IQinVision - Experts & Thought Leaders

XProtect® Smart Client in a 'Smart City' When the City of Beverly Hills began searching for a way to enhance and expand its video surveillance programme, officials turned to Milestone Systems' XProtect IP video platform. Former mayor and technology CEO Jimmy Delshad wanted an IP video surveillance system that would reflect Beverly Hills' progressive 'Smart City' initiative. He saw IP video as a means to help the city achieve its goal of being the smartest, safest and most sustainable city in the country. Beverly Hills has a centralised IT Department headed up by Chief Information Officer David Schirmer and Assistant CIO Mark Hobson. The city has integrated Milestone XProtect with several municipal functions, including Fire, Police, Parks and Recreation and Public Works departments. "The software has been great because we can manage it centrally and view it remotely," says Hobson. "This has helped all city operations become more efficient." The open platform for future scalability         According to Schirmer, the city's challenge was to incorporate a system that was reliable,flexible and scalable. "We wanted the best of the class – an all IP-based surveillance system that would support the best cameras on the market with the best image quality," he explained. Milestone XProtect® Enterprise is currently supporting high-end megapixel cameras from IQinVision, Axis, Toshiba and a series of legacy analogue cameras, as well. Beverly Hills has a population of about 35,000 residents, but on any given day "we host around 300,000 visitors and workers," notes Hobson. This comes as no surprise for the most famous zip code in the country, where reliable surveillance is a must at such famous landmarks as Santa Monica Boulevard and Rodeo Drive. It is also no secret that Beverly Hills is home to several high-profile residents, from celebrities and foreign diplomats to very successful business executives. Along with such notable residents come nationally anticipated events, such as the Golden Globes™ award ceremony, which draws even more visitors to Beverly Hills. As of June the city had 45 cameras installed, aiming for 100 before the end of 2008. The California Retention Law requires that archived footage be stored for a minimum of 12 months. To aid in archiving and storage – the third phase of the Milestone project – the city is working with Milestone integration partner, Mainline Information Systems. Hardware used: a camera mix for best-in-class "There have been zero problems with the Milestone XProtect software, so it is easy to earn ongoing support from city council and to secure grants from the Department of Justice (Homeland Security), which aids in the future growth of the system" IBM video record and archive components: X series servers using dual core Xeon processors Fiber Channel expandable storage using X and N series components Tivoli Tape System Management for long term retention requirements Cameras (to date): IQinVision 500, 700, and 800 series New IQinVision Sentinel Axis 233D PTZ and 216FD fixed dome Currently on order: Arecont 360 and 180 dome cameras Video-enabling the city After working with Milestone, the city realised that it could use Milestone XProtect to monitor the progress of building projects and to ensure safety. "The city is in the process of constructing a vehicle storage building," explains Schirmer, "and we're using Milestone to monitor the progress and to make sure the construction crew is wearing hard hats." The Fire Department also saw the benefits of the system and requested a camera to be placed on top of one of the Beverly Hills towers, the better to see and manage a situation by remotely accessing the footage. What's next? The City of Beverly Hills will soon embark on the next phase of the installation plan. Currently, officials are working on the back end, archiving features, but they plan to add up to 80 more cameras in the third phase alone. Hobson explains that he is hoping to see more than 250 cameras installed when the project is complete. The city is also planning to integrate the Milestone XProtect Enterprise software into the Beverly Hills school system and businesses throughout the community. The Department of Homeland Security has recognised the city's critical infrastructure as a part of the Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) and officials there are interested in using Beverly Hills as a prototype for larger cities, according to Schirmer. The city's ideas of expanding coverage with additional cameras and integrating schools, hotels and businesses with the system are in line with the Milestone standard of leveraging existing systems to provide unsurpassed security every day and for special events, such as the Golden Globes. The City of Beverly Hills already has existing technology in its police squad cars, and is looking to incorporate the Milestone system, with a goal of having total security running over one network throughout the City. "Milestone was chosen for its integration, flexibility, pricing structure and ease of use" The advantages of IP video open platform Beverly Hills wanted a system with adequate out-of-the-box features that offered the latest advances, such as analytics. "We wanted a reliable system that was flexible enough to integrate other features and have a low overhead in the future," explains Schirmer. "Milestone provided that, and since it