Aaron Saks

Internet-based training has long provided a less-expensive alternative to in-person classroom time. There are even universities that provide most or all of their instruction online. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has expanded acceptance even more and increased usage of internet-based meeting and learning tools. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How can remote or Internet-based training benefit the physical security market?

Artificial intelligence is more than just the latest buzzword in the security marketplace. In some cases, smarter computer technologies like AI and machine learning (ML) are helping to transform how security operates. AI is also expanding the industry’s use cases, sometimes even beyond the historic province of the security realm. It turns out that AI is also a timely tool in the middle of a global pandemic. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How is artificial intelligence (AI) changing the security market?

Facial recognition is the latest technology to be targeted because of concerns about privacy. If such concerns cloud the public perception, they can be harmful to technology markets. Whether the concerns are genuine or based on misinformation is often beside the point; the practical damage has already been done. But beyond market demand, what is the impact of privacy concerns on technology innovation? We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: Are privacy concerns stifling innovation in security and related markets? 

Traditionally, security industry professionals have often come from backgrounds in law enforcement or the military. However, the industry is changing, and today’s security professionals can benefit from a variety of backgrounds and educational disciplines. The industry’s emphasis on technology solutions suggests a need for more students of computer science, engineering and other technology fields. The closer integration of security with related disciplines within the enterprise suggests a need to prepare through a broad array of educational pursuits. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What is the role of higher education to create the next generation of physical security leaders?

School shootings are a high-profile reminder of the need for the highest levels of security at our schools and education facilities. Increasingly, a remedy to boost the security at schools is to use more technology. However, no technology is a panacea, and ongoing violence and other threats at our schools suggest some level of failure. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How have security solutions failed our schools and what is the solution?

Serving customer needs is the goal of most commerce in the physical security market. Understanding those needs requires communication and nuance, and there are sometimes surprises along the way. But in every surprising revelation – and in every customer interaction – there is opportunity to learn something valuable that can help to serve the next customer’s needs more effectively. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What was the best lesson you ever learned from a security end user customer?

New software developments have dominated technology innovation in the physical security industry for years, making more things possible to the benefit of integrators and end users. However, hardware is another important piece of the puzzle. No matter how great your software, the system doesn’t perform unless the hardware works too. In our enthusiasm over software developments, let’s not overlook the latest in the hardware world. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How do hardware improvements drive better physical security?

Dark video images contain little or no information about the subject being surveilled. Absence of light can make it difficult to see a face, or to distinguish the color of clothing or of an automobile. Adding light to a scene is one solution, but there are also new technologies that empower modern video cameras to see better in any light. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What impact does lighting have on the performance of video systems?

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have made a big splash in the physical security market, transforming video analytics to a new level of accuracy. In fact, the terms have become common buzzwords throughout the industry. However, the potential for AI and machine learning to impact the physical security industry goes far beyond their ability to improve video analytics. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: Beyond better video analytics, how can artificial intelligence (AI) and/or machine learning benefit the physical security market? 

Video management systems (VMS) have been around almost since the advent of IP cameras. During those years, VMSs have evolved from software that provides basic functionality to more user-friendly systems offering a growing list of capabilities, many of them related to analyzing data as well as recording and displaying video. But the evolution is far from over. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What’s new with video management systems (VMS), and what are the new opportunities?

We are all more aware than ever of the need for cybersecurity. The Internet of Things is a scary place when you think about all the potential for various cyber-attacks that can disrupt system operation and negatively impact a customer’s business. Because most physical security systems today are IP-based, the two formerly separate disciplines are more intertwined than ever. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How can cybersecurity challenges impact the physical security of a company (and vice versa)?

Video is widely embraced as an essential element of physical security systems. However, surveillance footage is often recorded without sound, even though many cameras are capable of capturing audio as well as video. Beyond the capabilities of cameras, there is a range of other audio products on the market that can improve system performance and/or expand capabilities (e.g., gunshot detection.) We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How does audio enhance the performance of security and/or video systems? 

The new year comes with new opportunities for the security industry, but what technologies will dominate our discussions in 2020? Topics such as artificial intelligence (AI) and HCI (hyperconverged infrastructure) became familiar in conversations during 2019, and they are likely to dominate our thoughts again in the new year. But other buzzwords are also gaining steam, such as “blockchain” and “frictionless access control.” Connectivity and the cloud will also be timely technology topics as the industry evolves. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What technology buzz will dominate the security industry in 2020?

The role of video surveillance is expanding, driven by all the new ways that video – and data culled from video – can impact a business. As a growing population of video cameras expands into new fields of view, we asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What is the most unusual application of surveillance cameras you have seen recently?

