2012 CCTV Handbook

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www.securitysa.com CCTV Handbook 2012 1

CONTENTSCCTV HANDBOOK 2012

PUBLISHED BY:

FEATURES

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4 Opinion – Balancing innovation and

implementation

6 Opinion – Are all surveillance systems equal?

8 CCTV Round-table 2012 – Surveillance

solutions take centre stage

18 Hi-Tech Security Solutions interview – The

business of surveillance

24 System integrator profile – Reliability

through systems architecture experience

26 Q&A: IP/Analogue – The right solution

28 IP/Analogue – Analogue still delivers value

30 IP/Analogue – Considering IP?

32 IP/Analogue – Hybrid, analogue or IP?

34 Q&A: Low-cost options – Low-cost IP

options

38 Low-cost options – A camera companion

39 Lighting – Lighting industry

40 High-definition – Advantages of high-

resolution IP cameras

42 High-definition – High-definition vs.

megapixel

43 High-definition – Explaining panomera

45 Q&A: Control rooms – Comfort and

productivity

46 Q&A: Management software – All about

ROI

52 Management software – Integrated auto

management

53 Management software – Servision’s

SVControlCenter

54 Q&A: Power management – Power to the

camera

58 Infrastructure – Optimising video across

the WAN

60 Q&A: Remote monitoring – Keeping

control, remotely

63 Remote monitoring – Security goes

remote

64 Case studies

72 Product showcase

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Published byTechnews Publishing (Pty) Ltd1st Floor Stabilitas265 Kent Avenue, RandburgBox 385, Pinegowrie 2123Tel: 011 543 5800 Fax: 011 787 8052 ISSN 1562-952X EditorAndrew SeldonE-mail: [email protected]

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WELCOMEEDITOR’S COMMENT

Andrew Seldon.

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There can be no doubt that the technical advances in the surveillance arena are amazing, from improve-ments within cameras to the software and infra-structure supporting them. This is an industry going through exciting changes. However, even as the latest IP technologies deliver more features and func-tionality, there are still many installers and customers asking for analogue solutions.

There is no doubt that IP system sales are increasing and will continue to increase at a rapid rate, even if the global economy retards sales in the short term. The truth is, however, that many custom-ers still opt for analogue because of the cost advan-tages, while installers are quite happy to serve them as it’s what they have always done and know how to do. It’s also easier than reskilling your workforce and joining the growing ranks of IP service providers.

On the other hand, many customers, consultants and installers opt for analogue solutions because these deliver exactly what the user requires. That, combined with the lower costs and ease of installing analogue systems is often the dealmaker.

In this year’s handbook, we have a collection of articles about IP and the benefits thereof, but we also have a couple of interesting opinions on analogue, as well as a look at a few other aspects of the whole surveillance industry. As always, our round-table

Is it necessary to adopt the latest technology?

participants also highlight the growing importance of IT in the security world (or is it security in the IT world?).

The challenges of convergence are simply going to increase as IP’s foothold in the world of surveil-lance grows. In fact, I was recently part of a discus-sion which asked the question of whether security managers will still exist in five years’ time. That’s an interesting topic for discussion on another occasion, however the sentiment applies in the world of surveil-lance. Analogue isn’t going anywhere in a hurry, but its days are numbered and so are the days of those service providers who don’t adapt to the new reality.

On a lighter note, I hope you enjoy the CCTV Handbook 2012 and look forward to your feedback. Hearing from those in the trenches is always a valuable guide to knowing what we should include in future magazines. For those subscribed to the Hi-Tech Security Solutions e-zine, the contents of the handbook will also be sent out in regular weekly e-zines during the month of May.

If you’re not already a subscriber, drop me an e-mail on [email protected], which is the same address to use for your comments.

Enjoy the handbook.

Andrew Seldon, Editor


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OPINION

I recently attended a CCTV User Group Conference in Manchester, UK and was highly impressed by the

delivery of a number of “Technology Innovation” awards that were given to various town centre sites that were members of the User Group. This recog-nition included efforts in the implementa-tion and testing of technologies such as video analytics, camera mapping, mobile cameras and CCTV strategy. It showed that the field of CCTV is definitely moving forward and that there are excit-ing developments in the area.

A visit to the Manchester City control room demonstrated that these awards were for real progress and efforts and not just token emblems. Conversely, the conference also showed that there are still definite limitations to new technology and often it is over-hyped and oversold. Limitations were mentioned even by the innovation award winners about what systems were capable of doing. The conference also showed that even cur-rent technology was often not delivering on what it was capable of.

This was attributed to issues in instal-lation, implementation and operation. It was also clear that ignoring people as part of the solution was a frequent problem, and that claims of removing or replacing personnel with things such as intelligent analysis were not just wrong, but could actually lead to more work being needed from people.

Technologies such as video analyt-ics, IP based systems, and DVRs are all major steps forward for CCTV. However, warnings were given by a number of speakers about the choice of technology and the need for thorough operational testing, effective implementation, train-ing, appropriate use of information, and how the technology can affect the quality of decision making and information flow. For example, Dannie Parks from West Midlands Police highlighted concerns about the retrieval of IP data under some scenario conditions where high loads were put on transmission systems that were designed to work under every-day conditions rather than emergency scenarios.

Ray Stead in an operational test of video analytics in Portsmouth found that

“it did not predict behaviour of any type” as claimed, but on the other hand things like movement detection highlighted a number of activities in Portsmouth in the late night hours that proved interesting for management.

Colin Greene, together with other CCTV design specialists made the point that digital CCTV does not make getting picture quality easier, and in fact can make it more difficult if the design and installation are not done properly. The specialists made the point that many clients are not getting 60% of the poten-tial quality of what their current CCTV system is capable of delivering.

Perhaps one of the most appropri-ate comments to put things in context was made by Mick Neville, a Deputy Chief Inspector at the specialist Visual Images Identification and Detections Office (VIIDO). He made the comment that “If you blow all your budget on the equipment you are mad, because it doesn’t solve the problem.” With responsibility for maximising use of CCTV and other evidential images, Neville noted that one particular officer was responsible for 4% of all IDs made from the video, continuing to note that if all the personnel had the same perform-ance, it would account for over 100% of images identified.

He and other speakers made a number of other points around the needs for training and equipping people to deal effectively with CCTV. This included training for lawyers, CID officers etc. and a focus on forensic use of CCTV. This highlights the major themes that technol-ogy strategy needs to be developed in conjunction with a manning and training strategy, and needs to be thoroughly operationally tested in actual world conditions.

As important in my view, is that the implications of the introduction of the technology need to be carefully thought through. Often the technology leads to other issues that will affect performance, and it is only when the systems are in place that there is the realisation that the environment, people, social dynam-ics, and procedures fundamentally affect what the technology is capable of accomplishing.

BALANCING INNOVATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

Dr Craig Donald is a human factors specialist in security and CCTV. He is a director of Leaderware which provides instruments for the selection of CCTV operators, X-ray screeners and other security personnel in major operations around the world. He also runs CCTV Surveillance Skills and Body Language, and Advanced Surveillance Body Lan-guage courses for CCTV operators, su-pervisors and managers internationally, and consults on CCTV management. He can be contacted on +27 (0)11 787 7811 or [email protected]

By Dr Craig Donald.





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NEWSOPINION

Charles Volschenk, MD of Geutebrück South Africa believes that there is a very blurred line between the perceived functionality and quality

of reputable products and those of products that can be best described as mediocre.

“While there are a number of products on the market that, on the surface seem to look and act like their superior counterparts, it is important to be able to differentiate between the two options. At the end of the day, the cheaper products generally do not have the longevity associated with tried and tested products and this negates any savings the client may have made on the purchase price.

“It’s like thinking your home coffee machine is the equivalent of the industrial one that makes cappuccinos all day long at the local coffee shop. Both might make good coffee, but they are certainly not capable of the same reliable performance in the long-run,” he adds.

So what, apart from the purchase price, differenti-ates a superior product? “The first question a company should ask their prospective supplier is how long they have been in business in the security sector. How can you compare the experience gained by a company years of solid product design, manufacture and instal-lation examples, with a company that shot onto the market in the last year or two, claiming to be the the next best thing?” says Volschenk.

Selecting a stayer

He says that it is important to stay abreast of technol-ogy by attending international trade shows. “What I have noticed is that often companies that exhibited the previous year at a trade show are conspicuous by their absence the following year. I cannot see how this can instil any level of confidence in a customer buying prod-ucts from this supplier. You need to have a constant and consistent presence and be able to provide customers with a high service level once the sale has been made.”

He acknowledges that it is hard to stay at the cut-ting edge of technology, with innovations mostly being copied within six months of new product releases. “However, another differentiating point is that reliable companies consistently create usable innovations, consistently delivering ‘firsts’ due to a substantial and concentrated investment in R&D.”

Volschenk is adamant that technology should have a very specific and defined purpose in mind if it is to be of any use. “There was a lot of hype around H.264

ARE ALL SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS EQUAL? By Allyson Koekhoven.

Put the right

product in the

right place.

compression technology a few years ago and everyone jumped on the bandwagon. Geutebrück decided that this was not suitable for high-end security requirements and decided to develop its own H.264 CCTV technology. This gives you the benefits of H.264 technology with the addi-tional high-security functionality of older MJpeg systems.”

The right choice

What you see in a glossy brochure does not always live up to its promises. “In order to mitigate against owning a product that performs below its published specifica-tions, it is advisable to ask for a live demonstration of its capabilities. Better still, ask to see the product in action in an actual installation, preferably one that has multiple cameras and third-party systems linked to it. Request the operator to push the product to its boundaries and operate it in strenuous circumstances. You are entitled to see the practical application of any product you pur-chase,” Volschenk says.

“It is critical that the data throughput of the CCTV equipment be verified. A vendor claim of its system’s maximum capabilities can quickly be verified by comparing data throughput of the machine with data load of the cameras linked to it. In addition, health monitoring of the system and built-in redundancy should be a given. Other factors that feature high on the must-have list is the ability of the product to interface to and integrate with other third-party products and the ability to provide exception reporting.

“Likewise, providing audit trails for any changes made within the system is very important. If there is, for instance, insider collusion, the system should allow one to trace when changes in settings were made and who made them. A basic system cannot do this and there-fore one loses the opportunity to nip criminal activity such as theft and fraud in the bud.”

Volschenk pointed out that 98% of all recorded foot-age is useless. “Finding the remaining 2% quickly and reliably, is often a battle. A system should make it easy for the operator to find relevant footage, with advanced search functionalities. Software offering exception reporting is definitely an advantage.

“People tend to forget the really important things when selecting a product. Many people are hung up on the frame rates, ever-increasing megapixel resolutions and information like that, while the real importance is whether the product is functional in its specific application and whether the company providing it is available to pro-vide an aftermarket service instantaneously and profes-sionally. Why be able to see the minute pattern detail on a carpet, when all you require is a good facial verification of an intruder? It would be fair to say, then, that not all surveillance systems are equal,” Volschenk concludes.

For more information contact Geutebrück, +27(0)11 867 6585, [email protected], www.geutebrueck.com



http://www.geutebrueck.com



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CCTV has been with us for decades. Today we have traditional analogue technology competing (unsuccess-fully in many instances, successfully in others) against newer IP technology

and more than enough hype surrounding conver-gence and the benefits of IP. But the issue of which camera to choose doesn’t revolve around IP alone.

Vendors promise high definition, megapixels, low light, amazing zoom capabilities, onboard stor-age and analytics, and other fantastic benefits to the buyer. We even have some vendors offering 14 or 20 megapixel systems, 360-degree views and more. But then you put the camera to the test and see that the specifications on the box sound good, but that is as far as it goes. The real world is not quite as friendly as the perfect conditions vendors claim to support.

How does one make sense of all this? Hi-Tech Security Solutions put the question to a

group of local vendors, distributors and integrators with the hope of finding out what the real issues in the surveillance world are and what we can expect to hear about in the coming year.

Our seven attendees were a mine of information, but, as is always the case, limited space means we can only touch on a few of the topics discussed in

The camera is

only one aspect

of a surveillance

solution; ignore

the rest at the

buyer’s peril.

SURVEILLANCE SOLUTIONS TAKE CENTRE STAGE By Andrew Seldon.

this article. At the end of the event, however, it was clear that the surveillance market is going to be a competitive environment this year with plenty of new products out to tempt the buyer who will have a seemingly endless choice when it comes to surveil-lance. The key to success is doing one’s homework and making sure you have the right advisors and skills in place.

Warren Phillips represented local distributor Miro, a company that initially started distributing network products, especially wireless networking, before taking its place in the surveillance distribu-tion market. He says the company specialises in wireless surveillance and is excited by changes in the wireless market, which extend the capabilities of IP surveillance. Of the changes he expects to see this year is wireless systems offering transmission speeds of 1 400 megabits per second, with a multi-kilometre range.

Jason McGregor represented Axis Communications. As far as trends are concerned, he expects a continued focus on improved image quality rather than counting megapixels. “I think what the client wants at the end of the day is better image quality and we’re seeing the consumer market driving this.” Today’s cellphones offer clients a better image

Standing: Charles Volschenk, Warren Phillips, Jason McGregor and Johan Crause. Seated: Brendan Hall, Malcolm Govender and John Loftus.

CCTV ROUND-TABLE 2012


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NEWSCCTV ROUND-TABLE 2012

than they get out of many of their CCTV cameras and people don’t see why a phone can deliver such quality but a camera can’t.

Other areas to watch, according to McGregor, include an increased focus on lens technology with wide dynamic range (WDR) and high dynamic range (HDR) becoming more important. We should also see some other interesting technologies appearing that are able to deal effectively with poor lighting conditions. He also sees an increased interest in edge storage and analysis.

Brendan Hall, MD of Pentagon Distribution says, “We see a lot of the vendors willing to sell the camera, a piece of software or just a storage device and when it all goes pear shaped for a client. At the end of the day you’ve got this divorced responsi-bility, so our real focus is on the whole appli-cation, where we have to take responsibility for the camera, the network, the platforms, the software as well as the storage.”

He adds that many camera vendors are more inclined to sell cameras, but don’t want to get involved in the storage busi-ness, which is becoming quite complex. He also refers to the “swear word of our industry”, integration, noting that installa-tions of systems such as access control, public address systems, evacuation and building management systems (BMS) need to be included in the overall process.

Malcolm Govender from Pelco by Schneider agrees with Hall, saying Pelco has always focused on end-to-end solu-tions, from monitors to cameras, recording platforms and storage. With its integration into the Schneider Group, Pelco now has additional access to the Schneider product portfolio, including BMS, lighting solutions, wireless infrastructure products and so on. “So for us our focus has shifted from being

a camera provider or even a CCTV solution provider to a holistic solution provider.”

Johan Crause represented IP Security Solutions (IPSS), a division of Regal, which launched IPSS after realising the need for a specialised division focusing on IP products. He says IP products need sup-port and that means added value from a distributor to look after its clients and even work through them to assist the end user. According to Crause, customers are after quality, but they do not necessarily want to pay a lot for it. This is where IPSS comes in, offering products that offer the quality required, but at a more reasonable cost, although he notes that they are not chasing the title of offering the cheapest price out there as the quality would not suffice.

He also notes that the East is catching up quickly when it comes to quality products and it’s not correct to simply write-off prod-ucts from that areas as cheap knock-offs.

John Loftus, MD of newly launched distributor MASS sees four key trends happening in our industry. The first is edge storage. There is no need to hog bandwidth with video images when the majority of it is never looked at. With only relevant video transmitted and the rest of it available when required, bandwidth can be saved and more value derived from the camera’s functionality.

Integration is second. Loftus says it has never been done well among the various disciplines. He believes this is changing and sees development taking place in integration between the various electronic security disciplines.

Lighting is the third trend. A trend that hasn’t transferred to the IP platform prop-erly yet, but this is changing quickly.

Finally, he sees an increase in the capabilities of storage devices, including

improved write speeds, which will benefit storage solutions.

Charles Volschenk represents the German company Geutebrück, which has only had a local office for slightly more than one year. He also believes the dirty word “integration” is becoming more important than ever. Geutebrück is already busy with several projects where the integra-tion between different systems is key, and the outcome is a system that provides exception-based reporting, in other words, the system raises an alarm when certain triggers arise and that is what operators respond to.

Again he says edge storage will be key, but users also require something “in the middle” that can find the right two or three percent of important footage/data and then present it in a way that is usable, allow-ing people to make decisions. Geutebrück SA also distributes lighting products from RayTech, which he considers an important advantage as lighting factors become more important.

Lighting and pricing

While lighting is not often given the thought it really requires in the surveillance world, apart from when vendors try to sell a low-light camera, this is changing. McGregor expect more of the high-end cameras will include IR LEDs that sport a long life of 10 to 15 years – depending on the product. In the past, he says, we’ve seen cameras with built-in LEDs, but these more often than not failed before the camera had outlived its

Malcolm Govender.

Warren Phillips.

Continued on page 12



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useful life. This is changing as current LED systems will outlive the camera.

Volschenk adds that IR technology is advancing even more with many projects needing lighting over and above what could be attached to a camera. He says a form of “almost intelligent IR” is being developed apart from the camera that interacts with the camera “doing the right things at the right time”, operating automatically as required to support the camera’s, and hence the busi-ness’s operations.

Hall also mentions new technologies that measure the tolerances on the LEDs and provide a form of failover to ensure the lighting remains constant for the camera in question. Harking back to the low-cost question, Hall also mentions that there is a large market waiting for the right IP product at the low-end of the market – meaning the 16-camera and below market for small operations and even homes. There is also a huge market outside of South Africa where the markets still have some maturing to do. These users generally opt for analogue solu-tions because of the lower costs, but also because the traditional installers serving this market are comfortable with analogue.

Looking at the global surveillance space, he says IP vendors are playing in only about 25% of the market, with the remaining 75% still up for grabs – or in the analogue space because of it size and the lower cost of analogue solutions. (There is some dis-agreement on the exact percentages, with some saying as much as 35% of the market

has already migrated to IP, others saying it’s as low as 20%.)

While IP cameras have added func-tionality to their systems, from analytics, to voice and other features, most of these installations have no need of these extras, leaving a gap in the market. Many of these smaller installations are running off ADSL routers and in-house WiFi systems, to which they are adding IP cameras. These installations, of course, can’t afford the fees integrators charge and are looking for systems that are easy to install and use.

It’s into this arena that companies like Axis, with its Camera Companion and Bosch, with its Advantage Line are moving. However, there is still space for low-cost (not quality) cameras targeted to this market.

Crause says he believes this market is going to be significant for 2012, not least because an increasing number of these smaller projects move from analogue to IP. Again he mentions IP camera manufac-turers from the East that have managed to bridge the quality and price gap in a way that appeals to this market, especially when comparing the image quality the more costly IP systems deliver.

This is to be expected as technology advances, says Loftus, noting, “progress and development is driven by price ero-sion”. This allows manufacturers to make CCTV more efficient, more effective, more user friendly and a more effective tool for a lower cost, while the high-end gains the benefit of new features and functionality.

The benefits of IP

As noted previously, the benefits of analogue often come down to questions of cost and while the purchase price of analogue is lower than IP, Hall suggests it should come down to a question of the future cost of ownership. He says the life cycle of an analogue video system is about three years. After that, you have an ana-logue backbone which limits your options when looking at upgrading or expanding the installation.

“The upside of IP is the fact that you get to put the network in and once installed you’re in the digital world with all the ben-efits of upgrading or expanding the surveil-lance solution and changing camera brands as desired,” says Hall. We supplied a site seven years ago, a cash centre with about a 150 cameras. We’ve done a few firmware upgrades, but I can do nothing more for the client. So from a client perspective, the upside is that he can really get a real return on his investment over a longer period and the firmware upgrades deliver excellent additional functionality over the longer term that the client can choose to take advan-tage of.”

“IP adds value on a larger system,” adds Loftus. “Smaller installations suit analogue systems, but larger ones simply require IP. It would be an automatic choice for our customers because we give you additional value such as smartphone apps, access control integration, gate control,

Warren Phillips and Jason McGregor.

Continued from page 10





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BMS integration and many more added value features we would be restricted from offering on an analogue system.”

And it goes further, adds Govender. “The added benefits we have in the group also include BMS, energy management and the like. We can trigger the camera system to switch lighting off because there’s no motion in the office. So instead of putting an occupancy sensor in, and if you don’t have the money to build a full BMS, you can use the CCTV system to trigger that and as funding becomes available from the money you’re saving, you can expand.”

McGregor believes the value of IP is the intelligence, the edge storage and the fact that it’s a quick deployment compared to

Charles Volschenk.John Loftus.

Johan Crause. Jason McGregor.

Continued from page 12 analogue in many cases. The management is also simpler and offers more functionality.

Of course, IP and analogue are not exclusive, as Volschenk points out. You can have them both running as hybrid technology, allowing you to extract the most from your analogue investment while you migrate to IP.

Edge or not

The question of edge storage, keeping video footage on SD cards or hard drives on each camera, is already gaining traction and will continue to do so in the coming year. On the one hand,





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McGregor notes the benefits of edge storage in reducing band-width and not losing footage even in the network goes down. In many incidents, thieves will make sure they take the DVR with them to prevent footage of their crime being of any use. In these instances, edge storage saves the footage for later analysis. However, Crause asks what happens when the camera is stolen or broken?

The solution to this seems to be event-driven storage in which certain events trigger an alarm and automatically broadcast images to a control room, while when there is no alarm situation the video is stored on camera. This footage can then be down-loaded or mined for analysis at a convenient time, while ensuring any intrusions and so forth are sent to a command centre almost immediately.

