GC SurgeDocsGlossary
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Glossary

A single reference for every term used across GC Surge. Definitions here match exactly how each term is used in the platform and documentation. Covers: Platform Engines, Performance Metrics, Roles, Alarm Terminology, Operational Terms, Deployment Terms.

Platform Engines

  • FLASH — The onboarding engine. Connects cameras to GC Surge fully remotely. For publicly reachable cameras, onboarding is automatic. For cameras on a private network, FLASH provides guided steps. Can connect up to 2,000 cameras in under 4 minutes when cameras are directly reachable.
  • NOVA99x — The AI-based false alarm filtering engine. Classifies incoming alarms before they reach operators and removes up to 99% of non-actionable events. Disabled by default during the trial. Has no separate charge — included in the subscription. See NOVA99x AI Filtering.
  • ZenMode — The alarm processing screen where operators handle live alarms. Combines correlated alarms from the same site into a single closeable event and processes them in parallel rather than one at a time — up to 5x faster overall. See ZenMode — Operator Monitoring.
  • Insights — The analytics and performance engine. Tracks 8 KPIs per operator, per shift, in real time. Surfaces performance gaps and helps the team improve over time. Visible in the Analytics dashboard and Alarm Center (Admin View).
  • GDA (GC Surge Discovery Agent) — A mobile or desktop application used for Private/VPN deployments where cameras are on a local private network and not reachable from the internet. The GDA connects from within the local network, discovers ONVIF cameras via WS-Discovery, and configures alarm forwarding on each device. See GDA App — Field Activation.
  • GC Edge — PC software installed at a site for Edge deployments. GC Edge connects to the camera’s RTSP stream directly, performs local alarm detection using NOVA99x (GPU-accelerated if available, CPU otherwise), and forwards alarm events to the GC Surge cloud. Used for cameras that only stream video and cannot send alarms on their own. Must be armed manually after setup — alarms do not flow until GC Edge is armed.

Performance Metrics

  • APT (Alarm Processing Time) — The time from when an operator takes ownership of a site to when all alarms on that site are closed. Measured per operator, per shift, and across the team. Lower is better. A healthy target is under 90 seconds. APT and CPO are separate measurements — lower APT creates the headroom for CPO to grow, but the two figures do not directly produce each other.
  • CPO (Cameras Per Operator) — The number of cameras each operator is responsible for monitoring per shift. Calculated as total active cameras divided by number of active operators. Measures the monitoring capacity of the team. Higher CPO on the same team means more revenue potential without additional headcount.
  • TPO (Towers Per Operator) — The tower-based equivalent of CPO, used by operations that monitor mobile security towers rather than fixed cameras. Calculated as total towers divided by active operators. The average conversion is 4 cameras per tower (K=4), though each operation uses its own K.
  • Filter Ratio — The percentage of incoming alarms removed by NOVA99x before reaching operators. Shown in Analytics and the Alarm Center Admin View. A healthy filter ratio is above 85%. A low ratio may indicate NOVA99x needs tuning or cameras are sending a high proportion of real events.
  • Alarm Closure Efficiency — The proportion of alarms closed within the configured APT target. Measures how consistently the team meets its handling standard, not just how fast.
  • Responsive Rate — The share of alarms acknowledged within the account’s configured SLA. Acknowledgment means an operator opened the alarm, not that it was closed. A rate below 90% is a leading indicator of understaffing or coverage gaps.
  • Activity Rate — The fraction of an operator’s logged-in time spent actively handling alarms. Distinct from Responsive Rate: an operator can respond quickly but have long idle stretches. Consistently low rates across the team suggest more coverage than the current alarm volume needs.

Roles

  • Super Admin — The full-access role in GC Surge. Super Admins manage users, cameras, sites, billing, and platform configuration. Every account requires at least one Super Admin.
  • Operator — The alarm-handling role. Operators process live alarms in ZenMode during their shifts. They do not manage cameras, users, or platform settings.

Alarm Terminology

  • Alarm — An event generated by a camera or monitoring platform and sent to GC Surge for processing. All alarms — filtered and unfiltered — count toward billing. NOVA99x affects which alarms operators see, not which alarms are ingested.
  • False Alarm — An alarm classified by NOVA99x as non-actionable — caused by lighting changes, animals, environmental movement, or other non-security triggers. Removed before reaching the operator queue.
  • True Alarm — An alarm that passes NOVA99x classification and reaches the operator queue for review. May still be closed as a false positive after operator review.
  • Closure Tag — The label an operator selects when closing an alarm in ZenMode. Describes the outcome: for example, True alarm, False alarm — animal, or Technical fault. Tags are configured by the Super Admin. See Configure Tags.
  • Overage — Alarm events beyond the 300-alarm per-camera monthly allowance on a paid subscription. Charged at €0.03 per alarm. Applies to total alarm ingestion volume.

Operational Terms

  • Shift — A defined time window for operator monitoring, configured by the Super Admin in Settings. Shifts set the reference period for APT, CPO, and other performance metrics. See Alarm Center — Admin View.
  • Focus Area — A quick time-window filter in the Alarm Center Admin View that narrows the KPI display to a specific recent period within the shift. Does not restrict which alarms operators handle.
  • SLA (Service Level Agreement) — The configured response-time threshold for your account. Alarms acknowledged beyond this window count as SLA Breaches in the admin leaderboard.
  • Multi-monitor mode — The operating mode where cameras or the monitoring platform generate video alarms directly. Required for GC Surge to deliver its measured performance gains. See Prerequisites & Customer Categories.
  • Autostream mode — An operating mode where operators open video streams to verify panel alarms, rather than receiving camera-generated video alarms. GC Surge is not designed for autostream-only operations — route to GCX One instead.
  • Trial — The 7-day free evaluation period. Limits: up to 10 cameras. No credit card required to begin. See Subscription Lifecycle — Trial to Paid.

Deployment Terms

  • Edge Deployment — A connection mode for cameras that only stream video and cannot send alarms on their own. GC Edge software runs on a PC at the site, connects to each camera’s RTSP stream, and handles alarm detection locally. NOVA99x runs inside GC Edge on the site machine. The GC Edge software must be armed before alarms flow and must remain running continuously.
  • Flash Onboarding — Automatic camera onboarding for cameras that are publicly reachable. No manual device configuration required. Approximately 5 minutes per 100 cameras.
  • Fast Onboarding — Guided onboarding for cameras on a private network or behind a firewall. Requires following the connection steps provided by the platform.
  • Site — A physical location registered in GC Surge with one or more connected cameras. Alarms are grouped and handled at the site level in ZenMode.
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