integrated so seamlessly to our system, we did not have to hire a new person to implement it." The most important aspect, he adds, is that "there have been zero problems with the Milestone XProtect software, so it is easy to earn ongoing support from city council and to secure grants from the Department of Justice (Homeland Security), which aids in the future growth of the system." Milestone XProtect software users also know that in addition to this reliability, the Power-over-Ethernet that an IP solution brings drastically cuts down on labor and costly cabling. Strong partners win together With Milestone as a partner, gaining clients comes about naturally. Mainline is a Milestone-certified integration partner that has been able to interact directly with the Beverly Hills technical staff. Timothy Conwell of Mainline Information Systems says Milestone XProtect was selected for the Beverly Hills project following a thorough review by the city and by the Mainline consulting team. The research included industry tradeshows and recommendations from camera product partners that Mainline works with directly. "Milestone was chosen for its integration, flexibility, pricing structure and ease of use," Conwell says. "We're working with very advanced technology integration strategies, which include enterprise-level archive storage management by IBM, high-speed fixed broadband wireless, and MAN deployment techniques." Schirmer of Beverly Hills says the partnership has been productive: "Tim Conwell and the Mainline team have been instrumental in understanding the storage and our need to be able to rapidly search for archived footage." Among the chief qualities of the Milestone XProtect system, as it is being used in Beverly Hills, Conwell cited these outstanding features: Flexibility of scaling: The system has grown from a "proof of concept" design with a single server and a few cameras, to what will eventually include hundreds of cameras placed over the entire six square-mile area of Beverly Hills. The ability to scale to a multi-server distributed design and bring additional feature functions online over time is extremely helpful. A good example is the implementation of the Matrix service for the Police and Public Works departments. The system also has the ability to mix and match camera technology for the location and environment each camera covers. Pricing structure: Milestone's pricing is competitive and cost-effective. With the unlimited server and unlimited user access per site license business model, the overall software cost of the system integration is actually lower as the system grows. Ease of use: Officials in Beverly Hills have been very pleased with the feature-rich user interface and the ability to quickly learn the system. Mainline implemented a successful "train the trainer" approach with the help of its MIS division throughout the project process.

AMAG Technology is proud to announce the release of the latest version of Symmetry CompleteView Video Management System. The new 4.6 software release is a powerful, scalable video solution that offers some of the best, most user friendly features on the video market today. Symmetry CompleteView 4.6 is compatible with the Symmetry suite of products offering the latest in integrated solutions for access control, video and visitor management. Symmetry products give customers a comprehensive end-to-end software platform so users can manage all their security needs while reducing risk and meeting industry compliance. Improved features Known for its ease of use, Symmetry CompleteView 4.6 now offers a Thumbnail Search capability. Thumbnail Search generates chronological thumbnail images from a single camera, based on search criteria provided by the user. The user is able to search video for a selected camera in a specified date and time range. Operators can also choose a desired Thumbnail Count to be displayed on the screen, and use this highly efficient search capability to quickly locate images of video events.  Digital PTZ is also available when using the thumbnail feature, as well as taking snapshots of events for closer inspection or for sharing information. Video events can be easily exported to a file, CD/DVD, or to a user created Export Queue used to export multiple video events in a single operation. Export Queue can contain video events from any camera on any server to which a user has access. In addition, the events can be from a single day, multiple days, or a span of days. The thumbnail video search capability is available from both the Symmetry CompleteView Video Client as well as the Symmetry CompleteView web client. Building upon Symmetry CompleteView’s user friendly operator interface, users will now have the ability from the video client to save PTZ Presets by user defined names for easy reference when calling a PTZ camera to a saved preset position (example:  N. Parking Lot, S. Parking Lot, N. Parking Ent., etc.). IP camera integration Symmetry CompleteView 4.6 also integrates with AMAG’s full lineup of Symmetry HD IP Cameras with support for advanced built-in Video Content Analytics (VCA). The user friendly Video Content Analytics offers a cost effective solution by enabling the Symmetry HD camera to process and send video analytic alarms to the Symmetry CompleteView VMS. VCA alarms include: Object Appear / Disappear, Object Direction, Object Dwell, Object Enter / Exit, Line Counters, Object Presence, Object Stopped, Object Tailgating, and Camera Tampering.       