How Inspire Development Centers Left Vendor Lock-In Behind and Unified 26 Schools

Locked Into an Expensive, High-Pressure System

Inspire Development Centers is a state and federally funded non-profit serving young children in early childhood education, with 26 schools to secure. When Jason Gibbons, IT Director, began evaluating new surveillance options, it was because the existing vendor, Verkada, had reached a breaking point. “We’re state and federally funded… our budgets are fairly flat,” he explains. “The price was really spiraling out of control for Verkada. They were not sustainable.”

Inspire relied on Verkada for video, access control, and alarms, and the longer they used it, the more the issues stacked up. Hardware lock-in prevented them from using open-source tools or their preferred devices. Account management turnover made them uneasy. And aggressive sales tactics created distrust. “The sales pressure was extremely high,” Gibbons says. “Somehow they got my cell phone number… it felt like used car sales after a while.”

As a non-profit serving young children, stewardship matters. “We don’t have unlimited budgets. We have to be smart about what we have.” The mismatch between Verkada’s model and their mission pushed them to explore alternatives.

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Hardware-Agnostic, Cloud-Based, and Built for Many Sites

Gibbons examined open-source tools, on-prem software, and cloud platforms. They considered Flock, but its practice of sharing video feeds with law enforcement by default was a dealbreaker. “These are our video feeds… we don’t want that happening without our knowledge.”

What they needed was a cloud-based, flexible platform that could replace Verkada over time while supporting their open, modular approach to IT. Coram stood out immediately. “We really like the fact you guys are hardware agnostic,” he says. “We use a lot of open-source stuff very intentionally, so we’re not locked into an ecosystem.”

Coram stood out for a few specific reasons:

• Hardware-agnostic: Works with existing Axis and other devices
• Cost-effective: A sustainable model for a budget-restricted non-profit
• Multi-site simplicity: A single interface across 26 schools
• Stronger AI performance: More complete facial recognition results
• Open, flexible philosophy: Aligns with Inspire’s open-source practices
• Customer-driven roadmap: Rapid development toward access control and intercoms

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By Far the Easiest Rollout, and Better AI

Inspire purchased 26 Coram servers, one for each school, and began testing with existing cameras. The experience exceeded expectations: deployment was quick enough that they enabled audio recording across the entire agency within the same setup window. Compared to other NVRs he’s used, Coram is “by far the easiest one to add, especially for multi-location.” Managing dozens of servers “with one pane of glass” eliminates complexity and reduces IT workload.

The AI is better, too. Facial recognition in Verkada was “very hit and miss.” With Coram, the same feature captured a far more complete and accurate record: “A huge list of people it’s seen… very comprehensive.” Gibbons is also impressed by Coram’s engineer-led support model, its responsiveness to feature requests, and its willingness to integrate customer feedback directly into the roadmap.

What Inspire Development Centers Is Doing with Coram

• Running 26 schools from one pane of glass: A single interface for every server, which keeps complexity and IT workload down.
• Keeping the cameras they already own: Existing Axis and other devices come straight onto the platform.
• Recording audio across the entire agency: Enabled during the same setup window as the video rollout.
• Getting comprehensive facial recognition: A far more complete and accurate record than before.
• Shaping what comes next: Inspire plans to expand from video into access control and intercoms as Coram’s roadmap advances.

Gibbons is clear: “I would definitely recommend Coram.” For organizations managing multiple sites, he calls it “by far the easiest” platform he has used — easy to deploy, easy to scale, and built for real-world constraints.

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