Alternatively, McGregor notes that onboard storage can save bandwidth by allowing companies to store the full-quality video footage on the camera while broadcasting low frame rate video to a control centre until something happens. In that way operators can keep an eye on the monitored environment without hogging bandwidth.

When it comes to server-based storage, there is a vast differ-ence between the traditional NVR/DVR systems and the large storage subsystems installations require. The attendees noted a general lack in many security installers when it comes to setting up and managing larger storage systems. It could be put down to a question of lack of education on these high-end devices, but it could also be down to the fact that organisations are more likely to set their IT departments to the storage task.

Infrastructure questions

When it comes to infrastructure, the attendees agreed that wire-less solutions for surveillance were growing in importance as well as utility. Phillips notes that he does not always recommend wire-less for indoor applications, but has no hesitance in recommend-ing wireless for outdoor applications. “On the perimeter, wireless is a fantastic alternative to wired components, it really does work and I think it’s only getting better. To be frank, the bandwidth that these products are performing at and the clarity of picture is fantastic.”

Hall agrees, noting that Pentagon recently commissioned a 150-camera project on a highway using a wireless network. Loftus also agrees noting a project Mass supplied a wireless system to sports excellent quality over a distance of 5 kilometres.

A key issue

As is the norm in round-table discussions, this article has only touched on some of the issues discussed. To round off the event, Hi-Tech Security Solutions asked each participant to highlight one issue that they think would be the biggest issue in the surveillance market in the coming year. Not an easy question in a dynamic industry.

Volschenk says, “The biggest thing is going to be having usable, meaningful information from your integrated systems. That’s what’s going to sort out the men from the boys”.

“I think for us it’s going to quite simply be differentiation on the basis of quality. That’s the biggest thing, being able to provide a complete end-to-end solution and taking control of the entire project,” says Loftus.

Crause reiterates that the quality-cost question is crucial. “Quality versus cost is going to play a significant role in 2012. People are not prepared to pay exorbitant amounts for cameras anymore.”

“I think from our perspective, like I said previously, we can all basically offer the same offering, it’s what sets your offering apart and the value-add that comes into it that will separate one manu-facturer or one brand from the other. So for us it’s more along the lines of the value adds, what else we can build onto the system, what value can we add,” notes Govender.

“For us, convergence is key … to where we can have a single platform for managing all the services which operators can control from one interface,” says Hall.

“From an Axis perspective it’s short and sweet, image usabil-ity. Can you actually use the video that you’ve got to do the job required,” states McGregor.

Although Phillips notes an expected growth in Miro’s wire-less infrastructure offerings, he also sees a growth spurt for IP surveillance due to an increased availability of lower-cost cam-eras that offer good quality as well as simpler usability for the end user.

The proof will be in the pudding and we shall perhaps be able to see the outcome of these expectations in the 2013 issue of the CCTV Handbook. Needless to say, looking at the comments in this round-table, it bodes well for an exciting year in the surveil-lance industry. The usual question of how far IT will intrude into the security world (or vice versa) remains and we would not be surprised to see further acquisitions of security integrators and distributors by established IT players. Perhaps next year we will eventually see a larger percentage of IP sales at the expense of analogue, but looking at some of the other comments in the various articles in the CCTV Handbook 2012, it will be some time before analogue is kind enough to retire into the sunset – an event that would have to be recorded with an expensive IP camera.




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NTERVIEWNTERVIEWNTERVIEWNTERVIEWIIIHI-TECH SECURITY SOLUTIONS

Technology abounds in the surveillance industry and changes on a constant basis to provide the promise of new deliverables in terms of quality, output and integration. However, what the end user really wants from his system is oftentimes less hype and more return on investment.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions chatted to eight sys-tems integration companies and security consultants about designing and planning the implementation of a surveillance system that provides tangible benefits and offers customers hassle-free solutions.

Planning ahead

The primary function of any surveillance system revolves around the specific needs of the customer. The process should not be one of suppliers or inte-grators pushing technology onto customers based on their need to move high-end products into the market. All respondents agreed that before any planning and design can start, a comprehensive overview meeting with the customer at their premises is critical.

“By physically visiting the site, identifying hot

By Allyson Koekhoven.

Surveillance implementations must

deliver value.

THE BUSINESS OF SURVEILLANCE

spots and critical areas and determining whether any existing surveillance systems can become part of a new system or need to be replaced, allows a sys-tems integrator to develop an overall strategy,” says Richard Creighton, HBS Business Leader, Africa, at Honeywell. “Any consultant or systems integrator who attempts to implement a plan remotely, without foresight of the installation environment must be avoided.”

A comprehensive risk assessment will include the expected coverage of the site, including all critical areas; whether this coverage needs to be conducted on a round-the-clock basis; and what existing system is on site.

“At the very first meeting with the customer, it is important to include representatives from their IT department, says Shaun Thomé, sales manager at Basix. “This allows the integrator to establish whether the customer wishes the installer to piggyback on an existing IT network or whether it is more advisable to implement a dedicated security network.

“The advantages to the latter include avoid-ance of overloading the business IT network and ensuring that both networks are completely secure. Disadvantages are primarily the extra costs involved in establishing the network and monitoring it after installation.”

“It is important to look at the operational dynam-ics of the site, such as the infrastructure (network and storage capacity) required; whether an ana-logue, hybrid or a combination system is required; and whether the system has a national operational centre or be viewed and controlled via isolated control rooms. Once all these questions have been answered, the integrator can design and construct the surveillance solution,” says Creighton.

Alex de Barros, a consultant to Servest Technologies adds that the type of camera chosen is based on the specific expectations and require-ments of the customer. “You need to discuss with the customer whether he wants high-definition images for identification purposes and/or for number plate rec-ognition and recording. Or, are the cameras merely used to determine movement in specific areas? In the latter instance, you would not select a high-definition megapixel camera with the requisite accompanying large storage demands it commands, but rather a lower definition camera.

“The strategic positioning of cameras is critical to Continued on page 20

Richard Creighton.




http://www.secequip.co.za

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


INTERVIEW


Continued from page 18the success of any surveillance installation project.”

Camera options

“Identifying choke points, such as door-ways or entrances, where the person is required to present a card, tag or finger to gain access will allow you to place cameras for identification purposes,” adds Francois Malan, MD of Camsecure.

“In addition, the camera angle plays a role in determining what quality level camera you need. You need to take heed that colour cameras are not always the solution, as they tend to use a lot more bandwidth and storage in low light condi-tions and often don’t produce good qual-ity images when they are needed,” says Malan. “Another factor often overlooked is that if you are going to have an installation with thousands of cameras, you need to ensure that you have an adequate network design in place and that you have devices that are transmitting and compressing the video footage optimally. A lot of small in efficiencies on a large system can add up to a big nightmare for the end user.”

“When considering the type of camera to install, you need to first determine what network will work best for the installation at hand, such as wireless, fibre, or cloud-based,” adds Shaune Beyleveldt, IT man-ager at Basix.

Kevin Monk, technical director at the Bidvest Magnum Group, said that one often has to educate one’s customers on the benefits of a particular system. “While you are outlining the general security benefits, it is important to point out the additional OHS benefits they can derive from a suitable surveillance system. In this way the cus-tomer feels he is getting more than he had originally anticipated and his confidence in the system integrator’s capabilities, integrity and knowledge will increase.”

Monk comments that one should also determine and outline the type of analyt-ics that will be used for recorded material, as well as set up procedures for how the material will be viewed and analysed. “Determination of whether the actions are proactive (in a control room) whereby one would use a cross-pollination of static and mobile cameras); or rear-active (where foot-age is reviewed at a later stage) whereby static cameras are adequate, is necessary.”

The level of integration to other systems, such as fire and access control, is often overlooked. “The importance of an open platform, future-proofed system cannot be overstated. Technology is expensive and to find that your supposedly high-end system cannot interface to other critical elements

either today or in the near future, could be catastrophic for many companies,” says Malan.

“You need to be pragmatic and match the costs to both the business driver and the system. It is often better to install the system in building blocks as the budget for surveillance grows. At the end of the day you shouldn’t be installing technology just for the sake of installing technology; it should have a predefined and valuable role to play and if something less high-tech can do the job adequately, then downscale at the design stages,” notes Ian Downie, shareholder and director of sales and mar-keting at Xone.

The right partner

Kobus Le Roux, national sales and market-ing executive for Jasco Security Solutions, cautions against the temptation of cutting system integrators out of the equation during the planning and design stages. “We know of many cases where a customer chose to use other avenues to design the solution without the insight of the integra-tor which resulted in greater expenses and dubious results.

“We find that in these instances there is a lot of subjectively driven marketing noise made by the supplier and OEM. In the past, system integrators would be the first line of communication to the end user. This allowed for proper risk assessment before a specific solution and product was discussed. Now, they often find that they are involved in the project only after all the critical decisions have been made.

“In the majority of cases, the end user does not have a comprehensive knowledge

of what technology best suits his needs and the equipment supplier many times is only interested in selling the latest technology with all its bells and whistles, irrespective of whether he is over- or under-speccing the project.”

“Technology changes so rapidly that you need to be flexible and understand what you want to get out of your recorded foot-age in terms of the application in question, for example, for perimeter surveillance you would need a day/night camera with zoom capabilities,” says Creighton.

Downie concurs that system integrators provide a vital link in the supply chain. “Due to experience gained over many years of working on similar projects, systems inte-grators are able to weigh up the risks facing an organisation, review current systems and decide on a suitable and cost effective plan to mitigate the risks.

“A good system integrator also under-stands that the solution is threefold – pro-cess, people and technology. It is important to acknowledge that the process precedes the technology in each case. It does not help to purchase a bus load of expensive equipment which is overkill for the job at hand.”

Service is paramount

In order to ensure that the planned installa-tion will perform according to the expecta-tions of the customer, it is important to have a full scope of work document as well as a service level agreement (SLA) in place. Furthermore, communication with OEMs will provide valuable information sharing on technology available, and full entry level training will ensure that customers are able utilise the technology effectively.

“The scope of work or project plan needs to incorporate information on deliver-ables, milestones and prerequisites,” says Beyleveldt. “The document should also include tests and sign-offs,” notes Downie. “Finally, the handover document must be compared to the scope of work document. This could include practical completion (identifying snags), a list of snags, hand-over and commissioning dates,” adds Monk.

The SLA, which is performance based, will outline exactly what parameters and predefined specifications are required. In addition, determination of maintenance and future upgrades will be specified.

“Preventative maintenance, as opposed to corrective maintenance, will allow you to identify possible failures before they become actual issues, thus re ducing downtime and costs,” says Thomé. “System feedback is required to inform the

Francois Malan.



http://www.genetec.com

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


INTERVIEW


maintenance team or the system integrator when maintenance or upgrades are required. By making this an automatic function, you effectively reduce pos-sible failures,” adds Malan.

“It would be wise to institute back-to-back warranty agreements with suppliers that match the maintenance agreement,” says Downie. “Ideally, the maintenance agreement should be extendable and design your contract around backwards compatibility to ensure that maintenance staff can work on the systems.”

Is it what it says it is?

Can customers rely on the quality output specified on a camera’s packaging or should they get down to component level to determine capabilities? “We have proved in camera shootouts that the specifications that appear on the camera box are not always accu-rate,” states Jacques Nieuwoudt, a director at Risk Consulting Network. “Be cautious and do not rely on the marketing spin.”

Le Roux agrees:”If it is a reputable brand you can usually put some credence in their claims, however, I still believe it is advisable to test all products before specifying them for a customer’s installation.”

Beyleveldt and Malan say it is advisable to select equipment that complies with Open Network Video Interface Forum (ONVIF) as well as other inter-national HDTV standards. “This means that we will eliminate the undesirables in the industry, resulting in a more professional industry offering.”

De Barros believes that often an entry-level camera will perform a task as well as a high-definition camera, dependent on the application it is being used for. “It is more important that a system is scaleable to what the customer requires. Depending on the grow-ing needs of the customer, he may need to invest in a bigger server at some stage in the future.”

Monk adds: “Sometimes utilising a larger number of lower resolution cameras will have a more mean-ingful effect than deploying one or two megapixel cameras with a similar bandwidth and storage requirement. The application does not always call for identification of a person, so rather invest the budget in deploying a larger number of lower resolution cam-eras to provide wider coverage.

“It is important to get down to component level, especially when a customer is considering an IP system. The system will determine your bandwidth requirements and therefore you need to know what product is going into the field, based on the correct platform for the application.”

Downie says that specifications and their cred-ibility are complex matters that are best left to an experienced system integrator to determine. “No matter how much someone knows about the field of surveillance cameras, the calibre of a camera can be faked. However, if a customer selects a system integrator who has a verifiable track record, has a his-tory of large scale installations, and exhibits integrity in terms of objective selection of equipment, then there is less likelihood of an inferior product slipping through the cracks.”

IP, the way forward?

While all interviewees acknowledged that there is still a role for analogue technology to play in cer-tain instances, IP is definitely the technology of the future. Nieuwoudt cautions that the technology is a bit overrated at this stage, with costs being rather high and a shortage of suitably skilled installers being the stumbling blocks to widespread acceptance.

De Barros says that analogue cameras are still improving and getting cheaper and because of their amelioration and the research and development invested in them, there will still be a place for them in more cost conscious applications. “However, IP has a longer shelf life because of the firmware upgrades available. This means that when you are in touch with your customer’s growing or changing needs, you can readily upgrade their IP system to suit by upgrading the software.”

Both Malan and Monk state that the larger con-tracts are specifying IP as their technology of choice. “Analogue only outsells IP at a component level and I believe that it is suitable predominantly for the SOHO market,” Monk says. “Unfortunately, because it is a closed system, analogue has serious restrictions in terms of future-proofing the installation,” adds Malan.

Thomé believes that the only reason the volume of sales on analogue cameras is higher than that

Kobus le Roux. Ian Downie.



of IP cameras, is the lower cost of the technology. “Without a doubt, IP has more features and benefits to offer the customer, including a cheaper infrastructure. One way of easing customers with an exist-ing analogue system into IP is to utilise a hybrid system, then replace it with IP when necessary.”

“IP is easier to install and integrate with other systems and you have the benefit that, from a maintenance point of view, you can fault find over IP networks,” says Le Roux. “Conversely, even though most ana-logue cameras do provide a quality output, they are labour and maintenance intensive when compared to IP systems.”

Leasing and offsite monitoring

There are merits to both offsite monitoring and leasing of surveillance systems, but customers should also be aware of the pos-sible downside to these options.

“I believe that freedom of choice in technology should be a given, however, this is not always available when leasing a system and customers should be care-ful that they are not locked into a specific

brand for the duration of the contract,” says Malan.

“Budget often determines whether outright purchase or rental of surveillance systems is chosen. In addition, rental has tax benefits for the customer and is an opex rather than a capex expense that allows upgradeability of products without extra expense. It is important that performance levels are built into the contract to ensure that the lessor upholds high quality levels,” says Thomé.

Creighton notes that there is a time and place for offsite monitoring depending on the installation environment. “While offsite monitoring can be utilised, I do not feel it is advisable to lease your surveillance system. For a critical application like secu-rity, you should have ownership of your own system and its components. In most critical environments, bespoke application of surveillance technology is employed and therefore by vested interest, the system’s integrity and sustainability will have more chance of succeeding and being used for the full life cycle of the asset.”

In order to guarantee the success of off-site monitoring, it is important to determine

the first, second and third tier control room mechanisms and the level of input required. “Something that cannot be overlooked though, and I cannot emphasise this enough, is the importance of people in the equation. Technology alone cannot provide surveillance needs and this is often exac-erbated by the fact that customers often do not understand technology and its limita-tions,” says Downie.

Monk agrees about the importance of having a balance of technology with security officers doing patrols and feeding back information on camera positions to the control room.

Monk summarises the concerted ob servation of the interviewees: “Customers need to do a due diligence on the installer and monitoring company in order to ensure that integrity is the corner-stone of their operations. In addition, a full disaster recovery facility should be in place to ensure that, should the system suffer a breakdown, they will be able to quickly and seamlessly carry on their surveillance operations. The role that a good systems integrator can play in the equation cannot be overstated.”




http://www.mimic.co.za

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


The UTM

Group provides

integrated

security and

networking

solutions.

SYSTEM INTEGRATOR PROFILE

The UTM Group evolved from an IT/security com-pany in 2004 and currently has offices in South Africa, the USA and Hong Kong. It had auspi-

cious beginnings as Armcom Security, a company founded by Anthony McLintock in 1998, the father of the UTM Group’s CEO, Kelly McLintock.

Kelly and his brother Chad took the bull by the horns and launched the UTM Group as a provider of end-to-end integrated security and networking solu-tions when Provicom Electronics, a division of Bidvest, bought out Armcom Security.

The company today employs 25 people in South Africa. It has a national support footprint, providing future proofed and backwards compatible turnkey security and networking solutions to the retail, pharma-ceutical and educational sectors as well as for residen-tial and commercial estates.

The total security management solution is handled by three synergistic divisions within the company: technical support, sales and monitoring. The offering includes managed surveillance, access control, time and attendance and business intelligence, all aligned with best practice technology.

The technical division is responsible for the supply, installation and project management of products and is enhanced through the strong networking and IT knowl-edge and the capabilities of its staff. The sales divi-sion is responsible for identifying opportunities within the vertical markets, monitoring on-site progress and functioning, and liaising with clients on-site to ensure that all parameters and expectations of a project are successfully met by the UTM team.

Kelly McLintock believes that the company’s main differentiator, in a highly competitive market, is its

RELIABILITY THROUGH SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE EXPERIENCE

understanding of systems architecture and the con-stantly evolving technology. “It is important, when designing and implementing an integrated security solution, to ensure that the foundation of the system is appropriate for the application at hand. Without a complete understanding of the requirements and client expectations the system and technology just becomes an expensive white elephant.

“The niche expertise our employees have in the IT environment allows them to gain a comprehensive overview of the specific infrastructure requirements of the clients. With this knowledge in hand they are then able to look beyond merely surveillance needs and focus on an entire solution based on the business value chain,” McLintock says.

According to McLintock, it is critical that sys-tems can communicate with each other seamlessly. “Unfortunately, when designing so-called integrated security solutions, not enough research is done on whether the technology used in other systems, such as fire and access control, can effectively interface with your surveillance system.

“Experience in analysing risk factors and cust-omised needs forms the basis of our customer offer-ing and we are able to refine policies and match the products to the overall business and security portfolio, by leveraging previous applications knowledge and experience,” added McLintock.

McLintock describes UTM as a multi-brand busi-ness. “We believe that there is no ‘one size fits all’ in this market. Or to quote Henry Ford: ‘You can have any colour you like as long as it’s black’. There are many good products on the market as well as many inferior products. However, at the end of the day the success of any project hinges on the ability of a product to under-take the task at hand. A product that may be more than adequate on one application may be either overkill or inadequate for another project. The technology needs to align with the risk architecture, not vice versa.

“Security is a grudge purchase. This means that you need to be extremely thorough in your risk assessment of a client’s site in order to ensure that the system you propose for him will perform according to specification and ultimately provide him with a flawless solution that has maximised uptime and availability,” adds McLintock.

“Boxed solutions rarely perform the high-end func-tions of a truly integrated solution, so time should be taken to educate the client on the value of choosing a company with a solid track record and a portfolio of evidence in applying systems that are built on a strong architectural foundation,” he concluded.

For more information contact UTM Group, 0860 22 22 66, [email protected]




SYSTEM INTEGRATORS PROFILES

SYSTEM INTEGRATORS

To list your company here, contact Vivienne at [email protected] or 011 543 5800.

Network surveillance and electronic sec urity company that has completed many large and prestigious projects throughout the continent. We pride our-selves on quality, expertise and ex perience. Designing event-driven systems and cen tralising information through maps, pri-ority alarms and embedding standard op-erating pro cedures to quickly prompt the operator to make the correct response.

Tel: +27 (0)11 781 [email protected]

Jasco Security Solutions (previously MultiVid) designs, installs and main-tains security technology solutions to address unique security risks. The strength and differentiation of our offering is in the depth of skills and experience; our understanding of the security challenges and our ability to custom-make solutions to mitigate those risk factors.


Honeywell Building Solutions is a leading provider of integrated technology solu-tions that support innovative ways of working. We develop, install and maintain critical building systems that help keep customer workplaces safe, secure, comfortable and cost-efficient. Global experience across diverse markets posi-tions Honeywell as a technology leader renowned for delivering value.


We design, install and maintain inte-grated security solutions. As client requirements are unique, Bidvest Magnum Technology does not have off-the-shelf security solutions. Instead, we analyse the client’s needs, advise on optimum solutions, design the required system and then install it based on clearly defined project guidelines as well as a detailed scope-of-work document.


We provide total project solutions based on specialist design, engineer-ing and maintenance services. CCS can design and install systems to suit your needs and budget. And we can evaluate, upgrade, repair and maintain your exist-ing system. Specialise in surveillance: access control and T&A, fire detection: audio evacuation and public address, as well as parking control systems.

Tel (011) 907 [email protected]

The Basix Group, security system integrators and solution providers with over 20 years’ experience, and a strong presence throughout RSA, serves government and private sector custom-ers in the financial, transportation, commercial-industrial and infrastruc-ture markets. Basix is the agent for March Networks, a global provider of intelligent IP video solutions.

Tel: +27 (0)11 210 3500 Head [email protected]

Stanley Security Solutions South Africa is a wholly owned subsidiary of EOH, and is responsible for sales, installation and support of products on the African continent. Stanley Security Solutions supplies and installs security, CCTV, access control, communications and time management solutions, building management, fire detection and offer a range of rental solutions.

