Security Technology in the Cannabis Industry

Strict Industry Guidelines for Cannabis

Facilities that handle the growth, storage and selling of cannabis have a certain set of security regulations to follow. These rules are relevant to ensure safe operations and protection among employees and customers.

For example, Illinois requires craft growers to have a fully operational, well-maintained CCTV unit. The video monitoring for cannabis growers needs to be working 24/7 to record every section of the building, including:

• Entrances and exits
• Parking lot areas
• Rear alleys
• Facility interior
• Areas with limited access

Along with the comprehensive coverage of surveillance systems, the government reiterates the importance of high-quality facial and body images displayed in the video. Camera and video retention varies depending on the state. Illinois, for example, required recordings to be retained for a minimum of 90 days on site at the licensed premises, and an additional 90 days off site (e.g., cloud storage). Collectively, video surveillance footage needs to be accessible from 45 to 90 days or more. With such strict regulations, the cannabis industry can turn to BCD to provide superior on-premises and cloud video storage solutions.

Key Capabilities of BCD Solutions

Our wide range of solutions adhere to government protocols to prevent legal ramifications. Discover the attributes of BCD systems that resolve security needs in the cannabis industry:

• NDAA- and TAA-compliant products: As an industry leader in cutting-edge security deployments, we support the government in the rising concerns around security. We provide servers, workstations and network switches that comply with government regulations.
• Cyber-hardened appliances: Our integrated systems ensure protection against threats and infiltrations. In 2023, we achieved a cyber hardening certification, highlighting our dedication to secure surveillance systems.
• Compatibility with various solutions: We validated BCD systems with top VMS and video analytics and access control solutions for seamless processing. Some software that matches with BCD includes Avigilon, Genetec, Milestone and Salient.
• Streamlined system management: Harmonize RMM ensures full system health monitoring and predictive failure pre- and post-sales support. It seamlessly weaves every device in your system into a single dashboard, allowing you to manage system health 24/7/365.

As cannabis organizations are expected to comply with all camera and video retention protocols, this can pose a challenge, especially for new operations. At BCD, we make it easy by providing recommended surveillance systems that address cannabis dispensary security requirements. Here are two solutions for cannabis facility and dispensary video security needs.

Surveillance HA: On Premises, Zero-Loss Failover

Choose Surveillance HA for optimized video recording with maximum flexibility. This unique solution includes Milestone XProtect® with Zero-Loss Failover, with two failover configurations — symmetrical and asymmetrical:

• Symmetrical: Primary and secondary servers have the same configurations, making it look like a single machine. The software solution clusters two servers to identify and act on failover easily. If the primary server fails, the second server works immediately to bridge any data gap and ensure continuous recording from the same camera. The transfer of server operation only takes a couple seconds to minimize downtime. 
• Asymmetrical: This setup is non-cluster, meaning the primary and secondary servers are independent configurations. As such, it reports to different servers. The asymmetrical configuration offers flexibility if the camera feed is unavailable via the primary server by rerouting it to the secondary server for continuous recording.