MobileView CCTV Fiber Optic Transmitters & Telemetry

Video surveillance across the world is growing exponentially and its major application is in both public safety and law enforcement. Traditionally, it has been fixed surveillance where cameras provide live streams from fixed cameras situated in what is considered strategic locations. But they are limited in what they can see given by their very definition of being "fixed." The future of video surveillance includes the deployment of more mobile video surveillance with the benefits it offers. Instead of fixed cameras, this is the ability to live stream from mobile devices on the move such as body-worn cams, drones, motorbikes, cars, helicopters and in some cases, even dogs!Sending drones into the air, for example for missing people or rescue missions, is much more cost-effective than deploying helicopters Advantages of mobile surveillance The advantage of mobile surveillance is that the camera can go to where the action is, rather than relying on the action going to where the camera is. Also, sending drones into the air, for example for missing people or rescue missions, is much more cost-effective than deploying helicopters. The ability to live stream video from cars and helicopters in high-speed pursuits can be used to take some of the operational issues from the first responders on the ground and share that “life and death” responsibility with the operational team leaders back in the command centre. This allows the first responders in the pursuit vehicle to focus on minimising risk while staying in close proximity of the fleeing vehicle, with direction from a higher authority who can see for themselves in real time the issues that are being experienced, and direct accordingly. In addition to showing video live stream from a pursuit car or motorcycle, by using inbuilt GPS tracking, the video can be displayed on a map in real time, allowing a command chief to better utilise additional resource and where to deploy them, through the use of displaying mapping information with real time video feed. It allows police chiefs to make better informed decisions in highly-charged environments. The 4G phone network can now be used with compressed video to live stream cost effectively Application in emergency situations The same is true of first responders in many different emergency situations. Mobile surveillance opens up a new area of efficiencies that previously was impossible to achieve. For example, special operations can wear action body-worn cameras when doing raids, fire departments can live stream from emergency situations with both thermal and daylight cameras, and paramedics can send video streams back to hospitals allowing doctors to remotely diagnose and prepare themselves for when patients arrive at the hospital. How can special operations and emergency first responders live stream video from a mobile camera with the issues of weight, reliability and picture-quality being considered? H265 mobile video compression Law enforcement insists on secure transmissions, and it is possible to encrypt video to the highest level of security available in the public domain The 4G phone network can now be used with compressed video to live stream cost effectively. The issue of course is that 4G is not always reliable. Soliton Systems has mitigated this risk of low mobile quality in certain areas, by building an H265 mobile video compression device that can use multiple SIM cards from different cellular providers simultaneously. H265 is the latest compression technique for video, that is 50% more effective than conventional H264, and coupling this with using multiple “bonded” SIM cards provides a highly reliable connection for live-streaming high-quality HD video. The 400-gram device with an internal battery can be connected to a small action cam, and can live-stream simultaneously over at least three different cellular providers, back to a command centre. Latency is typically less than a second, and new advance improvements are looking to reduce that latency further. Encrypted video transmission What about security? Law enforcement insists on secure transmissions, and it is possible to encrypt video to the highest level of security available in the public domain, i.e. AES256.What about integration into existing video infrastructure at the command centre? It is not untypical for a police force to have an existing video management system (VMS) at their command centre such as Milestone System’s Xprotect. The Soliton range of products are ONVIF-compliant, a standard used by video surveillance cameras for interoperability, allowing cameras and video devices that are ONVIF-compliant to simply “plug&play” into existing video management systems. These mobile transmitters are deployed with law enforcement and first responders across the globe. Their ability to provide secure, full HD quality and highly-reliable video streaming within a small unit, and to enable it to be integrated into the current eco-system that is already installed at the receiving end, has made them a favourite choice with many companies and government agencies.

