Video Storage Solutions CCTV Switchers & Switches

In 2017, DITEK saw how power surges from the many natural disasters that took place damaged many businesses. In a natural disaster, or even everyday business operations, a facility’s entire investment in security, life safety and surveillance systems technology can be disabled or rendered useless in a few seconds. Surge protection solutions can mitigate those risks and protect security investments. Proactive approach to risk mitigation Throughout 2017, we also witnessed a change in how enterprises view surge protection, which included how investments are being made in surge protection to protect valuable security, life safety and surveillance systems, while also reducing downtime, manpower costs, liability vulnerabilities, and possibly compliance issues that can force businesses to actually cease operations. Effective security management is about mitigating risks. But risks cannot be mitigated without a proactive approach. Enterprises and integrators, who take the time to assess risk and to develop a strategy to incorporate effective detection, deter and response criteria to protect physical assets will be successful in 2018. 2018 and beyond That strategy includes designing surge protection into new security systems, while also adding surge protection to existing systems. Enterprises and security integrators who implement a surge protection strategy during security planning processes – or after – will be exercising prevention and mitigation, and they will be successful in 2018 and beyond.  Surge protection devices have an untapped potential for enterprise surveillance and security systems In 2017, Ditek continued to offer security end users a solid surge protection solution. We also successfully educated system integrators, who are seeking value-added products or services to incorporate into their portfolios, on the importance of surge protection devices. Educating security integrators We believe that surge protection devices have an untapped potential for enterprise video surveillance and security systems, because they can and do meet safety and security challenges that have been rarely identified in the past. We are looking forward to 2018, when we will continue to develop new surge protection products – including a new product engineered to protect up to twelve individual fuel dispensers, which is critical to the financial operation of convenience stores. We will also continue to educate security integrators about the importance of including surge protection in the design/build RFP, to not only secure an enterprise’s valuable security equipment, but also to help integrators to differentiate their capabilities and knowledge from the competition.

Technology is changing the look and function of today’s security control rooms. Old-school CRT (cathode-ray tube) monitors are giving way to the thinner, flat screen monitors in the control room environment, but the transition is gradual. Randy Smith of Winsted still sees many control rooms that need to make the conversion, which is a boon to his company’s business. Furniture today is designed differently to accommodate the thinner monitors, often with larger screens. Need for integrated rack systems With the increase of IP-based systems comes the need for integrated rack systems that include advanced functionality such as cable management, adds Jim Coleman, National Sales Manager, AFC Industries. Server rooms are environmentally controlled by cooling systems and power systems monitored on the IP network. Low-profile flat screens allow centres to utilise space vertically, thus creating a smaller footprint for the consoles. Additionally, with IP-based systems, workstations will have a smaller footprint because there is less cumbersome equipment. In most cases the servers are stored in a secured, climate controlled environment to eliminate overheating of the servers and maintain their security, says Coleman. This environment also helps with cable and power management. AFC builds technical furniture racks that adhere to the precise needs of computer network server room operators. The company designs and fabricates LAN workbenches with versatile functionalities, and server room workstation racks that are scalable. There is a complete line of IT workbenches, IT computer racks and computer server rack mounts with flexible mounting options. In most cases the servers are stored in a secured, climate controlled environment to eliminate overheating of the servers and maintain their security Flexible control room designs Matko Papic, Chief Technology Officer of Evans Consoles, says the transition from bulky CRT equipment to flat-screen (lower profile) monitors was a major disruption in control room design; it changed the whole dynamic. Another evolution is the use of IP video streaming, which allows more flexibility in manipulation of audio-video content, and requires more flexible control room designs. Another shift, driven by larger, higher-definition monitors, is a shift to fewer monitors that display more information. Instead of a smaller monitor for each information stream, larger monitors now consolidate that information into “dashboard” displays. Looking ahead, control rooms will need to be more flexible, both in the initial design and the ability to adapt to changing technology, says Papic. Legacy customers who are currently using PCs may be moving to more remote applications. Sit-stand equipment will continue to be increasingly prevalent. “There will be more emphasis on flexibility, technology integration, and the ability to change over the life of the system,” says Papic. Consolidation of multiple operations into a single system A trend in security is consolidation of multiple physical operations into a single system, says Papic. As a result, more customers are taking more interest in alarm management and situational awareness. How is the technology being used in terms of alarm triggers? How can the systems react rapidly and provide information to a larger audience in the control room? These questions impact how control rooms are designed, and Evans Consoles can adapt lessons learned from other markets to these trends in the security arena. Greater use of technology is inevitable, says Coleman of AFC Industries. “It is virtually impossible for humans to monitor all security data at the street level in our cities,” he says. “As computers become more powerful and their programs more all-encompassing, we will see a greater shift to robotic and technology uses that will provide enhanced monitoring capabilities and safety Read our Control Rooms series here

