GC SurgeDocsNOVA99x AI Filtering
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NOVA99x AI Filtering

NOVA99x is GC Surge's AI-based alarm filtering layer. It classifies incoming alarms at the cloud ingest level before they reach ZenMode. Events classified as non-actionable are filtered out — operators see only events that are more likely to represent genuine security-relevant activity. Covers: What NOVA99x Does, How It Works, Activating NOVA99x — Trial.

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What NOVA99x Does

Enabling NOVA99x on a high-volume site can reduce the number of events operators see by up to 99%. At monitoring centres already running the market’s leading alarm filter, enabling NOVA99x reduced alarm processing time by an additional 83% — on top of the filter already in place. GC Surge does not require replacing existing filters; it works alongside them.

How It Works

When NOVA99x is active on a camera:

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  1. Each alarm is received and counted normally.
  2. NOVA99x analyzes the alarm and its attached images — visual signal, camera and site context, configured thresholds, ignored zones, and suppression windows.
  3. Events classified as non-actionable are filtered — they do not appear in ZenMode or Video Search.
  4. Events classified as actionable continue to operator-facing views.

All alarms — filtered and unfiltered — count toward billing. NOVA99x affects what operators see, not what is ingested.

Activating NOVA99x

NOVA99x has no separate charge — it is included in the subscription. It is disabled by default.

  1. Navigate to My Subscription from the sidebar.
  2. Locate the NOVA99x panel and click Enable NOVA99x.
  3. Review the confirmation modal — NOVA99x activation is a significant operational change.
  4. Click Confirm. The configuration updates immediately.

Recommended: Phased Activation

Activating on all cameras at once makes it impossible to measure impact. Use a phased approach instead.

Phase 1 — Establish Baseline (Days 1–7)

Run for one week without NOVA99x. Record total alarm volume per day, volume by site, and operator feedback on event relevance.

Phase 2 — Pilot on 2–3 Sites

Enable NOVA99x on one high-volume and one medium-volume site. Track alarm volume in Analytics and collect operator feedback over 7 days.

Phase 3 — Evaluate and Expand

Compare Analytics data against baseline. If alarm volume dropped and operators confirm higher relevance, expand to remaining sites.

Validation After Activation

  • My Subscription shows NOVA99x as active for the target cameras.
  • Analytics shows a directional decrease in alarm volume on activated sites over 3–7 days.
  • Operators confirm event streams feel more relevant.
  • Total alarm volume (before filtering) is still visible in Analytics.

Disabling NOVA99x

If filtering is too aggressive, disable NOVA99x from My Subscription. When NOVA99x is active the panel shows a Deactivate option in the same location as the Enable NOVA99x button. Deactivation takes effect immediately.

You're asked to confirm before filtering stops. Once confirmed, every event from the next ingested alarm flows straight into ZenMode and Video Search with no AI filtering; events filtered before disabling stay filtered in the historical record. Operator queue depth rises immediately in proportion to how much was being filtered, and Time Saved and Cost Saved on the Home Dashboard stop accruing. Total ingestion volume and billing are unaffected — NOVA99x changes what operators see, not what's counted.

The action is reversible: re-enabling is a single click from My Subscription, the same place you turned it off, and it takes effect immediately — the next ingested alarm runs through the filter again, with no retraining period or minimum off-time. The common pattern is to disable temporarily during a deep noisy-camera investigation, then re-enable once the root cause is fixed. Both transitions are logged in the audit trail.

Effect on Alarm Classification When Disabled

When NOVA99x is disabled, the platform no longer classifies incoming alarms. Every event that arrives is treated as a true alarm and passed directly to operators — nothing is filtered. Operator review load increases in proportion to the previous filter rate. A team that ran with NOVA99x filtering 90% of events will see approximately 10× more events in ZenMode until NOVA99x is re-enabled.

NOVA99x on Edge Deployments

Sites using Edge deployment run NOVA99x locally on the edge device before alarms reach the cloud. The Edge Agent analyzes the RTSP stream on-device, applies alarm classification, and forwards only the classified events to GC Surge. This means:

  • Edge sites benefit from NOVA99x filtering even when cloud-level NOVA99x is disabled for the account.
  • Alarm volume arriving from Edge sites is already pre-filtered — you will see fewer raw events from Edge cameras compared to SMTP/FTP cameras at the same scene activity level.
  • Analytics still shows the total alarm count and filter rate for Edge cameras, reported from the edge device.
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