South Africa News

Edward Troha, Director of Marketing for ObjectVideo, questions the actual intelligence of some video analytics packages. While roaming the halls of the seemingly endless stream of security and surveillance trade shows, have you ever asked yourself if all of the devices and software and solutions that claim to be "intelligent" really are?  No way.  Perhaps the more important question is "what can you do today to most effectively educate yourself on the fact and fict...

The pioneering Octavian Group has announced the launch of a door supervisor training centre in South Africa - the first time a UK qualification in this field will be available overseas.Octavian Security Training, a division of Octavian Security, has established the training centre in Pretoria to provide the National Certificate for Door Supervisors Qualification.Jot Engelbrecht, Octavian's operations and training director, is himself from Cape Town in South Africa.Jot commented: "This i...

If you happened to read my recent article referring to my passion for the motorcar, you may be surprised to learn that I ever walk anywhere.  However, it is often necessary to put the car keys away and opt for a more environmentally friendly mode of transport to travel the few hundred yards from car to shop, cinema, restaurant or similar establishment.When walking in our town and city centres on a Friday or Saturday night, it is hard not to be struck by the level of anti-social behaviour -...

Axis Communications, the global leader in the network video market, has reached a milestone in its business.  The company has now delivered one million network cameras since it launched the world's first network camera 11 years ago.  The market is showing increasing interest in network video products for various security installations.  In the first half of 2007, the company increased its sales in the video product segment by more than 40 per cent.Since the launch of the first...

When it comes to remotely monitored CCTV, fact can often be stranger than fiction as the operators at one hardworking RVRC (Remote Video Response Centre) I talked to in the North of England can testify.One of the most blatant examples, captured by their cameras, concerns a mother and daughter who decided to stage a forecourt ‘incident' at a motor dealership.  While waiting for the daughter's car to be fixed an apparently dishevelled mother told garage staff that she had slipped on som...

Nicolas Richter, Head of Security Products for Siemens Building Technologies, looks at the increasing importance of interoperability in the security market. In trying to identify the greatest driver in the security market at the moment, I would have to say interoperability.  If you look at intrusion, for example, it is no longer just intrusion, particularly in the commercial sector.  The access control system operates during office hours but then out of hours, yes, you have the i...

A revolutionary new online tool developed by Geutebruck promises to eliminate tedious paperwork and drastically reduce the time taken to produce tender documents for CCTV projects.  Their Interactive Specifier Library is now available free to planners, installers and architects at www.geutebrueck.com/isl/.In the Interactive Specifier Library you select system components from an extensive list.  As you click, the ISL collates the appropriate tender texts to generate a full tender specif...

Reed Exhibitions, organisers of leading US events ISC West and ISC East, have selected SourceSecurity.com as sole European / EMEA news and content provider for their newly launched website, ISC365.com.SourceSecurity.com, the leading European portal and promotional medium serving the security industry, will be providing news and content on a real-time basis."We recognise that the security industry is a global one, and that there is an increasing need to provide our audiences with news and is...

Milestone Systems, the global leader for open platform IP video management software, last week held its fourth international partner conference, called MIPS, the Milestone Integration Platform Symposium.  The event gathered over 200 participants in Denmark, coming from 27 countries and representing 85 companies: distributors, system integrators, solution partners and manufacturers of IP network surveillance systems. Designed to build knowledge and increase business skills for the Milestone...

When it comes to safety in the skies while the primary focus must be on the heightened terrorist threat, the same CCTV solutions can also be applied as a powerful tool to deal with a much more common and extremely disruptive problem, namely 'air rage' which can, in the worst cases, lead to physical assault and aircraft having to be diverted.Most of us on our travels will have come across examples of ill tempered, abusive, intoxicated and out of control passengers, for flight attendants a...

A leader in the manufacture of video security equipment, Pelco is pleased to announce several exciting new additions to its product line, which will be exhibited at the ASIS 2007 annual seminar and exhibits in Las Vegas next month. "We pride ourselves on consistently demonstrating excellence - with our fanatical customer service, on-time delivery, and by offering the broadest product line in the industry," says Scott Schafer, Pelco Sr. Vice President, North American Sales and Mark...

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...

Dedicated Micros - part of AD Group - has launched a new CCTV Solutions guide to deliver in-depth details of the company's entire product range, from entry level to high performance enterprise systems.The landmark 44 page guide, which coincides with Dedicated Micros 25th Anniversary, represents the first time that the company has published a comprehensive overview of its CCTV products and their performance capabilities in one, convenient, reference guide. Crucially, the publication includes deta...

As the new school year fast approaches the issue for the authorities and operators alike of dangerous student behaviour on buses will once again be centre stage.  Disruptive pupils are problematic enough in a classroom environment but on a moving bus some of their antics can be positively life threatening.  Typical incidents can range from minor damage to seats and graffiti to in the worst case scenario large-scale fights breaking out near the driver, distracting him or...

Axis Communications, the global leader in network video, has published financial results for the first six months of 2007, confirming Axis' strong sales growth of 44 per cent in its core market of network video products and fortifying the company's market leadership both globally and in the EMEA region.For the first six months of 2007, Axis Communications reported total net sales of SEK* (Swedish Krona) 748 M, compared to SEK 540 M for the corresponding period in 2006, delivering an incr...

