2023 Alumni Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (GROUP)
Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Science), 1994
Bachelor of Computer Science, 2004
Glenn Farrant and Jahmai Lay are leading a revolution in safety and security, leveraging the widespread use of smartphones and the growing acceptance of cloud-based platforms to develop innovative solutions relied upon by millions of users worldwide.
CriticalArc cofounders Glenn (Chief Executive Officer) and Jahmai (Chief Technology Officer) are the visionaries behind SafeZone, an emergency management app and comprehensive security solution enabling organisations to monitor and manage responses to safety and security challenges in real time across distributed and disparate environments.
Identifying significant shortcomings in current offerings while developing state-of-the-art security and surveillance systems for Honeywell, the pair envisaged a solution that would connect users to the nearest responder and provide a common operating view for safety and security teams. They developed and tested SafeZone while CriticalArc was a founding resident at iAccelerate, attracting over $3 million in capital investment and launching in Australia.
Expansion into the UK, Europe, the Middle East, and followed by the US, SafeZone now operates in over 80 countries worldwide with a growing client base of more than 3.5 million users. It has transformed safety, security, well-being and emergency management across higher education, healthcare, transportation, critical infrastructure defence, and aerospace, and provided mass alerts and warnings in severe weather, criminal activity, fires, and other public safety threats. When war broke out between Russia and Ukraine, Glasgow University reported that the emergency management app was integral to helping students safely home. This is just one of the many positive reported use cases of SafeZone.
CriticalArc’s customer-led design and continuous improvement approach have delivered extended capabilities into SafeZone including a wellbeing application to provide real-time mental health support in the wake of the pandemic. The company has been widely recognised for its market leading innovation, winning Outstanding Security Partnership at the 2022 Security Performance Awards, Customer Care Initiative of the Year in the 2020 IFSEC Security and Fire Excellence Awards, and the 2019 Campus Security & Life Safety Secure Campus Award, among others.
Glenn Farrant and Jahmai Lay have demonstrated significant entrepreneurial spirit, talent, and tenacity, harnessing innovation to deliver far-reaching impacts for individuals and organisations across the globe.