In addition to AMAG’s full lineup of Symmetry IP Cameras, the Symmetry CompleteView 4.6 VMS integrates with an extensive list of IP camera models from manufacturers, such as: ACTi, Arecont, American Dynamics, Avigilon, Axis, Bosch, Brickcom, Hikvision, Honeywell, IDView, Immervision, IQinVision, Mobotix, Panasonic, Pelco, Samsung, Scallop, Sony, Toshiba, Vivotek…and more. CompleteView Design Tool The Symmetry CompleteView Design Tool Wizard was upgraded to include enhanced PowerDAS models, GuardStation Dual and Quad video client workstations, and the Extended Warranty options and Yearly Upgrade Program. Users can now select these options as they leverage the online Symmetry CompleteView Design Tool Wizard located on AMAG’s website. The Symmetry CompleteView Design Tool Wizard allows you to determine key design elements of your video security project. The design tool wizard will estimate the server hardware required to support your system design and will produce a printable report, either for a single server installation or for a multi-server/multi-site project. Results include: Required storage based on camera configurations Recommended server (or multiple servers) for Symmetry CompleteView software based on specified camera configurations Option to view with or without MSRP pricing and part numbers PowerDAS enhancements    Available in North America, the powerful Direct Attached Storage (DAS) units may be used with the Symmetry PowerPlus and PowerUltra NVRs. The PowerDAS is a low cost, high capacity direct attached storage offering that improves density and performance for capacity-intensive video surveillance applications. New with Symmetry CompleteView 4.6, users will have twice the backplane speed (12 GB/s) for increased performance. The PowerDAS units are available in 11, 22, 44 and 66 TB RAID 5 usable video storage configurations.  Users can daisy chain up to two PowerDAS units to any PowerPlus or PowerUltra NVR.

Milestone XProtect VMS open platform allows schools to manage 1,169 video cameras from a mix of manufacturers Milestone Systems open platform IP video management software (VMS) has greatly improved security for the second largest school district in California. The San Diego Unified School District’s previous video surveillance solution presented a number of problems. It required two management servers in which most settings had to be replicated, which was awkward and cumbersome. Programming cameras required navigating two operating systems. Training administrators and end users on the old technology also took a lot of time, as did making district-wide updates. Being an organisation with more than 200 facilities, San Diego Unified School District sought a video surveillance technology solution that could be centrally administered, and support HD quality images to more effectively manage behavior and prevent vandalism. It had to be expandable in the future and accommodate additions such as the access control technology the district hopes to deploy within one or two years. Milestone XProtect VMS Installation/design partner Proshop Group and Dotworkz designed and implemented the network security solution, choosing Milestone XProtect video management software. Its open platform allows the schools to manage 1,169 video cameras from a mix of manufacturers: Axis, Bosch, IQinVision, Panasonic, Samsung and Sony. The installation runs on IBM and Dell servers. Dotworkz president Will Ferris believes that Milestone’s open platform provides the greatest value for what is most important to San Diego Unified School District. This includes scalability, incorporating new functionality and enhancing the level of safety and security for parents, students and teachers. Ferris says: “We helped the district in its quest for better camera and processing technology. We served as a guide, showing them the advantages of Milestone’s open platform and advised them to complete the training required to become certified in the technology. We also built the housings for their external cameras.” The cameras are installed at points where break-ins commonly occur and in areas where students gather that are the most problematic. Cost savings please the district and constituents “This system makes each campus safer for students and staff. We now have the level of visual communication we need to resolve most problems before they arise,” said Mike Cho, Safety and Security Coordinator, San Diego Unified School District. As an organisation that depends on voters’ support for bond funding, the investment in Milestone technology was made with an eye toward cost effectiveness. The Milestone video platform has paid off by dramatically reducing the amount of time required to administer the system and to train users and by reducing the vandalism that demands costly repairs. Protect assets & catch perpetrators Further savings are achieved by reducing the number of staff members needed to physically monitor so many areas. According to district administrators, the system has improved conduct across the board by providing high-definition (HD) images that make identifying and charging perpetrators a much less arduous process than it was before. “This system makes each campus safer for students and staff. We now have the level of visual communication we need to resolve most problems before they arise”, said Mike Cho, Safety and