Video surveillance - Security beat

In 2017, SourceSecurity.com covered topics from all corners of the physical security industry - from video surveillance to access control to intrusion detection and beyond. But just how much have you been paying attention to the industry this past year? Does your knowledge of the cloud soar high above your colleagues and security friends? Can you recall your facts faster than 60-fps? Are you hooked into the mainframe with your expertise in cybersecurity? Now you can find out. We...

Despite the increasing popularity of body-worn cameras, the technology has its detractors. For example, this month Big Brother Watch, a British civil liberties and privacy organisation, is raising new questions about the effectiveness of body-worn cameras. Specifically, Big Brother Watch found that 32 of the 45 police forces that have adopted body-cams in the United Kingdom were “unable to say” how often the footage was used in courts. To be clear, being “unable to say” d...

Protecting power grids is essential to deliver electricity that serves millions of consumers. Transmission substations are a component of the power infrastructure that presents unique security challenges. These important facilities often sit out in the open, in remote locations, and were historically protected by little more than cameras or chain-link fences. Much of the current concern about securing electrical substations in the United States originated in response to a 2013 sniper attack, us...

Cloud-based video systems are becoming more common in the market, growing faster than on-site recording systems. One of the largest companies in the cloud video sector, Eagle Eye Networks is aggressively expanding its offerings to the fast-growing market, and its geographic reach, with acquisition of Panasonic’s cloud-based video business, including the CameraManager and NuboCam brands. Expanding Eagle Eye Networks' coverage in Europe The acquisition will expand Eagle Eye Networks’...

A growing emphasis on the impact of data – storing it, analysing it, and getting more value from it – was a common theme at this year’s IFSEC. Throughout the three days of the show at London’s ExCeL exhibition centre last week, there were many conversations about the growing benefits of the data generated by today’s physical security systems. Industry embraces deep learning & artificial intelligence Video analytics increasingly critical Access control provi...

Exhibitors at this year’s IFSEC are thinking outside the box in terms of how they communicate their value proposition and how they interface with customers. In the process, some are rethinking how big trade shows like IFSEC fit with their goals. Panasonic's approach to the 'race to the bottom' Thomas Lausten, MOBOTIX new CEO How Gallagher benefits from IFSEC without exhibiting Panasonic Systems Communications Europe Panasonic Systems Communications Europe is one of several compani...

Has there ever been a better time for a security trade show in Europe? Shifting threats such as terrorism and a volatile political climate serve as reminders every day of the importance of security in our lives, and even the role of technology. IFSEC opened in London on Tuesday at the ExCeL centre, covering every aspect of security, from access control and video surveillance to home automation and perimeter security. Amid sweltering heat, attendees came to find the latest-and-greatest innovatio...

A technology poised to transform the physical security market is deep learning, which is a neural network approach to machine learning, differentiated by an ability to train using large data sets for greater accuracy. In effect, the system “learns” by looking at lots of data to achieve artificial intelligence (AI). Phases of deep learning I heard a lot about AI, including how it can transform the physical security marketplace, when I attended NVIDIA’s GPU Technology Conferenc...

For all its value in the security market, one has to wonder: How much captured video is actually used for security? Among hours and hours of video, only brief segments here or there are ever actually viewed or used for security applications, such as to review an incident or to provide evidence in court. But what about all that other video, much of it stored for 30 or 90 or 120 days or longer? Does it have to be merely a costly consequence of providing the security benefits of video? Not necess...

“Mixed reality” may seem like a strange term to apply to the physical security industry, but it describes a new approach to enable the features of access control and video surveillance systems to be used by operators in the field. Mixed or augmented reality technology combines a real-time view of the world through Microsoft’s HoloLens headset, with placement of virtual devices and controls as holograms in a three-dimensional space. Virtual devices and controls In effect, a s...

Several of the hot trends in the physical security industry – robots, drones, video analytics – have one thing in common: The need for greater intelligence. More complex physical security systems that incorporate artificial intelligence, deep learning, speech recognition and other sophisticated functions depend on a higher-than-ever level of computing power inside embedded devices at the edge. Graphics processing unit Graphics processing unit (GPU) manufacturer NVIDIA is empowering...

A gunshot localisation solution can turn a video camera system into a real-time safety system in the event of an active shooter. Called ShotPoint, the system is completely automated. Working with a video management system (VMS), it can enable a video image of an active shooter to be provided in seconds based on the location of a gunshot. “For responders, the police department doesn’t have to manage cameras, but has the instant availability of a camera feed,” says Kathleen Grigg...

Are the glory days of IP video behind us? Not by a long shot, if you listen to the upbeat message at ‘Milestone Community Days’ in San Antonio this month. Pledging to ‘Make the World See,’ the community of technology partners, distributors, integrators and customers joined in a celebration of past successes, with an emphasis on future possibilities, at the yearly gathering hosted by the video management system (VMS) vendor. Milestone software integrations "The industry...

Veracity, the Scottish company specialising in IP video transmission, storage and display, has made a small but significant acquisition that has the potential to impact its business profoundly, according to the company. Known for its COLDSTORE surveillance storage system and other video products, Veracity is expanding its scope with the acquisition of I-Comply Ltd. (icomply), a provider of command-and-control software whose UK customer base includes universities, hospitals, cities and power and...

Consumer electronics are closely related to physical security. For one thing, electronics consumers increasingly see security as one of the functions they want their smart home systems to perform. We have heard the Internet of Things (IoT) buzzword in our market, and it is also a major force in the changing consumer electronics arena. Because consumer electronics are increasingly tied in with security, many in our industry keep a close eye on developments at the huge Consumer Electronics Show...