Tel: +27 (0)11 844 3200Fax: +27 (0)11 844 3500www.stanley.co.za

Our solutions protect and enhance your investments and profits as well as reduce risk. We provide holistic security technology solutions that enable you to concentrate on your core business. From design, installation and maintenance to monitoring, TVMS offers peace of mind with value for money solutions and exceptional service delivery.

Tel: 0861 867 8867 (TVMS) [email protected]

UTM Group is a provider of end-to-end total security management services with integrated solutions. These include managed surveillance, access control, time and attendance, video analytics, data mining and meaningful business intelligence. UTM delivers security management services by taking your entire risk value chain into consideration.

Tel: 086 022 [email protected]

Technology, software, products, specifications, strategies, services and consultants are all key aspects of effective security.

But it takes appropriate knowledge and experience to put it all together to create solutions that protect people, profits and assets and deliver business benefits.

Skilled system integrators with a proven track record are the link between technology and solutions that work.

Basix Group Bidvest Magnum Camsecure

Card Control Systems Honeywell Building Solutions Jasco Security Solutions

Stanley Security Solutions (EOH) TVMS UTM Group


http://www.camsecure.co.za


http://www.jasco.co.za


http://www.bidvestmagnum.co.za


http://www.basixtech.co.za




http://www.honeywell.co.za


http://www.cardcontrolsystems.co.za

http://www.stanley.co.za


http://www.tvms.co.za


http://www.utmgroup.co.za

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


Q&A: IP/ANALOGUE

The debate about whether IP or analogue technology is the way to go carries on. There can be no doubt that the promise of IP is tremendous and would have

everyone adopting this technology in a fl ash if it was not for so many horror stories of failed IP installations.

We asked two industry players for their take on the debate. The result right now is that it’s up to the buyer to make sure he/she chooses the right solution because analogue is not nearly as dead as some would want you to believe. There again, it doesn’t seem to have a very bright future either.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions spoke to George Psoulis from TecSec Distribution and Rob Anderson from Rob Anderson & Associates.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: The IP/analogue debate never ends. In your opinion, what do customers need to know and consider when faced with the choice of which technology to use?

George Psoulis: TecSec Distribution: CCTV technology has entered a new era; one actually needs to ask whether converting an analogue camera into an IP camera actu-ally improves the image quality. The answer to this is debateable. Many customers have a misconception that because the solution offered is an IP camera solution, that solution offers better image resolution. This is untrue. As we are moving into a new era of surveil-lance, there is a big distinction between SD (standard defi nition) cameras and HD (high defi nition) cameras in an IP realm.

Firstly, let us identify a few terms to help guide us. With the advent of high defi nition TV, a new term has developed referring to the old TV format has standard defi nition. That terminology has seemed to creep into video security as well. A camera could be referred to as standard defi nition, which basically means it is not a megapixel camera. However, a camera may be called a high resolution camera but it is still a standard defi nition camera. Now an analogue camera or IP camera for that matter could be 380 TV lines of resolution and it would be called a low-resolution camera. However, a camera with 540 TV lines would be called a high-resolution camera. However, they could both be considered standard defi nition cam-eras because they are not megapixel cameras or HDTV cameras.

There are certainly benefi ts to an IP-based system as most companies pre-plan IT infrastructure as a whole (data and security

networks) and the overall installation costs to the security system integrator is dramatically reduced. However, this needs to be calculated and planned correctly, as many systems fail due to the lack of planning.

Rob Anderson, Rob Anderson & Associates: First cost, maintenance cost, live picture quality and recorded replay image quality as well as reputation of installer and equipment being offered.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Where is analogue the answer? Where is IP the answer?

George Psoulis: The only option for an ana-logue system is where the client has limited budgets, no infrastructure etc. Analogue systems are on the way to becoming an out of date solution. The cost effectiveness of analogue systems opened up a new market for residential use or very small offi ce spaces.

As companies expand in size, the move to open multiple offi ces to accommodate employees in multiple segmented offi ce spaces is becoming a norm. Thus, IP systems become more effective to implement.

Rob Anderson: Because analogue can pro-duce quality pictures at a lower cost, in many cases with superior recording and replay results, the question is really why spend more money on IP. The reason has to be to obtain a higher resolution picture and/or make instal-lation easier.

If the choice is IP then a purposely designed network must be installed with equipment selection and setup to benefi t from the choice. If not then the benefi t is only academic. The system should also not be connected to the Internet so that it can benefi t from windows updates. This usually results in additional maintenance call outs to resolve compatibility issues.

As one installer told me, if he only did analogue installations he would go bankrupt, the IP systems need plenty of love and care which gives him a recurring income.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Do hybrid installations work? Do they deliver value?

George Psoulis: Yes, good NVMS brands will allow hybrid solutions mixing SD analogue cameras (some converting into IP via video encoders) within the HD IP camera solu-tion. CCTV systems should all be about the evidence delivered and as HD cameras are in the mix, one needs to move away from

THE RIGHT SOLUTION By Andrew Seldon.

IP rules, but analogue

won’t give up.

Rob Anderson.



Designation H x VCIF 352 x 2402CIF 704 x 2404CIF 704 x 480D1 720 x 4801MP - 720p 1280 x 7201MP 1280 x 10242MP - 1080p 1920 x 10803MP 2048 x 15365MP 2592 x 194411MP (Only Avigilon) 4008 x 267216MP (Only Avigilon) 4872 x 324829MP (Only Avigilon) 6576 x 4384

delivering an educated guess camera solution to a “pixels on target” solution. The pixels on target approach should dictate the type of camera and lens for each scene.

Rob Anderson: Yes, it is the case of choosing the correct products and technology for the needs, hybrids often solve the problem.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: You can do so much more with IP. Why even consider analogue except where price is the deciding factor?

George Psoulis: As IP cameras are dropping in price, there is no reason to consider an analogue solution.

Studies have shown that CCTV clients are requiring more functionality and evidence from their systems. Most CCTV manu-facturers are moving into the multi-megapixel HD environment. Analogue systems compress footage and can deliver up to D1 resolutions. D1 resolution is approximately 0.5 megapixels.See table below:

Entering into the HD environment, there are many factors to consider, i.e. the required camera to deliver the correct pixels on target, bandwidth constraints, storage etc.

Rob Anderson: Not aware of anything that the IP cameras do that is not also done in the analogue world. The only one may be embedded analytics. This is usually specifi ed to reduce bandwidth. Not sure why when we are in the IP age. There is also the trend to have edge recording built into the camera. All of these technolo-gies should be looked at as solutions for particular problems and not as the only way to design all CCTV systems.

It is probably a good time to revisit the compression algorithms such as H.264 and understand what they give us and how user friendly/good they are when you have to use the video data. There has been the further move towards HDCCTV and the release of the Pixim chipsets. Both are showing great promise. Therefore, IP is just one of the arrows in the box. Nothing wrong with it, but thankfully not the only choice.


CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


IP/ANALOGUE

Way back in 2005, one of my prede-cessors at NICE Systems wrote an article entitled ‘The

Convergence of Physical Security and IT’. In this article he argued that ven-dors, specifi ers, system integrators, installers and end users all needed to become more IT savvy and fast, in order to cope with the pace of the inevitable transition to a more proactive security system, which takes advantage of the evolution of IP networks. So here we are, at the beginning of 2012 and I fi nd myself having very similar debates with people in the security world.

Undoubtedly, we are far further down the line with convergence. However, we are still a long way off where people pre-dicted we would be fi ve or six years ago. But why is this the case? After all, the technology has leapt forward, IP cam-eras of today are hugely capable and IT networks are far faster with greater bandwidth, reliability, scalability and of course security. In addition high volume storage is considerably cheaper.

The fact is that analogue cameras are very good indeed. After all, more than 50 years of expertise has gone in to refi ning and developing the technol-ogy since the introduction of CCTV in the 1960s. What’s more these cameras can have a very long lifespan, often spanning one or even two decades. With annual shipments of approximately 20 million units in recent years, it is a conservative estimate that there are around 200 million analogue cameras currently installed around the world. So for the majority of organisations who are specifying new surveillance systems, it is highly likely that they will have ana-logue cameras and cabling deployed. So what choices are available?

One option is to ‘rip and replace’ trusted infrastructure and embark upon an expensive forklift to a complete IP solution, including cameras and recorders, which is in most cases like throwing the baby out with the bath-water. An alternative is to maximise the past investments (often considerable) made in analogue technology by simply replacing old DVRs with new hybrid ver-sions. This option might seem to be the

obvious path to take for the vast majority or security teams who are restricted by budget, but there are pitfalls. While this strategy will leverage existing assets and protect investment, the resulting solution won’t be completely future-ready and will have limited capabilities. However, as Tony Blair (remember him?) once said, ‘There is a third way’.

There is technology now available to the market that makes it possible to retain the investment in perfectly good analogue systems and at the same time benefi t from a state-of-the-art ‘proactive’ IP Video Management System (VMS), as part of a longer-term migration to a full IP-based surveillance operation. This option can provide signifi cant savings on security and operational expenditure by not only eliminating the need to replace analogue equipment immediately, but also by substantially enhancing its performance.

These centrally managed VMS systems can improve the performance of analogue cameras by adding new func-tionality that is typically considered the preserve of an all IP infrastructure, such as automatic camera tampering detection, video motion detection and video analytics including intrusion detection and crowd management. Meanwhile video storage and associated costs (space, power etc.) can be optimised, reducing the number of servers required – typically 100 cameras per server. All of these benefi ts translate to immediate OPEX and CAPEX savings and lowers the total cost of ownership.

For most surveillance operations the benefi ts of an all IP infrastructure is the ultimate goal. However, because of its maturity, proven performance and legacy investment, analogue continues to have a long and fruitful future. The speed of change is unlikely to happen in the time frame that many in the industry may have predicted fi ve or more years ago. The transition will (and should) be done gradually, cost effectively and to the organisations own schedule, and not external pressures and with a robust VMS system you actually get the best of both worlds right now.

For more information contact NICE Systems, +44 1489 771 200, [email protected], www.nice.com.

By Jamie Wilson, security marketing manager

(EMEA) at NICE Systems.

Are you maximising your analogue

assets?

ANALOGUE STILL DELIVERS VALUE



http://www.nice.com


http://www.elvey.co.za

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


IP/ANALOGUE

The evolution to Internet pro-tocol (IP) based networked cameras and video solutions for security surveillance and remote monitoring offers a

number of benefi ts, not least the ability to integrate with existing systems, like access control and building management systems (BMS). In combination, these systems offer exponentially more ben-efi ts, but putting it all together smartly requires some expertise and forethought.

An integrated IP based and net-worked surveillance solution allows for, among others, remote access and enhanced event management, adds fl exibility, scalability and cost effective-ness. While you want to be sure to do a thorough job of the integration and networking, the intelligence that is built into the system is key.

Smarts needed

It is important to understand current and potential future organisational needs. Depending on the size and type of busi-ness – retail, transport, corporate offi ce building – different specialised surveil-lance options may be required. A sophis-ticated system with incident triggered responses may work for one organisa-tion while another simply wants intrusion detection; an organisation with lots of cameras may want a hosted video moni-toring and recording service with video analytics, while another would want a stand-alone system. Whatever the requirement, when integrated with other systems, say access control, capabilities will be considerably enhanced.

For example, a camera in a specifi c area can be confi gured to start recording on a certain event such as the tempera-ture in a data centre exceeding a thresh-old, someone entering a high risk area, or a fi re alarm being set off.

Hybrid systems

Because it makes economic sense – IP cameras remain expensive – many organisations are choosing to migrate to a networked solution, making use of hybrid systems to maximise their invest-ment in existing analogue cameras.

Transitioning to an IP-based net-worked system requires the use of a video encoder or server to digitise images and make them available on

the IP network. This means they can be accessed via a PCs or other device with a Web browser in real-time. Digital images, which are infi nitely more search-able than those stored on a digital video recording (DVR), can be saved on the device or on the network.

As organisations expand their sur-veillance system, they typically acquire IP-based cameras. These can easily be added to the network and come with the advantage of being able to be moved around easily as needs change, and use Power over Ethernet (PoE) – i.e., they can be powered by the same network on which they send and receive data, lowering costs.

Another issue is security – as with any IP network, data transmission from security cameras must be secured. They are vulnerable if a public system rather than a private LAN is used. A hosted solution may be the answer.

Integration

A single supplier that can do the design, confi guration, installation, integration, hosted monitoring and storage would be ideal. Find a service provider who has insight into not just security solutions but enterprise systems.

A big driver at present is integration of lighting and access control systems into building managements systems to lower energy use. The control of these systems is consequently becoming more centra-lised. Surveillance systems are increas-ingly being leveraged within these sys-tems to add value in addition to fulfi lling a safety, risk management and security function. Knowing how these systems can be used means you can confi gure them to deliver maximum benefi ts.

And of course there are other benefi ts to a single provider. By making use of a single provider for network and server infrastructure, telephony, security and facility management systems, for exam-ple, installations are easier and more cost effective, troubleshooting is simpli-fi ed, networks are rationalised and their use is intelligently prioritised and maxi-mised. However, there are few providers out there with this breadth of knowledge or service capacity.

For more information contact Jasco, +27 (0)11 266 1500, [email protected], www.jasco.co.za

By Johan Roux, technology manager at

Jasco Security Solutions.

Look for end-to-end integration for

best value.

CONSIDERING IP?Johan Roux.




http://www.boschsecurity.co.za

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


IP/ANALOGUE

If you are the MD of a company who is about to upgrade or install a new CCTV surveillance system, you are probably

going to be faced with some tricky decisions on how you are going to approach the sub-ject. The three main questions you will need to ask yourself are:1) Will I just upgrade my analogue cameras

for new analogue cameras?2) Will I use a mixture of my existing equip-

ment with new IP camera technology, i.e. a hybrid CCTV system?

3) Will I go for the latest IP megapixel camera solutions with a VMS recording platform?The problem is there is no clear answer

on this. Option 1 will almost certainly work out the cheapest at the point of installation and the results you will be able to achieve will mirror those of any previous analogue system you have used. The cameras and DVR may well have more features but overall system performance is going to be the same.

Option 2 will give you a halfway house solution. Hybrid systems combine analogue

and IP cameras with the potential to record on either a DVR or an NVR, but you will have to convert the cameras to either analogue or IP at the point of recording. For the time being, they provide a convenient bridge between the two technologies.

Finally, Option 3. This will mean a com-mitment to the future, but one that is still evolving. With megapixel cameras you really need to consider your companies network capabilities to ensure the frame rate and picture quality are maximised. It is inevitable that IP products will be the dominant force in the CCTV market place in fi ve years. By then products will fall in price sharply and the options and ranges of the camera and recording products will be wide ranging.

The decision is defi nitely not easy, proper advice should be sought to ensure that a supplier with an installation preference does not force you down the wrong route.

For more information contact Secure Group, +27 (0)12 667 2323, [email protected], www.secure.co.za.

By Quintin Marais, Secure Group.

Which decision is the right

one for your business?

HYBRID, ANALOGUE OR IP?



http://www.secure.co.za

http://www.dahuatech.com


http://www.ifsecsa.com

http://[email protected]


CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


Q&A: LOW-COST OPTIONS

IP cameras have the reputation of being much more expensive than analogue, especially when it comes to low-end projects requiring around 20 cameras or less. Depending on whom you

choose to talk to, that number may be higher or lower.

Recently a number of companies have launched low-cost IP cameras into the market aimed at dealing with this low-end market. While the cameras may be cheaper than previous offerings, a surveillance solution consists of more than just the cameras and there are arguments that a full IP-based low-end solution would still not compare favour-ably with analogue systems.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions asked a few industry players about their low-end IP systems and how they intend to take them to market. The people we spoke to (and who responded in time for inclusion in the article) were Johan Crause from IPSS (IP Security Solutions), Anthony Rosenbaum from XtraVision, Bertus van Jaarsveld from Miro and Michael Howard from Bosch.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Tell us about your low-end, low-cost IP cameras.

Johan Crause, IPSS: We have a range called i-Mege that consists of a 1,3 MP bullet, 1,3 MP internal dome and 1,3 MP pro-fessional box camera. All these cameras are very aggressively priced and also offer an ONVIF compliant backbone that IP cameras subscribe to.

LOW-COST IP OPTIONS By Andrew Seldon.

Low-end systems do not

always mean low quality.

Johan Crause. Anthony Rosenbaum, XtraVision: Firstly, I believe that it is important to clarify the term “low-cost IP alternatives”. As we know, IP cameras are certainly far more expen-sive than analogue cameras in general and to categorise IP cameras as low cost, at this stage of the growth and development of the market is perhaps a bit misleading. Like most markets, as the market grows and more products are launched, so pricing begins to drop.

Cs Lilin’s range of IP cameras have been launched at prices, which in comparison to some of the major, established IP camera brands on the market, appears to be quite a lot lower than those existing brands. With the IP camera market starting to gain momentum worldwide and with more and more new brands being released, the strat-egy appears to be a move to gain market share by introducing ‘low cost alternatives’ to offer the general market.

The Cs Lilin range of IP cameras also includes switch units, PoE injectors and splitters. The range of Cs Lilin analogue cameras have always been of a very good quality and in the mid price-range of the market. The range of Cs Lilin IP cameras is merely an extension of their analogue range of cameras. As a matter of interest Cs Lilin was the fi rst manufacturer of IP cameras to be ONVIF conformant, (Reference: Andreas Schneider of Sony Corporation and Chairman of ONVIF’s Technical Services Committee). The range of Cs Lilin IP cameras includes various high-defi nition (HD) models, CMOS megapixel cameras, Full D1 cameras and hemispheric cameras. Cs Lilin has also released a range of new IP HD camera kits to the market to bring the benefi ts of HD quality and IP connectivity to customers whose budgets would have limited them to basic analogue solutions previously.

ACTi, in comparison to Cs Lilin is a relatively new player in the CCTV market and in particular in the IP camera market. ACTi only manufacture IP cameras. From the outset, ACTi’s strategy has been to offer an affordable IP camera with very good features, to take on the established IP camera brands. One of the reasons why XtraVision is distributing ACTi IP cameras is because as we are the authorised distributor of the range of Xtralis (Adpro) products and the new Adpro Fast Trace 2 hybrid remote access DVR. ACTi was one of the fi rst IP camera manufacturers who were selected by Xtralis to have their protocols supported by the Adpro Hybrid products. ACTi also

offer a wide range of IP camera models with many features either matching or surpassing established IP camera brands, however the ACTi pricing comes in at lower than most of these established IP camera brands.

In conclusion, my opinion regarding low cost alternatives is that at this stage of the growth of the IP camera market, it would be diffi cult to start labelling IP cameras as “low cost alternatives” as pricing will continue to drop as the market grows. What is suppos-edly now regarded as ‘low cost alternatives’ may be superseded by even lower pricing.

Bertus van Jaarsveld, Miro: Miro offers two ranges of low-cost IP cameras:Vivotek has a number of low-cost cam-eras that are lower in price but not really low end. There are fi xed indoor cameras, outdoor bullet cameras, indoor mini dome cameras and a video server. Interestingly, you will see that Vivotek did not skimp on image quality or codecs supported, but rather removed advanced features such as DI/DO to lower the cost.

Ubiquiti has a very interesting range of entry level IP Cameras – called Aircam. Ubiquity is very popular as a wireless connectivity solution and recently entered the IP camera market. Its cameras are low cost, low-end refl ected in their price. Resolutions are similar to CCTV, but they integrate nicely with their wireless products and have a great management system.

Michael Howard, Bosch Security Systems SA: Advantage Line IP 200 series from Bosch delivers high performance in a cost effective ready to use offering. Complete network video surveillance systems inclusive of video recording and storage in a fi xed-body dome or bullet hous-ing are ideal for retail, hospitality and small offi ces and business.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Why move into this market space now? Is the high-end saturated?

Johan Crause: I certainly would not call it saturated. We have experienced a very turbulent time with the global economy and I believe that the market is dictating a need for options. Apart from technology becom-ing more cost effective, which occurs with most electronic components, the client’s needs are very diverse and the ability to offer a basket of product makes it easier to ascertain their needs and fulfi l them. I think the more high-end propositions have



also become aware of these needs and subsequently also launched ‘stripped down’ versions of their brands.

Anthony Rosenbaum: Our movement into this market sector is, as men-tioned above, a natural progression for XtraVision and not so much as an entry into the low-cost end of the market. The pricing of both Cs Lilin and ACTi IP cameras are favourable in compari-son to some of the established major IP camera brands that have dominated the IP camera market, even with high priced camera models. However, they too have to compete against the ever-growing number of IP camera manufacturers and one area that always seems to be tar-geted is pricing. I also believe that the high-end is not necessarily saturated, it is more a case of with all the new IP cameras becoming available, the once expensive IP camera has to enter the real-life market place where pricing is a major issue.

Bertus van Jaarsveld: Not at all. In fact, we are seeing growth to even higher spec cameras, like 36-times zoom speed domes etc. The challenge in IP video has always been to move installers and customers from CCTV to IP without the major cost increase. Yes, people are interested in the extra features of IP, but not at the increase in cost. We believe this will open new avenues for IP video to compete with traditional CCTV.

Michael Howard: Bosch Security is well known in the market for its high-end solu-tions and is a symbol of quality and reliabil-ity. Bosch traditionally has not focused on the lower-end and sees opportunity for a

well-positioned set of solutions that provide simplicity of installation, superior quality, not at a low cost, but at a competitive cost when viewed against the overall offering. Optimised logistics services suitable for a true distribution model brings further sav-ings in terms of cost.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Low cost usually means low quality. Is it viable to launch a low-cost camera range into the market? How will you be marketing/selling these products?

