IP cameras News

If we didn’t have manufacturers, integrators wouldn’t have anything to sell. But what is the role of manufacturing companies when it comes to taking those products to market? Effectively managing the sales channel – helping resellers be successful without somehow undermining their efforts or (heaven forbid!) selling direct to an end user – is an ongoing and delicate challenge for manufacturers. They want to do everything in their power to ensure success of their products...

Misreading specifications of transmission products can lead to making the wrong selection Manufacturers’ product specifications are the main source of determining product purchases for video security users. In many cases, the ability to pretest a product under the actual operating conditions is almost impossible. Often the choice is between several different product manufacturers. The time and expense it would take to install and evaluate each one in the actual applicati...

Schools are unlike commercial buildings or other facilities in several ways, and the differences impact how they should be secured. For one thing, the inhabitants are mainly children and won’t carry card credentials. Also, schools have distinct traffic flows and are open all hours of the day for after-school activities and evening and weekend usage. “Security solutions must take into account this flexible and fluid schedule,” says Minu Youngkin, vertical marketing manager, Alle...

Commoditisation of cameras and downward price pressure are big topics in the video surveillance market. There was an interesting discussion about pricing and its impact on the integrator community at last month’s MIPS 2015 (Milestone Integration Platform Symposium). Participants were several of the major camera manufacturers, who provided a variety of viewpoints. Prompting the discussion – but with no representative on the panel – were the emerging Chinese manufacturers, who a...

A comprehensive security assessment will tell how to plan and manage security in the facility A comprehensive security assessment will tell you how to plan and manage security in your facility. Without an assessment, you can only guess about security. For facilities with existing security programs, an assessment can also reveal whether the pieces of the system are working as they should. As a security director, can you do the assessment yourself? Sure, although a large school...

Anything that can incite a crowd surge is a security threat in a sports arena Security at sports stadiums is making headlines across several countries during a week when UBM announced that Protection & Management 2015 (which includes the IFSEC International trade fair) will feature Karren Brady (Baroness Brady), a career soccer executive, as one of its inspirational keynote speakers. As I type, inquests are being held into the deaths of some of the 96 people who were kill...

Daniel Budinoff, president of Security Specialists, Stamford, Conn., is almost a fixture at trade shows, especially ISC West. He attends some six to seven trade shows per year, but finds ISC West most applicable to his company, his product research needs and his networking endeavors. In fact, he has attended ISC West for more than 25 years, only missing perhaps one or two shows during that time period. With this year’s show just around the corner, April 10-12 in Las Vegas, it’s a gre...

“Buyer beware” is always good advice in the security marketplace – or in life for that matter. But the age-old warning is more timely than ever in our age of global commerce and given our fragmented market with thousands of products manufactured all over the world. Complicating the picture: our market is also inching toward commodisation and facing downward pricing that shrinks margins for manufacturers. So the question becomes: When is an item merely a good deal or somehow &ld...

Thermal cameras can often be used to cover larger areas than standard visible light cameras Smart thermal cameras use on-board video analytics and a high degree of video processing to detect people very accurately in complete darkness, bright sun, and bad weather over the typically large perimeters associated with transportation applications. Combining manpower and smart thermal technology makes security for transportation assets more effective. At the end of the day, it takes...

This week’s Expert Panel revisits a classic question that has been around since the advent of IP video: Should an enterprise’s video system have its own network, or should it share the corporate network? Our panellists' responses reflect new IT trends, technology changes and shifting priorities that are impacting how the question is approached. Rising concerns about cyber-security (such as fears that video might provide a hacker entry into the enterprise system) are one new aspect. N...

The FERC standard CIP-014-1 became effective, according to the Federal Register, on January 26, 2015 The electric power industry works with several federal agencies, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Department of Energy (DOE) to improve sector-wide resilience for cyber threats. The industry also collaborates with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the North American Electric Re...

Differences between standard data applications and the requirements of networks designed for IP video security applications are critical for your system's performance When the need to purchase a network switch arises, many IT directors immediately turn to two favourites, HP or Cisco. They have become to the networking environment what IBM was to computers: “No one ever got fired for buying IBM.” Certainly, switches play a crucial role in enhancing your network by i...

Standards for camera manufacturers presented a new challenge with the introduction of security cameras that require more than 30 Watts of power Standards for camera manufacturers presented a new challenge with the introduction of security cameras that require more than 30 Watts of power. Many of these involve pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) domes and heaters and blowers that require additional power. This development created two areas of confusion which is highlighted in this article by N...

This year’s 10th anniversary Milestone Integration Platform Symposium (MIPS) was the largest ever, with 463 participants, including manufacturers, integrators and thought leaders from throughout the industry. Emphasizing Milestone’s “open platform” approach to the market, the 2015 event highlighted successful Milestone end users, new integrations with a variety of manufacturer partners, and a theme of “winning together.” Keeping Mum on the Canon-Axis acquisti...

Improvements in the technology have lowered – but not eliminated – concerns about false alarms False alarms have plagued the video analytics market since the beginning. Improvements in the technology have lowered – but not eliminated – concerns about false alarms. Companies providing video analytics systems say the question isn’t whether false alarms can be eliminated, but rather how they can be managed. “We’re still very far away fro...

