Network / IP security - Security beat

Community was the big buzz-word at this year’s Milestone Integration Platform Symposium (MIPS). The folks at Milestone are long-time proponents of open systems, and presenters at MIPS 2016 described an expanded vision of how the Milestone video management system (VMS) platform can spur innovation in the market. Their “Open Platform Community” vision involves more interaction and technology development, both between Milestone and its partners (including third-party manufacturer...

Lower-cost thermal cameras are becoming attractive for more applications every day. Thermal cameras have long been known for their ability to “see in the dark” by sensing temperatures of objects and displaying a video image of temperature variations, but previously their high costs limited their appeal to mostly high-end or military applications. Now lower costs are expanding the possibilities. In particular, combining thermal cameras with video analytics drastically lowers the num...

As industry consolidation continues, we can expect a number of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the next several months, but the first M&A story of 2016 is a whopper. This week, Johnson Controls and Tyco have announced their merger into one company with annual revenue of $32 billion. The new Johnson Controls will be almost a direct reflection of one of the industry’s biggest trends – the move toward technology convergence and smart buildings. Johnson Controls has previousl...

Access control and video systems have always yielded a lot of data, although historically much of it has been stored on hard disk drives and later overwritten and/or dumped. A new trend is to compile that data over time, organize it, analyze it and then use it to provide insights into how the enterprise operates. Analyzing Data From Different Sources And Departments It’s part of a trend called Big Data, but so far its use in the physical security market has been limited. One company tha...

We don’t usually report on financial news here, but a recent financial move by up-and-coming industry leader Hikvision warrants attention. Specifically, Hikvision in Hangzhou, China, has secured a $3.1 billion line of credit from the government-owned China Development Bank. Companies use a variety of financing tools to provide the currency they need to fuel growth, so in that regard, Hikvision’s move is to be expected. Given their ambitious growth timeline, both in China and throug...

There's nothing like a visit to the China Public Security Expo (CPSE) in Shenzhen to open your eyes to a new world of security market manufacturers and customers in the Asia-Pacific market. The show is huge by Western standards – someone told me it's five times the size of ISC West in Las Vegas. But even more than the size of the show, it was the crowd that made an impression on this first-time visitor. Huge numbers of attendees and exhibitors Think of the mass of humanity you might exp...

We all know that security video cameras are becoming smarter. The IP cameras at the edge of today’s video surveillance systems contain computer chips that can potentially change how cameras are used. However, despite the changing technology and greater intelligence at the edge, today’s systems mostly use video cameras for one thing – to provide video. In some cases, the cameras provide hours and hours of video that no one will ever watch.  Re-Examining The Role Of Video...

Hikvision USA’s ascension from virtual obscurity to the upper tier of manufacturers in the U.S. market is being built on the Chinese company’s huge manufacturing capacity – they turn out 50,000 to 60,000 surveillance cameras every day from factories in China. The large capacity enables Hikvision to achieve economies of scale. In effect, they can make high quality video surveillance products at a lower price, a capability that will continue to serve them well as they begin compe...

Foot traffic improved a little on the second day of ASIS International in Anaheim, California. Furthermore, the high quality of meetings at the big industry show tended to overshadow complaints about attendance. There is plenty to talk about in Anaheim. “The conversations have been much more substantial than you usually have at a trade show,” says Charles Hunger, Product Marketing Director, Anviz Global Inc. “They’re not general conversations, they’re ‘How ca...

In a school security lockdown, teachers typically display red or green cards on the doors or in the windows of their classrooms. The manual procedure uses red cards to alert to a crisis condition; green cards designate that everything is safe inside the classroom or office. Color-Coded Crisis Management System Physical security company Sielox has adapted the idea of using a color scheme to characterize an emergency situation into its electronic security system. CLASS [Crisis Lockdown Alert Sta...

Can a U.S. manufacturing company compete and thrive in the global security market? Megapixel camera manufacturer Arecont Vision makes a strong case that it can. Dialog And Integration With VMS Companies Assembling products in the USA helps Arecont Vision ensure quality. If there is a quality issue, the company can stop the production line and fix it. Although some of Arecont Vision’s components, such as camera housings, are manufactured in low-cost regions of the world, including C...

As a “futurist” for lock manufacturer Allegion, Robert C. Martens says he is “part strategist, part predictor” – looking at megatrends, current events, technology changes, and how those changes impact Allegion’s business customers and partners. Spanning both the commercial and residential businesses, Martens considers various scenarios for business leaders and partners, specifically regarding where technologies and electronics are going. Today, he spends a lo...

Having leapt to the top of market share reports mostly selling inexpensive cameras, Hikvision USA is now making an aggressive play for large systems business at the top end of the market. Jeffrey He, President of Hikvision USA and Hikvision Canada, acknowledges that much of the company’s success to date has been in the low- to mid-sized systems market based on the “value proposition” of Hikvision’s inexpensive cameras. However, to succeed in the North American market, the...

Viscount Systems’ Freedom access control now secures the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which uses the physical security system in dozens of field offices of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the department’s largest agency. (Tentative plans by President Obama call for the number of USCIS sites to increase ten-fold.) For many access control companies, government business is difficult to win and may even prove elusive. It’s ironic, then, that Viscount’s...

360-degree view cameras are becoming popular in security, but more education about the technology is still needed in the industry, says Scott Brothers, regional account director, Europe, for Oncam, a provider of 360-degree camera technology. Various parts of the world are at different stages of awareness of the technology, which can benefit the traditional security end user and is also finding uses in other departments and even other markets. User Experience Quality Oncam was an early proponen...

