Video surveillance - Expert commentary
End users in the video surveillance market are looking for higher quality images and to retain those images for longer periods. Also, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are turning to networked video surveillance in larger numbers. And video is now finding many uses outside the security market, including business intelligence and customer service applications, among others. These familiar trends are directly impacting the choice of video storage solutions being used i...
Employees are the front line of defence — as well as the most economical defence — against shrinkage losses The financial cost of retail shrinkage is huge. The latest Annual Shrink Report issued by Dr. Richard Hollinger and Dr. Read Hayes at the University of Florida puts the total at $36 billion annually. Shrinkage has several causes: customers shoplifting , employee theft, supplier fraud and administrative errors. Frequent inventories and accounting audits coun...
It’s that time of year: show season! And for systems integrators and security installers, PSA-TEC is one of the quintessential annual conferences, offering hundreds of hours of education and training during the May 4-8 show (exhibits are May 6). Hotel registration at the Westin in Westminster, Colo., is due on or before April 16. PSA Security Network was established in 1974 as the Professional Security Alliance, Inc. dba PSA Security Network and is now the world’s largest electronic...
Organisations must find more effective ways to optimise the use of the resources they have available As market demand intensifies for higher resolution from megapixel, and 4K cameras, customers will begin to feel the ensuing cost pressures caused by the increased need for greater processing power. As customers update their system and add new cameras, operators must monitor additional cameras concurrently, oftentimes leveraging high resolution video streams. HPC For Quick...
Since last year there has been a lot of talk with regard IP security cameras with 4K resolution. As with any advancement in video security, this too has come about due to advances in consumer electronics. While being the “latest and greatest,” it still raises questions as to actual, practical everyday usage. What Is 4K Resolution? Let’s start by defining 4K. Back in the day we had HDTV, which in some cases was defined in terms of its resolution of 1920 hor...
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...
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...
According to a recent MarketsandMarkets report, video surveillance storage solutions and services are experiencing a rapid adoption in the industry, estimated to grow 16.3 percent each year until 2018, eventually reaching a market size of $10.41 billion. In addition to the specific image content of surveillance cameras, there are also huge amounts of data surrounding it – everything from the location to the time of day, the duration of the video, and more. And the amount of data in the ima...
Access control and video surveillance technologies are expensive to buy and install. So it’s important that end users make sure they get a system that works the way it is supposed to work and the way they want it to work. To that end, the principles of project management can help end users find an integrator and to manage the work of installing or upgrading security systems. If you are experienced with security technologies, you might consider managing the project yourself. If not, consi...
If your company has a facility or a current business meeting in Seoul, South Korea, you would want to know the details behind the recent knife attack on the U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Mark W. Lippert. You would want to know that the attacker belonged to a group promoting the unification of North and South Korea and that South Korean President Park Geun-hye called the event an attack on the South Korea-U.S. alliance. You would want to know where in Seoul the attack occurred as well as many...
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...
With the industry’s largest security trade show just weeks away, we spoke with leading systems integrator Securadyne Systems, Austin, Texas, for their assessment of ISC West and how they use the show to benefit their organisation. Terry King, vice president and regional general manager, shares his thoughts on what Securadyne Systems plans to accomplish at this year’s event. SourceSecurity.com: What is your take on ISC West and what do you get out of it? Terry King: ISC West has al...
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 security industry continues to move away from closed, proprietary systems and instead is fine-focused on open solutions that assist the move to total integration. The benefits of achieving this feat belong to both installing company and end user. Benefits of open security solutions Open, interoperable systems make it easier to integrate a wide array of sensors, devices and communication technologies across the enterprise. That means quicker installations, lower labour costs and heightened...
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...
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...
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...
Local surveillance companies often struggle when deciding between distributing third-party brands or selling their own branded surveillance products, especially when the company has already achieved some level of recognition among their customers and/or other key players. Distributing a famous third-party brand is a way to “play it safe” in an environment where there is little budget to spend on marketing, public relationships and other expenses related to produc...
Recent news of Canon’s $2.83 billion cash bid for network surveillance leader Axis Communications came as a surprise to some, but many could easily digest the move as more consolidation of the marketplace, especially the crowded video surveillance space. Systems integrators weighed in on what they expect and the long-term outlook for IP camera leader Axis and Canon, a Japanese firm predominate in broadcast, optics and consumer electronics. Joe Liguori, a partner at Access Co...
Many purpose-focused stand-alone systemsaddress business goals aside from security Transportation gets passengers and goods to their destination safely and in a timely manner. Making transportation possible are purpose-focused stand-alone systems – many that address business goals and others that achieve safety/security goals. Some systems can impact both business and security goals. For example, access control can eliminate the expense and maintenance of locks and keys...
Coming of age: storage devices have evolved to better record, manage and play back high-quality images Video surveillance and security technology continues to come of age. The sophistication of cameras that have moved to high-definition, high-resolution, megapixel imagery has transformed what users see on playback and greatly enhanced the usability of recorded video feeds. As the evolution continues, from the early days of grainy footage and barely recognisable images to HD, F...
Transmission of video and PoE power for IP security cameras over infrastructures can be confusing. Network infrastructures are designed using twisted pair cabling that we refer to as CAT (short for Category) cable, also referred to as UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair). Security systems, coming from an analogue environment, have historically transmitted over coax cable, and with the use adaptors can transmit over CAT cabling, which can be further broken down into single pair twist...
The focus of Fusion Centre is all about video - surveillance, analytics, verification, license plate recognition, VMS, wearable cameras and more Growing demand for surveillance that offers better quality video continues to fuel growth in the IP camera market. According to Transparency Market Research, the video surveillance market will realise a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19 percent by 2019, surpassing $42 billion in sales. High-definition video and network-connect...
With elections due later this year in the UK, Spain and Switzerland, attitudes to the prevailing political landscape of austerity are changing rapidly. Are physical security budgets in the public sector ever protected from cuts, and what is the outlook for our industry? Consider the landscape: A left-leaning party has come to power in Greece on an anti-austerity platform and with the stated intention of halving the country’s €315bn debts. Angela Merkel, the German Chanc...
In-vehicle technology allows security officials to view live footage from the bus’ cameras during an emergency One of the biggest security opportunities in transportation is onboard surveillance for buses and trains. While most transit organisations have invested heavily in video security for facilities such as terminals and stations, far fewer have taken the next step and installed IP cameras on board vehicles, says John Recesso, strategic business development manager,...
Any part of a transmission infrastructure has a dramatic impact on system performance We often view network switches as transparent transmission products. What goes in comes out. In reality, nothing is further from the truth. In this article, Neil Heller - Vice President, Vigitron, Inc. highlights that any part of a transmission infrastructure has a dramatic impact on transmission and, therefore, on system performance. At the very least a network switch can be viewed as a piec...
Of the many benefits offered by new and advanced IP video surveillance cameras, the ability to easily customise these devices with third party apps has the potential to change the landscape in video surveillance system design and implementation. By providing the ability to customise individual cameras with the specific functionality desired for every specific camera location, camera apps not only increase functionality where needed, they deliver tremendous savings on a system-wide...
