Learning Center: FAQ & Glossary

24/7 Monitoring:

Continuous professional monitoring of alarm systems.

Why it matters: Ensures incidents are acted on immediately, not missed after hours.

Access Control:

A system that manages and restricts who can enter specific areas of a building, using technologies like keycards, mobile credentials, and biometric scanners.

Access Control System (ACS):

Technology that controls who can enter doors, rooms, or facilities using credentials.

Why it matters: Prevents unauthorized access and creates accountability.

AI Surveillance:

Security cameras that use artificial intelligence to automatically detect people, vehicles, and unusual activity in real time.

Why it matters: Reduces theft, speeds investigations, and enables proactive security instead of reactive monitoring.

Anti-Tailgating:

Security measures designed to prevent unauthorized individuals from following someone through a secured door.

Why it matters: Stops one of the most common physical security breaches.

Audit-Ready Installation:

Infrastructure installed to meet inspection, insurance, and compliance standards.

Why it matters: Reduces risk, liability, and future remediation costs.

Biometric Authentication:

Security process that uses biological characteristics (e.g., fingerprints, facial recognition) to verify identity.

Cloud-Managed Video:

Video security systems managed through a cloud platform instead of on-site servers.

Why it matters: Eliminates NVRs, simplifies scaling, and allows centralized management across locations.

Command Platform:

A cloud-based interface provided by Fortified Technologies that allows businesses to manage their security and workplace systems in real-time.

Computer Vision:

A branch of AI that enables cameras to interpret and understand visual information like people, vehicles, and motion.

Why it matters: Makes video searchable, actionable, and operationally useful.

CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design):

A security strategy that reduces crime through layout, visibility, access control, and design.

Why it matters: Prevents incidents before technology ever needs to intervene.

Credential:

A badge, key fob, or mobile device used to authenticate a user.

Why it matters: Determines who can access what, and when.

Daily ROI:

The operational value a security system delivers during normal daily operations — not only when a major incident occurs. Capabilities such as person-of-interest tracking, access-control activity records, retail traffic data, heat maps, occupancy insights, and faster incident reporting can make security technology a useful operational tool every day.

Why it matters: Justifies investment by demonstrating ongoing value beyond incident response.

Environmental Sensors:

Devices that monitor temperature, air quality, water leaks, or humidity.

Why it matters: Protects assets, prevents damage, and reduces downtime.

Future-Proofing:

Designing systems that can scale and adapt without full replacement.

Why it matters: Protects long-term investment and supports growth.

Hybrid-Cloud Architecture:

A system design that processes data locally on devices while using the cloud for analytics and management.

Why it matters: Improves reliability, reduces bandwidth use, and increases cybersecurity.

HVAC Integration:

Connecting air quality systems with heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems for automated control.

Intrusion Detection:

Sensors that detect unauthorized entry through doors, windows, or restricted areas.

Why it matters: Provides immediate alerts when security is compromised.

Layer One:

The physical infrastructure that supports every connected technology system. This includes structured cabling, fibre, network switches, Power over Ethernet, racks and enclosures, patch panels, data rooms, network pathways, and device connections.

Why it matters: A properly designed Layer One foundation improves reliability, system performance, troubleshooting, and future expansion. Poor infrastructure causes failures regardless of how good the technology above it is.

LTE Connectivity:

A wireless communication standard used for fast and reliable internet connections, often used as a backup to prevent service disruptions.

Mobile Access Control:

Using smartphones instead of physical cards for door access.

Why it matters: Reduces lost cards and simplifies user management.

Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA):

An additional layer of security requiring multiple forms of verification to access systems.

Network Segmentation:

Separating security traffic from business traffic on a network.

Why it matters: Improves performance and reduces cyber risk.

Power over Ethernet (PoE):

Technology that delivers power and data through a single Ethernet cable.

Why it matters: Simplifies installations and improves reliability.

Proactive Alerts:

Automated notifications triggered when defined security events occur.

Why it matters: Allows teams to respond immediately instead of discovering incidents after the fact.

Proactive Security:

A security approach designed to identify, deter, or interrupt a threat before it becomes a completed incident. Depending on the system and configuration, examples may include AI-based detection, line-crossing alerts, loitering alerts, do-not-enter zones, person-of-interest alerts, live monitoring, and talk-down audio.