Even the most advanced and sophisticated security systems are limited in their effectiveness by a factor that is common to all systems – the human factor. How effectively integrators install systems and how productively users interface with their systems both depend largely on how well individual people are trained. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What is the changing role of training in the security and video surveillance market?

Camera apps provide flexibility that is unheard-of with traditional server-based processing and analytics solutions The ability to customize IP video surveillance cameras with third-party apps has been a game-changer in system design and implementation. Traditional analytics require streaming all video to a server or external processor for deep interpretation to detect a license plate, face, or other criteria in each video frame. Apps perform image processing within the camera for direct output, turning this model upside down. Added Flexibility And Savings By allowing end users to customize specific cameras with the specific functionality they need based on location, application and more, camera apps provide flexibility that is unheard-of with traditional server-based processing and analytics solutions. On a system-wide scale, the potential savings can be tremendous. Embedded software functionality within cameras using an app delivers the freedom to deploy the combination of functionality and performance users need to meet their specific requirements, a level of flexibility and customization that is unheard of with server-based solutions. Among the many additional benefits apps offer over traditional processing solutions are: Increased ROI The ability to embed software functionality into individualcameras using an app eliminatesthe need for centralized softwareand servers to greatly reduceoverall costs The ability to embed software functionality into individual cameras using an app eliminates the need for centralized software and servers to greatly reduce overall costs. With apps installed directly on the camera, customers can continue to use their existing camera hardware, which not only saves on up-front purchase prices for new hardware but also increases that camera’s ROI. The ability to run multiple apps concurrently translates into even greater camera functionality and further maximizes ROI. Additionally, many app developers are agile enough to be able – and willing – to customize features and functions rapidly and cost-effectively. Edge Processing By integrating directly with the camera, third-party apps take advantage of the best image performance without affecting camera operations. With full edge processing, the app can communicate directly to the digital signal processing DSP or raw video data prior to encoding. A 100 percent embedded app enables more effective and accurate analytics, with performance levels that are not dictated by server load or specifications. Distributed Processing In a hybrid model, analytic functions and operations are distributed between the app installed on the camera and the server. This provides end users with higher performance from distributed analytics while reducing the cost of installing several servers to handle image processing, as well as the cost of server performance. For example, without an app to shoulder some of the processing load, a server might be capable of handling 20 cameras. With an edge app, that same server could handle up to 200. Apps offer the ability to better manage and conserve bandwidth by eliminating the requirement for large amounts of dedicated bandwidth Conserving Bandwidth Because image processing and analytics are applied at the edge, apps offer the ability to better manage and conserve bandwidth by eliminating the requirement for large amounts of dedicated bandwidth. Apps remove the bandwidth-intensive need to stream the entire full-resolution video to a server for processing, as well as the need to send duplicate data streams to both the analytics server and the VMS. These solutions also provide additional bandwidth savings resulting from the ability to view low-resolution live video, while analytics are applied to the high-resolution profile simultaneously. As camera counts increase, bandwidth savings scale up as well. Considerations To Take Into Account In order to take advantages of these benefits, there are a number of considerations for integrators and end users when evaluating and choosing third-party camera-based apps, many of which are available for demo to ensure performance and many of the key factors listed below. 1. Compatibility The first consideration is to verify an app’s compatibility with an end user’s desired, or existing cameras. Some apps are designed for specific camera models or form factors. It’s also important to ensure that the right camera is being used for the application (form factor, lens, resolution, IR, etc.) 2. Cybersecurity Network breaches are all too common today, as hackers continually ramp up their efforts to access sensitive data via any networked device possible. Therefore, it is critical to use only approved apps from trusted partners to ensure that malicious code will not be installed on security cameras. Just as important is to carefully consider the permissions an app will need and where and to what the data it generates will flow. In addition, camera apps can eliminate continuous video streams from being sent to an analytics server, thereby reducing an attack vector or source of disclosed data. 3. Additional Requirements A good camera app should be flexible and be capable of growing along with an end user’s needs, making this an important factor in the evaluation and selection process. Some apps may still require a back-end server or cloud connection to function properly or grow beyond a standalone camera, so the potential costs associated with these must be factored into the decision-making process. Network breaches are all too common today, as hackers continually ramp up their efforts to access sensitive data via any networked device possible Security And Beyond Another tangible benefit that camera apps offer is in their ability to deliver valuable data to previously unrelated systems to help end users fulfill their primary security and surveillance needs and much more. For example, a school may want to capture the license plates of cars entering the pickup/drop-off lane so that in case of an incident, a hotlist plate can be entered for notification. A license plate recognition solution would allow the school to easily search video based on plate number rather than manually sifting through hours of video. However, because this application requires only a single camera, an on-board license plate recognition app makes more financial and operational sense, as a server-based solution would be more expensive and less efficient. Without question, camera-based apps represent a convenient, cost-effective way for end users to make sure their surveillance system meets the needs of their specific applications. Compared to traditional server-based processing models, the combination of flexibility and efficiency allows users to deploy apps to increase functionality when and where it is most needed while delivering potentially tremendous cost savings and increased ROI across the entire enterprise. Save