Check out our recent interview with Scott Schafer at IFSEC 2015 hereScott Schafer of Arecont Vision is outspoken about the limitations of standard resolution/VGA video cameras. The megapixel camera company’s Executive Vice President says standard resolution and analog video cameras are the “most toxic asset” at end user companies because they produce the least value for the money. Megapixel video cameras, like those made by Arecont Vision, are much more cost-effective, says Sch...

As my trip to London for IFSEC International ends, I can look back on three days jam-packed with new approaches, new technologies, and the best the global security market has to offer. I met people from all over the world who share an interest in physical security technology -- and how it can be used to make the world a safer place. I heard several exhibitors mention that business was slow in Europe in the early part of 2015. However, the show highlighted that R&D investment has continued t...

You couldn’t miss IDIS America at ISC West this year – they had a 2,800-square-foot booth. But who are they? That was a question many attendees asked. The big booth presence, and flood of industry advertising before the show, both reflect that IDIS is not an upstart. The name may be unfamiliar to some in the U.S. market, but IDIS has been making a similar splash all over the world. The high profile reflects the global player’s commitment to being a “game-changer” i...

Axis has a new camera that “shakes like a dog” when it rains -- to get rid of the extra moisture. KiwiSecurity, an Austrian company and IFSEC newcomer, uses video analytics to scramble images of faces in live video to ensure privacy.These were two of the surprising things I saw on Day Two of IFSEC. Attendance picked up nicely in the halls of London’s ExCeL -- and the show floor seemed to get bigger as the day wore on (at least according to my weary feet!). There definitely were...

Many of the new products being promoted at IFSEC International this year at ExCeL London were previously unveiled at the big ISC West show in the United States in April. Now the IFSEC audience of Europeans and other international visitors are seeing them for the first time. Traffic seemed a little slow the first day, and you heard some exhibitors grumbling about it, but IFSEC exhibitors are finding a lot of new things to talk about with attendees. The cool London weather is perfect for a trade s...

Time flies, and I’m sure it’s been 10 or 15 years since the term PSIM (meaning physical security information management) came into favour in our market. It was a variation on the term SIM (security information management), which in the realm of information security refers to a collection of data into a central repository for trend analysis. The idea was to apply the same concept to physical security equipment in the form of an over-arching software system that takes information from...

We’re seeing a market trend toward manufacturers seeking to provide “total solutions” rather than components. The trend is reflected clearly in recent industry consolidation, for example. When companies that manufacture various components become part of a single corporate owner, it’s not a stretch to expect the new owners to combine those components into a single end-to-end solution – sooner or later. Manufacturers are also leveraging OEM agreements and other partne...

Most of us think of shrinkage in the context of the retail environment, where a host of video cameras, tamper-proof packaging, sensors and other technologies help control theft by customers and employees. However, the term shrinkage also applies to goods before they get to a retail store. Goods can be stolen at any stage of their manufacture and distribution, usually by employees, and there are fewer technology solutions geared toward theft along the supply chain. In fact, some distribution cen...

Buying security services can be a tricky business, and success requires a strategic approach involving multiple stakeholders and careful evaluation of proposals, including a scoring system that targets the most important criteria. “Buying security services is a special beast,” says George Councils, AlliedBarton’s vice president of strategic sourcing and acquisition integration. “Evaluation requires special considerations.” I listened in on a recent AlliedBarton web...

When you need to view video of an incident or information about an access point, you expect your security system will provide that information. But what happens if a camera or card reader isn’t working for some reason? It’s the security director’s worst nightmare. Sadly, the moment when a system fails is often the first indication an end user has that there is a problem. A useful trend I saw at ISC West this year is growth in various types of diagnostic, monitoring and control...

Since acquiring SeeTec AG, On-Net Surveillance Systems, Inc. (OnSSI) is bringing production of its entire software platform in house. The SeeTec recorder will replace OnSSI’s legacy recorder, previously OEM’d by Milestone, beginning with the introduction of Ocularis 5.x. Familiar in Europe, SeeTec is a privately held German-based company providing VMS solutions and was among the first providers of network-based video management applications. With SeeTec now part of OnSSI, the combin...

Phybridge is an unfamiliar name in the physical security market. That’s because the Canadian company first made its mark in the telecommunications market, serving customers transitioning from analog to digital telephone systems using “voice-over-IP.” The telecommunications transition came six to 10 years before a similar transition happening now in the physical security market, and the infrastructure solutions that succeeded in the former market are also applicable to the...

The latest in video surveillance equipment at ISC West this week is reflected by the numbers you hear repeatedly on the show floor, numbers like 4K and H.265. Big players like Panasonic have joined the 4K bandwagon in a big way. Sony introduced a 4K camera with a larger sensor size (1-inch) to increase light sensitivity, displaying the better view alongside a “Brand X” competitor in the Sony booth. “Sharper and smarter” Promoting a theme of “sharper and smarter,...

A message we’re hearing a lot at ISC West this year is the customer’s growing demand for end-to-end solutions. In the small- to medium-sized business (SMB) segment, especially, there is a strong demand for total solutions that are simple to use and easy to integrate and manage. The most efficient path to achieve such systems is often to install an end-to-end solution from a single supplier, combining access control and video. Creating Unified Solution By Uniting Product Businesses...

Milestone Systems is closing in on a year since their acquisition by Canon’s European subsidiary in June 2014. Throughout the ownership transition, Milestone has reiterated its commitment to open systems and continued to flourish, building its “ecosystem” alongside other industry partners. At the recent Milestone Integration Platform Symposium (MIPS 2015), I had a chance to chat with Lars Thinggaard, Milestone’s president and CEO, about industry trends and what’s ah...