Why it matters: Moves security from simply recording what happened to helping prevent or reduce the impact of an event.

Quality of Service (QoS):

Network rules that prioritize critical traffic like cameras and voice systems.

Why it matters: Prevents lag, dropped video, and poor call quality.

Reactive Security:

A security approach that responds after an event has already started or taken place. A traditional system may notify someone only after a person has entered the building, a door has been forced open, or motion has been detected inside.

Why it matters: Reactive systems can provide important evidence and notification, but they generally respond after the threat has already reached the property or building.

Reactive to Proactive:

A phrase describing the shift from systems that primarily record or report incidents after they occur to systems that help identify, deter, and respond to threats earlier — for example, moving from recording incidents to identifying them in real time, or from monitoring separate devices to managing coordinated security workflows.

Why it matters: Does not guarantee that every incident will be prevented, but can significantly improve awareness, response time, and deterrence.

Risk Mitigation:

The process of reducing theft, liability, and operational exposure through layered security.

Why it matters: Lowers insurance claims and protects people and assets.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC):

Access permissions assigned based on job role rather than individuals.

Why it matters: Improves security hygiene and simplifies onboarding and offboarding.

Sensitive Information and Privacy:

The controls used to protect video, identity data, access records, and other security information. Depending on the platform and configuration, features may include automatic face blurring, role-based permissions, encryption, zero-trust access principles, audit logs, user authentication, and controlled footage sharing.

Why it matters: Helps ensure that sensitive information is accessed only by authorized users and that important system activity can be reviewed.

Smart Alerts:

Automated notifications created when a security platform detects a configured event or condition. Depending on the selected system, model, licence, and configuration, examples may include slip-and-fall detection, weapons detection, person-of-interest alerts, loitering, line crossing, entry into restricted areas, and camera tampering. Not every device or system supports every alert type.

Why it matters: Improves response time by directing attention toward events that may require review.

Structured Cabling:

Standardized cabling systems designed for long-term performance and scalability.

Why it matters: Supports growth without costly rework.

Technology Roadmap:

A long-term plan for how an organization's security, infrastructure, networking, access control, alarms, sensors, intercoms, and related systems will evolve together. A roadmap helps prioritize immediate risks, phase investments over time, reduce duplicated infrastructure, avoid incompatible platforms, and standardize systems across locations.

Why it matters: Prevents unnecessary complexity and protects long-term investment by ensuring each phase contributes to one coordinated system.

Traditional Alarm System:

A system that monitors activity at or inside a building through devices such as door contacts, window contacts, indoor motion detectors, glass-break sensors, keypads, and sirens. These systems are typically triggered after a door or window has opened, glass has broken, or movement has been detected inside.

Why it matters: Generally more reactive because the threat may already be at or inside the building when the alarm activates.

Uptime:

The amount of time systems are fully operational.

Why it matters: Downtime equals lost visibility, security risk, and operational disruption.

Video Alarm:

A next-generation alarm solution that combines video, AI-based detection, monitoring, and response tools. Depending on the system and configuration, it may use line-crossing detection, do-not-enter zones, loitering alerts, person and vehicle detection, live monitoring, talk-down speakers, and automated notifications. Unlike a traditional alarm, a video alarm can identify suspicious activity while a person is approaching or waiting near a protected area.

Why it matters: Can help deter an incident before entry occurs. Does not guarantee that every event will be prevented.

Zero Trust:

A security approach based on the principle that no user, device, or action should be trusted automatically. Every request for access is verified based on identity, permissions, and context. Within a physical security platform, this may include role-based access, least-privilege permissions, controlled footage access, verification of administrative actions, detailed audit history, and continuous monitoring.

Why it matters: Reduces unauthorized access and ensures users can access only the information and functions required for their role.

Zero-Trust Audit Logs:

Detailed records of actions taken within a security platform, such as user logins, footage access, video exports, permission changes, device changes, system configuration updates, and administrative actions. These logs show who performed an action, what changed, and when it occurred.

Why it matters: Creates accountability and supports privacy compliance, investigations, and internal governance.