This section provides answers to some of the most frequently asked questions around Solink Video Alarms.
What are the different offerings for the video alarms service?
There are currently two tiers of the video alarms service:
Self-Service Video Alarms: This is the default Video Alarms subscription offered to all Solink customers. You can assign one alarm contact to receive notifications of alarm events via SMS, push notifications and/or email whenever an alarm event triggers.
Video Alarms Monitoring Service: This service requires an additional subscription.
With the Video Alarms Monitoring Service, video alarms are reviewed by an agent to determine if there is a threat to person or property. If it is a false alarm, the monitoring service cancels it and provides a reason as to why (eg: an employee doing a routine activity who didn't disarm the system). Otherwise, the monitoring service dispatches police in the case of a real emergency and/or contacts the alarm contact(s) to jointly decide whether or not to send police. For more information, see Video Alarms Monitoring Overview.
How do I arm and disarm the alarm?
You should use an alarm schedule to ensure your alarm system operates automatically. The alarm schedule automatically arms and disarms the alarm system based on the configured day and time. It is important that the daily schedule starts when you expect the last person to leave the premises and ends . To learn more about alarm schedules, see Alarm Schedule.
You are required to manually arm and disarm the alarm - see Arm/Disarm Methods for more information on available methods to arm and disarm.
How are alarms triggered?
Alarms use your existing camera infrastructure to detect motion when the system is armed. You can configure a motion zone for each of your alarm cameras, so only a specific part of a camera view is looking for motion.
For more information on best practices for setting up alarm motion zones, see Alarm Motion Zones: Quick Tips.
Will Solink dispatch police when an alarm is triggered?
If you are subscribed to Solink's Video Alarms Monitoring Service, the following scenario can potentially lead to dispatching police:
When an alarm event is triggered, the Solink platform sends a video clip of the event that triggered the alarm to the monitoring service.
The monitoring service reviews the video and verifies whether or not there is suspicious activity at the location or if the alarm is a false alarm (not suspicious). If the video shows nothing suspicious, the alarm is canceled.
If the video shows a threat to person or property:
The monitoring service will dispatch police (after a short period of fact gathering), assuming a clear threat is evident (e.g., a perpetrator cutting open a safe). In a real emergency, the monitoring agent sends a text message to all alarm contacts and starts calling alarm contacts, starting with the primary alarm contact.
If the agent believes there is a potential threat but it is not clearly evident, the monitoring agent sends a text message to all alarm contacts for the location. If the agent does not receive a response, they will wait for a period of up to 5 minutes before cancelling the alarm. It is the responsibility of the alarm contacts to ensure they can receive text messages and phones calls during the armed period as the safety of your business may depend on their responsiveness.
If you are not using Solink's Video Alarms Monitoring Service, the Solink platform sends a text message with video of an alarm event to the alarm contact(s) for the location. In this case, the responsibility for evaluating the situation and dispatching police for a location rests entirely with the alarm contact(s).
How are users notified when an alarm is triggered?
Please take note of the differences between the user notification process for Self Serve and Video Alarms Monitoring customers:
For Self Serve Customers: Your alarm contact receives an email (required) and SMS (if optional phone number configured) for every alarm event detected by the system. These messages include a link to a video recording of the alarm event, which allows your alarm contact to review the video and determine whether or not to dispatch authorities.
For Video Alarms Monitoring Customers: When subscribed to our Video Alarms Monitoring Service, alarm contact(s) are notified of alarms via SMS and/or a phone call from the monitoring service. The monitoring service will review and ignore alarm events where there are not a threat to person or property (i.e., false alarm). For more information about what to expect on outreach, see Video Alarms Monitoring: How it Works. We encourage all alarm contacts to add our monitoring partner into their mobile contact list.
How is an alarm administrator role configured?
A Solink representative enables the alarm administrator role. The individual who is assigned this role at your business is given access to the Alarms Configurations on the Alarms page in our main platform. Here, the administrator can set up an alarm system and configure additional settings.
What is the difference between an alarm contact and an alarm administrator?
An alarm contact is responsible as the main point of contact for a potential or real threat to person or property. It is expected that this person is available via SMS or phone during all armed periods.
Alarm administrators are able to configure the alarm system for a location, including specifying the alarm contact(s). Alarm administrators can configure an alarm schedule and set specific regions of interest for each camera to detect motion when the alarm system is armed.
A single person can be both an alarm administrator and an alarm contact, although there is no requirement for these roles to be performed by the same person.
How many alarm contacts can I have per location?
The number of alarm contacts you can assign to a location depends on which type of subscription you have.
If you are subscribed to the Self-Service Video Alarms service (all Solink users are subscribed to this service by default), you must assign one alarm contact for the alarm system. You can change the alarm contact whenever you wish.
If you are subscribed to the Video Alarms Monitoring Service, you must assign a primary alarm contact along with up to two secondary alarm contacts. These alarm contacts can be changed whenever you wish.
Where are Alarm Events located?
Alarm Events are located on the Alarms page in the Solink platform. The image below displays the Recent Alarm Events tab within the Alarms page:
To learn more about Alarm Events, see Recent Alarm Events.
Note: If you are using the Solink app on a mobile device, there is an Alarms filter on the Events tab that will show alarm events (Events > Alarms tab > All tab, as shown in the image below):
What does "video verification" mean?
Video verification refers to the ability to review video and determine whether or not there is a threat to person or property.
What happens if my location loses power or internet connectivity?
Solink video alarms require power and internet connectivity. Backup power should be provided for Solink's on-premise device, video cameras and any associated equipment. Please contact Solink Customer Support to discuss backup options.