Network Video Recorders - Security beat
Fueled by mounting concerns about the cybersecurity vulnerability of U.S. ports, President Joe Biden has signed an Executive Order aimed at shoring up defenses against cyberattacks. Cybersecurity initiative The cybersecurity initiative marks a significant shift in policy, empowering key agencies and outlining concrete actions to bolster defenses. By empowering agencies, establishing clear standards, and fostering collaboration, the initiative aims to strengthen U.S. ports against the ev...
The sale of Carrier’s Global Access Solutions to Honeywell in December amounted to a dramatic finish to a big year in 2023 for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the physical security market. In the transaction between two industry giants, Honeywell sought to enhance and strengthen its building automation capabilities with the acquisition of Carrier’s Global Access Solutions business for $4.95 billion, in an all-cash transaction. Honeywell acquires Carrier Access business ...
Active shooter situations grab the most attention, but there is a long list of other threats facing schools, including bullying, vandalism and emergency medical situations. Broadly speaking, a comprehensive approach to school security should prioritize prevention, preparedness and response to all threats. Holistic security approach “Fostering a culture of safety within a school, which involves strong relationships, trust, and communication, is highly effective and does not require...
Companies at GSX 2023 emphasized new ways that technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the cloud can address long-standing issues in the security market. Among the exhibitors at the event in Dallas were companies seeking creative ways to apply technology, lower costs, and make the world a safer place. Reflecting on the exhibition, here are some additional takeaways. Expanding AI at the edge i-PRO is a company reflecting the continued expansion of edge AI capability in the...
A pioneer in the access control sector since 1971, AMAG Technology is looking to the future and the next generation of products that will expand its services to customers. “In our vision, we have advanced approaches that will not only provide our partners with advanced technologies but also ones that are easier to install with tools to expand their services,” says David Sullivan, who was appointed President of the venerable access control company in September 2022. New challenges a...
When it comes to security cameras, the end user always wants more—more resolution, more artificial intelligence (AI), and more sensors. However, the cameras themselves do not change much from generation to generation; that is, they have the same power budgets, form factors and price. To achieve “more,” the systems-on-chips (SoCs) inside the video cameras must pack more features and integrate systems that would have been separate components in the past. For an update on t...
Matter is a new open-source interoperability standard that will simplify the connectivity of smart home systems, including security. The growing popularity of the Matter 1.0 standard was evident at the large Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January in Las Vegas, where the standard was heavily promoted by companies including Google, Amazon, and Samsung. A flood of Matter-connected products is on the horizon for ship dates in the second half of 2023. Evolve, and manage IoT standards Cr...
New buzzwords were abundant in the articles that generated the most clicks on our website in 2022. From the metaverse to the Internet of Things, from frictionless access control to artificial intelligence (AI), the topics most popular among our site’s visitors were at the cutting edge of change and innovation in the physical security marketplace. Here is a review of the Top 10 Articles of 2022, based on reader clicks, including links to the original content: Metaverse will promote collab...
Large-scale events, including both corporate and sporting events, are coming back strongly in the aftermath of the pandemic. With the increase in activity comes more demand for oversized credentials preferred by many event planners and end users. Pent-up demand due to the pandemic has caused a tremendous uptick in the entire ID card industry in 2022. The return of large-scale events and in-person trade shows will extend the higher demand for cards well into 2023 and beyond, says Andrew Schonzei...
Collaboration among manufacturers in the physical security industry can result in systems that are easier to install for integrators and that provide a better customer experience for end users. Illustrating the point is the recent collaboration among a turnstile technology company, a supplier of short-range wireless readers/writers, and a biometric business focused on ‘frictionless’ access control. “The more manufacturers collaborate with each other, the more benefits fo...
Clean, safe mass transit systems benefit everyone. Today’s transit operators face tremendous challenges, including declining revenue due to work-from-home policies, concerns about disease prevention, and high crime environments. Among these concerns, difficulty recruiting and retaining police resources has been exacerbated by the ongoing mental health crisis that disproportionately impacts public transportation networks. Mass transit systems Safe cities require an operational environme...
The Global Security Exchange (GSX 2022) in Atlanta in September 2022 is the latest example of the energetic post-COVID resurgence of security trade shows. On the vibrant show flow, discussions centered on topics such as the security industry’s need for more employees and the lingering impact of a months-long supply chain crisis. Against a backdrop of continuing industry challenges, exhibitors and attendees were diverted by a wealth of new opportunities as the industry rebounded. Several m...
New robots and indoor drones for security applications are on the horizon, based on the work of ADT Commercials’ Innovation Lab, which is evaluating the new technologies’ value to customers and some typical use cases. The Innovation Lab has been in place for just under a year and just moved into a 2,000-square-foot facility that is staffed with four dedicated ADT Commercial employees and teams from various commercial innovation partners. The idea of the lab is to close the gap bet...
Consolidation is a dominant trend in the security marketplace. Large companies typically swallow up smaller companies as a means of expanding both their technology portfolios and their geographic reach. Sometimes a big fish is swallowed up by an even bigger fish. Despite the pandemic and resulting economic challenges, the security market has continued to be a desirable environment for both big players and startups, which then provide abundant acquisition targets for the larger compa...
ISC West is back in a big way in 2022, taking Las Vegas by storm with a level of attendance and enthusiasm that makes it seem like 2019 all over again. There are few face masks to get in the way of long-overdue person-to-person communications; no social distancing as the crowd gathers for the show to open on the first day. The only remnants of the pandemic are Reed Exhibition’s stringent health and safety guidelines, evidenced by a more complex registration process and the wearing of wri...