The term “smart city” gets thrown around a lot nowadays, but as different technologies that strive to be defined in this way are adopted by different countries globally, the meaning of this phrase gets lost in translation. The simplest way to define a “smart city” is that it is an urban area that uses different types of data collecting sensors to manage assets and resources efficiently. One of the most obvious types of “data collecting sensor” is the video camera, whether that camera is part of a city’s existing CCTV infrastructure, a camera in a shopping centre or even a police car’s dash camera. The information gathered by video cameras can be used with two purposes in mind, firstly: making people’s lives more efficient, for example by managing traffic, and secondly (and arguably more importantly): making people’s lives safer. Live streaming video all the time, everywhere In the smart and safe city, traditional record-only video cameras are of limited use. Yes, they can be used to collect video which can be used for evidence after a crime has taken place, but there is no way that this technology could help divert cars away from an accident to avoid traffic building up, or prevent a crime from taking place in the first place. However, streaming live video from a camera that isn’t connected to an infrastructure via costly fibre optic cabling has proven challenging for security professionals, law enforcement and city planners alike. This is because it isn’t viable to transmit video reliably over cellular networks, in contrast to simply receiving it. Video transmission challenges Transmitting video normally results in freezing and buffering issues which can hinder efforts to fight crime and enable flow within a city, as these services require real-time, zero latency video without delays. Therefore, special technology is required that copes with poor and varying bandwidths to allow a real-time view of any scene where cameras are present to support immediate decision making and smart city processes. The information gatheredby video cameras can beused to make people’s lives more efficient, and to make people’s lives safer There are many approaches to transmitting video over cellular. We’ve developed a specialist codec (encoding and decoding algorithm) that can provide secure and reliable video over ultra-low bandwidths and can therefore cope when networks become constrained. Another technique, which is particularly useful if streaming video from police body worn cameras or dash cams that move around, is to create a local wireless “bubble” at the scene, using Wi-Fi or mesh radio systems to provide local high-bandwidth communications that can communicate with a central location via cellular or even satellite communications. Enhanced city surveillance Live video streaming within the smart and safe city’s infrastructure means that video’s capabilities can go beyond simple evidence recording and evolve into a tool that allows operations teams to monitor and remediate against incidents as they are happening. This can be taken one step further with the deployment of facial recognition via live streaming video. Facial recognition technology can be added on to any video surveillance camera that is recording at a high enough quality to identify faces. The technology works by capturing video, streaming the live video back to a control centre and matching faces against any watch lists that the control centre owns. Importantly, the data of people who aren’t on watch lists is not stored by the technology. Identifying known criminals This technology can work to make the city safer in a number of ways. For example, facial recognition could spot a known drug dealer in a city centre where they weren’t supposed to be, or facial recognition could identify if a group of known terror suspects were visiting the same location at the same time, and this would send an alert to the police. Facial recognition technology captures and streams live back to a control centre, matching faces against any watch lists that the control centre owns In an ideal world where the police had an automated, electronic workflow, the police officer nearest to the location of the incident would be identified by GPS and would be told by the control room where to go and what to do. Most police forces aren’t quite at this technological level yet, and would probably rely on communicating via radio in order to send the nearest response team to the scene. As well as this, shopping centres could create a database from analogue records of known shoplifters to identify criminals as soon as they entered the building. This would be even more effective if run co-operatively between all shopping centres and local businesses in an area, and would not only catch any known shoplifters acting suspiciously, but would act as a deterrent from shoplifting in the first place. Live streaming for police As mentioned above, live streaming video from CCTV cameras can help the police fight crime more proactively rather than reactively. This can be enhanced even further if combined with live streaming video from police car dash cams and police body worn cameras. If video was streamed from all of these sources to a central HQ, such as a police operations centre, the force would be able to have full situational awareness throughout an incident. This would mean that, if need be, officers could be advised on the best course of action, and additional police or other emergency services could be deployed instantly if needed. Incorporated with facial recognition, this would also mean that police could instantly identify if they were dealing with known criminals or terrorists. Whilst they would still have to confirm the identity of the person with questioning or by checking their identification, this is still more streamlined than describing what a person looks like over a radio and then ops trying to manually identify if the person is on a watch list. The smart, safe city is possible today – for one, if live video streaming capabilities are deployed they can enable new levels of flow in the city. With the addition of facial recognition, cities will be safer than ever before and law enforcement and security teams will be able to proactively stop crime before it happens by deterring criminal activity from taking place at all.

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.