Security Coordinator, San Diego Unified School District 80 percent reduction in vandalism “Since they’ve noticed that they’re being monitored, the students’ behavior has improved,” says Cho. “They know that every action occurring in the common areas is being recorded.” At the school that once had the worst graffiti problem, tagging has been reduced by 80 percent since the new systems went live, which has also lessened the amount of time district painters spend at the school covering the graffiti. The chances of a rival gang coming to mark the territory as its own have been lowered, as has the violence that often occurs when encountering each other at a graffiti site. Improved incident response, accurate evidence From a security perspective, the problem with such a large district is that it is not unusual for a fight to break out while the school’s dedicated police officer is responding to a different incident in another area. With cameras and the Milestone platform at work, the officer can use the video to determine how many back-up officers are needed at which spots. Students don’t always tell the full story after an incident. “Nobody wants to be known as a ‘snitch,” Cho says. “Now nobody has to be because the video shows all, and the HD video really helps us identify people.” In one case, a student punched another student in the face a number of times. Each witness interviewed by administrators after the incident had slightly different recollections, but the video provided the evidence needed to charge the perpetrator in court. Improved system management Cho reports that the system manager loves the Milestone system because it can be more easily and quickly managed. Under the previous system, programming one camera required navigating two separate operating systems. Milestone cuts that time in half. “Plus, I can view it remotely with my iPad!” says Cho. “With the previous system there was enough time to go get coffee between starting it and being able to log on. With Milestone, you just click and you’re on. It’s beautiful.”

2014 was a year for eye-popping merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in the security space. The big deals of the year included some of the largest names in the industry. One name is larger than any in the security market – Google, which made not one but two acquisitions this year that could impact the future security market. It was also the year that a smaller player in the video camera market (although a huge familiar brand overall) bought a large, open systems VMS company (to almost everyone’s surprise).  There was major activity on both sides of the Atlantic, impacting a wide range of industry sectors, from video to access control to home security. It was a year for acquisition and reinvention, for mergers and management refocus. And it was the year that Samsung stopped owning Samsung Techwin. Let’s take a look at the Top 10 M&A stories of 2014 … 1.       Canon Acquires Milestone When Canon, a fairly small player in the video surveillance market, announced plans for its European subsidiary to buy open systems company Milestone Systems, it sent shock waves through the market. Obviously Canon is signalling its intent to become a larger player in surveillance, but what does the move mean for the long-term viability of Milestone’s open systems approach? Can an open systems company be owned by a camera company and keep its business approach intact? Yes, according to the Milestone announcement: “Canon respects how we built our business with our partners and supports our strategy of providing open platform solutions.”  2.       Vanderbilt Acquires Siemens' Security Products Siemens’ Security Products is well known in Europe, including familiar and established brands such as Bewator and Cotag in access control and Alarmcom and Europlex in the intrusion alarm sector. But who is Vanderbilt Industries? It's a fairly new U.S. company created around the acquisition in 2012 of the Schlage Security Management Systems (SMS) access control product line from Ingersoll Rand. The Siemens acquisition makes them instantly a global player. The move expands the global reach of Vanderbilt’s parent company, ACRE Ltd., and greatly enhances its technology capabilities and product portfolio.  3.       Avigilon Acquires VideoIQ 2014 began with news that HD surveillance company Avigilon Corp. had agreed to buy video analytics company VideoIQ for cash consideration of $32 million. Avigilon moved quickly to incorporate VideoIQ's technology into its product line, highlighting video analytics (including the Rialto analytics appliances) along with other technologies at ISC West, IFSEC and trade shows throughout the year. Avigilon is positioning its "adaptive" analytics as a way to simplify total system operation, delivering only the information an end user needs rather than a flood of video images. 2014 saw major activity on both sides of the Atlantic, impacting a wide range of industry sectors, from video to access control to home security  4.       HID Global Acquires Lumidigm HID Global is an undisputed worldwide leader in secure identity solutions, so it was big news when HID acquired a biometrics company in February. More accustomed to interfacing with biometrics technologies than owning them, HID’s acquisition of Lumidigm reflects a high level of confidence in the company’s  multispectral imaging technology, which uses multiple light spectrums and advanced polarisation techniques to extract unique fingerprint characteristics from both the surface and subsurface of the skin. The system can authenticate identities with a high degree of certainty (and even in non-ideal environments where fingers can get dirty or greasy.)  