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In this blog we will cover 5 tools for XProtect that will level up your reporting abilities, system health monitoring, device management, multi-site management, and data visualization dashboards.
Businesses across nearly every industry rely on Milestone XProtect as their surveillance video management software, and for great reason! XProtect is both powerful and versatile. Whether you are a small brick and mortar business or a global enterprise, you are able to customize XProtect to suit your business’s unique needs. All thanks to Milestone’s open platform and expansive network of technology partners.
As we know though, great power and versatility leaves the door open for areas of improvement and this is also true when it comes to XProtect’s built-in tool, Milestone Management Client.
The XProtect Management Client is the primary administrative user interface used for managing all aspects of the Milestone VMS but here are some key functions:
Even with everything it can do there are still features that VMS admins across all verticals and industries need in order to make their lives less boring. Let’s dig in.
I’ll be blunt; creating reports for your VMS is a real bore.
Radinium Reports by Radinium is an embedded Milestone XProtect Management Client plugin that allows you to create a variety of reports from any log source integrated with the Milestone Log Server, including third party log sources. It’s advanced filtering and email automation give you more flexibility in collecting the data you need while saving time on repetitive tasks.
Automated video quality monitoring with Ai-RGUS takes out the manual verification process of your camera views, saving you time and energy.
With Ai-RGUS, you can deploy frequent inspections on your camera view health, create reports of camera image issues and actionable shortlists of unhealthy cameras. It’s a great tool to streamline the camera health inspection process.
Their solution can be used stand alone or integrated with a VMS but it isn’t specifically optimized for Milestone. Therefore onboarding the tool with a large number of cameras may be time consuming.
I don’t think I’m alone in saying that I have always wanted to reset power on a POE switch port directly from Milestone. That is why I found the Transition Networks Smart Client plugin so interesting.
Tools include sending notifications into Milestone alarm manager, switch health monitoring, rebooting cameras by toggling PoE; cable diagnostics and remotely viewing Switch Traffic, which you can view in a live graphical chart.
The Transition Switch also functions as a network health center! It diagnoses both edge devices, like cameras or access units as well as the Ethernet switches themselves. The tool then automatically generates a tree diagram of all devices in the network, so you can easily locate and manage them.
Transition Networks switches add value to your Milestone VMS by allowing you to have one interface for network as well as VMS management.
As expected though, the plugin can only be used with Transition Networks’ line of Smart Managed switches which may not be suitable for all applications.
Developed as an add-on solution for Milestone XProtect, Federator by 6SS allows admins to create, copy, delete, enable/disable rules, events, alarms, users, and roles from a HQ site to all/selected sites. This is perfect for installations where you have a large number of similar sites all federated under Milestone that require a similar configuration. Federator also generates reports for your hardware and device inventory.
The Boring Lab develops solutions that are designed exclusively for XProtect and solving for some of its more tedious challenges.
In addition to being the only technology partner that creates Milestone exclusive features, The Boring Toolbox, The Boring Lab’s signature product, is also the only all-in-one solution that streamlines each of these critical functions for managing XProtect.
Apart from its comprehensive list of features, Boring stands out by allowing admins to integrate it easily with their existing Milestone VMS. There is no complex integration, configuration or double data entry to get started. Just run the installer and you are ready to go.
We’ve covered five different tools to help you optimize your Milestone XProtect system and just barely scratched the surface of the ecosystem of VMS management tools. If we missed your favorite technology offering on the list, give it a shout out in the comments below or on social media and share why you love it.
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Your go-to XProtect eXPerts. We learn the technical stuff that will save you time and make it less boring.
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Getting Started with The Boring Toolbox #3: Learn about the various health monitoring insights and features you will find on…
Getting Started #2: Learn how to configure your parent and managed sites as well as connect Boring to Milestone XProtect…
Getting Started #1: This tutorial will teach you how to install The Boring Toolbox on your server and client.
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