Johan Crause: A Toyota is a low cost vehicle when you compare it to a Porsche and I think perspective needs to prevail. We are in the market of providing solutions on all levels – a low-cost range might not adhere to 3-year warranties, but it certainly does not mean it is cheap and nasty. The cost is by no means cheap if you compare it to analogue cameras. The comparison is made with other network cameras and it makes sense that technology in this arena is becoming more cost effective, but we are still a long way away from becoming the bottom-of-the-barrel type environment that most technologies that have reached maturity are exposed to.

Anthony Rosenbaum: I do not neces-sary agree with the view in terms of the IP camera market that low cost usually means low quality. As I explained previ-ously, the IP camera market is a rapidly growing market and therefore market share is a key factor and pricing too has to be realigned. Until the IP camera market develops into a more sustainable market, taking over the analogue camera market completely, I believe that we will see low-

cost alternatives continually entering the market until the market itself will determine which IP camera brands are low cost and low quality. Unfortunately there will always be low quality products offered in the market, however if the distributors and the customers/trade themselves have not learnt the lesson in this regard from the analogue camera market, they never will.

Bertus van Jaarsveld: The products will be sold and supported through our existing channels and service centres. The products are differentiated enough to not encroach on traditional revenue streams. Vivotek devel-ops its own chips which enables it to offer these lower-cost IP cameras without com-promising on quality. Ubiquiti Aircam is also a high-quality product, the quality downside is only in terms of image resolution.

Anthony Rosenbaum.

http://www.mantech.co.za

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


Michael Howard: Low cost does not mean cheap, but rather well priced when compared with the quality, features and availability.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: A surveillance system is more than the camera. Will your systems not lose the ‘low-cost’ tag when including recording hardware and management software?

Johan Crause: Once again the perspective is in the eye of the beholder. Cost effective doesn’t mean cheap, it simply means it is creating a bouquet of product choices. The fact remains that storage remains expen-sive and it will continue to become more expensive the more cameras advance. The reality is that manufacturers will not stop at producing 1,3 MP cameras and it may well be that a 10 MP camera is the install standard in 3-years. We can’t predict this but we also can try to reduce the cost where possible.

Anthony Rosenbaum: I personally do not believe so as some of the manufacturers are offering NVR software at no cost. Cs Lilin for example offers their CMX software up to 36 Channels at no cost.

Bertus van Jaarsveld: The Vivotek low-cost cameras ship with the same 32-chan-nel recording software that is included with all Vivotek cameras – this is a pretty comprehensive software solution capable of handling recording and playback in most installations – all you need to add is a PC. Ubiquity also offers a bundled software solution to remotely manage and confi g-ure the cameras as well as recording and playback; it is an advanced software suite offering powerful analytics.

Michael Howard: Bosch Security grows its Advantage Line portfolio bringing better

value at a better price. We do not intend to compete with ‘cheap’ offerings in the market.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Are you not concerned that the bakkie brigade will damage your reputation with poor installation?

Johan Crause: Any installer attempt-ing to install an IP capable system would be advised to attend training and have a healthy combination of experience in IP and security to fulfi l the need of the end user. The installer with no experience will ultimately lose the job thus the imperative remains to keep up to date with technology. The truth of the matter is that IP is not going to go away, but probably replace the secu-rity landscape as we know it.

Anthony Rosenbaum: Yes, we are most defi nitely. Many of the bakkie brigade sector have already tarnished the industry with poor installations, product selection and support, and maintenance. The IP camera market is a totally different challenge. To be able to operate in the IP camera market the trade needs to have a very good knowledge of IT networks and IT in general. Designing an IP camera system is very different to designing an analogue camera system. Understanding of bandwidth is also a key factor. If one analyses the current bakkie brigade sector of the market you will fi nd many inexperienced and fl y-by-night types in this sector and if they cannot install basic analogue systems, how does anyone expect them to be able to design, select and install an IP camera system. Training is a key element of making progress and this is what we have embarked on.

Bertus van Jaarsveld: The challenges are no different to what we are facing now, only the volumes may increase. Solutions are also the same – sales support, tech support and training.

Michael Howard: Bosch Security will be the fi rst manufacturer to launch an interna-tional help line which can be accessed by the installer in the fi eld for technical support. Product and service should be differentiated. Good product needs good services to support the solution and Bosch will be providing all the tools needed for an installer to be successful.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Why should customers choose your products over other existing low-cost options?

Johan Crause, IPSS: Regal has had a repu-tation of offering competitive, well-balanced

products that are built to last. IPSS as a division thereof will maintain the standard of excellence created by our holding company. We are in the business of making sure that we can deliver on our promise and we have many customers that can testify to this. We would encourage customers purchasing from us as we are a brand that they have become accustomed to and a brand they can trust. Rigorous testing is done to assure that this product is offered with the trust that accom-panies all our products over the years.

Anthony Rosenbaum: The proof is in the pudding. Cs Lilin has been around for over 30 years now and the fact that Xtralis/Adpro have selected the ACTi range of IP cameras to be one of the fi rst IP ranges to be supported by the Fast Trace 2 hybrid remote access DVR is why I believe that customers should choose our products over other low-cost options.

Bertus van Jaarsveld: Vivotek cameras are from one of the leaders in IP video, no compromise on image quality, H.264 codecs, same bundled software as the rest of the range. You will get the same support, warranty services etc, not much more that the price changes.Ubiquiti cameras set a new price point in the market – unbeatable value. Bundled with one of the easiest and most powerful software suites available from any other IP video vendor and the seamless integration with Ubiquiti Wireless products – makes it very attractive as an alternative to CCTV (especially wireless applications).

Michael Howard: Simplicity combined with quality product and services to support it, provides the best value equation, rather than just price as the single determining factor. Cost benefi t and return on invest-ment must be considered before rushing into a cheap solution.

Bertus van Jaarsveld. Michael Howard.

Q&A: LOW-COST OPTIONS


http://www.adt.co.za

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


Axis Communications has launched an entry-level IP video solution for small installations. Consisting of

a free software client and Axis network cameras or video encoders with SD card support, the solution is designed for sys-tems from one to 16 cameras. It is ideal for retail stores, offi ces, hotels or other small businesses that need easy-to-use and future-proof video surveillance with HDTV quality.

“While network video is increasingly replacing analogue technology in larger installations, smaller video systems still rely heavily on analogue cameras and DVRs,” says Roy Alves, country general manager, Axis Communication. “With our new solu-tion, we address a segment of the market that has previously not had easy access to IP video. Since AXIS Camera Companion records all video in the cameras or encoders, the solution becomes very simple, reliable and cost-effective. Now even small business owners can enjoy the benefi ts of network video, such as excellent HDTV image qual-ity, remote access to video and scalability,” he adds.

The new solution allows small business owners to use HDTV network cameras to help them clearly identify intruders, shop-lifters and other incidents. Video can be viewed live and recordings played back from anywhere – on-site or remotely over the Internet. The system supports motion detection and pan/tilt/zoom control. Video clips and snapshots can be easily exported to colleagues and authorities, and the

A CAMERA COMPANION

An entry-level IP solution for

easy-to-use video surveillance. system supports third-party apps for view-ing live and recorded video on leading smartphones and tablets, such as iPhone, iPad and Android.

Unlike analogue surveillance instal-lations, AXIS Camera Companion does not require a central recording device – a digital video recorder (DVR), network video recorder (NVR), or even a computer. The cameras are powered over the network, eliminating the need for separate power cables. All images are recorded onto a standard SD memory card in each camera, and even if a network fails, the cameras keep recording. This reduces cost, simpli-fi es installation, and makes the system more robust as there is no single point of failure.

The solution consists of three parts: Standard Axis network cameras or video encoders with edge storage support for recording onto SD cards; a free software client and third party mobile apps used for viewing live and recorded video; and standard third-party network equipment such as routers, switches, SD cards and NAS devices. Existing analogue cameras can be integrated via video encoders.

A majority of Axis network cameras and video encoders with fi rmware 5.40 or later support AXIS Camera Companion. For a complete list of the supported products, please see: http://www.axis.com/products/cam_companion_software/supported.htm

For more information contact Axis Communications, +27 (0)11 548 6780, [email protected], www.axis.com


http://www.axis.com


http://www.axis.com/products/cam_companion_software/supported.htm


Infrared and white-light LED lighting tech-nology from Raytec has been deployed at various industrial sites and training

institutions in Pakistan as part of a land-mark perimeter security upgrade.

The lighting schemes were designed and managed by Pakistani integrated secu-rity solutions provider Technology Windows Enterprises, Rawalpindi. A large number of RAYMAX Infrared and RAYLUX white-light LED illuminators were installed at the security perimeter, to improve the quality and effectiveness of CCTV surveillance at the sites.

The infrared illuminators now enable the CCTV systems to produce the highest quality monochrome images at night, at a long range of up to 200 m+ with zero light pollution. Used in conjunction with the IR, the white-light illuminators are connected to external triggers to provide a visible deter-rent to potential intruders.

“The sites were suffering from poor CCTV images,” explains Aleem Siddiqui, CEO of Technology Windows. “The images were very good during daylight, but were not as sharp or clear as they needed to be at night. Without good light the effective-ness of CCTV is signifi cantly compromised, giving advantage to potential attackers.”

As well as delivering better images, the savings offered by Raytec was also a very important factor for the customer. The extremely low power consumption of the Raytec LED illuminators deliver signifi cant energy and running cost savings compared to traditional lighting.

It wasn’t just a question of energy

Raytec LED lighting secures

Pakistani industrial sites.

LIGHTING INDUSTRY

effi ciency, which is very important given the ever-rising electricity tariffs in Pakistan, but the further savings due to the high performance, long life (minimum of ten years) and zero maintenance nature of the LED illuminators. “Infrastructure costs of installing and maintaining systems using old lighting technology are often high. Having fewer, longer life, high quality lights which illuminated the area very effi ciently, proved much more attractive to the customer, rather than installing a greater number of cheaper, shorter life units that didn’t work as well, and had high maintenance and replacement costs.”

Three alternative lighting ranges from different manufacturers were tested and compared at the start of the project – including Raytec. In these trials the Raytec products were found to be signifi cantly more effective than competitors. “The deci-sion to install Raytec illuminators was taken after a thorough cost/benefi t analysis,” explains Aleem Siddiqui. “It demonstrated that investing in higher quality technology at the beginning would soon deliver signifi cant savings in energy, running costs and main-tenance – the customer was not interested in false economies.”

Following the success of the installation, Technology Windows Enterprises is expect-ing more Raytec CCTV lighting upgrades to follow in the region. These include a number multi-kilometre perimeter projects which will benefi t from the long range illumi-nation offered by Raytec lighting.

For more information contact Geutebrück, +27(0)11 867 6585, [email protected], www.geutebrueck.com.

LIGHTING




http://www.cardcontrylsystems.co.za

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


HIGH-DEFINITION

Even basic digital cameras provide more defi nition than the images from CCTV camera

systems that are commonly used to identify terrorists. A simple comparison between digital and older technology clearly highlights the difference in image detail: the simplest of digital cameras stores images of around 3 million pixels (3 megapixels); in comparison, the classic video technology is restricted to 1/30 the pixels (101 000 pixels or 0.1 megapixels). Even the most inexperienced amateur photographer would not buy such a low-resolution camera these days. Despite these facts, this kind of security camera system is still being specifi ed and deployed in a large number of public safety applications.

The poor quality of the images used in these public safety applications is not, as one would imagine, a result of the currently available technology, but rather the systems specifi ed as the systems of choice. These, in turn, are based on television technol-ogy more than 50 years old, using video cameras that deliver live images with a maximum of 0.4 megapixels. Due to technical and cost constraints of these systems, the images are further reduced by a factor of 4:1 to just 0.1

ADVANTAGES OF HIGH-RESOLUTION IP CAMERAS

Mobotix presents the case for use of high-

resolution digital surveillance systems.

megapixels, making facial recog-nition almost impossible.

Issues: 0.4 megapixels

So why do we not store the original image in 0.4 mega pixels? There are video systems that can store images at 0.4 megapixels, however, these are expensive and do not give the user suffi -ciently more detail. TV technology standard – the video stream is broadcast in half frames, and as the name suggests these have only half the detail. The electronic fi tting together, or interlacing, of these half frames when viewing or recording moving objects, which is the most important aspect of security surveillance, causes combing distortion (blurred edges) in the image.

The image delivered by a video camera has 576 lines made up of two half frames, each with 288 lines, which are, exposed consecutively one after the other and then transmitted. Because of the technical and fi nancial considerations mentioned ear-lier, most of the systems in use today are digitising and storing on a half frame basis. In context with the width to height ratio, 352 horizontal pixels are digitised for each of the 288 lines resulting in a so-called CIF image with 352 x 288 = 101 000 pixels, which is equivalent to 0.1 megapixels.

The 2CIF image format also uses only 288 lines but combines them with double the amount of pixels per line, giving us around 0.2 megapixels. Despite the increase in pixels per line, a considerable amount of important information is still missing from the image because every second line within each image is simply ignored, leaving us with what is accurately described as a half frame or half image.

Made up of two interlaced consecutive half images, a 4CIF format has indeed 704 x 576 = 0.4 megapixels but every

second line is staggered or deferred because the half frames are exposed at different times. Because of this so-called combing effect, 4CIF recording is hardly ever used in actual systems. For example, at the World Cup stadi-ums only CIF, or in some cases 2CIF, half frames were recorded.

Snapshots unreliable in facial recognition

An additional problem with existing video technology lies in the low refresh rate of recorded images during playback. Again, because of technical and cost factors, 95% of existing systems cannot achieve more than 1-3 frames per second. With such a low refresh rate of snapshots, it becomes very diffi cult to fi nd an image with enough detail for facial recognition.

This low playback rate is the result of one single computer having to digitise and store video feed from multiple cam-eras. The computing power for full video is generally only suffi -cient for two cameras; therefore, when recording more cameras the frame rate has to be drasti-cally reduced.

Because of this limited pro-cessing power, MPEG4 also cannot be implemented for the recording of high-resolution video. The processing power is just not available for multiple cameras.

Why don’t the traditional surveillance camera manufactur-ers simply use high-resolution sensors in their video cameras? The clear, but far from comfort-ing answer is that the standard the systems are based on for the transmission and record-ing of images is 50 years old and it is technically impossible for the video cable to process such high-resolution images. Understandably, the video sur-veillance industry is reluctant to change; however, to protect the public, change is inevitable.



The digital difference: IP cameras

New digital technologies also present oppor-tunities for innovative manufacturers to offer new solutions. In the last few years, there has been an emphasis on developing megapixel technology and transmitting video streams via modern computer networks, LAN, WAN, WLAN or over the Internet. In order to achieve this, a high-performance processor with extensive software package for processing, compressing, recording and storage of the image sequences was developed and inte-grated into the video camera itself.

One of the great advantages of modern network camera technology is the ability to manage all confi gurations and to access live and stored images simultaneously while the camera is recording, remotely over the network, anytime, from anywhere in the world. These camera installations will be linked on the existing company network or even the Internet via a secured connection (VPN) and fi rewall.

In this way, any incident or suspicious behaviour in a train station, airport or any other public place can be immediately investigated by retrieving the images to the control centre via the network without the necessity of having someone on site or

having to stop the recording and live view-ing. New or improved software for further functionality can simply be loaded into the camera through the network.

The use of worldwide IT standards makes it possible to integrate inexpensive system components: whether over copper, glass or wireless via WLAN. A power outlet is not necessary as cameras do not require heating to prevent misting and as a result can be supplied with power via the network cable all year round.

A direct comparison

A comparison of a CIF image with 288 lines and a camera image with 960 lines dramati-cally highlights the difference in quality and detail. Megapixel imaging shows 12 times more detailed resolution, so that a face taking up only 1/40th of the image width is still clearly recognisable. With the appropri-ate post editing, the image quality can be further improved. In comparison, the image extracted from the CIF image is unrecognis-able and therefore unusable.

Many IP cameras or network cameras are still using the old analogue technology internally and merely transmit a digitised image via a computer network. Although it

is hard to believe, most IP camera systems are only storing CIF half frames!

Switching from MPEG4 TO MXPEG

The video standard MPEG4 was developed for compressing a single video stream (e.g. movie) and not for the compression, manage-ment and viewing of multiple high-resolution cameras. MPEG4 transmits moving objects at lower resolution and quality because the human eye does not take in all the detail of a moving object; therefore, it makes no differ-ence when watching a movie. For this very reason, MPEG4 is not suitable for security systems because in a security situation, it is these moving objects that are of great impor-tance and must be therefore highly detailed.

To handle the needs of security video, the video standard MxPEG, requiring around only 2 Mbps for a high-resolution video stream and exhibiting a shorter reaction time than MPEG4 is ideal. The MxPEG standard is currently being implemented and supported by manu-facturers and developers worldwide.

For more information contact IAC, +27 (0)12 657 3600, [email protected], www.iaconline.co.za



http://www.iaconline.co.za


http://www.cctvinfocus.co.za

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


FIREHIGH-DEFINITION

High-defi nition (HD) cam-eras are the best suited for today’s video surveil-

lance needs. That said, we must remember that all HD cameras are megapixel (MP), but not all mega-pixel cameras are HD. The biggest difference between a megapixel camera and the high-defi nition cameras is that HD images use the 16:9 widescreen aspect ratio and megapixel produces images in a 4:3 aspect ratio.

HDTV provides a higher resolution and higher resolution translates into more detail, which in turn leads to better possibilities for identifi cation. In addition, a true HDTV network camera provides full frame rate and extended colour fi delity, for an even better viewing experience.

To reiterate, all HD cameras are megapixel, but not all mega-pixel cameras are HD, and good

quality, easy installation, and ease of use will set HD apart from standard analogue and MP systems.

Benefits of HD cameras in different sectors

RetailIn retail, theft and shrinkage can be drastically reduced through effective video surveillance. HDTV network cameras have an impor-tant role to play, for example by giving an overview – without any blind spots – of shops and stores.

City surveillanceHDTV network cameras are typically used in city surveillance situations to provide high-resolution video streams from locations where there is a need to be able to clearly identify people and objects, or get a larger overview.

High security premisesCasinos and airports, together with passport controls, banks and similar high security premises, are areas where the requirements on the surveillance cameras often include high image quality and detail as well as full frame rate, making HDTV network cameras the natural choice.

TransportationSecurity and safety for both passen-gers and staff are highly prioritised issues for public transportation authorities around the world. HDTV cameras at stations, terminals and airports as well as onboard buses and trains, provide valid evidence in the event of criminal incidents.


Roy Alves, country general manager, Axis Communications.

HIGH-DEFINITION VS. MEGAPIXEL

Which is best

suited to today’s

surveillance

needs?

Roy Alves


http://www.axis.com







The Panomera multi-focal sensor system from Dallmeier is making a big splash. Yet the company that manufactures it is

deliberately not calling it a camera but a multifocal sensor system. And even though it talks in terms of many megapixels, Dallmeier insists that the number of megapixels is fundamentally not the decisive element. Dr. Martin Theis, product manager at Dallmeier expands.

What is so innovative about the Panomera system?

Theis: With the Panomera multi-focal sensor system, a huge area can be surveyed from a single location extremely effi ciently. The most impres-sive aspect of the product is that it combines the overall view with simul-taneous top detail resolution: Even more distant objects are displayed with the same resolution as objects in the foreground of the picture.In principle, it is exactly what the user wants from a video surveillance camera. The entire area observed by the camera should be displayed in uniformly high quality. But anyone who has ever zoomed in on an image will notice a marked difference: While objects in the foreground are certainly displayed with suffi cient resolution, when the user attempts to enlarge objects from the background, they

“Resolution, not the sensor pixel, is

the bottom line!”

EXPLAINING PANOMERADr Martin Theis. appear as so many ill-defi ned blocks.

Let us consider an example taken from real life. Look at the image of a large car park outside a shopping centre. The number plates of the cars in the front rows are still legible, but in the back rows the image loses defi ni-tion when it is enlarged and it is no longer possible to make out the letters. This is why when we developed the Panomera; one of our objectives was to ensure that the resolution never fell below the specifi ed parameters, not even in the most distant areas of the image.

How is this high resolution possible?

Theis: We are using a completely new lens and sensor concept. In conven-tional cameras, the pixels are used uniformly within the sensor, that is to say, the available megapixels are distributed evenly throughout the entire image. But the actual scene is not two-dimensional like the sensor, it is three-dimensional – and the expanse of the lateral and depth perspectives becomes progressively larger the farther back you go. Now if the pixels are distributed evenly on the camera sensor, this means that the same number of pixels is available for cap-turing a much larger area than in the foreground of the image. And logically, as a result more distant objects cannot be resolved any more when you zoom in.


CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


FIREHIGH-DEFINITION

With Panomera, we can guarantee uni-form resolution over the entire object space. We do not use just a single optical device, but a multifocal sensor system, meaning several lenses with different focal lengths. In this way, we ‘slice up’ the scene so that each area has the optimum focal length assigned to it.

Couldn’t you also achieve this effect by using several HD cameras in conjunction with each other?

Theis: In order to obtain comparable resolu-tion, you would have to stretch material resources to the limit. And apart from that, as the user you would have to divide your atten-tion among that many more single images. Multiple distributed HD cameras would certainly not enable you to work as effi ciently and ergonomically as a single integrated

system. In developing the Panomera, we invested a tremendous amount of expertise and years of experience in the fi eld of video security technology in order to make this possible. You will not fi nd a comparable system on the market today.

What is your position in the debate regarding the constant increase in numbers of megapixels?

Theis: In general, you can ignore the discussions about numbers of megapixels and the resulting rivalry among manufactur-ers to increase megapixel resolutions. We began developing the Panomera using an entirely different approach. What exactly does the customer want? In theory, the cus-tomer is not particularly concerned whether a camera has 12 or 21 megapixels.

