The Challenge
IMED Health Products is located in South Florida and is a major distributor of name brand health and lifestyle products. Their footprint includes a primary office complex and several warehouses at remote locations to receive process and distribute inventory.
In 2010, IMed Health Products began a significant expansion project that would significantly increase the size of its main facility and additionally add several new distributed warehouses. As part of the new construction, IMED Health Products knew it was necessary to address their physical security needs and to upgrade and expand the quality of their systems.
One of their primary objectives was to invest in a non-proprietary unified physical security solution, built around a single platform. IMED Health Products recognized that an integrated platform would dramatically improve their capability to expand the business and protect the inventory stored at their multiple warehouses.
The Solution
Beginning with an initial assessment, Automated Port Solutions completed an in-depth assessment and analysis of the planned and existing facilities, and made recommendations for a design and network architecture that would meet their goals.
Automated Port Solutions created a phased project plan to help IMED Health System stay on schedule and on budget. Using this phased approach, Automated Port Solutions substantially upgraded their I.T. infrastructure by
installing:
- Enterprise Class Uninterruptible Power Supplies to keep IMED in business during power interruptions
- Enterprise Class Power-over-Ethernet Network Communications Switches to provide connectivity to Computer Workstations and Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) Phones
- Disk Backup Systems to protect critical IMED Business Data (Financial, Inventory, Billing and Accounts Receivable)
- Cameras throughout the offices and warehouses connected to Digital Video Recorders for Storage and archiving of Video
- Network Cabling throughout the offices and Warehouses to allow for the quadruple expansion of computer workstations and VoIP Phones.
Each system is connected to a Total Security Knowledge Management Solution, a single security management platform which allows all video images and data to be shared in one place.
The Result
The new system has provided IMED Health Products a hardened computing infrastructure to support the explosion of users, assure availability of data and video and provides for business continuity during power interruptions. It has allowed them to standardize on a corporate-wide video management system, which provides for real-time or archive viewing of video from any internet connection throughout the world or from their corporate Blackberry hand-held devices. Each of the new systems are tied in to the campus-wide network infrastructure, allowing them to leverage the investment in their existing voice and data communication devices. The new unified model is entirely scalable and can handle unlimited future growth.
In the future, IMED Health Products plans to implement Credentialing and Access Control to administer privileged access throughout their facilities. The new system will provided IMED Health System a centralized database, and eliminated the time consuming task of managing multiple data sources. It will allow them to standardize on a corporate-wide credential, so that control of privileged access throughout the multiple warehouses is consistently administered. The new reporting system will provide the ability to make more informed and quicker decisions.