5.       Vicon and IQinVision Merge Vicon Industries and IQinVision announced a merger agreement in the spring to create a global provider of integrated solutions to the video security market. Vicon has long been known for designing and producing (mostly proprietary) video security and surveillance systems. IQinVision designs and produces high performance HD megapixel IP cameras. There are high hopes for the combined company, including continuing a camera line branded IQinVision and transitioning to an open systems approach with an emphasis on extracting business information from video streams.  6.       Anixter Acquires Tri-Ed It was a milestone for Anixter International, the largest acquisition in the global distributor’s 57-year history. When Anixter bought Tri-Ed for $420 million, the acquiring company emphasised the opportunity to accelerate implementation of IP video and access control by the new Tri-Ed customer base, previously more focused on analogue. Tri-Ed, independent distributor of security and low-voltage technology products, sells 110,000 different products to 2,000 active dealers and integrators through 61 branches and two technical sales centres located throughout North America. Anixter is a global distributor of communications and security products, electrical and electronic wire and cable, fasteners and other small components.  7.       Google Acquires Nest Labs It makes headlines when Google does anything, and Google’s entry into the home systems market is no different. Therefore, everyone noticed when Google acquired Nest Labs, a designer and manufacturer of sensor-driven, Wi-Fi-enabled, self-learning, programmable thermostats and smoke detectors. Many observers saw the $3.2 billion transaction as providing a critical foothold into the home systems market. Announced in January and closed the following month, the acquisition set the stage for another acquisition that would serve as further evidence of Google’s intent to be a dominant player in the home systems market ... The big deals of 2014 included some of the largest names in the industry  8.       Nest Labs Acquires Dropcam Google-owned Nest Labs, Inc announced that it had entered into an agreement to buy Dropcam for $555 million in cash, subject to adjustments. DropCam provides do-it-yourself IP video cameras for the home environment – and another foothold for Google.  9.       Kaba Holding Acquires Keyscan Emblematic of the continuing consolidation in the access control market was acquisition of Keyscan Inc., a Canadian provider of networked access control solutions, by Kaba Holding AG, based in Switzerland. The Keyscan brand presence will be maintained, operating as a separate division of Kaba’s ADS Americas Group.  10.   Hanhwa To Buy Largest Interest in Samsung Techwin When Samsung sells its interest in Samsung Techwin, it’s bound to be news, even as the company’s management insists everything is business as usual. It was just a stock transaction (they say), and Samsung Techwin (which was always separate from the larger Samsung Electronics) will continue on its successful course in the video surveillance market. Korean conglomerate Hanwha Holdings announced in late November its 32.4 percent ownership in the video surveillance company (as part of a larger sale of Samsung Techwin’s defence and chemical affiliates). What about the Samsung name? Management assures the market the valuable and well-known brand will remain intact. See the full coverage of 2014/2015 Review and Forecast articles here

The merger of Vicon and IQinVision has been one of the more interesting business developments in the security and video surveillance markets in 2014. Wondering how the merger is working out, I spoke with Eric Fullerton, CEO, Vicon Industries Inc., at the ASIS 2014 show in Atlanta. Here are some of his comments: SS.com: What drew you to Vicon; what opportunity do you see here? Fullerton: The merger of Vicon and IQinVision was announced at the end of Q1, and I thought: What is that? My first reaction was that it’s a losing proposition - putting a struggling camera company and a struggling solutions company together. Then I started looking at it more closely. I think by putting these two companies together, we will be able to create a very strong video company that can lift video to the next level. I wanted a good challenge, and to be part of the next change in the industry by combining hardware and software and to start innovating at the edge. SS.com: What do you see as the next level of video, once it’s realised? Fullerton: Video will become the most important digital information source to an operation. Video isn’t just your security application, but it’s a digital business application that adds value to the bottom line. That’s where we want to be delivering products and solutions. We are starting to extract metadata from the cameras. You can analyse the content of video, which provides a totally different value to the video. Less than half of one percent of recorded video is actually looked at -- it’s just used to document what happened after the fact. With some of the modern cameras, like some we are already