The key question for the end user is how clearly and sharply the object he wants to see will be displayed. So we turned our thinking upside down. We did not want to increase the number of pixels on the sensor

just so that we could stay abreast of the market in terms of megapixel numbers. The bottom line for us was the surveillance task the device was intended to perform: How do we create a system that is capable of showing more distant objects at the same high resolution and with good contrast?

Instead of the number of sensor pixels, we use the resolution in pixels per metre as the basis for our measurements. Strictly speaking, the correct terminology should even be line pairs per metre.

A line pair consists of one black bar and one white bar. If you move across a line pair transversely, the brightness switches from zero to one. This switch from bright to dark (modulation) loses contrast due to the optics, the sensor, the electronics, etc., until the two bars, which were originally quite distinct become grey-in-grey as the line density increases. Anyone who has han-dled cameras seriously is familiar with the

bar charts on which you look for the point where two bars become indistinguishable.

This limit value, line pairs per metre, shows precisely how many black and white bars an observed object can be divided into. And this number in turn can be compared with the limit values for ‘observation’, ‘rec-ognition’ and ‘identifi cation’ that the military and police security experts work with. So the question is not how many pixels you have, but how the object appears in the image.

Dallmeier is still advertising high megapixel counts as a selling point.

Theis: Yes, that is true. The end customer is faced with an enormous variety of dif-ferent HD and megapixel cameras, and of course, he wants to be able to compare them with each other. So we too provide megapixel and resolution comparisons with conventional cameras, so that prospec-tive buyers have common points of refer-ence and comparison. For example, if we

can recognise individuals at a distance of 160 metres, which is quite possible with Panomera, with a conventional design we would have to be considering a 200 megapixel camera or even more in order to obtain the same resolution! Comparisons of this kind are helpful for the customer, although I would like to emphasise again that Panomera is not just a new super-megapixel camera, it is based on an entirely new technology.

Another advantage of the Panomera is that it continuously records the overall image. Is that not standard practice?

Theis: Unfortunately it isn’t. Of course, fi xed dome or box cameras always record the whole of the area they are surveying. But these cameras are not equipped with an optical zoom, so they are not suitable for monitoring expansive areas, or at least only as overview cameras. This is why many PTZ cameras are being used at the moment. These can be used to zoom and move within the scenes. But at the same time PTZ cam-eras have a defi nite disadvantage: They can only ever record the area that the operator is currently watching live.

Let’s revisit the example of our car park: If the operator is currently zooming in on the front left portion of the image, only this area is being recorded. So if an incident were to take place at a different location at the same time, it would not be possible to review it afterwards. With Panomera, on the other hand, the entire scene is recorded continuously and in maximum detail resolu-tion – regardless of which area the operator is viewing live. This makes it possible to analyse incidents after they have occurred.

What plans do you have for Panomera in the future?

Theis: We are in the process of completing project studies for a large number of cus-tomer enquiries. Because Panomera is not a mass-produced ‘off-the-rack’ solution for all requirements. We perform the necessary project studies in advance to ensure that the multifocal sensor system is customised and the resolution required by the customer is achieved.Our fi rst projects have already been put into operation, because many customers have realised how cost-effi cient the system is compared with conventional equipment. I’m sure that we will be putting many more such projects into operation in the near future.

For more information contact Dallmeier Electronic, +49 941 8700 0, [email protected], www.dallmeier.com


http://www.dallmeier.com




Control rooms are often taken for granted. While attention is given to cameras and other security tech-

nologies, as well as installation issues and, as always, costs, the design of the control room is often an afterthought. When one considers that the operators working long hours in the control room are modern-day guards, it would make sense to ensure their working area was comfortable enough to motivate them and empower them to do a good job.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions spoke to Penny Bond from ProGroup to fi nd out more about the hidden art of control room design.

COMFORT AND PRODUCTIVITY By Andrew Seldon.

so there is free rein insofar as fi nishes, lighting, graphics etc. The room can be made as “nice” as the space and budget allows. A lot of control rooms, particularly in secure venues have rest rooms with easy seating and TV sets etc, while others have a kitchen area for simple meals during the shifts. This is so that there is no need to leave the premises during the shift. We try to make our consoles as attractive as we can, with laser cut stainless steel decorative panels, PVC bullnose edging, appropriate lighting, pleasant colour schemes etc.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Do companies put in the effort to create functional, but comfortable and healthy control rooms?

Penny Bond, ProGroup: The bigger enterprises, such as banks, VIP protection unit, big mining companies do. Smaller companies often just want the least costly option. Available budget has pretty much everything to do with it.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: What are the key features to consider when designing/building a control room?

Penny Bond, ProGroup: Exactly what the control room is intended to control. They need to identify the equipment to be used, and based on that, the staff complement. Then select the area to be used. It’s sur-prising how many companies choose a tiny dark back room with limited access and want to convert it to a control room with six operators and a supervisor. Particularly in control rooms, it is important to have an area that is light, comfortable and well ven-tilated. Many control and security person-nel work a 12-hour shift. The ergonomics of the design is essential – desktop height, screen distance etc.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Is it possible to make a control room a ‘nice’ place to work?

Penny Bond, ProGroup: Absolutely. The workability of the room is largely hidden,

Q&A: CONTROL ROOMS

http://www.ipsecuritysolutions.co.za

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


Q&A: MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

Just as you thought you had a handle on the complexities of managing a surveillance installation with the assistance of the latest in management software, they go and decide to incorporate everything else into the same

platform. The result is that management software has become more important in the effective running of a security installation, but also more complex as access control, alarm management, building management and more is incorporated into the platform.

Then there is also the option of using third-party applications or the proprietary software that comes with most cameras, normally free. Hi-Tech Security Solutions recently carried an article on management platforms, which barely scratched the surface. These platforms are so complex and so important to effec-tive surveillance implementations that we asked a few people in the know for their input into a few questions we have to try to gain further insight into the manage-ment software market.

The pundits we questioned were local develop-ers Alistair Mingay from Visec Surveillance Systems International and Gus Brecher from Cathexis; as well as Etienne Bruwer from Inmarsat and Gert Byleveldt from Sentronics.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Why is it that surveillance management software and integrated incident management or PSIM systems have become so important in business today? What value do they add that could not be obtained 5 or 10 years ago?

Alistair Mingay, Visec Surveillance Systems International: The human element of security has always been a major shortcoming of systems in the

ALL ABOUT ROI By Andrew Seldon.

Better man-

agement

means greater

returns

past. The more automated we can make systems now, using integration and clever software, the more fool-proof the system is; thus making meaningful contribu-tions to business procedures.

Gus Brecher, Cathexis: Companies are looking to maximise their ROI. The best way to do this is to utilise the systems they have to their full potential. Disparate systems are fine, but the operational efficiency is enhanced by integrating several systems into one user interface. Add video verification and technical health monitoring, and you have a holistic, more effective solution that enhances operations and ROI. We have been providing this functionality for some time now, but with advancements in IP video, network infrastructures, bandwidth availability and processing power of hard-ware enabling virtual servers, integration has become more powerful and accessible.

Etienne Bruwer, Inmarsat: Three reasons to consider PSIM:1) Business intelligence and real-time visibility. The

purpose of a security system has evolved past the mechanisms of just being a security system; it has evolved into a real-time visibility insight into your day-to-day business running of your organisation.

PSIM technology enables managers to consoli-date and bespoke data from various systems to enable tangible information and real-time insight into the running of their business enabling business intel-ligence. Business Intelligence enable them to take the right action, at the right time, in a more optimised and efficient manner, after all the right picture paints a thousand words.

2) Return on investment (ROI), tighter and consolidate budgets. The economic climate the last couple of years have been very challenging for most organisa-tions to say the least. Budgets are tighter, you must do more for less and IT and security, although the cornerstones of most organisations, always seems the lesser importance when it comes to expenditure and budgets.

Consolidating IT and security budgets provides for the more bang for your buck philosophy. PSIM enables integrations and re-use/consolidation of existing IT and security infrastructure allowing organisations to take advantages of newer technol-ogy without the high capex associated to a rework.

PSIM provides an open-based and standardised framework to allow your current and future security investment to work together for an optimised unified business tool, maximising ROI.

3) Adapting to your business. Business processes and workflow is a very complex animal to tame, and reinforcing them as a matter of best practices for the organisation can even be harder. PSIM technology can assist to standardised business processes and workflow by providing standard operating procedures




http://www.cathexis.co.za

http://www.cathexiseu.com

http://www.cathexisafrica.co.za


CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


and systematic instructions based on the organisational processes and workflows to help resolve any issue fast, efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.

Integration and consolidating of infor-mation at the decision makers finger tips and enforcing standard procedures and workflow helps eliminate the guesswork.

Gert Byleveldt, Sentronics: PSIM systems have always been important, the key thing is that the technology and knowhow has improved to a point where such implemen-tations can now be practical and affordable. You have to remember that they are not addressing any new challenges that have appeared in recent years (for the most part), but that the technology has improved to such a point that historic integration issues can now be adequately addressed. The market also needed to experience the chal-lenges associated with trying to manage disparate systems for it to accept all the benefits a PSIM system can offer.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Most surveillance cameras come with software designed for that camera. Would it not pay customers to stick to that software instead of paying more for an independent system?

Alistair Mingay: It is true that the sur-veillance market does not have a single champion that can provide the best cam-eras in each section. It is very possible that some brands like Axis, Arecont, American Dynamics, Bosch, Vivotek and many others would profess to have the best cameras in specific fields. However, we all know that for a customer to get the best- of-breed system we need to have the ability to use all the brands to create the perfect solution.

Gus Brecher: While there are arguments that software provided by the camera vendors will be more effective, the pros of an open system that is camera agnostic outweighs the cons:a) Future proofing: In five years time, if the

customer wants to change platforms or cameras, the open system enables this. Also, products come and go in various markets, so the proprietary system you buy now may not be supported in five years time

b) Flexibility: The manufacturer of the cameras may not have the best solution across all requirements. For example, they may have a good 2-megapixel camera, but not be the best at panoramic products. Continued on page 50

Etienne Bruwer: How long is a piece of string? Understanding the customer’s requirement is the only true measurement to evaluate if the camera supplier software will be sufficient.

Does the customer only want to record and replay video, camera count will not increase over time, confident that the vendor’s cameras now and in the future will suffice his requirement and that no more added value required, then stick with the vendor’s software.

The following benefits can be mentioned with PSIM:• PSIM is a software solution. A company

like Genetec, which only develops PSIM software, is constantly evolving and improve its software enabling more device support, more functionality and better integration.

• Developed to support a multitude of devices, so the customer can choose the best-in-class device for every type of application.

• Provide extensive Open API and Software Development Kit (SDK) mod-ules to allow for third-party integration.

Gert Byleveldt: Or rather, the recording platforms have dedicated software for view-ing cameras on them. The intention of man-agement or PSIM solutions isn’t to replace subsystems, but to act as a unified layer that sits over many different subsystems and present data (from these subsystems) in an integrated way. That being said, there is a case to be made for having dedicated systems, especially if they are small, of limited complexity and come from the same vendor. Realistically, this ideal solution fails in practice because business needs change over time and incompatible solutions need to be introduced to cater for such change. The result is that either the business needs are not going to be met or that the relative complexity of the control room is drastically increased, making it harder for staff to react in emergencies.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: How large should a camera installation be before users can

realise value from a management system?

Alistair Mingay: The size of the system is not as important as the functions that the customer may require. It is completely possible that standard software could cater for many simple customers needs; however staying with one brand to obtain free soft-ware could negatively influence customer’s ability to purchase the perfect system.

Gus Brecher: This can vary from very small to very large. We have seen custom-ers with multiple 12-camera retail getting amazing value out of each small system via a centralised management. So, although each site is very small, the management of the whole enterprise is what matters. Also, although a site may be small, if the opera-tion is very high risk (take a diamond sorting plant) or operation management intensive, you will need a good management system behind it.

Etienne Bruwer: PSIM centralises, simpli-fies and enhances day-to-day operations, therefore saving time and money. A small 16-camera solution will have a small saving that might seem insignificant, but it is still a saving, naturally the saving will grow expo-nentially as the scale increase.

‘Money vs. time aside, the true value of PSIM is only realised as a system matures and the customer’s requirement evolves. Today a small 4-camera solution will only be required to record; tomorrow you might need RFID asset tracking and access control. Would you want three separate systems or one?

The value derived from a PSIM is not linked to the size of an installation rather to what it needs to output now and in the future. In might be difficult to measure in the beginning, but if you know where you are going the value can be realised early and the cost saving later.

Gert Byleveldt: It should be understood that PSIM systems don’t simply integrate disparate systems – it integrates data col-lected from many systems in a way that makes such data mean more than the sum of its parts. It depends on the business, if this new data means enough to justify the cost. As a simple example: In a warehousing application there may only be 50 cameras, but in this application there may be many other systems (access control, fire, perimeter and logistics) that – when combined – add enough value to mitigate the cost of the solu-tion. One of the first exercises done when doing a feasibility study is to understand the


“The more automated we can make systems now, using integration and clever soft-ware, the more foolproof the system is.” Alistair Mingay, Visec Surveillance Systems International.




http://www.frankstreet.co.za


CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


customer’s business and present a ROI case. In many instances, it’s possible to present such a case with an ROI of less than a year. On the other hand, there may be basic systems that consist of only cameras (although this can be hundreds) that’ll find little value in using PSIM. It really does depend on the business’ needs.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: What are the key features customers should look for when considering a management platform?

Alistair Mingay: Local support for sales, technical sup-port, and possibly programming. Also:• Low total cost of ownership through multiple task

servers, i.e.: the ability to run recording, viewing and playback on one server,

• Simplicity,• Full ONVIF compliance,• Fast access to recordings, and • Add on features that automate major functions through

intelligent analytics or integration.

Gus Brecher: Track record, Functionality and functional integrity, health monitoring, remote management, inte-gration capability, upgradeability (future proofing), ease of installation, support, support, support….

Etienne Bruwer: Things to look for include:• Unified platform. The ability to have a single user

interface to monitor, operate, investigate and maintain the complete solution.

• Financial stable software vendor. Key indicators: con-tinuously evolving and customer base growth.

• Open-Standards Alliance. Must support or have road-map to support emergency technologies like, ONVIF, DNLA and mobile platform support.

• Ease of software integration via SDK, Web services, etc.

• Ease and cost effectiveness of upgrade path. How easy and cost effective is it to grow the system from a one to 1000 camera solution?

• Scalability, expandability and reliability. Can you grow it from one to 1000 without the need to change soft-ware? Can it deliver high availability within the archi-tecture, 99.99% or better?

Gert Byleveldt: Vendor independence, mature driver development kits, process guidance, minimal reliance on writing actual code and a company that not only understands the technology, but also has experience in implementing such solutions.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: How does one decide which platform is the right one for

Continued from page 48 your installation? Sometimes the free software may do the job. What returns should you expect from your management platform?

Alistair Mingay: The platform you choose should deliver a few key features:• Stability, redundancy, and the ability to add on fea-

tures that suit your direct needs as the customer.• The features for your application may vary from one

vendor to another. However, the absence of a solu-tion renders a vendor useless.

• The system must then be simple enough to operate by the user (rather than requiring a degree to use software you will be investing in). Try the software and if you can’t set it up, don’t buy it.

Gus Brecher: One needs to really understand what they are looking to achieve from a system. Once they have done this, they are better placed to make a deci-sion. Be careful of free software … it can sometimes cost you more down the line when you are trying to upgrade, get support etc.

Etienne Bruwer: Buying PSIM can sometimes be like buying a car, you know what you want, space, perfor-mance, comfort and fuel efficiency. You take it for a test drive, look at its track record, see what features is included and what is optional, how much it will cost to operate and maintain, what is your capital outlay and what does it bring to the party based on your criteria.

Buying PSIM adheres to the same principals, under-stand your requirement. If the free software gets the job done then it is the right one for you, if not start evaluat-ing the various options in the market place and choose the one that meets the majority of your requirements.

Gert Byleveldt: While I’m sure free software would exist to implement basic management, one should be aware that the actual software is only half the story. The other half is implementing these solutions. It’s the ability of said vendor to understand the business requirements and then to adequately translate this into something that’ll add value. Of course, having the toolset available within an advanced platform to do so effectively also helps.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Describe some of the key features your platform delivers that differentiates it from the masses.

Alistair Mingay: Visec is a locally owned South African product with technical support, sales support and management support from owners and programmers in true South African English. Visec is quite possibly the simplest NVR to set up with an automatic scanner that can scan for cameras of all ONVIF compliant brands and insert them automatically with simple insertion of a username and password.

Visec can now scan for all cameras even if they are on a different IP range or across a wireless network. Visec has one of the market leading licence plate rec-ognition modules in the world. Visec also integrates to a retail data mining software platform called Storevision,

“It should be understood that PSIM sys-tems don’t simply integrate disparate systems – it integrates data collected from many systems in a way that makes such data mean more than the sum of its parts.” Gert Byleveldt, Sentronics.




making it the obvious choice for retail markets.

Visec boasts drag-and-drop views throughout; up to eight monitors on a single server. Visec now has the only CCTV driven QR scanner on the market, allowing 2D bar-code scanning of entire pallets within sec-onds. Visec integrates to all MOXA devices and ONVIF cameras for I/O integration.

Gus Brecher: Integration with third-party devices (access control, point-of-sale, fire panels, alarm panels etc.), camera agnos-tic, multiple camera streams, multicast support, NAS support, ease of use (plug & play), technical alarming and health moni-toring, multi-server software environment, sophisticated off-site management.

Etienne Bruwer: Genetec Security Centre features that stand out:• Unified platform integrates surveillance,

access control, RFID, intrusion detection, immersive maps and LPR into a single user interface.

• One software package for standard (<50 cameras), professional (<100) and enter-prise (unlimited). Pay only for the differ-ence as you grow.

• Role-based distributed architecture allows for simple deployment and maintenance of solution.

• High availability and redundant archi-tecture. Solution is certified to run on VMWare for virtualisation, support Microsoft and NEC clustering solutions and provides various failover and redun-dancy options on a software layer.

• Integrate up to 10 Active Directories for login user accounts and cardholders maintenance.

• Surveillance support edge analytics of major hardware vendors, multi-stream and edge triggering and recording.

• Access control supports industry leading hardware from manufactures like HID and Mercury.

• Federation allows for independent sys-tems to be unified as a single monitored and managed entity.

• Immersive maps. 3D mapping technology much like Google Street View.

• Unified mobility support – Apple, Android and Blackberry.

• LPR solution is a best-in-class purpose-built solution that can capture differential speeds-reads up to 320 km/h. In addi-tion, it comes in two flavours mobile

and fixed within a single back office solution.

• Health monitoring. ITIL approach on monitoring services and devices to ensure uptime.

• Comprehensive SDK, DDK (device development kit), .NET and Web services SDK, C# macro engine and Interface SDK for customised tasks.

Gert Byleveldt: The CNL platform is a product with over 10 years of research on providing not only a truly vendor agnostic management platform, but to also offer the correct mix of flexibility/ease of use to allow these systems to be rapidly deployed by not only the manufacturer, but also certified partners across the world. In all systems the initial deployment of such platforms are done by experienced engineers. What sets our solution apart is that the subse-quent maintenance duties can be offloaded to the end user if required (things like adding edge devices, making changes to system logic, etc). This way, the system can organically change with the business, without having to resort to key functional changes being implemented solely by the manufacturer.


CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

With two of the most recog-nised brands in the vehicle rental industry, Avis Budget Group is believed to be the largest general-use vehicle

rental operator in North America. Last year, the car rental giant completed about 27 million vehicle rental transactions worldwide and derived an estimated 80% of their total annual revenue from on-airport locations.

In Canada specifi cally, the Avis Budget Group is headquartered in Toronto where a large fl eet of vehicles is kept in close proximity to service the on-airport location of Pearson International Airport as well as the local greater Toronto branches. On a daily basis at the Canadian headquarters, between 700 and 800 rental vehicles are constantly coming in to get cleaned and serviced, and going out to accom-modate the bookings at various branches.

This continuous exchange of vehicles induces vulnerability to vehicle theft and Avis Budget Group was no stranger to that fact. At some point in time, they became aware that certain vehicles that were leaving the lot were no longer coming back. With an on-going investigation about suspected vehicle thefts, Avis Budget Group pro-actively initiated their own search for a new solution that would keep their vehicle fl eet safe.

Security needs

As the previous city manager for Avis Budget Group’s Toronto Operations, Suzanne Myrand was tasked with fi nding a new security solu-tion that would help prevent future vulnerability

INTEGRATED AUTO MANAGEMENT

Genetec solves Avis

car problems.at the headquarters. She was familiar with the AutoVu system and realised its potential, but had a more aggressive plan in mind: “We needed an automated system that would give us the traceability we required on both the vehicles and their drivers,” said Myrand.

What she was looking for was more than an LPR solution, but additionally, an advanced access control solution with integrated video surveillance which could provide Avis Budget Group with the ability to track their entire stock of vehicles with evidence to support the in-out activity. The plan was also to extend this solu-tion beyond the gates of their headquarters into other locations such the airport branches.

After considering other products on the market, Myrand and her team soon realised that they just did not meet their specifi c require-ments. She then contacted Genetec and was pleasantly surprised to fi nd the Genetec suite, including IP-based LPR, access control and video surveillance solutions were exactly what Avis Budget Group needed.

The solution

Today, Genetec’s AutoVu is deployed at two main Avis Budget Group Toronto loca-tions: their Canadian headquarters and their Dixon road maintenance facility, located just outside the airport. Each site has two lanes of traffi c (one going in and one going out) and each lane is equipped with an AutoVu Sharp LPR camera, totalling four LPR cameras. More so, Genetec’s Synergis and Omnicast are deployed at three locations, including the same two locations where the LPR cameras are installed, as well as the Pearson International Airport location. Avis Budget Group invested in access control

readers and video cameras to capture badge credentials and video footage of drivers and cars entering and exiting each facility.

Additionally, since all three systems were developed by Genetec, the level of integration between Synergis access control and AutoVu LPR solution within Omnicast’s video management platform provided Avis Budget Group with correlated informa-tion through a unique feature called the Metadata Engine. Thanks to this feature, every licence plate that is scanned is auto-matically indexed to the associated video and access control data for easy retrieval. Integration of all data in one platform provides operators with the tools to make quick assessments of situations and more in-depth decision.

“This entire system is so easy to use, and really enables us to fi nd the information that we are looking for,” declares Myrand. “In an investigation, which was key to adopting this new solution, we now have the data we need at the tip of our fi ngers.”

The benefits

Since the initial deployment, the system has been fully upgraded to Genetec’s unifi ed security platform, the Security Centre. A step beyond simple integration, the Security Centre seamlessly merges Genetec’s IP video surveillance, access control and licence plate recognition systems within a single innovative solution. Every aspect of Avis’ security operations is consolidated under this single platform, from real-time monitoring to alarm management, reporting, and playback of events.

With Genetec’s unifi ed security platform Genetec fi rmly in place at major locations, Avis Budget Group has achieved its main objective: securing its fl eet of vehicles. Today, Myrand reports: “We have zero cars missing since implementation.”

Overall, Avis Budget Group has certainly justifi ed the expense of ownership of this new Genetec solution. The implementation and use of the system has been so suc-cessful in fact, that they have introduced the Security Centre unifi ed security platform to their US counterparts, who are now looking into a similar project.

For more information contact Pentagon Distribution, +27 (0)11 312 0745/6, www.pentgon.co.za


http://www.pentgon.co.za


Following years of success with SerVision’s family of narrow band server sales with free mobile and PC client software applications, SerVision has

recently released a control room CCTV management application.

SerVision’s SVControlCenter is an enterprise-level management system for control centres that monitor up to 5 000 SerVision Video Gateway units. Geared to extensive security networks such as those employed in public-transportation systems and building complexes and off-site moni-toring service providers, SVControlCenter enables control-centre personnel to keep tabs on massive numbers of locations at one time. Operators stationed in control rooms can use the system to view live and recorded video from multiple sites, locate and monitor fl eets of vehicles, and receive immediate notifi cations about circum-stances that require their attention.

The SVControlCenter system is fl exible and confi gurable, enabling each enterprise to fi ne-tune it to its needs. Video Gateways can be grouped to simplify the monitoring process, specifi c sets of conditions can be used as alarm triggers, alarm lists can be colour-coded by type, alarm-notifi cation content can be customised, and lists of events and alarms can be sorted to help identify items that are of interest.

SVControlCenter’s notifi cation system is designed to facilitate effi cient and com-prehensive alarm handling. Alarms can be assigned automatically to specifi c staff members and responsibility for handling an alarm can be reassigned on-the-fl y as nec-essary. Managers can easily monitor the entire alarm-handling process, seeing the current status of each alarm and a rundown

SERVISION’S SVCONTROLCENTER

of how it has been handled thus far.In addition, the SVControlCenter

database can store video, audio, event and alarm information, and GPS tracking data, enabling operators to view detailed information about past issues whenever it is needed. And the optional Downloader add-in can automate and manage the downloading of data to the database, so that it is always.

“SVControlCenter is specially designed to give large-scale control centres the data and management features they need to keep track of all their security systems,” said Mark Chertkow, MD of Graphic Image Technologies, SerVision’s exclusive dis-tributor into Africa

Homes and small to medium-sized businesses normally connect directly to their video gateways using SerVision client applications. These applications play live and recorded video, track the locations of GPS-enabled Video Gateways, display notifi cations when sensors are activated, and allow users to control on-site PTZ cameras and activators.

SerVision client applications pro-vide good video quality and features, but they are not optimised for larger-scale enterprises with control centres. SVControlCenter was created with these enterprises in mind. Designed for control centres with dozens of staff members monitoring numerous sites, it can store vast amounts of data from thousands of video gateways in its database and can make this data accessible to multiple operators simultaneously.

For more information contact Graphic Image Technologies, +27 (0)11 483 0333, [email protected], www.git.co.za



http://www.git.co.za

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


Q&A: POWER MANAGEMENT

POWER TO THE CAMERA By Andrew Seldon.

Power management is a

surveillance skill.


While many companies and individuals are aware of the need to protect their IT system with UPS and clean power, security

installations don’t often take the same care to keep their systems running when Eskom fails yet again. It’s not only Eskom’s black-outs installers should be worried about, but also the irregular supply, known as spikes and brownouts, that can play havoc with any electronic equipment.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions spoke to two people in the power supply industry to fi nd out more about what the power status in the industry is and what can (or should) be done to protect a security installation. Our answers come from Shane Griggs of PSS Distributors and Clearline’s Brian Mostert.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Do you find the security market is aware of the need for power management?

Shane Griggs: The awareness is defi nitely in the market. The days where consumers had to be sold an uninterruptable power supply (UPS) is a thing of the past. You simply cannot accept downtime on your surveillance system.

The initial layout for backup power is nothing compare to what companies may lose when they do not have backup power. This is not only true for power failures due to Eskom load shedding or maintenance, but also for thieves who know there is a security system. The fi rst thing these days is to cut the power to the building, leave it to

run down the battery, then return to rob the company. We are installing more security systems where cameras, alarms, access control and other devices are backed-up for more than 24 hours.

Brian Mostert, Clearline: I don’t believe the security industry takes much notice of the need for power management or any other solutions or systems to enhance their ability to minimise downtime. From our experience, when an incident occurs and video footage is scrutinised, many of the cameras at the site are not working as a result of lightning or electrical surge activi-ties. This can be prevented by installing surge protection devices that have been specifi cally developed to prevent equipment damage.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Do companies include surveillance hardware in their power management system as a rule?

Shane Griggs: Yes, it does seem to be becoming the norm. Security in South Africa is the number one priority. When you pur-chase or rent a building, the fi rst thing you do is secure it. Part of securing a business today is having a failsafe security system that runs on clean UPS power.

Brian Mostert: Generally the answer to the above question is no. The contractors and installers do not add any additional equip-ment to the system as this would increase the overall cost which will result in losing the contract. This is a typical scenario.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: What advice would you give security installers?

Shane Griggs: One of the major fl aws in any business is to save money. This is not always the best solution. PSS Distributors believes that when you do something, you should not opt for the cheapest nor the most expensive, but for something in the middle that you can afford. I see many inverter backup systems being installed for backup power. I do not agree with these installations. Yes, the initial layout is cheap, but in the end, the cost is high.

UPSs are more expensive than invert-ers, but what you pay is what you get. Most failures of electronic equipment are due to the inconsistency of power supplied by Eskom. UPS power is clean and protects




http://www.clearline.co.za

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE



Q&A: POWER MANAGEMENT

your equipment against high/low voltages, spikes, surges, brownouts and dips. They are the ultimate protection for your expen-sive equipment. Also ensure that if you opt for backup time, rather than just clean power, make sure your UPS supplies sine wave when running off your batteries.

Brian Mostert: It is absolutely essential to assess the requirements for each site and confi gure the correct solution. This means looking at lightning and surge protection devices, voltage stabilisers, backup power and cable to fi bre signal systems.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Should we expect a tough winter?

Shane Griggs: Yes, 2012 has been predicted as the worst year regarding power. It was interesting to watch Carte Blanch earlier this year where Eskom staff were biting their nails regarding the supply of power to South Africa, it says it all.

They are running to their maximum capac-ity. This means any failure at any of their plants will cause a major catastrophe.

Brian Mostert: Generally speaking, the

electrical generating capacity from Eskom is going to be under severe pressure and we could well have a tougher time than we have experienced in the past.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: What advice would you give concerning how to manage power, including how to be ‘greener’?

Shane Griggs: The one thing that has made a huge difference in the market has been the phasing out of CRT monitors. LCD monitors draw a lot less power and even in the UPS market, we can see the difference.

Being greener these days is not only about global warming, but also about saving costs. The installation of LED lights is still expensive in this country, but pric-ing is coming down. The monthly savings are huge and this can make a difference in South Africa’s power shortage.

Brian Mostert: Call in the companies that have expertise in equipment protection and backup power and put their services to good use. Look at minimising dependence on Eskom and look at alterative energy producing technologies.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Are South African companies more power conscious today and more inclined to save electricity where they can?

Shane Griggs: Most defi nitely. We have always enjoyed the advantage of low cost electricity, but this is changing and yearly we are now paying more and more for electricity. In my eyes, we are being pena-lised for bad decisions made by Eskom ten years ago.

On a daily basis PSS Distributors receives calls from clients wanting to go green. The only problem with going green is the cost, at this stage it is still expen-sive. I recommend clients do it gradually. Taking baby steps is defi nitely the key for not only homeowners, but also companies. You will be amazed afterfi ve years how much greener your company or house will be if you start small today.

Brian Mostert: I think companies are more aware environmentally and some are being proactive in changing their tradi-tional methods regarding power and how they use it. However, the response to look at alternative is minuscule.


http://www.progroup.co.za




mailto: [email protected]


http://www.pss.co.za

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


INFRASTRUCTURE

Real-time applications, like video surveillance, video streaming and video con-ferencing currently account for over 30% of world-wide

typical enterprise’s application mix (Source: Gartner 2009), and are expected to grow faster than any other type of traffi c. These applications behave quite differently than traditional enterprise applications like fi le, e-mail and Web services – especially across a Wide Area Network (WAN).

WAN optimisation appliances have several unique architectural advantages that make it ideal for the optimisation of real-time traffi c. These include:• Protocol agnostic approach to WAN

optimisation. • Real-time loss mitigation. Network Integrity

features correct for dropped and out of order packets in real-time. This avoids packet re-transmissions, which can severely degrade the quality of real-time applications across the WAN.

• Low insertion latency. WAN optimisation appliances perform all optimisations in real-time, introducing little or no additional latency when handling multimedia traffi c.

Video streaming / video on demand

Video streaming involves the transfer of content over the WAN for viewing in real-time. When the content is requested by end users (i.e. subscribers), it is often referred to as Video on demand (VoD).

When video content is delivered across a WAN in real-time, there are several tech-nical challenges that must be addressed. For one, even though the streams are often pre-compressed, they still can consume quite a bit of bandwidth. This is especially true when many users are viewing the same content. Secondly, video streaming and real-time VoD is very susceptible to latency and loss on the WAN.

Long distances and/or frequent packet re-transmissions will adversely impact video quality, and subsequently ruin an end user’s experience. WAN optimisation overcomes the above challenges in the following ways:• WAN Deduplication: WAN optimisation

appliances eliminate the transfer of repeti-tive data across the WAN using real-time disk based deduplication. This works within a stream as well as between video

OPTIMISING VIDEO ACROSS THE WAN

Making effective use of

your network.

streams. Therefore, if many users are attempting to view the same content from a single location, that content only needs to be delivered once across the WAN. This improves download times and saves on WAN bandwidth expenditures.

WAN optimisation appliances also per-form header and payload compression to improve the performance of non-repetitive video traffi c. Deduplication and compression techniques are performed on all IP traffi c, including video applications that run over UDP.• Network Integrity: WAN optimisation

appliances uses real-time Forward Error Correction (FEC) to correct for dropped packets, and Packet Order Correction (POC) to correct for out of order packets. These avoid packet re-transmissions, which can hurt the performance of real-time video across the WAN. Network Integrity features work on all IP traffi c, including video streaming and VoD appli-cations that run over UDP.

• Quality of Service: WAN optimisation appliances robust quality of service (QoS) policies can be used to prioritise video streams and to guarantee these services receive adequate network resources (i.e. bandwidth) across the WAN.

While performance varies depending on traffi c patterns and content, the following results are often experienced when WAN optimisation is deployed in conjunction with video streaming and real-time VoD: • Improved quality of video stream across

the WAN (i.e. reduced pixelation).• Up to 99% deduplication, especially when

multiple streams are sent to the same location across the WAN.

• Benefi ts are most noticeable on “lossy” WANs, such as MPLS or Internet VPNs, and when network congestion is present.

Below are some key questions to ask to determine if WAN optimisation is right for your video streaming environment: • Have users experienced poor video

quality, such as dropped or choppy video streams?

• Are you concerned that the increasing demand video is placing on your network will cause problems with this and other applications going across your WAN?

For more information contact ITgility, 0861IT4ALL (0861484255), [email protected], www.itgility.co.za.



http://www.itgility.co.za


http://www.axis.com/encoders

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


Q&A: REMOTE MONITORING

Remote monitoring is a rapidly growing industry that offers an additional layer of security that purportedly reduces the need for onsite guards and

the associated risks of them being involved in crime due to intimidation and bribery. It also allows fewer personnel to monitor a much wider area in less time, keeping them out of reach of South Africa’s notoriously violent criminals. But remote monitoring is not a simple solution as there are many aspects of the service customers must be able to rely on 24x7.

To fi nd out the answers to some of these questions, Hi-Tech Security Solutions spoke to three people involved in the remote monitoring game: Philip Smerkovitz from technology supplier TeleEye South Africa, Mike Voortman from monitoring company Verifi er and Jacques Du Toit from Vox Orion’s GuardianEye monitoring service.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: The question of bandwidth always comes up when discussing remote offsite monitoring. How can monitoring companies ensure they are able to provide a reliable service without breaking the bank?

Philip Smerkovitz, TeleEye South Africa: Bandwidth needs to be looked at from two aspects, the control room side and the subscriber or customer side. We then also need to consider the type of monitoring being offered such as event based or live monitoring.

Control rooms should be able to offer connectivity from a number of communica-tion mediums, ranging from a fi xed wireless infrastructure for sites within line of site of the control room or network access points, ADSL Internet or VPN connections, mobile data networks, wireless broadband Internet services, fi xed data lines and satellite. This gives control rooms the fl exibility to connect to sites from all around the world and offer failover communication methods for the more critical sites.

For the subscriber or customer sites, one would fi rst need to consider the geo-graphic location of the sites and then assess what communication methods are available. Secondly, one would need to consider the type of monitoring to be done

KEEPING CONTROL, REMOTELY By Andrew Seldon.

Remote monitoring works

when you do it right.

Philip Smerkovitz. such as event based monitoring, which can suffi ce on very small amounts of data or live video analysis which may require live video streaming 24-hours-a-day. According to risk, one would then also consider vari-ous communication failover methods.

For video alarm verifi cation, the control room would need to consider the expected amount of alarm events and video traffi c. Factors such as early warning systems with detection outside the site perimeters, public spaces, use of VMD and analytics, can all infl uence the amount of alarms triggered at the site, which is proportional to the amount of bandwidth used.

Throughout most SA cities and towns, ADSL lines are available and these provide high performance data throughput at an affordable cost. These are mainly used for event based monitoring and are often used in conjunction with a GPRS/Edge/3G mobile data connection as failover. ADSL lines can also be used with an uncapped account for the live 24-hour streaming sites.

Mike Voortman, Verifier: As we specialise in black screen monitoring, reliability factors in more crucially than usage when it comes to assessing connectivity to a site. Video compression then comes into play when recommending a CCTV platform. A man-aged ADSL service with built- in 3G failover will suffi ce in most cases, where a soft cap is applied and usage is monitored. This is not hugely costly as a component of remote monitoring. It should be remembered though that the more activity that requires monitoring, the more the bandwidth require-ment and even greater is the saving that our service can provide when compared to the cost of conventional guarding required in order to achieve the same objective (if at all possible).

Jacques Du Toit, Vox Orion: The word “reliable” does not exist in the broadband space i.e. ADSL or wireless ISM band. This is also a best effort service that is not available with any form of SLA. We there-fore had to construct a service that could be offered on uncontended links with an exist-ing SLAs i.e. Telkom Diginet, NeoLink etc. To ensure that we don’t increase opera-tional cost on new infrastructure we offer an event-triggered monitoring service that uses existing data infrastructure not utilised after hours. By doing this, the customer’s data expenditure is not increased in any way.



Hi-Tech Security Solutions: What technologies/solutions are available to support surveillance over low or restricted bandwidth?

Philip Smerkovitz: TeleEye develops its proprietary video compression technology, SMAC-M, which is present in our entire range of video recording servers and IP cameras. SMAC-M is more effi cient that MPEG-4 and H.264, particularly over low bandwidth connections. This enables effec-tive remote monitoring in applications where data channels are limited such as GPRS signal areas.

Mike Voortman: Some of the CCTV manufacturers have recognised the need to minimise data transmission rates despite the worldwide bandwidth explosion under-way and have actively processed their com-pression rates to create sub-streams for transmission to mobile devices etc. These sub-stream settings are ideal for monitor-ing sites where only lower bandwidth is available.

Jacques Du Toit: There are two areas that

need to be addressed:a) The customer requirement must be

clearly defi ned. If he wants to see high defi nition video on a real-time basis the refresh rate as well as the resolution will require large amounts of bandwidth. We can quite easily provide a good quality service using 32 kbps with a 9-frames-per-second refresh rate. When a cus-tomer requires something like number plate recognition, the requirement for high resolutions video feeds becomes a major factor.

b) Only stream video when there was an actual breach of security or event that was triggered – when there is no event being attended to, you don’t stream any video feeds. The operator will only do a “walk through” on each camera to ensure that everything is in order.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Operators are also a touchy subject. What can monitoring companies (internal or external) do to ensure their operators function effectively at all times?

Philip Smerkovitz: Effective management Mike Voortman.

http://www.wrightcms.co.za


CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


and training of control room operators is the key here. Leading control rooms have extensive training programmes and skilled control room supervisors on duty to manage the operators. As a vendor of remote moni-toring solutions, we have included exten-sive logging and reporting features so that control room supervisors can have access during and after shifts to information per-taining to the operators’ activities, response times and actions.

Mike Voortman: Without giving away trade secrets, rotation of activities, regular breaks and intelligent prompting software systems work for us.

Jacques Du Toit: The key lies with the incident management software that is selected. There are a few areas that need consideration to ensure staff operate effec-tively. It is worthwhile to spend the extra money to ensure that they are included in the software.

WorkflowYou cannot allow any operator become emotionally involved or deviate outside the standard operating procedure (SOP). For this reason, every site and every camera is set up with its own set of rules. These include, escalation procedure, armed reac-tion company, recording of keystrokes as well as the voice stream over the link. The agent cannot accept another incident until the current one has been closed.

Proactive maintenanceThe operators are tasked to do a walk through on each of the cameras. This will allow us to identify potential problems with

cameras i.e. out of focus lenses, image obstructions etc. It also helps with detecting potential incidents while the system is not armed.

ReportingPredefi ned templates are drafted to ensure that all detail is reported on as well as distribution to the correct people. Predictive texting reduces the time spent compiling reports and ensures uniform standards.

TasksOperators can be given tasks by the shift manager. These tasks can include site trend analysis that allows us to provide valuable information back to customers.

The above ensures that operators stay within the company SOPs and are effective at all times.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: What role does video analytics play in remote monitoring?

Philip Smerkovitz: One needs to consider the application of the video analytics. I am wary of video analytics for perimeter detec-tion as the analytics is purely dependent on the visuals from the camera. Factors such as fog, rain, dirty lenses, technology of camera, poor or non-functional light-ing, cable faults and camera failure can all render the analytics detection useless, leav-ing large gaps of undetected areas around the perimeters.

Video analytics often requires seasonal adjustments, while some systems claim to be self-learning, which also presents a problem. Every time the system changes analytics settings either automatically or by the operator, the provider should then embark on a walk test of that area. When a control room has a large amount of remote sites, this is not possible every time a change is made due to the large amount of manpower required and also when you consider the remoteness of these sites.

Video analytics for applications such as counting, direction fl ow, abandoned items, to mention a few, work very well for remote monitoring applications.

Mike Voortman: We use VideoIQ for perimeter monitoring along fence lines for residential estates and Honeywell for enclosed yard areas e.g. logistics compa-nies. These serve to eliminate the reticula-tion of conventional detectors over large distances, while providing early warning detection so as to enable our controllers to take preventative action.

Correctly confi gured, they do not bom-bard us with false alarms, a vital element to any monitoring service. Analytics are

advancing rapidly and their applications are already varied. We use them for market research, foot counting for retailers, licence plate recognition and security detection. As the cost of this technology decreases alongside the increase in its effectiveness, advanced analytics are set to become the minimum standard in our view.

Jacques Du Toit: My personal belief is that it is great technology but still relatively new and very expensive. If your site is set up correctly to proactively identify intrusion, there is no need to go with expensive video analytics. My guess is that there is about a 70% premium to be paid at this point in time. I must however agree that there are certain application where analytic is abso-lutely necessary, but not when it comes to event based offsite monitoring.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions: Is remote monitoring reliable enough to reduce the number of guards on a monitored site?

Philip Smerkovitz: Most defi nitely and in many cases more effective than manned guarding. There are however applications where physical security by means of human element is required.

The key is accurate assessment of man-agement and risk requirements. For critical sites utilising remote monitoring, equip-ment manufactured and installed accord-ing to the BS8418:2010 code of practice is recommended as this addresses areas of vulnerability where the solution may be compromised.

Mike Voortman: Absolutely, given that a guard on patrol can only monitor a small area at any given time, whereas electronic/virtual guarding gives the client constant full coverage of the monitored area. Where solitary guards are replaced, collusion – or the risk thereof – is immediately eliminated. Where strategically required, we do retain guards as needed, but in the vast majority of cases, substantial guarding reduction is possible. We assist guarding companies by checking in on their staff where hybrid manned/electronic systems are in place. We also save clients vast amounts in capex through the elimination of the need for an on-site monitoring station. We build in simple failover systems into the site setup for critical scenarios.