Internet-based training has long provided a less-expensive alternative to in-person classroom time. There are even universities that provide most or all of their instruction online. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has expanded acceptance even more and increased usage of internet-based meeting and learning tools. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How can remote or Internet-based training benefit the physical security market?

Artificial intelligence is more than just the latest buzzword in the security marketplace. In some cases, smarter computer technologies like AI and machine learning (ML) are helping to transform how security operates. AI is also expanding the industry’s use cases, sometimes even beyond the historic province of the security realm. It turns out that AI is also a timely tool in the middle of a global pandemic. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How is artificial intelligence (AI) changing the security market?

Facial recognition is the latest technology to be targeted because of concerns about privacy. If such concerns cloud the public perception, they can be harmful to technology markets. Whether the concerns are genuine or based on misinformation is often beside the point; the practical damage has already been done. But beyond market demand, what is the impact of privacy concerns on technology innovation? We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: Are privacy concerns stifling innovation in security and related markets? 

Traditionally, security industry professionals have often come from backgrounds in law enforcement or the military. However, the industry is changing, and today’s security professionals can benefit from a variety of backgrounds and educational disciplines. The industry’s emphasis on technology solutions suggests a need for more students of computer science, engineering and other technology fields. The closer integration of security with related disciplines within the enterprise suggests a need to prepare through a broad array of educational pursuits. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What is the role of higher education to create the next generation of physical security leaders?

School shootings are a high-profile reminder of the need for the highest levels of security at our schools and education facilities. Increasingly, a remedy to boost the security at schools is to use more technology. However, no technology is a panacea, and ongoing violence and other threats at our schools suggest some level of failure. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How have security solutions failed our schools and what is the solution?

Serving customer needs is the goal of most commerce in the physical security market. Understanding those needs requires communication and nuance, and there are sometimes surprises along the way. But in every surprising revelation – and in every customer interaction – there is opportunity to learn something valuable that can help to serve the next customer’s needs more effectively. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What was the best lesson you ever learned from a security end user customer?

New software developments have dominated technology innovation in the physical security industry for years, making more things possible to the benefit of integrators and end users. However, hardware is another important piece of the puzzle. No matter how great your software, the system doesn’t perform unless the hardware works too. In our enthusiasm over software developments, let’s not overlook the latest in the hardware world. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How do hardware improvements drive better physical security?

Dark video images contain little or no information about the subject being surveilled. Absence of light can make it difficult to see a face, or to distinguish the color of clothing or of an automobile. Adding light to a scene is one solution, but there are also new technologies that empower modern video cameras to see better in any light. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What impact does lighting have on the performance of video systems?

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have made a big splash in the physical security market, transforming video analytics to a new level of accuracy. In fact, the terms have become common buzzwords throughout the industry. However, the potential for AI and machine learning to impact the physical security industry goes far beyond their ability to improve video analytics. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: Beyond better video analytics, how can artificial intelligence (AI) and/or machine learning benefit the physical security market? 

Video management systems (VMS) have been around almost since the advent of IP cameras. During those years, VMSs have evolved from software that provides basic functionality to more user-friendly systems offering a growing list of capabilities, many of them related to analyzing data as well as recording and displaying video. But the evolution is far from over. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What’s new with video management systems (VMS), and what are the new opportunities?

We are all more aware than ever of the need for cybersecurity. The Internet of Things is a scary place when you think about all the potential for various cyber-attacks that can disrupt system operation and negatively impact a customer’s business. Because most physical security systems today are IP-based, the two formerly separate disciplines are more intertwined than ever. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How can cybersecurity challenges impact the physical security of a company (and vice versa)?

Video is widely embraced as an essential element of physical security systems. However, surveillance footage is often recorded without sound, even though many cameras are capable of capturing audio as well as video. Beyond the capabilities of cameras, there is a range of other audio products on the market that can improve system performance and/or expand capabilities (e.g., gunshot detection.) We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How does audio enhance the performance of security and/or video systems? 

The role of video surveillance is expanding, driven by all the new ways that video – and data culled from video – can impact a business. As a growing population of video cameras expands into new fields of view, we asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What is the most unusual application of surveillance cameras you have seen recently?