Solink has partnered with a certified monitoring partner to provide Video Alarms Monitoring. A trained Verification Agent reviews video footage in real time and determines whether there is a threat to person or property.
If you are registered as an Alarm Contact for one or more location, please follow this link on your mobile device to add our certified monitoring partner (Noonlight) as a contact. This ensures you can see when a Noonlight monitoring agent texts or calls you when an alarm occurs.
Note: In a vast majority of cases the agent determines a false alarm (e.g., non-threatening motion, employee detected, etc.). However, some cases require the agent to contact your Alarm Contacts. If there is a real emergency, or an inability to determine with the context provided, the agent needs to reach out to the Alarm Contacts for the protection of your business.
Terms and Definitions
Terms mentioned in this article include:
Alarm Contact: Someone who is responsible as a point of contact for Solink’s Video Alarm Monitoring. Each location can have up to 5 Alarm Contacts. There is always a Primary Alarm Contact.
Verification Agent: A monitoring agent responsible for reviewing every video where motion is detected during an active alarm schedule. When reviewing a video their role is to answer the question, “Is there a threat to person or property?”.
Dispatch Agent: A monitoring agent responsible for dispatching police and contacting Alarm Contacts. After the Verification Agent reviews the video, and if it is not a false alarm, the Dispatch Agent handles all potential scenarios described below.
Video Alarm Monitoring Flowchart
The following visual provides a high-level overview of main steps & workflow for Solink’s Video Alarm Monitoring:
Alarm Contact Outreach Explained
This section explains each possible scenario that can occur when a Solink alarm is triggered. Please take note of what Alarm Contacts can expect when a Dispatch Agent reaches out via SMS text and / or phone during each of the following scenarios.
1. A Real or Potential Emergency
A real or potential emergency occurs, on average, less than 1% of the time. In this scenario, the Verification Agent has confirmed that there is a threat to person or property:
This is passed to a Dispatch Agent and they immediately:
Contact local emergency services to respond to the threat at the location.
Send all Alarm Contacts a SMS text message (see SMS example image below).
Simultaneously, another Dispatch Agent calls the Primary Alarm Contact. If the Primary Alarm Contact does not answer, the Dispatch Agent calls other Alarm Contacts in the order they appear under Solink Alarm Configuration.
The SMS text message will look like this:
2. Unable to Load Video
On rare occasions, the Verification Agent is unable to load the video stream. This is often due to intermittent network issues or low bandwidth at the location. This issue usually only occurs on one camera, so it does not necessarily mean the agent is completely ‘blind’ to motion on other alarm cameras. The Verification Agent will attempt to load the video three consecutive times and are often able to load within these attempts.
In the event the Verification Agent cannot load after three tries, a Dispatch Agent will immediately send all Alarm Contacts a SMS text message (see SMS example image below). At the discretion of the Dispatch Agent, they may also call to ensure people and property are safe, starting with the Primary Alarm Contact.
Note: If you receive this message on occasion, do not worry. It is likely only an intermittent issue. Please review the video link provided and respond to the agent if there is a real emergency. If you receive this message frequently (e.g., one per night), please contact your Solink Customer Support Manager as there is likely changes we’d suggest to improve your connectivity.
3. Inconclusive (with or without visible person on video)
On rare occasions, the Verification Agent is unable to conclusively determine whether someone or something poses a real threat. This footage often occurs on one camera. If there is a subsequent motion event, another agent reviews the footage and may be able to produce a more conclusive result from a different camera angle.
Some examples include:
Video with a visible person. For example, an employee or delivery person who is not in uniform or fully visible within the camera shot.
Video without a visible person. For example, a light turning on / off, but it is unclear on video if it is an automatic lighting system or a person turning it on / off in an area not visible by the camera.
In the event the Verification Agent cannot conclusively determine a threat, but a person is visible on the video:
The agent will send all Alarm Contacts a SMS text message (see the image below for an example). At the discretion of the Dispatch Agent, they may also call to ensure people and property are safe, starting with the Primary Alarm Contact.
Note: The monitoring agent will not reach out to Alarm Contacts if the video is inconclusive and there is no person visible. After the monitoring agent has flagged the video as inconclusive, you can search for the video event (use the search bar on the Alarms tab and search for “Unverifiable (Unable to determine Conclusively)”.
Alarm Camera Package
The base package for Alarm Monitoring includes up to 5 alarm-enabled cameras to monitor each of your locations.
If you require more than 5 cameras to monitor a location, you can upgrade your camera package to include more cameras. Please contact the Solink sales team at 1-888-817-6546 for more information.
Alarm Events with Video Verification
After reviewing an alarm event, the agent includes context in the event for why the alarm was deemed a threat to person or property (such as "person detected").
You can review these alarm events from the Recent Alarm Events sub-tab:
Some examples of information you might see in the alarm event include:
Alarm Opened: A motion event has triggered an alarm verification during scheduled alarm hours.
Camera Name: The names of the camera(s) where the motion event occurred (e.g: Front Door, Kitchen, etc.).
Verification Started: An agent has received the video and is in the process of determining if there is a threat to person or property.
Verification Error: The agent has experienced an issue with the video feed (e.g: unverifiable due to loading issues or inclusive threat to person or property).
Verified False Alarm: The agent determined there is no threat to person or property and they will include relevant details (e.g: Employee Detected).
Alarm Created: The agent has determined there is a real threat to person or property.
Police Dispatched: The police have been contacted and are on their way to the location to respond to the incident.
Canceled Alarm: This occurs after the agent has spoken to an Alarm Contact and determined the alarm should be canceled.
Alarm Closed: The alarm is considered resolved.
What does the agent do when there is an emergency?
If the Verification Agent has reviewed the video alarm and determined there is a threat to person or property, they notify the Solink Alarm Contact(s) via SMS and phone call. The following scenarios can then also occur:
If the agent has detected a clear emergency in the video, emergency services are dispatched and sent to the location within 60 seconds of the alarm creation. The agent sends an SMS message to the Solink Alarm Contact(s) confirming emergency services have been dispatched to the location. The agent can remain on the phone during this process.
If the Solink Alarm Contact confirms the emergency is real, the agent sends an SMS and dispatches emergency services to the location.
If the primary Solink Alarm Contact does not respond, the agent attempts to contact any other listed Alarm Contacts. If none of the Alarm Contacts respond, the monitoring agent sends an SMS and dispatches emergency services to the location.
The Solink Alarm Contacts can cancel the alarm via the the agent, or through the Solink app/Alarms page. The agent sends an SMS to the contact to confirm cancellation.
What does the agent do when an alarm is triggered but there is no emergency?
If the agent reviews video footage of a potential alarm and determines there is no threat to person or property, they close the alarm and provides context in the alarm event for their decision.
See the following image for an example of the type of information you might see when the agent closes an alarm they have determined presents no threat to person or property:
