Hotels, leisure & entertainment security applications - Expert commentary

Many of the most well-trafficked articles posted at SourceSecurity.com in 2015 were those that addressed timely and important issues in the security marketplace. In the world of digital publishing, it’s easy to know what content resonates with the market: Our readers tell us with their actions; i.e., where they click.   Let’s look back at the Top 10 articles we posted in 2015 that generated the most page views. They are listed in order here with the author’s...

Many security solutions available today have the problem of being insufficiently open, offering very limited flexibility. Integrating third-party products is practically impossible. Customers therefore very often have to make a long-term bet on just one vendor. Upgrading or expanding security systems is often complex, expensive and time-consuming. But the industry is changing. Initiatives like open standards and cooperation between suppliers are emerging to help companies react faster to changin...

2015 has been an eventful year for the physical security industry. As 2016 looms, the pace of industry change shows no sign of decreasing.   Seeking insights into the state of the physical security market at year-end, SourceSecurity.com this month is publishing dozens of 2015 Review and 2016 Forecast articles submitted by manufacturers, integrators and other industry leaders. Taken together, the articles portray a mostly optimistic view of the industry’s present, and an...

A bright, high quality lens, a responsive high sensitivity sensor and great imageprocessing produce a good low light performance  If you’ve been to any surveillance trade show, or picked up an industry magazine in the past few years, you will have noticed that almost every camera manufacturer seems to be talking about low light. Some have specific, dedicated low light products with named technologies, while others claim low light capabilities across their whole prod...

For the second year in a row, Canon made the biggest M&A move in the security marketplace in 2015. How could Canon top the industry shockwaves it created in 2014 when the Japanese giant acquired VMS company Milestone Systems? That’s easy: They bought Axis Communications for $2.8 billion in 2015.   Although the Canon-Axis deal grabbed the most headlines and was easily the most shocking M&A announcement of 2015, it was certainly not the only big news on the mergers...

Video surveillance technologies such as solar and wireless security which are cost-effective and sustainable have witnessed increased adoption. Innovative end-user focused security companies will flourish in the coming years as new market verticals are looking to address security issues.   Evolution of surveillance Looking back over the past year, it is easy to see how the security industry has continued to realise substantial gains. Some of these gains have been financial, s...

At 2015 year-end, we are continuing to see a trend toward hardening the perimeter for buildings and property. I believe we are approaching a tipping point with respect to C-suite awareness of the perils of unauthorised entry, often called “piggybacking” or “tailgating” in security vocabulary. Top executives are becoming more aware of the threat and the potential cost of such threats, and they’re motivating their organisations to take action. Role of trusted consult...

Overall, 2015 was an interesting year for the security industry and Panasonic. We’ve seen some exciting advancements in surveillance technology, including a strong uptick in body-worn cameras for law enforcement. The transition to IP cameras continues; but with economic ups and downs, we also saw customers hanging on to existing systems longer than expected, so providing support and helping them migrate at their own pace will continue to be a priority for us. From a global perspective, the...

The global economy presented some challenges to Tyco Security Products in several ways throughout 2015. Anyone in oil and gas or mining experienced an impact resulting from the market dynamics within those verticals. Also, the significant strength of the US dollar versus other currencies is impacting order value for companies with a global footprint. All in all, though, business remains strong and growing.   Measures to strengthen cybersecurity Looking ahead to 2016, cybersec...

AMAG Technology provides an overview on its regional development and the current market trends in these regions. The integrated security solution provider speaks about the consolidation of the video market and the growing necessity to develop security solutions that address the needs of their customers. The overall economy positively impacted the North American security market in 2015 as AMAG Technology has experienced unprecedented growth as an organisation. On the international side, there ha...

The siliconisation of surveillance cameras has had a great impact on the security industry, especially this year. The cost of complex megapixel cameras has decreased dramatically as this functionality is now available on chips. The camera industry has gone from innovating on the camera’s performance and functionality to acting more like the PC OEM business, and this siliconisation is driving industry commoditisation. Commoditisation is levelling the competitive landscape as customers are...

We close a historic year for the video surveillance industry: HD security cameras dominate the market for the first time, while overall camera sales are growing even stronger than ever, as security customers are accelerating replacements, finally able to get HD CCTV. As of 2016, “4K” replaces “HD” as our industry’s code word for highest-resolution video. Trade show demos of 4K cameras are as common now as HD camera demos were in 2008.    4K technica...

For many years, the physical security industry seemed at a standstill, maintaining the status quo. In recent years, it’s become clear that change is a constant, effectively altering the landscape of the systems integration industry and all it encompasses.   In 2015, we continued to see the proliferation of news about the Internet of Things (loT) and the ways in which connected systems and technologies will affect both the manufacturing and installation communities. As mo...

Overall 2015 has been a year of increased public sector spending (as the UK economy continues to emerge from the recession), which has been highly beneficial to the security industry. This trend has been particularly evident in the healthcare and education sectors, which are key markets for TDSi. Nobody could have predicted the significant number of international security and terrorism threats this year. Undoubtedly this will result in even closer ties among the security industry, police and se...

An increasing trend, and one that will become even more pressing in 2016, is an expanded focus on personnel. This includes the recruitment, selection, training, engagement and recognition of the individuals who are assigned to help create and maintain safer and more secure environments.   The tightening labour market has propelled this pressing need to the forefront. With fewer candidates for security officer openings – and openings in most industries – the competi...

