Furnishing a Security Plan

Nation’s leading furniture retailer dramatically improves security measures with comprehensive security solutions from American Dynamics and Software House

This was one unconventional furniture chain that needed a security reupholstering.

Jordan ’s Furniture was founded in 1918 in Waltham, Mass. Since then, the retailer has attracted record numbers of customers each week through quirky advertising and an unusual approach to selling furniture. Advertisements for Jordan’s Furniture air regularly on the most popular television and radio stations throughout the Boston and Greater Boston regions. These award-winning advertisements feature two brothers, owners Barry and Elliot Tatelman, who have become mainstays within the region’s popular culture. Each advertisement highlights current events and pulls at the heartstrings of area folk with references to local nostalgia that involves the likes of the World Series Champion Boston Red Sox.

Jordan ’s Furniture does not limit the over the top sales techniques to its advertising campaign. With four stores and another on the way, Jordan’s sells more furniture per square foot than any other furniture retailer in the country. Jordan’s accomplishes this by providing a destination experience that seems more like a trip to a theme park than a visit to a furniture retailer.

Jordan ’s stores feature everything from IMAX theaters to a replication of New Orleans’ Bourbon Street to performance areas with flying trapeze artists. Such remarkable shopping experiences attract thousands of people daily and with them, an array of security challenges that simply could no longer be handled by the ordinary videotape systems they had in place.

Over time, Jordan’s security personnel encountered difficulties with storing all of the tapes and the need to re-record over those tapes. It was an inefficient and cumbersome process. “The storage and replacement of tapes became a tedious process,” said Matt Busnach, facilities manager for Jordan’s.

Compounding the problem, none of the Jordan’s facilities were equipped with access control systems and security leaders at Jordan’s were slow to install advanced digital video recorders. “We delayed the process knowing that DVR technology was advancing with every month,” added Busnach.

The Search is Over

Jordan ’s security officials demonstrated a variety of DVR systems, eventually purchasing a system that proved difficult to use and did not meet the storage requirements.

During that time, Jordan’s determined that they wanted to integrate video with card access and create a completely integrated system that would combine video and alarm operation information. “We were looking to simplify our operations and perform video searches in a more efficient manner,” said Busnach.

Jordan ’s turned to premier security system integrator Surveillance Specialties, Ltd. (SURV), who conducted extensive research and diagnostics with Jordan’s to develop the appropriate security design criteria for their unique environment. SURV recommended a system utilizing products from Tyco Fire & Security’s Software House and American Dynamics to monitor both the corporate distribution centers and retail stores.

Jordan’s had a multitude of security challenges to address. While their Taunton, MA warehouse was considered a controlled environment where the majority of the foot traffic was authorized personnel, their retail stores included a combination of authorized personnel and customers browsing, visiting the theme area, or attending the IMAX theatre. “They needed security equipment that could address and seamlessly integrate both environments,” said Mike DeVita, Jr., senior account executive for Surveillance Specialties, Ltd.

“Tyco Fire & Security and Surveillance Specialties, Ltd. were the perfect fit,” noted Busnach. “And the fact that American Dynamics’ Intellex^® digital video management systems could interact with the Software House access control system was a huge selling feature for us.”

Busnach was also pleased that the system encompassed the American Dynamics’ Network Client system, which displays clips of video via Software House’s C·CURE system. With one click of an icon, Network Client references the time and date from the C·CURE system and retrieves the video clip from the Intellex unit. “Instead of switching between two systems, we’re able to go directly to the C·CURE system and open video and access control,” he said.

In the last two years, the Tyco Fire & Security products have been installed in six Jordan’s facilities, including retail stores and a warehouse distribution/corporate center. Jordan’s uses not only American Dynamics’ Intellex digital video management systems but also their assorted line of cameras and domes as well as Software House’s C·CURE 800 security management system, card readers, and related time and attendance products.

Seamless installation

The new security products now guard against malicious destruction and break-ins, monitor the exterior perimeter, and scrutinize the flow of employees and visitors throughout the buildings. Surveillance Specialties, Ltd. installed and retrofitted all of the security products at the suburban Boston sites.

• SURV installed Intellex digital video management systems at the company’s Avon store and 300,000-square foot warehouse distribution center. Additionally, they retrofitted the buildings with American Dynamics’ DVRs and card readers from Software House.
• The company also installed American Dynamics and Software House products at separate leased warehouse properties in West Bridgewater and Brockton. At the first site, SURV installed Intellex digital video recorders and Software House card readers and changed exterior cameras to American Dynamics products. At the Brockton site, they installed American Dynamics programmable dome cameras and a Software House card reader in the main door.
• Jordan ’s eventually closed its West Bridgewater and Brockton facilities as well as its oldest store in Waltham, consolidating all of that equipment to a newly-built warehouse/distribution center and corporate center in Taunton and retail store in Reading. In Natick, SURV retrofitted American Dynamics’ cameras, installed card readers on exterior and interior doors, and upgraded the Intellex systems. At the smaller retail store in Nashua, N.H., American Dynamics’ cameras are used largely to monitor snow clearing efforts and for general security checks.
• One of the largest installations occurred at the 860,000-square-foot Taunton site, the corporate office and distribution center totaling about 200 employees. SURV installed American Dynamics PTZ cameras outside the facility for general operational security, and domes inside to monitor loading docks. They also installed Intellex digital video recorders and card readers at key areas of the facility. The company interfaced with the general contractor, coordinating with all workers in the building development to ensure that installation schedules were met and that no security was compromised in the process.
• At the newly opened 260,000-square-foot Reading store, interior and exterior doors are equipped with Software House card readers. Further, the projection area for an IMAX theater at the site is accessible only via card reader. American Dynamics programmable dome cameras monitor the parking lot for operations and security. The site also uses Intellex.

Training Made Easy

Ease of use was a primary selling feature for Jordan’s, said Busnach. “The Tyco Fire & Security solutions are user friendly and in a matter of days we were able to navigate through the system very well,” he said. “I trained my employees to create clearances at each site. It was a simple process to create and activate cards and get all of the cards operational.”

Busnach noted that their human resources department takes all photographs and prints all badges for employees. A bar code on the back of the card is used for time and attendance as employees simply swipe the card to sign in and out during the day.

Busnach and his management employees attended administration training on the C·CURE system at Surveillance Specialties’ state-of-the art training facility in Wilmington, just north of Boston.

The benefits are clear to Busnach. While he does not have a firm dollar figure, he said that eliminating all locks and keys at the different facilities has been a cost saver. Moreover, Busnach can access the various security areas remotely through his laptop while sitting in his home, a two-hour drive from the Taunton corporate center. “From my laptop, I can log onto the C·CURE system and flag badges as lost or disabled and change clearances,” he noted.

Because Jordan’s deals with up to 60 vendors on all aspects of operations – ranging from general contractors to vending machine operators – Busnach is able to alter badge clearances at a moment’s notice. He noted that one of the assets of the C·CURE system is the Client Monitoring feature, which allows him to watch the computer screen and see every single card swipe made throughout the entire Jordan’s operation.