Amazon Go is a new idea in retailing, now being tested at a store in Seattle, that eliminates the need for customers to go through a checkout line. The so-called “just walk out” experience depends on “the world’s most advanced shopping technology.” Customers simply enter a retail store, choose the goods they want, and leave. The checkout process is automated: The selected goods are charged to the customer’s account automatically. Solving shoplifting Most of...

Long-predicted consolidation in the video surveillance market seems to have slowed somewhat lately – no big mergers or acquisitions have been announced. However, the announced “partnership” between industry giants Bosch and Sony this week presents a new variation on the theme. No companies changed hands, but the result is one fewer player selling video equipment into the market. In the latest deal, Bosch will handle the sales and marketing globally for all of Sony’s vide...

Arecont Vision created the category of multi-sensor panoramic cameras back in 2006. Now the market is taking off, and many manufacturers now offer panoramic cameras. I recently spoke with Jeff Whitney, Arecont Vision’s Director of Marketing, on the current market for panoramic cameras, and also about some other hot topics – from cybersecurity to making the installer’s job easier. SourceSecurity.com: Where do you see the category of multi-sensor panoramic cameras going from he...

ONVIF will be eight years old in the next several weeks. It has been interesting to watch the open industry forum’s impact on physical security since it began in 2008 with a goal to develop a global standard for the interface of IP-based physical security products. ONVIF’s influence has accelerated just in the last year, with the number of ONVIF-conformant products in the market growing from about 5,000 a year ago to more than 7,000 today – more than a 40 percent increase. ON...

A big cyberattack on Friday impacted Internet service on the East Coast of the United States and kept several high-profile websites offline. Cyber security attacks later in the day were more global in nature. But Oct. 21, 2016, will also be remembered as the day our physical security industry’s legacy of apathy toward cybersecurity came back to haunt us. Denial of service attack The cyberattack last week was carried out by a botnet, a network of bots, which are software applications (in...

There was another big trade show last week –  the four-day Security Essen event in Germany. I didn’t attend, but several of my SourceSecurity.com colleagues report it was a busy show from start to finish, with the halls devoted to video/CCTV and access control dominating the show. The other halls were quieter, with smaller stands. Hot topics included big data, machine learning, mobile credentials, storage and an emphasis on solutions (rather than products). The exhibit hall was...

The amount of data generated by today’s video systems – whether resulting from increasing camera counts and/or higher resolutions such as 4K – is presenting new challenges when it comes to storing the data and making it instantly accessible to end users. The surge in data is opening the way in our market for new, more sophisticated IT systems to manage and store the data. In fact, the sheer volume of video data and increasing application demands make some legacy approaches obso...

No doubt about it, the ASIS International show is smaller than in years past. And there is (the usual) grumbling about slow attendee traffic (and the also predictable counter-arguments about “the quality of the leads.”) Some of the security and safety technology being featured was introduced earlier at ISC West, but there is still plenty to see in the exhibit hall. Growth of mobile credentials Mobile credentials are a hot topic again, and Lenel has joined the growing number of comp...

Audio has been slower to catch on in the security market because of lingering concerns about privacy laws related to audio surveillance. But audio analytics capabilities are increasing right alongside the more commonly used video analytics. Integrators who ignore audio are missing an opportunity to create better systems.  Privacy is generally not a concern. U.S. law is clear that audio monitoring is legal as long as there is no expectation of privacy among those being monitored. Public si...

The power of video as evidence in a court of law is often seen as a function of specific variables: How clear is the video? What exactly does it show? Can it be authenticated? Possibly lost in the discussion is the fact that the value of video as evidence is decided almost completely by people, specifically by a small group of people; that is, the jury. Is there a gap between what the video “shows” and what people “see?” Are there psychological or even physiological vari...

I’ve been hearing a lot of talk lately about the “user experience” or UX. UX is a techy term that refers broadly to how a customer uses a product, including both how the product operates and hundreds of other factors that can enhance – or conversely, can detract from – how a customer perceives and experiences a product. In SourceSecurity.com’s world of digital publishing, an optimum user experience is the Holy Grail. How a user experiences digital media, h...

IFSEC International 2016 by all measures was a successful show. Two of the three days clearly met (or exceeded) exhibitors’ expectations. The third day was slower, but is it any wonder? Heavy rains and resulting commuter train complications would have discouraged all but the most determined. And there was another distraction, too: It was the day of the Brexit vote, when the United Kingdom made history. Results of that momentous vote underlined the sense of uncertainty I felt on the first...

There are many challenges currently facing the security marketplace, and I asked several industry players recently to reflect on those challenges. Their comments highlight familiar subjects to us all: The need for education. The challenge to meet customer expectations. The dilemma of combining old technologies with new ones. Security education and training Education is a big issue, especially as it relates to the transition to IP systems. “I think there are a number of integrators who...

Might the future of video surveillance include the use of intelligent contact lenses that incorporate tiny built-in cameras that can record video at the blink of an eye? It seems a little far-fetched, but it’s definitely an idea that’s on the drawing board. Three tech giants – Google, Samsung and Sony – have all sought to patent designs for intelligent contact lenses that include built-in CMOS camera sensors that record video, follow a person’s gaze and are contro...

Today’s video cameras are better than ever, now able to capture images despite low light and other impediments. But do the images always provide enough clarity for security applications and/or for video analytics? The ability to capture an image in a variety of environments isn’t the same as capturing the best possible image, says Eddie Reynolds, President and CEO of Iluminar Inc., a provider of LED white light and infrared illuminators to the video surveillance market. Better came...