The Electronic Security Expo (ESX) will be held at the Indiana Convention Center, June 3-6, in Indianapolis. The show focusses exclusively on the electronic security and life safety industry, including companies that service the connected Internet of Things (IoT) space for homes and businesses. The ESX Main Stage will highlight inspirational presentations from motivational speakers, Dr. Rick Rigsby and Kevin Brown. In addition, there will be a founder of a drone security company and an Entrepreneur-in-Residence from Kleiner Perkins for OpenXchange, and a Secret Service agent for the Closing Keynote. Sharing best practices and trends In breakout sessions, colleagues and business thought leaders will share best practices, trends and opportunities that helped their own companies and careers, so that others might replicate their successes or minimise their failures. These sessions are aimed at propelling attendees to reimagine their business models and go-to-market strategies, says George De Marco, Chairman of ESX and Managing Partner for DECO Ventures LLC. Examples of breakout sessions include: CounterPoint Forum – “False Alarm Dispatches - A Real Threat or a Nuisance to the Industry?” “Top 3 Ways to Grow Your Video RMR” “5 Faster, Smarter Ways to Improve Cash Flow” “Artificial Intelligence Real Time Video Monitoring Solutions” Promoting security professionals’ growth Our goal is to develop next-gen methods that deliver industry content and promote professional growth"“Each year, we challenge ourselves to raise the bar of the educational sessions and main stage events,” says De Marco. “One of the ways is introducing new faces and voices for the peer-developed and peer-driven educational sessions that offer best practices and identify trends, opportunities and challenges for industry professionals to consider today and in the future. Our goal is to develop next-gen methods that deliver industry content and promote professional growth as the industry pivots to the future.” New entrants and disruptors are challenging traditional go-to-market strategies, causing traditional companies to rethink how they rise above the noise in a changing competitive landscape and handle new consumer buying behaviours, says De Marco. Exhibitors at ESX Exhibitors that support ESX include Interlogix (Diamond sponsor), Napco (Platinum sponsor), Alula and DMP (Gold sponsor), and ADI, Altronix, Bold Group, Essence, ICT, Quick Response, Resideo, Secura key, Security Central and WeSuite (Silver sponsors). ESX seeks to connect exhibitors with the influencers and decision-makers from companies that represent a cross section of dealers, integrators and monitoring companies in North America. The exhibit hall will be the focal point for exhibitors to showcase their latest technology in the city’s impressive convention centre. The exhibit hall will be the focal point for exhibitors to showcase their latest technology in the city’s convention centre “We recognise individuals and companies during the Opening Celebration that help propel the industry forward and at our VIP Event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” says De Marco. “During the day, there are meals around the Main Stage sessions which gather attendees around the table for casual conversation before the presentation begins.” Indianapolis, home of the Indy 500, is a unique location that has a lot to offer the attendees of ESX. A special night at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway will invite a limited number of guests to share great food and drinks, to experience a trip around the track in an official pace car, and to ‘kiss the bricks’, a speedway tradition. Centrally located in the US, Indianapolis is a convenient convention destination for travel, whether flying or driving. Connecting with peers and colleagues Another benefit of the show is the cross-section of companies represented in the industry, whether large, medium or small There are also networking opportunities throughout the week. The Pub Crawl, an attendee favourite, is a night where long-time friends gather, and new friendships are made. “This is where the real conversations happen between peers and colleagues about real problems of running and growing a company, and solutions that can make a difference,” says De Marco. Another benefit of the show is the cross-section of companies represented in the industry, whether large, medium or small players. This enables professionals to come together to connect with their peers and colleagues, allowing for deep discussions on how to grow their people, revenues and profits, including mentoring opportunities that encourage leadership development, says De Marco. The subject of finding qualified employees is top of mind for almost every industry today, especially the security industry. Sessions that address hiring and managing employees for industry professionals include  “Hiring from Outside the Monitoring Industry: Surprising Resources for Great Operators” “Maximise New Employees: Why Onboarding is Critical to Their Success” “5 Tips for Effective Employee Performance Evaluations” Helping attendees to reinvent their business “Our focus is primarily on the attendee, helping them connect with suppliers, colleagues and opportunities that reimagine their businesses, so they can be stronger competitors,” says De Marco. “If we can provide the right knowledge to inspire or transform the attendees to take meaningful action or implement change that helps them remain relevant, we believe we have succeeded.” There will be an undercurrent of sadness at ESX this year because the industry recently suffered a loss. George Gunning, former CEO of USA Alarm Systems and one of the founding members of ESX, passed away in February. “We would be remiss if we didn’t recognise his contributions and influence on the industry and ESX over the years,” says De Marco. Another founding member of ESX who has passed away is John Murphy, formerly CEO of Vector Security.

