockdown is the default message.

1

Click Message Templates to configure the settings.

2

You should see a list of the default InformaCast message templates. Under Details, click the pencil icon for Emergency Lockdown.

3

Set the subject and body of the message, audio, an incident plan, and so on.

4

Set up who should receive the message when it is triggered. This example configuration includes email, contact closure, and SMS.

Testing

After you configure the notifications, you should be able to trigger a lockdown from either system. This example triggers from InformaCast. In a real deployment, you can initiate this via a phone, panic button, and so on. This example configures it in the UI and manually triggers the message template.

1

Go to Notifications > Message Templates > Emergency Lockdown > Play.

2

This triggers a lockdown to Verkada, sends emails to users, and SMS, if configured.

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3

You can also see the Relay status on the Enclosure and the associated lock status.

4

You should also get an email from Verkada Command and see the lockdown banner in Verkada Command.

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5

Success! You can now do this in the reverse method triggering it from Verkada and you will see all the same messages sent to the same recipients. You can trigger a lockdown on Verkada through all the usual methods.

Need more help? Contact Verkada Support.

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