The security industry will continue to see consolidation through acquisition in 2017. At the advent of IP camera adoption, we saw a great decline in large vertically integrated companies, which spurred a new era of innovation within smaller IP camera manufacturers, VMS providers and other hardware companies for storage and managed switches.   We are now living in a new era of consolidation that is taking us full-circle back to vertical integration. Ultimately, the industry as a whole suffers because this consolidation will stifle innovation until the next big technology disruption takes shape. Interoperability across different verticals  This time last year, we noted that the marketplace was moving toward converged technologies and the need for alarm management across multiple platforms into a common interface, turned out to be a popular request. If anything, we are only seeing just the beginning phases of this transition. The biggest surprise is that interoperability is not only confined to security technology, but also extends to parallel systems such as building automation, safety and environmental controls, and even Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. Using Video Event Management Software (VEMS) alongside these intelligent platforms proves to be a valuable verification process for many new and exciting vertical markets. Arteco plans to continue the revenue growth and brand awareness achieved in 2016 Event-based video security software At Arteco, our highest growth sectors tend to be slightly insulated from economic fluctuation in the sense that we focus on securing critical infrastructure (electrical utilities and communications) as well as corporate and education campuses. Unfortunately, the continued growth in active shooter incidents have made physical security concerns top of mind for many organisations regardless of economic impact. The unexpected repercussions are that many new security technologies are emerging that cater to real-time event notification on both the macro and micro level. The exciting part of this trend is that users are leveraging a layered approach with multiple autonomous applications working together toward a common goal to improve security, which will hopefully ensure a high level of protection.  Business growth and challenges Business has continued to grow year-over-year, and 2016 was a huge step forward for Arteco not only in terms of revenue growth, but also increased brand awareness in the United States and abroad. Our biggest challenge continues to be the crowded VMS market, which is filled with lower cost or even free substitute products. We are making great strides in overcoming this challenge by having a wonderful team of people, both on the technical and sales side of the organisation, who are focused on finding new and innovative ways to advance intuitive, open and affordable event-based and intelligent video security software into 2017. See the full coverage of 2016/2017 Review and Forecast articles here 

Video Storage Solutions (VSS), a division of BCD International, has revamped its product portfolio to offer a wider range of solutions, along with simplifying its offerings for all VSS channel partners. Networking switches, harsh environment servers, and video analytics solutions are among the new solutions that have been added to the VSS product line. “VSS strives to be the ‘easy button’ for our partners,” said Max Burgess, General Manager of Video Storage Solutions, adding “By providing more flexibility to our solutions, we are now able to enhance our customers’ experience, as well as broaden the portfolio that they can deliver to their customers.” Global partnerships VSS has partnered with more than a dozen distributors across the globe over the past year. In this short period of time, VSS has deployed hundreds of solutions that are pre-engineered and validated to withstand the taxing video data write load, while handling the throughput demands of video storage. The VSS product engineering team has certified the bandwidth capabilities on each system. And while these solutions are still relatively new to the market, they are the result of over a decade of creating state-of-the-art video appliances for the security industry.

VSS, a division of the BCD International brand of companies, specialises in offering video recording appliances via authorised security distributors. These are pre-engineered with Milestone XProtect video management software, built on the latest generation of Intel Xeon Scalable processors and Seagate Skyhawk surveillance-grade drives. VSS appliances also feature innovative and disruptive technology such as its Storage Accelerator, which significantly increases storage scalability, performance and reliability. Video management software “We are excited to invite everyone to stand SA-A34 to witness the power and functionality that the VSS appliance portfolio is bringing to the market. In particular, we want visitors to see the power of our ground breaking Storage Accelerator, the industry’s first disruptive technology which allows users to better utilise Milestone Systems video management software, by eliminating the need for expensive 10K/15K RPM SAS drives normally required to run a live database”, says Rohit Khubchandani, Regional Sales Director - METAI, Video Storage Solutions (VSS) According to the company, this technology also enables customers to better utilise the real estate on the recording server, in order to be able to run more storage drives per server, thereby reducing the overall footprint of the project. This can deliver huge financial savings by reducing operational costs normally incurred, such as rack space, cooling and power.

ATOS Global LLP has been appointed a distributor of Video Storage Solutions’ (VSS) pre-engineered video recording and storage appliances. Based in Mumbai, ATOS Global, a specialist VAR national distributor of access and entrance control, life safety, intruder alarm, IP video surveillance, server and storage, solutions, as well as IBMS, IOT and PA systems, will supply the complete range of VSS appliances to system integrators across the Indian subcontinent that are part of the Milestone Systems Community. VSS pre-engineered video recording and storage appliances With demand increasing year-on-year for professional and enterprise-level video surveillance systems" VSS, a division of the BCD International brand of companies, specialises in offering video appliances that are pre-engineered with Milestone XProtect, Seagate Skyhawk surveillance-grade drives and its state-of-the-art Storage Accelerator, which significantly increases storage scalability, performance and reliability for Milestone Systems’ projects. As such, they can withstand the taxing video data write load of systems which have a large number of cameras. “With demand increasing year-on-year for professional and enterprise-level video surveillance systems, there is a tremendous opportunity for us to significantly increase sales of our appliances across India and other SAARC countries,” said Rohit Khubchandani, VSS’ Regional Sales Director for METAI. Reliable, robust video recording and storage Rohit adds, “We are therefore delighted to have the support of ATOS Global as our distribution partner and are looking forward to working closely with them to help their resellers gain a competitive edge by offering robust, ultra reliable and affordable recording and storage solutions.” Commenting on the distribution agreement, Mr. Siddharth Mehta, Director of ATOS Global, said “We are very pleased to have the opportunity to add VSS appliances to our product portfolio. There are so many reasons why we believe our customers should take a close look at what VSS has to offer, not the least of which is that their verified appliances are supplied with guaranteed performance.” System integration The VSS engineering team will certify the bandwidth capabilities of each appliance ordered through ATOS Global. System integrators can rest assured knowing that they will be installing an effective video recording and storage solution with guaranteed performance, provided bandwidth requirements do not exceed the appliance’s specification.