3xLOGIC, Inc., global provider of integrated, intelligent security solutions, and a three-time Deloitte Technology Fast 500 winner, announced that the company has added to its growing North American sales network, along with other personnel moves at its umbrella company, Stanley Products and Solutions (SPS). The company added two new RSMs to further penetrate key markets in the Pacific NW as well as the Mid-Atlantic regions and appointed a new Marketing Manager for the PACOM brand of products. 3xLOGIC adds security expert  3xLOGIC welcomes Joel Dombovy as a Regional Sales Manager (RSM) in the Northwest 3xLOGIC welcomes Joel Dombovy as a Regional Sales Manager (RSM) in the Northwest. Joel comes to the company with 14 years of security industry experience, working with companies such as Interlogix, GE Security, and Honeywell. John Saxen will support Joel as the Inside Sales Account Manager for the region. Jake Franklin takes over as RSM for the Mid-Atlantic. He joins the company from RF Technologies, a safety solutions company in healthcare where he was RSM for the Northeast. Prior to that, he worked as Critical Infrastructure Account Manager & Sales Representative at a security integration company. Jake’s passion for technology and previous security experience make him an excellent addition to 3xLOGIC’s powerful sales team. Bill Hobbs, Global VP of Sales for SPS, announced that both Joel and Jake will report to Jason Bryan, Director of Sales. PACOM expands marketing team Jennifer Joyce is the new Marketing Manager for PACOM, sister company of 3xLOGIC, as the company continues to expand efforts in the North American to market the wide range of PACOM solutions that have found success all over the world. She brings more than 25 years of marketing and design experience to the team. Her global marketing experience began with Firestone Industrial Products and Jennifer most recently spent her time in digital marketing as Marketing Director for Orbis Education. She will report to Suzi Abell, Senior Director of Global Marketing, SPS. Gavin O’Keeffe has been promoted to Director of Product Management Elsewhere in the larger SPS organisation Charlie Erickson has a new title reflecting his growing responsibilities—Chief Technology Officer. He continues to oversee Product Management as his team continues to expand. Reporting directly to Charlie, Michael Poe has been promoted to Director of Product Management. He will be leading the Video, Blue, DIY, and TRENDS products lines. Rick Walker will be aligned under Poe’s leadership.  New PAC, PACOM, infinias head Also reporting to Charlie, Gavin O’Keeffe has been promoted to Director of Product Management, and he will be leading the PAC, PACOM, infinias, and Sonitrol product teams. We also welcome Darren Monroe, Product Manager for infinias to Gavin’s team. Darren will work in the 3xLOGIC office in Indianapolis and Gavin works out of the PACOM Australia office. Drew Alexander continues as Sr. Director of Program Management, and he will continue to add Program Managers to his team to facilitate a growing list of product launches and business initiatives.

Interlogix, a global leader in security and life-safety solutions, introduces Simon XTi-5i, a self-contained, wireless security system for heightened residential security and convenience. An update to the Simon XTi-5 system, the new platform supports 80 wireless zones, features a 5-inch color LCD touchscreen and is compatible with a wide range of devices through leading service providers. Interlogix is a part of Carrier, a leading global provider of innovative heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC), refrigeration, fire, security and building automation technologies. Simon XTi-5 wireless security system “The latest version of the Simon XTi-5 system helps synchronise homes to keep families connected, protected and a whole lot more,” said Cooper Briscoe, residential solutions product leader, North America, Interlogix. “The devices and accessories available through Interlogix and Alarm.com interactive services make it easy to customise systems that meet each family’s specific needs and priorities whether in a house, apartment or condominium.” When paired with an LTE modem from leading active home services provider Alarm.com, Simon panels can be used as a comfort management and automation system enabling local and remote control of Z-Wave devices such as wireless lighting controls, thermostats, door locks, garage doors and more. Home security and automation solutions The intuitive touch screen panel is easy to operate, making it ideal for users of all ages The new system features a selectable user interface that matches the Alarm.com interactive services mobile application in color, style and icons – simplifying the user experience. At-a-glance system status provides a complete view of home security and automation systems, indoor temperature and outdoor weather. The panel comes standard with support for up to 80 wireless zones and a built-in battery backup keeps the system running in case of power failures. Paired with an LTE modem from Alarm.com, the Simon XTi-5i panel enables other home security and automation features including: Real-time look-ins and review of recorded snapshots for visual verification of alarms by using the Interlogix Image Sensor Voice, email and text message reports Two-way emergency communication with monitoring station personnel using the panel’s built-in microphone Menu-based system programming and testing for fast and accurate installation of the panel and supported devices. The intuitive touch screen panel is easy to operate, making it ideal for users of all ages.