Government & public services security applications - Expert commentary

   Network-enabled "intelligent" security components increasingly have better computational and memory capacity The use of Internet Protocol (IP), or networking, is commonly associated with convergence. In this article, Markus Lahtinen of Lund University's LUSAX project, contends that the shift to network-enabled "intelligent" security components which increasingly have better computational and memory capacity has a significant impact on the present and future dy...

  Fibre optics enhances the operation and business bottom line of surveillance solutions Designers and end users of security systems, integrators and installers must consider and balance the functionality required of a video surveillance camera with its methods of transmission. This is the first of a 3-part examination by Mark Wilson, Marketing Vice President of Infinova, of how chief security officers (CSOs), directors and managers can understand the benefits of and...

  Acquiring a true open platform surveillance software requires an informed decision Research reports pertaining to the IP video surveillance market repeatedly talk up the trend of "Open Platform". Keeping with that trend, it seems that every manufacturer is claiming its offerings to be IP-based and Open Platform. In the security industry these days, it has become almost embarrassing for a company to admit having a proprietary (single vendor) solution - there seems to be a...

   Are we about to see the first truebreakthrough for video analytics? Daniel Wan, Channel Marketing Leader UK at Honeywell Security Group, assesses the development of video analytics from a perceived premium add-on to a cost-effective and key component in video surveillance and several other security applications. Its proven benefits in perimeter protection, increasing the efficiency of manned guarding services and the ROI it delivers, particularly in preventive...

Biometric technology has been with us for over two decades, but how will it evolve over the next ten years?  John Davies, Managing Director of access control specialist TDSi, looks at the impact of biometrics and considers how future developments might shape the security industry. Biometrics is quite rightly viewed to be at the cutting edge of security technology.  From the very first commercial application of a finger print reader in 1984, we have seen new systems and applications in...

SourceSecurity.com took the time to catch up with the CEO and President of the company that invented the network camera more than 10 years ago, Axis Communications, to ask him whether the era of IP-based surveillance had arrived and what obstacles remain in the way of more widespread adoption. SourceSecurity.com: Do you think IP-Surveillance has finally come of age? Ray Mauritsson: Yes and it is not just Axis saying this.  You only need to look at the growth of sales of the network...

In his previous article, Matt Gilmartin of Concept Smoke Screen introduced the... well... concept... of artificial smoke as a defence against burglars.  Here he explores the practicalities of the technology and introduces us to a few of its many applications. Originally, security fog systems were exclusively a means of preventing loss through burglary, and were utilised only in the manner described in my previous article.  But advancements in technology (partly fuelled by ever-growin...

In the first of two articles, Matt Gilmartin of Concept Smoke Screen introduces the idea of using artificial smoke as a final - and telling - barrier against burglary, and explains the basics behind this wildly under-reported technology. Around twenty years ago, a dramatic increase in the amount of smash-and-grab and "ram-raid" style burglaries made it apparent that for a lot of premises, the three layers of "conventional" security measures were no longer enough: Physical security...

Bob Randall, chief operating officer of Inkerman, took Mark Rowe out to lunch.  The terror threat is as high as it's ever been, he said; but don't panic.  Bob Randall became the corporate risk, intelligence and investigation consultancy's Chief Operating Officer recently (featured in our September issue).  A career Metropolitan Police man, he retired as a detective chief supt.  His work took in counter-terrorism, covert operations, security, major investigations,...

At a time when private security companies are coming under greater public scrutiny following two recent high profile cash snatches, the whole industry is on the verge of collapse, according to security boss, Major Frank Quigley.  Major Quigley, a retired Military Police officer who has advised the Ministry of Defence on the establishment of its own security services is a director of a rapidly expanding medium sized security company, Guarding UK Ltd.  He said: “The industry has b...

The view that ‘dodgy' guard people will be on the way out and prices will rise for guard providers is rose-tinted, according to Douglas Greenwell, Marketing Director, of G4S Security Services (UK).  He spoke of his firm putting through price increases of about two per cent, to recover from licensing, and meeting some resistance from customers.  He said: "That's to reinforce the message - the only way prices are going to go up, or the only way we are going to improve our returns,...

Iris recognition, the only biometric technology designed to operate in 1-to-many search mode, found a project where the database is finally large enough to be called in.  It’s in India, the world’s second most populous country, where the Government of Andhra Pradesh state announced on 16th JUNE, 2005 a program to control and manage the distribution of state-issued food ration cards.  The program awarded to LG Electronics US-based Iris Technology Division will see 20 million...