It’s important for everyone in a high school to wear an ID Handwritten check in and check out books fail to alert the security risks posed by individuals on school campuses. Installing visitor management systems is imperative to screen and manage visitors and thereby enhance the level of safety in schools.  However, it takes training and practice to use school visitor management technologies effectively. Security technologies can go a long way toward making K-12 sc...

The retired police officer who takes a cushy job as a security director is almost a cultural cliché. Like any cliché, the idea has roots in the real world, where police departments have often been a rich source of the security industry’s leadership talent. Former military personnel often find their way to the security industry, too, and realise that the familiar elements of discipline and command structure translate well. We wondered about the impact of this historic trend an...

3xLOGIC has a vision to provide a fully integrated video, access control and cloud-based managed solution. The acquisition this week of the infinias access control product line provides the missing piece of that vision, says Matthew Kushner, CEO of 3xLOGIC. “This acquisition is a pure strategic play to create a disruptive solution for cloud-based managed services,” says Kushner. The acquisition includes the infinias brand, its intellectual property and the infinias team, including e...

Combining thermal imaging with analytics provides a robust system Prices are dropping for thermal cameras. Now they are much more affordable for non-military customers – and more likely to be used in combination with video analytics. Combining thermal imaging with analytics provides a robust system; the technologies work well together. Thermal cameras make it easier to detect motion because you are eliminating much of the detail and only emphasising temperature “c...

Milestone Interconnect provides a cost-efficient and flexible way to have central surveillance operation across geographically dispersed sites The transportation vertical is embracing the open platform for video systems. In the past, manufacturers required transportation end users to purchase the camera, the recorders and the software all from one manufacturer. Now, with IP, organisations in the transportation vertical can use off-the-shelf cameras, servers (recorders) and sof...

Analytics at the edge provide the ability to process what is happening in a field of view and discern if a relevant alert is triggered There are multiple benefits to using video analytics at the edge (i.e., near or inside the camera). For one thing, analytics at the edge provides the ability to process what is happening in a field of view and discern if a relevant alert is triggered. This can be faster and less expensive than the original video analytics model of using a separ...

The people element is a huge variable in the operation of any security system, and in any aspect of business for that matter. Training is a valuable tool to manage that variable, especially as it relates to newer, more complex networked physical security systems. Training can be a challenge throughout our market, which needs well-trained employees at the security front lines of our end users companies as well as competent, knowledgeable technicians handling installation and maintenance of securi...

Standards are like a warm blanket on a cold winter night. They make us feel safe and warm. A standard tells us the devices we use within our systems will interact with each other regardless of manufacturer. For IP-powered PoE devices, we depend on standards such as 802.3af for devices requiring up to 15.4 watts and 802.3at for devices powered up to 30 watts. We depend on the devices generating the power to be able to be read by devices receiving the power. Our dependence is not al...

Compliance with regulatory requirements are not enough to protect the US electric grid  Many companies use compliance and best practices to assist in their fight to protect the U.S. electric grid. They rely primarily on what three groups say – FERC (Federal Energy and Regulatory Committee), CERT (U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team) and NERC (North American Electric Reliability Corporation). These groups issue advisories, standards and guidelines for the industr...

Video analytics isn’t just for security. In general, the ability to leverage data from video provides a new wealth of information and “intelligence” about all aspects of the business. The retail vertical is leading the way in reaping the benefits of video analytics beyond the security function.   There are two reasons retailers have taken advantage of video analytics far more than other vertical markets. First, retailers generally face more theft than a...

The ability to clearly see facial features and other identifying characteristics on each passenger greatly enhances security Some of the video technology used in the transportation vertical is purpose-built, but the wide range of applications and environments is conducive to a variety of general-purpose technology, too. Leading IP camera makers like Axis, Sony and Panasonic have introduced new products to enhance safety and security of travel in  trains, buses or oth...

Intelligent searches of video archives provide investigators faster access to any needed video clip That video analytics can be immensely useful in forensics is relatively less known. However, forensic search capabilities offered by some modern video analytics solutions can not only save investigators significant amounts of time but also help them find results more accurately. These solutions leverage facial recognition and advanced object tracking, demographic analytics, lice...

Various vertical markets such as retail, airports, and transportation have benefited from video analytics Video analytics systems have progressed far beyond the theoretical and are now being used effectively in a range of applications. Let’s look at some of the real-world scenarios that have taken advantage of the latest video analytics systems. Video analytics aren’t just for security. For a traffic application, Agent Vi provides business intelligence on the ave...

The better the sensors, the better the analytics Garbage in, garbage out. The familiar cliché is just as applicable to the area of video analytics as any other field of computing. You simply must have a high-quality image in order to achieve a high-functioning analytics system. The good news is that video cameras, which are the sensors in video analytics systems, are providing images that are better than ever, offering higher quality – and more data – for us...

In the wake of Canon’s acquisition of Axis Communications, the company faces a communication challenge in the market – to reiterate the camera manufacturer’s commitment to open systems- acknowledges Fredrik Nilsson, General Manager, North America of the Swedish IP camera vendor.    “We say nothing will change, and we will show it in our action as well as say it,” he comments. “There have been companies that have claimed openness, but then don&rsquo...