Closed bundle, open platform, or on-prem command room?

Because unifying physical security in one cloud platform genuinely is different from buying VMS, access, intrusion and monitoring as four separate cloud subscriptions. PSaaS folds the layers together - the same operator works one console, one mobile app, one set of credentials, one audit trail.

Two flavours of PSaaS ship today. Pure-bundle PSaaS is the closed single-vendor version where the vendor ships the cameras, the access hardware, the intrusion bundle and the monitoring service all on its own paper - YourSix (American, self-described PSaaS on its homepage), Brivo / Eagle Eye (American, post-Dec 2025 merger) and Cloudastructure (American, with bundled remote guarding) are the canonical examples. Open PSaaS is the multi-vendor version where the platform unifies the layers but each layer is best-in-class and the installer picks the cameras, the access system and the intruder panel, and the customer picks the ARC - TetherX sits here.

Three customer-visible reasons. No single-vendor hardware lock-in: the customer's estate keeps its existing cameras (1,000+ integrations supported on TetherX) and the installer picks the right access and intruder for the site, instead of being forced onto whatever the pure-bundle vendor ships. Local installer expertise after go-live: the customer's point of contact is the qualified installer who knows the site, the cameras, the network and the alarm panels, not a remote vendor SOC. ARC of choice: monitoring runs through the customer's preferred ARC (Immix, Sentinel, CONXTD, MASterMind, Bold Patriot Manitou, Stages and others), so when the alarm goes off at 3am the operator is one the installer has already validated.

Pure-bundle PSaaS vendors get the same complaint installers raise about Verkada and Rhombus on IPVM and the r/accesscontrol forum: "They will sell around the installer, as in they have no qualms cutting you out of a deal." Open PSaaS structurally avoids that.

Honest answer: TetherX is both, and the cleanest category label is open PSaaS. By Genetec's authoritative PSaaS definition (unify access + video + intrusion + monitoring + automation in one cloud SaaS experience), TetherX hits every criterion - video (cloud recording), access control, intrusion / alarm panels, ARC monitoring over standard industry protocols, AI search and multi-site automation, all on one cloud platform.

The distinction from the closed pure-bundle PSaaS vendors (YourSix, Eagle Eye / Brivo, Cloudastructure) is that the monitoring service stays with the customer's ARC of choice rather than bundled inside the TetherX subscription, and the customer is not locked to a single camera or access-control brand. That makes TetherX the open / channel PSaaS option - PSaaS by category, with the installer keeping the customer relationship and picking the best-in-class layer on each system.

If a procurement template requires the VSaaS label specifically, TetherX is also valid VSaaS (a cloud VMS at its core). The platform is the same either way.

PSIM (Physical Security Information Management) is on-premise command-and-control middleware. It does not replace the VMS, access system or intrusion panel - it sits above them and integrates them at the data level into one map-based operator interface, with collection, correlation, verification, written standard operating procedures, reporting and audit trail (the six standard PSIM capabilities per Wikipedia).

Canonical PSIM products: NICE Situator (Israeli, NICE Ltd.), Vidsys (American), CNL Software ipSecurityCenter (British), Tyco / Software House CCURE 9000 (American, Johnson Controls).

Where PSIM still wins: enterprise / national-critical-infrastructure deployments where the operator is a 24x7 command-and-control room overseeing many heterogeneous, already-deployed security systems - airports, mass transit (London Underground, WMATA, BTP), safe-city programmes (Atlanta Operation Shield, Baltimore CitiWatch), defence, oil and gas, sea ports, large stadia. The systems are too large, too vendor-diverse and too policy-bound to rip-and-replace into a cloud-native PSaaS - PSIM orchestrates the existing investment.

Where PSaaS wins: mid-market, multi-site commercial, retail, hospitality, education, healthcare, housing - sites where the buyer is choosing a unified physical-security platform from scratch, wants cloud delivery (no on-prem command-and-control server room), and is willing to standardise on one platform rather than orchestrate four. TetherX sits in this space as an open PSaaS, integrating multi-vendor cameras, access, intrusion and ARC into one cloud console without the heavy enterprise-PSIM SOP and command-room operator workflow.

For an ARC (Alarm Receiving Centre) running an existing UL or BS8418 station, Immix is the established workflow product (more enterprise-ARC than PSIM, but adjacent) - TetherX feeds Immix natively and the two coexist. See ARC monitoring and the Immix alternative page for that detail.

YourSix wins: a single-site US customer who wants Axis cameras, no upfront hardware cost, bundled monitoring under one bill, and is happy for YourSix to handle the monitoring relationship.

TetherX wins: a multi-site customer (anywhere outside the US, or inside the US with mixed camera brands), a customer whose estate is 60% Axis and 40% other (Hanwha (South Korean), Avigilon (Canadian), Bosch (German), Hikvision (Chinese), VIVOTEK (Taiwanese), Dahua (Chinese)), or any customer who wants a qualified local installer to design, deploy and support the system end-to-end and route monitoring through a UK / EU / AU ARC of choice.

Verkada alternative (Verkada, American) is technically VSaaS + ACaaS bundled as a single Command platform - sometimes described as PSaaS in marketing. Cameras + sensors + access + intercom + Verkada Air vape-detection from one vendor. Closed proprietary cameras, $3.2B last private valuation, June 5 2026 price increase announced.

Eagle Eye / Brivo alternative (Eagle Eye / Brivo, American, branded Brivo post-Dec 29 2025 merger) is genuinely PSaaS - Eagle Eye cloud VMS heritage + Brivo cloud ACS heritage + Brivo Intrusion 2025 + Snapshot AI tie-in.

Avigilon Alta alternative (Avigilon Alta, Canadian, Motorola Solutions American) is also PSaaS-shaped post-Openpath acquisition - Alta Video (ex-Ava, acquired by Motorola for $400M alone / $449M Ava+Calipsa+Videotec bundle in March 2022) + Alta Access (ex-Openpath) + Alta Visitor under one umbrella.

PSaaS is steadily absorbing both at the mid-market end, slowly at the enterprise end. Standalone VSaaS deployments (cloud VMS only, separate access subscription, separate intruder, separate monitoring) are giving way to PSaaS - the integration layer that used to be "buy three vendors and stitch them together yourself" is being baked into the platform. TetherX is an example of that absorption: it ships as PSaaS even though many procurement templates still ask for "cloud VMS / VSaaS".

PSIM is the slower migration. Enterprise command-and-control rooms - airports, mass transit, safe-city programmes, defence, oil and gas - have decades of on-premise PSIM investment (NICE Situator, Vidsys, CNL ipSecurityCenter, CCURE 9000) sitting above heterogeneous security stacks and bound by no-cloud policy mandates. Cloud-native PSaaS is the right answer for mid-market and most commercial multi-site work, but PSIM at the top end will keep its niche for the rest of the decade.

Yes. 30-day free trial through an integrator partner with a TetherBox, full multi-system platform access (video + alarms + access + ARC integration), and a dedicated onboarding contact. No card, no commitment, extensions on request.