Alarm receiving centre(ARC)
An alarm receiving centre, or ARC, is a staffed control room that receives alarm signals from monitored sites, such as an intruder alarm or a camera-triggered event, and decides how to respond. UK ARCs are typically accredited to a recognised standard by a body such as SSAIB or NSI.
A signal reaching an ARC is only the start of the response. An operator checks it against the account's own instructions, which can mean calling a keyholder, contacting the police under a police-response agreement, or dispatching a guard, and every step is logged against the account.
Accreditation matters to a buyer choosing a monitoring provider, because it is what separates a genuine ARC from an unstaffed answering service. SSAIB and NSI both run grading schemes for ARCs against standards such as BS EN 50518, covering the building, the equipment and the operators.
Many ARCs have added remote video response to their alarm-handling role, so an operator can view the camera behind a signal before deciding what it means. That is a distinct capability from an ARC's traditional alarm-only role, covered on its own under remote video response.
Camzify is not an ARC and does not staff one. It is software a monitoring company or guarding company can run to add scheduled patrol rounds and AI detections on top of the cameras an ARC's operators already watch, with a report attached to every round.