Schneider Electric announced today the acquisition of California-based Pelco Inc., a privately held company.  Pelco is a worldwide leader in the design, development and manufacturing of video security systems.Pelco will further strengthen Schneider Electric's Building Automation offeringCommercial, industrial and residential buildings represent more than 50% of Schneider Electric business.  Building automation, which encompasses power and HVAC control, electronic security and fire...

Located on the perimeter of Heathrow Airport, the Renaissance London Heathrow Hotel is a modern, elegant hotel.  One of the largest hotels in the UK, it offers a wide range of facilities including 649 comfortable bedrooms, a 28 room dedicated conference centre catering for up to 700 delegates, Business Centre, health club, brassiere restaurant and lounge bar.Ensuring the smooth operation of the hotel’s day-to-day running requires a not insubstantial measure of professional management,...

During its voyage across the high seas monitoring climate change, the safety of the Danish Galathea 3 expedition was monitored by Solaris™ high-speed dome cameras.  The end of April 2007 saw the return to their native soil of the 35 scientists who had set to sea the previous August for an eight-month research trip around the globe.  The aim of the expedition was to gain new insights into climate change as well as investigate marine animal and plant life.In addition to being docum...

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...

Milestone Systems, the world leader for open platform IP video surveillance management software, has achieved a benchmark this summer: over 1,000 security professionals worldwide have now been certified through special training in the top-of-the-line XProtectTM solutions.Since November 2004, when Milestone Systems introduced its Partner Program for authorized Milestone Value-Added Resellers (VARs) and Systems Integrators (SIs), the business channel and number of partners has grown significantly....

  Axis network cameras  installed in the Durant, Broken Bow and Pocola casino locationsAxis Communications recently announced that more than 300 of the company's network cameras have been installed in three casinos owned by the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.  The Axis network cameras will be used in conjunction with the Universal Video Management System (UVMS) solution from Petards, Inc., a developer of advanced video surveillance systems and one of the leading security supplier...

LEGIC Identsystems Ltd, the leading manufacturer of contactless smart card technology for personal identification applications, and AZS System AG, one of the major companies supplying comprehensive and complex solutions in the fields of personnel management, time recording, access control and safety technology, have recently signed a licence partnership.  AZS already has experience of LEGIC all-in-one card technology, and the deal means that it now has direct access to the technical ex...

Bewator has announced availability of a new catalogue, which provides details of all Bewator and Siemens branded security products. The combination of access control, CCTV and intruder products makes this the most comprehensive security catalogue available on the UK market.As well as pricing details, the catalogue includes technical product specifications, which will be invaluable to installers and specifiers alike.   According to Alistair Enser, sales and marketing director for B...

Group 4 Technology (G4Tec) remains committed to protecting people, property and information with top-quality solutions as they announce a technology update to its Symmetry Security Management System (SMS).  Symmetry SMS combines all of the requirements needed for building security including access control, video management, alarm management, identity management, visitor management, and command and control into a single deeply integrated security management system for any size organisation....

The Jewish Museum in Frankfurt is one of the three major Jewish museums in Germany.  It traces the interrelationship between Jews in Germany and their environment based on the example of Frankfurt.  Prior to World War II the city of Frankfurt had the highest percentage of Jewish inhabitants with over 26,000 Jewish citizens.  The building is secured today by 360° video surveillance.  Its open character was intentionally selected, as the changing exhibitions are to be acces...

FreedomPay, Inc., the leader in contactless transactions and settlements to the nation's largest hospitality foodservice providers, healthcare systems, Fortune 1000 corporations, and educational institutions, today announced that its online hosted network integrates fully with the read/write capability of HID's iCLASS 13.56 MHz contactless smart card technology.  "The FreedomPay cashless application, when coupled with the iCLASS card, allows employees and students to link funds...

NICE Systems, the global provider of advanced solutions that enable organisations to extract Insight from Interactions™ to drive performance, recently announced that it won a major security project award, receiving an order at over US$5 million for the supply of its advanced IP-based digital video content analytics solutions for implementation at a major international city's police force.  NICE was selected to help the city's police forces deter city centre terror and cri...

To monitor traffic conditions and maintain safety at distant locations, transfer of video images of exceptional quality is crucial.  A SISTORE CX video-over-IP solution from Siemens integrates analogue cameras with an intelligent digital video codec, providing outstanding image quality of the Gotschna Tunnel at a superior cost/performance ratio.The Gotschna Tunnel, opened in Switzerland at the end of 2005 with a length of 4.2 km, and is part of the Klosters by-pass and the federal highway A...

The National Institute for Aviation Research is using Milestone Systems' open platform IP video management software with Axis network cameras to increase visibility in tests, provie remote access to monitoring tests, save on night staffing needs, and improve personnel safety.The National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University integrates academic, government and business entities in cooperative efforts to advance technologies for aviation and other industries.  It...

LILIN, one of the World's largest CCTV manufacturers, has today launched a new web site that provides customers with accurate, easy to access, useful information that will give them a greater understanding of LILIN products.The site, which features up to date product information is the most comprehensive and accurate source of CCTV information for LILIN customers.  It shows a wealth of information about LILIN, its history, products, technology and news and events.The new site is much mo...