Jacques Du Toit: Defi nitely, so, you can effectively have as many as 20 cameras being monitored at the same price as one dedicated guard. There is also no risk of guard intimidation, or guards acting as an insider – computers have no emotions.

Jacques Du Toit .

Q&A: REMOTE MONITORING



REMOTE MONITORING

Enforce Security has announced the introduction of Remote Video Verifi cation as well as Virtual Patrol services, which effectively allow instantaneous

verifi cation of any breach of security. High-end camera technology is used in

conjunction with the Enforce Control Room to provide a ‘never sleeps’ 24/7 facility, which is geared to activate on breach and provide instant visual information.

Trained operators immediately analyse the situation and can zoom in on detail to identify perpetrators as well as plan the action to be taken by the armed response unit. In this way Enforce can identify if an alarm activation is false, set off deliberately as a decoy while an offence takes place elsewhere, or establish the best approach to a crime scene by blocking escape routes as well as the severity of the breach.

Remote video verifi cation is also used in communities that require the use of day and

Virtual patrols and

remote monitoring.

SECURITY GOES REMOTEnight guards, to provide a virtual patrol ser-vice and reduce manpower, thereby offering residents a cost-effective and technologically advanced security option, with no stay away due to bad weather, strikes, labour issues or sleeping personnel to contend with.

Cameras connected to high and inacces-sible security poles are located at identifi ed residential ‘hot spots’ such as cable and motor vehicle theft areas, residential theft syndicate operating areas, entrances and exits to communities or other strategically important areas. While the cameras are continuously recording, the control room will also physically log into each camera on system-defi ned intervals. An added feature of virtual patrols is that every resident who is part of the community initiative has his or her home alarm linked to the camera. Should the alarm be activated, the control room will be instantly notifi ed over and above the set hourly monitoring intervals. This way any suspicious activity, person or theft syndicate vehicles that may have triggered the alarm can be immediately identifi ed through the visuals sent by the camera.

“Virtual patrols is a cost-effective alterna-tive aimed at community initiatives that rely on physical guarding or armed reaction ser-vices. The cost of a day and night guard per day is costing community forums on average R16 000 per month. Virtual patrols is more affordable with an initial setup cost of ±R10 000 per camera and thereafter a monitoring fee of R850 per month.

This expands Enforce’s existing business concept called Remote Video Verifi cation (RVV), where surveillance cameras, linked to a client’s business or home alarm, are strate-gically positioned to provide visuals of alarm activations or to monitor the patrols of the physical guards. These are already success-fully implemented and in operation at numer-ous sites across KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Cape Town. Since the imple-mentation of RVV two years ago, Enforce has identifi ed a growing need for a similar service as part of a community initiative.

For more information contact Enforce Security, +27 (0)31 573 7600,[email protected]





CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


CASE STUDY: RETAIL

QD Stores is an independently owned chain of discount retail outlets and has 33 stores and 3 garden centres situ-ated throughout the eastern region of England. QD provides over 40 000

product lines across a vast array of departments. The existing security system at the Peterborough

store was diffi cult to operate and required costly repairs. It included 16 cameras with multiple blind spots, which meant that it was diffi cult to track people in the store. The locations of the existing cameras were also a major concern for the store’s merchandisers, restricting the options available for promotional signage.

The inadequacies of the existing security system were infl uencing the buying decisions of the purchas-ing team and restricting profi tability. Often, QD Stores had opportunities to stock higher value branded mer-chandise with potentially better profi t margins, but considered it to be a risk due to the lack of a reliable security system. These factors, along with an extension of the store’s fl oor space meant that the security system needed to be updated.

A solution to improve QD’s security surveillance was quickly identifi ed and a new Honeywell security solu-tion was recommended that would meet QD’s require-ments, rather than the extension of QD’s existing legacy system. The transition from the existing security system to the new one was seamless with minimum disruption to the store’s operations.

“Working with our installer was easy,” commented Andy Jermy, head of commercial operations at QD Stores. “They provided valuable advice and solved any problems very quickly.”

When considering the new solution, it was impera-tive that high quality CCTV images could be captured and recorded so that they could be used as evidence in court, if required. The recording solution also needed to be easy to use with real-time recording so that an imme-diate response to any incidents could be implemented.

A system including 32 Honeywell cameras and domes was installed to cover the whole store and images are recorded on two digital video recorders (DVRs). The cameras are controlled by keyboards and the pictures viewed in real-time on two Honeywell E-Series LCD monitors.

Retailer reduces

theft rate with

a Honeywell

security solution.

REDUCING RETAIL SHRINKAGE In order to effi ciently store high resolution,

evidential quality images, the two HRXD DVRs use Honeywell’s XtraStor compression technology. This means that less hard drive space is needed for long-term storage with no sacrifi ce in image quality. The Orbiter PTZ domes installed can be controlled directly from the DVR’s front panel or remotely using the Remote Administration System Plus software (RASplus). The infrared remote control facility meant that the domes were quick to install and confi gure.

For monitoring and supplying surveillance scenes, video evidence clips can be retrieved quickly and easily transferred onto a CD-ROM or USB Flash drive for viewing on virtually any PC.

With the Orbiter PTZ domes, picture quality is achieved by advanced auto focus control to ensure that, no matter what the position of the zoom, the picture is in the sharpest-possible focus. A number of programmable camera tours can be created. These encompass pan, tilt and zoom actions and sweep key areas in and around the store.

“The Honeywell PC-based digital video recording solution was the most practical for us, the manage-ment team and for the security operators to use,” continues Jermy. “The Honeywell cameras deliver excellent clarity of video evidence and have helped to identify known criminals to the police.”

The CCTV system was integrated into the EAS tagging systems ensuring that in the event of an alarm being activated, specifi ed CCTV cameras would automatically focus in on the exit areas to capture the scene.

A second CCTV monitoring station consisting of DVRs, monitors and a keyboard has also been placed at the front of the store, intentionally in full view of all shoppers. This enables the operation of the surveillance system from dual locations.

Since installing the Honeywell system, the store has seen a drop in theft rates. The system is highly visible in the store, which acts as a deterrent. However, the main difference can be attributed to the quality of the video images that can now be captured and recorded. These are of high quality and can be used as evidence in legal action.

Merchandisers have also benefi tted since the new security system has been installed. They no longer have any restrictions when planning their sales promotion signage as the CCTV systems monitor all of the shop fl oor and from all angles. QD also now has more buying choices as having a robust security system in place gives them the con-fi dence to stock more profi table product lines such as branded electrical and clothing items.

The new system is also proving benefi cial to vali-date any potentially fraudulent Health and Safety related insurance claims from employees.

For more information contact Honeywell Systems Group, +31 (0)6462 01557, [email protected], www.honeywell.com




http://www.honeywell.com


Built in 1880, TsUM is the biggest and one of the most renowned fashion department stores in Eastern Europe. Today, it is a famous tourism spot in Moscow which houses more than 1 000 shops and is fi lled with luxurious

brands.Attracting over tens of thousands of visitors every day,

TsUM is faced with the challenge of keeping all the tourist, shoppers and vendors safe around the clock.

One of the biggest challenges in the past was the poor video quality of the old analogue-based system. Often the security offi cers found themselves in situations where they are unable to identify the person and would miss a lot of details in an incident due to deprived video quality and narrow view coverage. These video would often be deemed worthless to a police investigation which destroys the pur-pose of having a surveillance system.

To solve all of their surveillance issues at hand, TsUM deployed two NUUO Titan NVR to record a total of 69 4-megapixel cameras (Sanyo HD-2100). Each camera covers more than 32-times more details than the original analogue cameras. This installation was successfully completed by Russian system integrator company – Soling. Through the strong cooperation between NUUO and Soling, TsUM’s old surveillance system has been greatly improved.

FASHIONABLE IPSecuring a

19th century

masterpiece.

Titan NVR features a specialised File Ring record-ing engine which is optimised for megapixel data storing and retrieving. Now the security offi cers can really put the recorded video to good use and identify everything in detail during an incident.

Moreover, Titan NVR offers tons of storage space for well over 30 days of recording time. Both Titans come with 24 TB of internal storage and are con-nected to 72 TB of external iSCSI storage. The 120 TB capacity covers all of the storage needs today plus room for future expansion as 59 more megapixel cameras could potentially be added.

Another huge benefi t for the TsUM is how simple it is to use Titan to perform various functions. Offi cers can initiate instant playback with a single mouse click, snapshot and export video with another click.

Titan NVR is also optimised to utilise megapixel images. TsUM is able to clone various 4-megapixel cameras to show the same camera multiple times with each clone focusing on a zoomed region of interest. This way, they can maximise the use of their mega-pixel fi eld of view and enjoy the incredible details it offers. Camera cloning and region of interest are both handy but rare features on high-end network video recorders. Titan NVR brings them together.



CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


CASE STUDY: FINANCIAL

Location: Asuncion, ParaguaySystem: American Dynamics:• Intellex DVRs• VM96 Matrix Switchers• 355 Fixed and Mobile CamerasSoftware House:• CCURE 800• iStar Pro Readers• StopWare Control Visit software

For the Central Bank of Paraguay (BCP), security is critical. As Paraguay’s highest monetary authority, and the country’s governing body on fi nances and

economics, the institution operates a sole central offi ce in Asuncion that encompasses several blocks of buildings, as well as three other offi ces around the city.

So, in 1996, the company turned to Grupo Sensormatic S.A., an authorised company for Tyco Security Products, to address its vast security needs. At that time, SpeedDomes and the Intellex 1.6 addressed video needs, and were coupled with the AC500 to provide access control.

“Bank security constantly requires look-ing for solutions to problems that may arise,” says Mariano Viveros, security chief, BCP. “So, over the years we have renewed and upgraded the product lines as the newest versions have come out.”

Protection for BCP is no small undertak-ing. The central offi ce is so large that it’s separated into different areas, including one where all the offi ces are, another which is the Cultura Area centred around a multi-purpose room, a convention centre and a 1100-person theatre, and yet another with an amphitheatre and an Olympic pool. In addition, there are three other offi ces in dif-ferent areas of the city.

In total, the buildings encompass more than 1 million square feet of space, and employ 930 workers.

“Because we have such a diverse range of buildings, it was imperative that we have a fully integrated access control and perim-eter protection system,” says Viveros. So, the institution takes full advantage of Tyco Security Products’ product lines, building and expanding upon the original system.

Currently, they have implemented an integrated security system. CCTV products are exclusively from American Dynamics – including 23 Intellex DVRs, 2 matrix switch-ers, and a total of 355 fi xed and mobile cam-eras. These cameras were mainly installed for access control around the perimeter and at main points of the operating banks. Operators use the policy manager for the restriction of access to images by network client, and the archive manager handles the redundancy of the video images.

With regard to access control, the BCP has a CCure 800 model 20 with 11 apC/8X and 5 iStar Pro readers, with a mix of bio-metric and proximity. The original two VM96

Bank security requires

constantly looking for

new solutions.

INTEGRATED FINANCIAL SECURITY

matrix switches also continue to operate from the 1996 installation, as do a group of eight speed domes.

The CCTV is fully integrated with the access control, which feeds into the CCURE 800, controlling more than 120 readers in different areas of the bank. This process includes handling the entry and exit of people and cars, as well as entry and exit to the offi ce buildings.

The control access system is also inte-grated with a StopWare control visit, which provides the BCP with a complete and detailed control of the entry and movement of anybody on the premises.

According to Viveros, the BCP has only experienced minor security events in recent years.

“In the last 10 years, we have not had any incidents in the most critical areas for the bank – including treasury and ATMs,” Viveros says. “For the few minor incidences we have had, the security system gives us the benefi t of having registered the complete event to clarify any misunderstanding about what may have happened.”

Capitalising on that great track record, the BCP does have plans to expand with Tyco products. Currently, the organisation is expanding its facilities, and adding on a perimeter security system to go along with it. And, they are working with Tyco to plan the installation of a fi re security and pre-vention system for 2000 spots around the compound.

“The security of a bank is always evolv-ing, and we need a security company that will continually develop products and solu-tions to meet these changing needs,” says Viveros. “From the fi rst installation in 1996 to the newest solutions of today, Tyco has con-tinued to provide us with the best products to meet all of these requirements.”

For more information contact Tyco Security Products, +27 (0)82 566 5274, [email protected], www.tycoacvs.com



http://www.tycoacvs.com


Zwartkops Golf Estate, situated in Centurion on the outskirts of Tshwane, is positioned around the prestigious Zwartkop Country Club offering an exceptional quality of life in a pris-

tine environment. The beautiful Hennops River meanders lazily through the mature woodland and manicured lawns of the Zwartkop Golf Course. C3 Shared Services, specialists in electronic perimeter security solutions, were commissioned to design and install a full turnkey perimeter security solution to secure this prestigious estate.

C3 installed forty analogue monochrome CCD cameras with IR Illuminators on the four-kilometre perimeter. An additional three thermal cameras were also installed to monitor the fairways of the golf course and inner perimeter where the Hennops River enters the estate. The analogue cameras on the perimeter and the thermal cameras monitoring the golf course and river entrance are combined with intelligent video analytics and integrated onto a simple to use video management platform. This solution allows for instant visual verifi cation as to the cause and location of any alarms relating to an attempted breach of the perimeter.

The Hennops River runs through the estate

A RIVER RUNS THROUGH ITSmart security

for prestigious

Pretoria es-

tate traversed

by Hennops

River.

and its entrance is monitored by a static thermal camera. Thermal cameras require no illumina-tion in order to detect intruders and are perfectly suited to dark areas with no ambient light. Three more dual Field-of-View PTZ thermal cameras combined with intelligent video analytics are strategically placed along the fairways of the golf course.

The PTZ Dual FOV function enables these cameras to zoom in and out and move left to right and should an intrusion be detected these cam-eras can be used to monitor the direction in which the intruder is moving and armed response can easily intercept the perpetrator.

Nick Grange, technical director of C3 says, “C3 implemented a full turnkey project at Zwartkops that included multiple activities such as a fibre optic network, electrical power ring, civil works, camera installation and command and control. The result of this was that we were able to complete this project professionally and timeously with no stumbling blocks.”

For more information contact C3 Shared Services, +27 (0)11 312 2041, [email protected],www.c3ss.com

CASE STUDY: RESIDENTIAL


http://www.c3ss.com

http://www.regalsecurity.co.za

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


CASE STUDY: TRANSPORT

The Basix Group has been awarded several major trans-portation infrastructure projects in the country, which have been equipped with March Networks

surveillance systems to help create a safe and secure environment.

Johannesburg’s new Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system will consist of more than 300 kilometres of dedicated bus lanes and 150 bus stations. The fi rst phase of the system included 48 stations covering a distance of 40 kilometres. The second phase will cover an additional 86 kilometres and include 102 stations.

March Networks’ VideoSphere fi xed and PTZ IP cameras, recorders and software are being installed at every station by Bona Electric Solutions, a Basix Group company that is a March Networks Certifi ed Solution Provider. The cameras will be linked to March Networks NVRs located at the Joint Command and Control Centre (JCC) oper-ated by the Johannesburg Roads Agency via a high-speed fi bre-optic network.

Joint control

The purpose of this Joint Command and Control Centre (JCC), another contract won by a subsidiary of the Basix Group, is for the operation, management and security for ITS Intelligent Transport Solutions (ITS) and for Rea Vaya Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) to view all CCTV cameras and other ITS related equipment installed.

The new Traffi c Management Centre’s (TMC) large display video wall together with the associated management systems was

TRANSPORT SURVEILLANCE

March Networks secures transport projects.

also supplied by Bona Electronic Solutions. The TMC accommodates the control cen-tres for the Freeway Management System (FMS), future Arterial Management System (AMS), existing Area Traffi c Control system (ATC), future Ikapa bus rapid transit system (IRT), existing Metro Transport Information (MTI) call centre as well as the Metro Police Strategic Surveillance Unit (SSU). This display video wall consists of (80) 46-inch narrow bezel TFT-LCD-based display modules. Management of the various inputs is made possible with the use of the EYECON software and hardware compo-nents; a graphic controller (Netpix) and an operating controller (ECS). The images can be displayed in any size to give a compre-hensive survey of scenarios to all operators in the control room (single point of view). In addition to this, the eyevis eStreamer DVR units have been deployed at the TMC to allow any digital source to be displayed in any confi guration, on any screen or mul-tiple of screens as desired. The eStreamer allows three separate government agencies to share any data, but at all times retain full network integrity.

A total of 80 46-inch narrow bezel TFT-LCD-based display modules have been deployed at various locations throughout the TMC. Management of the various inputs is made possible with the use of the EYECON software and hardware compo-nents; a graphic controller (Netpix) and an operating controller (ECS). The images can be displayed in any size to give a compre-hensive survey of scenarios to all operators in the control room (single point of view).

In addition to this, eyevis eStreamer DVI

units have been deployed at the TMC to allow any digital source to be displayed in any confi guration, on any screen or mul-tiple of screens as desired. The eStreamer allows three separate government agencies to share any data, but at all times retain full network integrity.

Station surveillance

The Basix Group also won the contract to supply fi xed video recording systems for South Africa’s 80-kilometer, twin-tracked Gautrain Rapid Rail Link, another major transportation infrastructure project. One line connects OR Tambo International Airport with Sandton, Johannesburg’s fi nan-cial and business centre, and another links Johannesburg with the country’s capital, Tshwane, formerly Pretoria. Travelling at speeds of up to 160 kilometres per hour, the Gautrain will take 40 minutes to make the 54-kilometre trip between the two cities.

The fi xed Gautrain video surveil-lance system covers 10 stations and one rail depot for a total of more than 1000 analogue cameras connected to March Networks VideoSphere Edge encoders and networked recorders.

Coincidentally, the Bombardier Transportation high-speed trains running on the Gautrain Rapid Rail Link will be equipped with an onboard SEKURFLO security solution jointly designed and devel-oped by Bombardier and March Networks.

Road surveillance

Bona Electronic Solutions is also using March Networks recorders for Intelligent Transportation Systems that monitor traffi c on major highways serving Johannesburg and several other cities in South Africa. The systems include analogue and IP cameras, March Networks’ VideoSphere Edge encod-ers and 32-channel networked recorders linked to a monitoring centre operated by the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL).

“In all cases, March Networks technol-ogy was our fi rst choice,” says Groenewald. “Quality, reliability, and value for money were key considerations. Another important factor was the option to take advantage of March Networks’ video analytics in the bus and rail station environments sometime in the future.”

For more information contact Basix Group, +27 (0)11 210 3500, [email protected], www.basixtech.co.za






The port of Marseille offers trade links to 400 ports around the world. Its geographical posi-tion on the Mediterranean Sea and the mul-tiple cargo distribution channels available to it (river, rail, road, pipeline) have maintained

the port’s importance as a natural gateway to Europe.It incorporates two harbours; the 400 hectare East

Harbour which sits within the city of Marseille and the West Harbour located 70 kilometres from Marseille at Fos, on a 10 000 hectare site. Port activity generates 41 300 jobs in total, including those of the 1 500-strong workforce within the Port Authority.

The security and works authority is the department responsible for the maintenance of the port’s security infrastructure, among other things. In order to effectively secure the large area under its control, the security department invested heavily in: camera domes, access control, alarms and fi re detection system.

However, having installed these diverse systems, one signifi cant challenge remained: to transfer data from over 600 cameras over long distances to the central control room. As the security and works authority had already had several successful experiences of using UTC Fire & Security’s fi bre transmission products, the choice of system provider seemed self-evident.

The Port of Marseille has used UTC Fire & Security fi bre optic transceivers from the very fi rst moment they installed security cameras at the site. Several units, installed over ten years ago, are still working without interruption today. After installing over 500 transceivers throughout the port area, the site is now fully equipped with a large network of fi bres, connecting every quay and storage zone together with the different control rooms around the site.

The port’s controllers and security guards are able to view live video footage from up to six kilometres away in real-time on their monitor displays.

For more information contact UTC Fire & Security, +27 (0)11 579 7300, [email protected], www.utcfireandsecurity.com

FIBRE PORT SURVEILLANCE

600 cameras managed from central

control room.



http://www.utcfireandsecurity.com





http://www.norbain.co.za

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


CASE STUDY: INDUSTRIAL

With over 15 000 kilo-metres of pipeline in the Netherlands and north-ern Germany, dozens of installations and

approximately 1300 gas receiving stations, Gasunie operates one of the largest high pressure, gas pipeline grids in Europe. Its annual gas throughput totals approximately 125 billion cubic metres and its network forms the core of what is called the north-west European gas roundabout.

Gasunie operates a rolling programme of infrastructure expansion and modernisa-tion, which naturally applies to its security systems too. Video surveillance has been playing an increasingly important part in protecting its most signifi cant sites in recent decades, particularly because of its role in alarm verifi cation. Gasunie is a long-term user of Geutebrück digital video products having always had Geutebrück recording hardware and software at the heart of its CCTV system.

Gasunie’s sites vary in function and size. Some are very small, remote and rarely visited. Others occupy several hect-ares and are routinely staffed by dozens of Gasunie employees as well as external contractors. Since 1988, the company’s strategy has been to install technical security systems and centralise the site security. Depending on the site, the secu-rity infrastructure ranges from simple fenc-ing to sophisticated fence systems with perimeter detection systems and CCTV. “The fundamental requirement at every

Geutebrück secures one of the largest gas pipelines.

GAS GRID SAFEGUARDED

location is that unauthorised intruders are always identified at the perimeter,” explains Reiner Woldring, Gasunie’s corporate security advisor.