launching, there is metadata storage of each frame, all the vectors and everything that you can know. Without looking at the video you can analyse changes from frame to frame in terms of colour and movement. That will add value to the use of the video. You won’t have to sit and watch it to know what it’s capturing, but you will know what’s going on by using analytic algorithms, and combining that with other digital security systems, including access control and video management. With some of the self-learning video analytics, facial recognition and other things, we are starting to analyse video with data algorithms, channelising it, and using it as valuable input into HR and management solutions, even in manufacturing. You can get more efficiency. Video will become a valuable addition to daily operations and add value to the bottom line. SS.com: What is Vicon’s part of that – an end-to-end solution, or what? Fullerton: That’s the million dollar question. We are going to build cameras under the IQinVision brand, and have a full line of cameras. We will focus on where our core capabilities are – design and functionality. We will be outsourcing all manufacturing to China and other places that give us the right cost basis, and we will be adding our value at the high end of the camera. The camera line will be open and able to interoperate with other video management systems that we know today. "We’ll have a plug-and-playsolution at the bottom todeliver what the peoplewant at the low end – oneto 60 cameras with limitedfunctionality. At the mid-market we will have muchmore robust and functionalNVRs with more storagefor your larger installations.And then at the high end wewill a VMS-type solutionthat is cloud-enabled" On the Vicon side, today we have a proprietary VMS, which is not what the market is asking for. The emergence of Milestone as an open platform company was because end users were looking for freedom of choice and to get out of proprietary jail. We will migrate our video management platform to an open platform. We’ll have a plug-and-play solution at the bottom to deliver what the people want at the low end – one to 60 cameras with limited functionality. At the mid-market we will have much more robust and functional NVRs with more storage for your larger installations. And then at the high end we will a VMS-type solution that is cloud-enabled. We will also have a cloud solution at the low-end, residential, mom-and-pop market, with video only, no integrations. Later we’ll develop a multi-tenant cloud system for video service providers (VSPs). Going to the cloud doesn’t mean you put the video in the cloud. It means you can get the video when you need to, but also get the information you need. There will be a lot of on-camera storage. Because you have the knowledge of what’s happening in the frames (using metadata), you can pull out the data from the cloud and then decide what part of the video you need to look at. SS.com: How fast are you getting out of the analogue business? Fullerton: We’re not. The analogue business will have a very long tail – the last 10 to 15 years has proven that. Yes, there is some erosion of margin because of commoditisation. There are benefits of analogue cameras – they’re robust, they work, you can pull the cable longer than an Ethernet cable. Because of the robustness and the pricing, and some of the features, we’ll see a long tail of analogue for years to come. SS.com: What impact do you see of these changes on dealer partners? Fullerton: Being successful in the security industry is to understand how business is done and what end users want. One reason IT didn’t take over is that there is much better value than anybody realised in the guidance security dealers provide end users. I strongly believe business in the security industry is done by local people, and we will migrate as a combined company to a full two-tiered distribution model. We go through distribution and security integrators, and they will be the ones doing the business with the end user. SS.com: How do you deal with preconceptions about your history as a company, and how do you re-educate the market about that?    Fullerton: In the security industry, if you look at the history of how it was built, and the old boy’s network, the shadow of what you do is very long. The interesting thing is that Vicon has had IP solutions for 14 years. Everybody thinks that Vicon is an analogue company. Yes, we still sell analogue cameras because there’s a need in the market. Vicon has been a proprietary company. I would say the biggest fault of the company has been to try to be proprietary when the market is going the other way. That’s the big change we will make. We will be announcing that, and driving PR to let everyone know the new Vicon is an open company that gives the end user the freedom of choice and also delivers on higher value. SS.com: What is your message to the market? Fullerton: We have a 4K camera, which has been our message at the ASIS 2014 show. The management team sat down last week and said “how are we going to drive this?” “What are our values going to be?” We looked at our vision and our mission. The vision is that we believe video will become the most important digital [resource] in a company, so it will add to the bottom line, not just surveillance. Our values are built around the acronym CIPIT – Customer orientation, Integrity, Passion, Innovation and Team effort.