Since 2018, an open platform has been developing to enable the security and safety industry to work together smoothly across brands and systems to improve user experience and solutions. Pioneering the effort has been the Open Security & Safety Alliance (OSSA®). Delivering video-sensing solutions such as cameras and AI boxes, the open ecosystem is a reality. We are turning to OSSA President Johan Jubbega and OSSA Strategy Committee Chair Steve Ma for a progress update. Why is now the pe...
Audio-video technologies have historically been a silo in the enterprise, separated from the larger network infrastructure by their use of analog, hard-wired and proprietary connections. Software-defined system However, AV devices such as video walls and corporate signage add more value to security and emergency response operations when they are connected to the larger IT network and can interface seamlessly with other systems. That’s the approach provided by Userful, which offers a sof...
For end-users, a simplified approach to video surveillance has its advantages. Cisco Meraki delivers simplicity, replacing a complex video surveillance system with edge-empowered cameras that connect directly to a web portal. The architecture minimizes physical infrastructure and the software required for traditional cameras by placing storage and processing inside each camera, and by putting the video management system (VMS) in the Cisco Meraki cloud. Additionally, with Meraki’s web-bas...
Topics that dominated our website’s Expert Panel Roundtable articles in 2021 included the effects of COVID-19, the benefits of mobile access, the upcoming potential of deep learning, and the future of access control cards. Our website’s Expert Panel Roundtable discussions in 2021 reflected some of the most timely and important topics in the industry. The very most clicked-on Expert Panel Roundtable discussion in 2021 considered the positive and negative effects of COVID-19. The seco...
Our most popular articles in 2021 provide a good reflection of the state of the industry. Taken together, the Top 10 Articles of 2021, as measured by reader clicks, cover big subjects such as smart cities and cybersecurity. They address new innovations in video surveillance, including systems that are smarter and more connected, and a new generation of computer chips that improve capabilities at the edge. A recurring theme in 2021 is cybersecurity's impact on physical security, embodied by a hi...
Newer facial recognition systems are scalable and provide more accurate results, and the end-user selects the parameters of system performance to suit their own application needs. “We have developed algorithms that can be optimized in various compute environments, whether in a small chip inside an edge device or on a large server device,” says Ido Amidi, Oosto’s Vice President of Products and Business Development. “It all depends on client needs. We can do it all withou...
It’s been almost exactly a decade since HID Global launched the world's first university pilot of smartphones carrying secure mobile IDs. A lot has changed in the following 10 years. Today’s technology has matured, advanced, and proliferated across a variety of high-value use cases. To catch up on the latest developments in mobile access, we contacted Luc Merredew, Product Marketing Director, Physical Access Control, at HID Global. Q: What has changed since the first pilot implem...
The trend of video customers moving to the cloud has reached a tipping point. At the same time, artificial intelligence (AI) is being adopted on a massive scale. Combining the two trends adds a higher level of value than either component individually. Merging the power of AI and the cloud is a driving force behind cloud surveillance company Eagle Eye Networks’ acquisition of Uncanny Vision, an AI and video analytics company headquartered in Bangalore, India. Expensive AI resources Clou...
Video is an enormous wellspring of unstructured data in the enterprise environment. Finding new ways to use video data requires easy access for analysis. Gone are the days when video was recorded just to be played back later. New computer capabilities can analyze video to provide business intelligence and trends, all of which requires that a lot of unstructured data be captured, stored and kept immediately accessible. It's a driving force for companies specializing in video storage such as Quan...
A new generation of video cameras is poised to boost capabilities dramatically at the edge of the IP network, including more powerful artificial intelligence (AI) and higher resolutions, and paving the way for new applications that would have previously been too expensive or complex. Technologies at the heart of the coming new generation of video cameras are Ambarella’s newest systems on chips (SoCs). Ambarella’s CV5S and CV52S product families are bringing a new level of on-camera...
When 150,000 video surveillance cameras get hacked, it’s big news. Even if the main reason for the hack was to make a point. Even if the major consequence is bad publicity for a video company (and, by extension, the entire video surveillance industry). The target of the hack was Silicon Valley startup Verkada, which has collected a massive trove of security-camera data from its 150,000 surveillance cameras inside hospitals, companies, police departments, prisons and schools. Previously, V...
The cloud is here to stay. Its resilience and ability to connect the world during the COVID-19 pandemic has proved its worth, even to the uninitiated who have now witnessed first-hand the value of connected systems. Video and access control as a service provides a flexible and fluid security and business solution to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving industry, where the changing threat landscape means investing in the cloud is an investment towards success. This article will look back at o...
Honeywell Commercial Security is among the companies working to develop security systems that are more proactive than reactive. “Our biggest opportunity moving forward is the ability to have security solutions that do a better job of detecting and predicting threats,” says Tim Baker, Global Marketing Director, Honeywell Commercial Security. Greater use of analytics and intelligence can reduce human error and simplify processes by providing a more unified view for greater situational...
Qumulex is a new startup with a mission to provide physical security integrators a transition path to embrace the technology of the cloud and a subscription-based business model. Qumulex’s products seek to provide capabilities to embrace the cloud without an integrator having to turn their back completely on the ‘transactional revenue’ of installing new systems. As the transition happens, Qumulex offers a product line that supports any mix of systems from on-premises to the cl...
The healthcare market is rife with opportunity for security systems integrators. Hospitals have a continuous need for security, to update their systems, to make repairs, says David Alessandrini, Vice President, Pasek Corp., a systems integrator. “It’s cyclical. Funding for large projects might span one to two years, and then they go into a maintenance mode. Departments are changing constantly, and they need us to maintain the equipment to make sure it’s operating to its full po...
