The director of CCTV, Access Control and Monitoring at GBSG is Neil Jackson, a leading force in the development of security industry standards, who predicts that network based systems will be the cornerstone of future security developments.
Neil has worked his way up from an installation engineer to director at the company, and GBSG has been not just employer, but matchmaker too for Neil, who met his wife Elaine at the company when she worked as engineering supervisor and then office manager before leaving in 1995 to raise their children. Neil joined the company in 1990 as a qualified electrician and his first role was as an intruder alarm installation engineer for the Lincoln area. As the security industry moved towards CCTV, the control room was established to look after the manned guarding side of the business. This then developed to incorporate remotely monitored CCTV as an additional revenue stream.
Neil moved in time with industry developments, installing CCTV systems and taking the lead in technical developments within the control room, which today stands as one of the most state-of-the-art video and alarm receiving centres in the UK.
In 2001, Neil became a director of GBSG to develop the CCTV and monitoring aspects of the businesses. This also coincided with his involvement in the British Security Industry Association (BSIA) when the security industry started looking into how remotely monitored CCTV systems were being installed and monitored.
He was part of the working group that looked at the development of BS8418:2003, the Code of Practice used for the installation and remote monitoring of detector activated CCTV systems. Neil’s contributions were incorporated into the standard and he played a key role in its launch. As a result he has been involved in various initiatives to promote BS8418 and in 2007 he joined the BSIA PR Team for the CCTV Section, with the role of further promoting the advantages of CCTV and BS8418 for remotely monitored CCTV systems.
Neil describes here his view of the security industry and how he sees it evolving over the coming years: “The adoption of IP technology will be the most significant development within the security industry over the coming years, as it will integrate many security products into the site’s computer networks and will enable the streaming of various different technologies back to a common source for overall control.
“I believe integrated building management control will also become a fundamental part of the security offering, linking several systems together to control a building including lighting, heating, security and other areas.”
He added: “GBSG will be a key player in leading such developments, through our remote video and alarm monitoring centre and through the ongoing development of our new ESI system. This will give us a market leading edge in our ability to integrate not only intruder alarms and CCTV, but also access control and potentially building management systems.
“It will also give our customers an in-depth perspective which should lead to further enhancements in system control.”
Neil has been married for 19 years with four children – twin boys who turn 18 this year and two younger daughters. As keen skiers, Neil and his family enjoy visiting the slopes of France.