SourceSecurity.com’s Expert Panel had a lot to say in 2015 on a variety of topics in our Roundtable discussions.   Not surprisingly, the discussion topics that have generated the most interest (in terms of how much visitor traffic they generated) are the same hot topics we hear about every day in the industry. Our very most-clicked-on Roundtable discussion in 2015 was about the impact of video on privacy rights. Other hot topics that made the Top-10 list of Roundtable d...

Video surveillance technology continues to evolve at a strong pace with improvements in resolution, integration, intelligence and bandwidth utilisation – all of which contribute to better overall security and cost-efficiency. As the video surveillance category continues to grow, we spoke with Jeff Whitney, Arecont Vision’s Vice President of Marketing, about some of the factors driving the market.   Maturity of integrated systems There continues to be a great deal...

The year 2015 has been notable in several ways. Industry changes include a rise in Chinese manufacturers in the mid- to low-end market, more mobile devices providing video surveillance, and the rise of omnidirectional and higher-megapixel cameras. Unexpectedly, the industry also saw an increase in popularity of do-it-yourself security systems and the speed with which Chinese companies saturated the marketplace with “good enough” products. Omni-directional cameras Oncam welcomes th...

Rapid expansion of access control into new roles has been fuelled by panel-less architecture Our world has changed and our industry has changed with it.  Data now rules, and the network is king. The Internet of Things has driven customer expectations in how data is received and can be acted upon. Advances in panel-less pure IP technologies have allowed our customers to redefine the applications of access control. These two colliding forces have put us all in the business...

The security industry continued to grow in 2015, although it was a bit slower than expected. Most noticeably, we saw a lot of M&A activity throughout the industry, including our own new ownership under Canon. Business continues as usual, and we have and will maintain our separate brand. The industry also experienced more price pressure on hardware than in previous years. Axis U.S. expansion plans 2016, IP video, IoT The discussion of price versus value will be a common one in 2016. There...

Prevention makes tailgating impossible or extremely difficult due to the full height of an entrance Findings from the 2014 Tailgating Survey by Boon Edam Inc., Lillington, North Carolina, found that more than 85 percent of the 250 integrator and end-user respondents were not tracking the number of tailgating incidents. In the access control industry, tailgating is when an unauthorised person follows an authorised personnel through a controlled entrance. More than 50 percent...

Technology can safeguard other motorists, and help highway authorities to communicate with wayward drivers to avoid accidents There has been a spate of accidents worldwide in which cars have been driven either knowingly or unwittingly against the flow of traffic and into oncoming vehicles. Existing and imminent technology from the security sector can prevent such occurrences, alerting responsive drivers to their error and safeguarding other motorists. I write this shortly af...

Risk, in a security context, is the product of threat, vulnerability, and consequence Security as a discipline has been an important feature of society since cavemen started using the environment around them to protect themselves and their families.  As a discipline, security has developed exponentially and that trend is continuing; however, somewhere along the way key elements of physical security design have been forgotten. All too often solutions are deployed in a pre...

Dortronics continues to focus on custom solutions in addition to its line of standard devices Security installers have new ways to add value to their specifications with switches and door controls that can be deployed in a wide range of applications to meet emerging needs of end-users. John FitzPatrick, president of Dortronics Systems Inc., Sag Harbor, New York, says the company continues to work closely with security integrators and their end-user customers to provide co...

Modern home security systems have come of age with innovative technologies that enable homeowners to have complete control over every aspect of the system. MOBOTIX’s Keith Jernigan Sr. and Hunter Fort explore the immense capabilities smart video surveillance technology to make a huge impact on the home automation systems by driving down energy costs as well as storing massive amounts of data. Home automation is not as new as most people would imagine. It has been around for several decade...

With every technological advance that canbenefit museum management comes anotherthat may assist thieves  When protecting art treasures, the first instinct for many security professionals may well be to look at recent advances in technology. Hasn’t the advent of IP-addressable devices provided sufficient tools to protect art exhibits from theft in a discreet manner? Apparently not, and entrenched attitudes abound among curators. Consultants who so much as m...

The Eiffel tower illuminated with colours of the French national flag on November 16 Let’s say it up front: The physical security sector has limited solutions to address events like those in Paris on the 13th November. The series of coordinated terrorist attacks consisted of mass shootings, suicide bombings, and hostage-taking in which 129 people died. Among the dead were 89 people at the Bataclan theatre where American band Eagles of Death Metal was playing at the t...

  Williams Meredith recently stepped out of his Kentucky home to see a drone hovering over his porch, videotaping his young daughters by the family pool. It wasn’t the first time one of these small flying devices had wandered over to take a look, but it had never gotten so close. So he did what any red-blooded American would do when confronted with a home invader – he blew it from the sky with a single shotgun blast. The confrontation is another example o...

Security cameras provide live, real-time videoto assist security personnel in spottingpotential or real problems Efficient security systems for parking structures deter criminal activities and anti-social elements from destroying property. Over the years, security companies have responded to this need and developed a range of security systems for parking facilities, such as audio intercoms, access cards and video analytic solutions. Systems integrators who want to add new ser...

Conley’s security officers must study for and acquire a Certified Protection Officer (CPO) certification After nearly 40 years of a sustained and concentrated effort to transition the security industry to the security profession, Tom Conley is still beating his “security profession drum” at full volume. He still hopes that the security industry-to-profession movement will one day be a reality. He sees himself as an eternal optimist embarking on a feat of...