“Where necessary there are two high fences with alarm systems on the outer fence,” elaborates Herman von Hierden, a member of Gasunie’s electrotechnics, instrumentation and process control department. “That way unauthorised intru-sion can be detected even earlier.”

Security processes such as control-ling the access of authorised staff and the verifi cation and tracking of alarm reports following the detection of an intrusion event are all coordinated from the 24-hour Groningen control centre. CCTV systems operate at 25 sites.

“We need the camera pictures for verifying the alarm reports which may need to be followed up by the police or another special guarding service,” reports Woldring. “We don’t do a full preventative evaluation of the images. We no longer have guards with dogs on site who could take a look when a detection report comes in. Instead we rely on camera surveillance. For this we need good quality cameras, reliable transmission and storage of camera pictures as well as user-friendly functions for calling up the pictures in the alarm centre.”

Opting for IP

At Gasunie, the complete security system for all sites is now IP-based. “Even the

old analogue camera system has been modernised,” continues Van Hierden, “We now have the same standard across the whole country on all sites. There used to be sites with 30 to 40 analogue cameras which still couldn’t provide any usable quality pictures. So even though the detec-tion was very reliable, it was not always easy to verify the detected events. Now we work with a lot fewer cameras per site, and most of them can be remote controlled from the centre.” Control centre staff now call up camera images in real-time and can immediately replay the recorded footage whenever there is an alarm.

Local system integrators Alphatron and Strukton Systems have been responsible for upgrading the cameras and remain responsible for the maintenance of the alarm centre systems. They replaced the old X.25 data network with a broadband Ethernet connection and the old Pegasus transmission system with a modern GeViScope platform to which all cameras are connected.

At remote sites, nocturnal camera sur-veillance is made possible by automatically controlled lighting. Data connectivity at remote sites has always been a challenge. “The limited bandwidth available between head offi ce and some of Gasunie’s remoter gas pumping locations generate perfect environments for Geutebrück equipment to demonstrate its effi cient bandwidth man-agement,” says Koen Pelle, Geutebrück country manager for the Netherlands.

Management system

GeViScope video platforms are fully integrated into the Gasunie security management system which it developed itself. Multi-system integration is vital, for instance to ensure that the camera system can be linked to the access control sys-tems – so staff in the control centre can know at any given moment how many and which people are present at which site.

“All site visitors have to present their passes on arrival,” explains Van Hierden. “This goes for people from third-party companies as well as our own staff. Anyone who has not obtained a visitor’s permit in advance cannot enter the site. At some locations we retain remote control over access at the alarm centre. Then the camera system is vital.

For more information contact Geutebrück, +27(0)11 867 6585, [email protected], www.geutebrueck.com

Gasunie operates hundreds of sites across the Netherlands and northern Germany; 25 of which have CCTV.





CASE STUDY: GOVERNMENT

It has not been easy in the New York area, where there has been a consistently high volume of criminal activities around the perimeters of developments and in elevator cabs operated by New York City Municipalities.

“There are low to no lighting around the perimeters, making it prime criminal targets at night. Various NYC Agencies & Authorities have been concerned with security issues in elevator cabs as well, as cameras were easily and quickly vandalised in such environments.” David Gonzalez, area spe-cialist for Tri-Ed / Northern Video Distribution, explains. “The NYC Agencies & Authorities were looking to install a cutting-edge surveillance system that would help them successfully prosecute criminal offenders, especially under poor lighting conditions and in vandal prone areas.”

Gonzalez evaluated the Bosch cameras and discovered that the bullet cameras reliably captured high-quality prosecut-able images under poor lighting conditions, while the Bosch Corner Mount No Grip Cameras were highly resistant to vandalism.

“The EX36 and WZ20 cameras have enabled me to collaborate with integrators at these municipalities to assist with the video surveillance in the most challenging areas. The Agencies & Authorities are now able to work with police departments and district attorneys to successfully prosecute criminal activities at buildings and developments.”

The Bosch Extreme series Corner Mount No Grip and Bullet Cameras are precision engineered to deliver prosecut-able videos in tough environments and under poor lighting conditions.• EX36 Corner Mount No Grip cameras’ steel construction

can protect against even the most brutal attempt to destroy, detach, or disable the camera.

• WZ20 bullet cameras deliver 45 m of high performance night vision.

For more information contact Bosch Security Systems - South Africa & Sub-Sahara Africa, +27 (0)11 651 9838, [email protected], www.boschsecurity.co.za

CRIME-FIGHTING SURVEILLANCE

Uncovering criminal activities at various

NYC agencies.



http://www.honeywell.co.za

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


The DH-15 Series static indoor dome housings are easily installed into false and suspended ceilings, accommodating most CCD cameras.

The internal camera mounting bracket has been designed to ensure that the CCD camera pivots about the centre line of the dome when using the correct spacers supplied with the housing. This minimises unwanted internal reflections and optimises the camera lens assembly position relative to the spheri-cal dome.

The high-quality polycarbonate domes are available in a number of configurations. These include various colour options with clear viewing slots, completely tinted or completely mirror domes. These small aesthetic and unobtru-sive housings blend in with other architectural and decorative requirements.

For more information contact Eike Woermann, EICO Manufacturing, +27 (0)11 792 8622, [email protected], www.eico.co.za

PRODUCT SHOWCASE

henals

ru-ctural

Less than half the size of traditional PTZ mini dome cameras, vandal and theft resistant, and ultra-intelli-gent, Bosch’s new VEZ-400 is set to impress.

Says Valerie Bingham, product manager for Elvey Security Technologies, “The VEZ-400 heralds a new age in super-high resolution mini PTZ dome surveillance cameras. With its multiple features and strengths, it delivers far more than is expected of its class.”

Premium features such as 26X optical zoom, high resolution 600TV lines and the latest in motion adaptive digital noise reduction (3DNR) technol-ogy to clarify dark grey imagery are contained in its aesthetically pleasing housing, which is designed for indoor or outdoor use.

It also offers 360 degrees of rotation, 600 TVL (television lines) high-resolution imaging and a wide dynamic range to capture important details in scenes containing both bright and dark areas. “Rather than showing the viewing area at a single luminance level, it can increase luminance range in order to prevent any noticeable differences in the pictures,” she says. “This highly effective function provides the best image quality in its class with regard to indoor lighting conditions.”

The camera’s 26X optical zoom allows security controllers to increase its monitoring range in the interests of easier identifi cation of objects, vehicles and trespassers while its 15 privacy zones allow parts of the detection area to be masked to block out unwanted objects.

For more information contact Elvey Security Technologies, +27 (0)11 401 6700, [email protected], www.elvey.co.za

Bosch mini PTZ dome

Static indoor dome housings

The Dahua DH-DVR1604-T-4H boasts 16 channel analogue video inputs with full D1 recording as well as 4 channel IP video inputs with 1080P @ H.264 or 720P @ MPEG4. All 16 analogue channels can record at the maximum D1 resolution, or they can be scaled down to CIF, 2CIF or QCIF.

With H.264 compression on video recordings and G.711 compression on audio recordings, this hybrid provides top video and audio quality. It comes standard with a 1TB SATA hard drive, which can be enhanced with the addition of up to eight hard drives (or six hard drives and a CD/DVD-RW writer) should business owners want to record for longer periods before the DVR starts re-writing over older recordings.

Viewing of live or recorded footage is a breeze owing to the DVR’s spot moni-tor output which has composite BNC, VGA and HDMI output for the main display monitor, and can playback 1, 4, 8, 9, 16 and 20 channels. Back-ups can be done using any USB backup device, including memory sticks, external DVD writers, external hard drives or external CD writers. Additional backups can be made to an eSATA device, built-in SATA burner or they can be downloaded via the network.

The Dahua DH-DVR1604-T-4H can be linked up to speed domes for 3D intel-ligent positioning. Also, as a result of its network software and built-in Web server, the standalone hybrid offers multi-DVR client, MSS (mobile surveillance software for smart phone) and CMS. It’s also packed with intelligent functions such as motion, camera blank and video loss detection. Privacy masking may be applied to each camera with four self-defi ned, four-sided zones to block out unwanted areas.

For more information contact Elvey Security Technologies, +27 (0)11 401 6700, [email protected], www.elvey.co.za

Bridge the old and new





http://www.eico.co.za




IP Security Solutions, a division of Regal, has sole dis-tribution to a range of Ethernet switches. EtherWAN has had a reputation of producing fi rst class product specifi -cally designed to transmit video data. The latest in the basket of products is the 6-port 10/100BASE-TX + 2-port 100BASE-FX Hardened Unmanaged PoE Ethernet Switch. It provides the fl exibility of 8 Ethernet ports that confi gure in combinations of copper and fi bre optic interfaces operating at -40°C to 75°C and is tested for functional operation at -40°C to 85°C. It also supports alarms for power and port link failure by relay output, redundant power inputs with terminal block, and the DC jack complies with IEC61000-6-2 EMC generic standard immunity for indus-trial envi-ronments.

For more information contact IP Security Solutions, +27 (0)11 553 3300, [email protected], www.ipsecuritysolutions.co.za.

, and

a, ya.

EtherWAN hardened 6-port switch

Outdoor-ready, dual PTZ network cameras which offer pan/tilt flexibility and simultaneous video streams from a visual camera and a thermal camera, and allow detec-tion, recognition and identification from one single unit even in darkness and difficult light conditions. The combined visual/thermal camera unit provides a powerful surveillance solution.

An AXIS Q87-E Network Camera consists of one thermal network camera and one visual camera mounted on a motor that allows the entire unit to tilt and pan, and the models are connected to the network using one Ethernet cable.

Each camera has an SD/SDHC memory card slot for storing recordings locally. AXIS Q87-E models can pan 360-degrees endlessly and tilt between +45-degrees to -20-degrees with a preset accuracy of 0,02-degrees. The products are IP66 rated and have operating tem-perature ranges between -30oC to 45oC.


Dual PTZ camera



http://www.axis.com




http://www.crownhyper.co.za

CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


The UTPVideo PV series is a transmis-sion solution for receiving a colour video signal and supplying camera power up to 300 metres away. The range includes an 8 channel (CC70-1) and 16 channel (CC70-2) variant.

The head end equipment works in conjunction with a PV series balun (CC50-5). The CC50-5 is designed to convert 36 V DC from the control room to 12 V DC at the camera and delivers real-time baseband (composite) video up to 300 metres over UTP cable. The power supplied to the camera is regulated 12 V, 1 A (12 W in total). One CAT5 cable is

UTPVideo PV series

Vicon’s V960B Series of HD IP bullet cameras is

designed for demanding security installa-tions. It offers a number of fixed network camera versions that deliver clear images to fit any instal-lation’s need. Each version type (1080p, 720p and VGA resolution) is offered with a 3.3-12 mm motorised lens.

The V960B series provides dual-streaming video and supports H.264 compression technol-ogy, conserving valuable network bandwidth. Users can receive multiple streams simultane-ously in different resolutions, frame rates and image qualities for viewing on different platforms.

In order to adapt to constantly changing out-door lighting conditions, the V960B features an auto iris varifocal lens to protect from damage induced by direct sunlight. The true day/ night camera also includes a removable IR-cut filter for superior image quality around the clock. The V960B provides 42 IR LEDs that illuminate up to 30 metres.

For protection against the elements, the bullet camera is IP66-rated to withstand rain, dust, and vandalism. Accompanied with a 3-year warranty it classes itself with some of the best in the market.

For more information contact IP Security Solutions, +27 (0)11 553 3300, [email protected], www.ipsecuritysolutions.co.za

Vicon bullet camera

required per camera for both power and video transmission.

The system offers surge protection and electrostatic discharge protection required for these long distances. These units are 19-inch rack-mountable. This solution is ideal in new installations

where there is no existing AC power close to the proposed camera positions.

For more information contact Regal Distributors, +27 (0)11 553 3300, [email protected], www.regalsecurity.co.za

Axis Communications introduced new fixed dome cameras. The light sensitivity of these cameras is obtained with Lightfinder technology; a combination of Axis’ expertise in image processing, in-house system-on-chip development and selection of the best optical components. Two of the new models integrate IR illumina-tion featuring new LED technology.

The new offering includes indoor models, streamlined for cost-efficiency, as well as indoor and outdoor models that offer features such as vandal resistance, audio and I/O ports, and integrated IR illumination. The cameras provide SVGA or HDTV 720p/1.3MP resolution based on a new, top-quality 1/3-inch image sensor. Two varifocal lens options are available, with P-Iris control that precisely controls the iris. The wide-angle models offer an angle of view of more than 100-degrees for broader scene coverage. All AXIS P33 cameras offer quick and easy installation capabilities such as remote zoom and the pixel counter, ensuring that the viewing angle is optimised for the monitored area and required pixel resolution. The remote focus feature eliminates the need for manual focusing at the camera. Using standard, environmental-friendly Power over Ethernet even for the weatherproof models that operate in extreme temperatures, including those that integrate IR illumination, only one network cable is required to carry both power and data.

The IR models incorporate new, long-life LED technology that is power-efficient and minimises heat dissipation. Adjustable in angle of illumination and intensity, the integrated IR solution offers easy-to-install illumination, optimised for the scene. This results in high quality, low-noise video in completely dark areas.


Axis introduces fixed domes

PRODUCT SHOWCASE






http://www.axis.com



DEHN’s UGKF surge arresters are shielded devices for plugging into coaxial terminal devices or connections in computer networks or outdoor video surveillance systems. In order to avoid being infl uenced by stray earth currents, the cable shield is earthed indirectly via a gas discharge tube. The arrester entries are used as sockets and protected outputs as plugs.

The UGKF SPDs are installed upstream of the network card and the earth conductor is connected to the earth electrode of the enclosure.

Designed for use in the LPZ concept at boundaries 0B –2 and higher, the UGKF BNC model is suitable for protecting video cameras with BNC connection. Operating on 5 V, it has a 2,5 kA (8/20) discharge current with 10 Ω impedance per line. Special units for video cameras with higher nomi-nal voltage are available.

DEHN is represented locally by Surgetek.

For more information contact Surgetek, +27 (0)11 792 1303/4/5, [email protected], www.surgetek.co.za

SPD for coaxial connection

Super LoLux HD cameras combine high perfor-mance DSP with CMOS sensors that output 1920x1080 HD resolution and offer multi-codec support, including MJPEG, MPEG-4 and H.264 High Profile. The cameras – a variety of box, integrated lens, mini-dome, outdoor dome and integrated housing models – feature JVC Super LoLux HD technology to match the sensitivity of our well established CCD models, plus new Clear Logic Video Intelligence (C.L.V.I.) image processing that compensates for back lighting and digitally removes ambient fog, haze, or smoke for the clearest picture.

Other features include auto back focus, on-board recording to SD card, motion detec-tion, privacy mask and a variety of built-in video analytics features, including active tampering detection and audio detect. The cameras support ONVIF and PSIA standards for network cameras, as well as a wide variety of leading video management software (VMS) platforms. An MTBF of 90 000 hours proves their reliability.

Full HD resolution via 1080p CMOS sensor.Box, bullet, integrated and mini dome models (indoor and outdoor dome).• Super LoLux HD low light performance.• Minimum illumination: 0.15 lux colour, 0.025

lux black and white.• H.264 High Profile • Super LoLux codec.• Triple, dual and single stream distribution.• Clear Logic Video • Intelligence.• Focus assist and fine focus mechanism.• Motion detection.• ExDR (extended dynamic range). • 3D noise reduction.• PoE or 24 V powered options.

For more information contact Global Communications, +27 (0)87 310 0400, www.globalcomms.co.za

JVC Super LoLux HD

The Bosch MIC Series cameras capture high-resolution images in the harshest environ-ments, including critical infrastructure sites, transportation facilities and city centres. These ruggedised vandal and corrosion-resistant cameras, feature:• IP68/NEMA 6p-rated aluminium casing that allows no dust ingress and withstands

sustained periods of immersion underwater.• Integrated long-life silicon wiper and reversible rain shield for high quality images

regardless of conditions.

High performance optics550 TVL resolution joins with 36x or 28x optical zoom for sharp images even at great distances. The next generation MIC Series cameras also add:• A wide dynamic range to easily adapt to changing light conditions, showing maxi-

mum detail in scenes with bright and dark areas.• Sodium Vapour White Balance to eliminate colour distortion from street or tunnel

lamps.

Flexible installation and operationMIC Series cameras offer a range of options for mounting and new features for improved control:• Mount the cameras upright, inverted or canted to 45 degrees without specialist

tools and without compromising the IP rating.• Bosch’s standard AutoDome controller interface makes it easier to integrate the

MIC Series into systems that already use Bosch surveillance products.• New controller gives you greater precision in your command of camera functions

and optics, delivering pinpoint accuracy and absolute positioning.

For more information contact Devtrade Distribution, +27 (0)21 552 6891, [email protected], www.devtrade.co.za

Bosch MIC Series


http://www.surgetek.co.za

http://www.globalcomms.co.za


http://www.devtrade.co.za



CCTV/SURVEILLANCE


PRODUCT SHOWCASE

It’s one of the tiniest and best covert surveil-lance device that’s available. The Ultimate SAS Spy Cam is small enough to conceal in almost any location. You could put it inside a pack of chewing gum or cigarettes and it’ll quietly record everything that’s going on in its line of sight. Even if you simply placed it somewhere unobtrusive, chances are it wouldn’t even be noticed.

With a record time of up to four hours per charge, the Ultimate SAS Spy Cam records 3GP video fi les onto a Micro SD Card that can be played back on a computer or mobile phone. Colour video and voice recording lets you clearly see who’s there and what they’re saying.

The Spy Cam is a great alternative to conventional CCTV for the times when you don’t want people to know they’re on camera. Self-contained, and with no cables to hide, it’s perfect for all sorts of covert surveil-lance and ideal for journalists, private investiga-tors, or businesses that want to keep an eye on the cash register if the fi gures don’t add up and they suspect someone of being light-fi ngered.

Spy Cam has other uses too. Perhaps you’ve hired a nanny or babysitter and want to make sure that they’re doing their job properly. A discreet recording would be a good way

Spy Thumb Cam

Pelco by Schneider Electric announces the release and availability of DX4700HD and DX4800HD Series hybrid video recorders. Building on the success of the DX4700 and DX4800 HVRs, the new DX4700HD/DX4800HD series adds support for up to eight IP megapixel cameras on each HVR, in addition to 8 or 16 analogue cameras, for a total of 16 or 24 cameras.

“Customers can benefit from mega-pixel image detail where they need it most;” says Angelica Torres-Corral, Pelco product marketing manager,

Hybrid recorder from Pelco

“for example, to monitor registers, cash counting operations, high-value merchandise or lobbies and entrances – while still receiving maximum use and value from existing analogue cameras and cabling.”

A powerful new processor supports up to 12 Mbps of bandwidth, while an improved graphics processor supports the display of 1080p HD video at the HVR. Both models record up to 30 ips on all channels, and the DX4800HD adds the ability to record full frame rate video at 4CIF resolutions for all cameras.

Support for HD video at the server also includes the ability to mix ana-logue and IP cameras when viewing live video, while an updated camera display gives users even greater vis-ibility to their entire environment. Users will also benefit from bidirectional audio for enhanced security, access to instant playback for quick investiga-tive work, and the ability to capture and overlay ATM/POS text with video recording.

With up to 8 TB of internal storage, the DX4700HD/DX4800HD series over-comes the high storage demands of megapixel and high-speed recording without sacrificing speed for resolution. H.264 main profile video compression means more efficient use of storage. Customers can readily expand storage with either JBOD or RAID-5 optional eSATA devices. DX4700HD/DX4800HD series HVRs also match security requirements to storage needs with the unique HDD partitioning feature, which can allocate individual disk partitions for normal and alarm recording.

For more information contact Pelco, +27 (0)12 809 3493, [email protected], www.pelco.com

to know whether you can trust them to look after your family. It’s also ideal for wildlife enthusiasts who want to fi lm a rare animal or bird with the minimum disturbance, for example.

Of course, you don’t have to hide your Spy Cam. Its small size makes it great for travel, and it can be kept in your pocket for

all of those moments when you want to record something when on the move.

Or you could tape it to your helmet or attach it to clothing whilst skydiving, on horseback or when riding a motorbike. It’s an ideal way to get extreme footage when doing extreme sports.

Technical Information• PC and Mac compatible.• Video format: AVI video format. 640x480CIF resolution.• 1.3 megapixel camera.• Voice recording.• Micro SD Card/T-fl ash card support: 128 MB to 2 GB (card not included).• Continuous recording until memory is full or the cam is manually switched off.• Video File Size: >300KB per minuteWeight: 18g

• Adapter Type: USB Adapter charging cable (can also be used for fi le transfer).

• Battery Type: Lithium Ion (included).• Record time: Up to 4 hours.

For more information contact Sentronics, +27 (0)11 312 4147, [email protected], www.sentronics.co.za

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http://www.pelco.com


http://www.sentronics.co.za



CCTV 2012

For more information on these and other suppliers please see www.hsbd.co.za

* D

eno

tes

adve

rtis

er

quickfi ndCompany Telephone E-mail Website Page

ADI Global Distribution 0860 22 55 23 [email protected] www.adiglobal.com/za IFC*,13*ADT Business Solutions 086 12 12 410 www.adt.co.za 37*Advanced Digital Devices +27 (0)11 789 4420 [email protected] www.lightlink.co.za 38*Axis Communications SA +27 (0)11 548 6780 [email protected] www.axis.com 38,42,59*,73,74Basix Group +27 (0)11 210 3500 [email protected] www.basixtech.co.za 68Bosch Security Systems +27 (0)11 651 9838 [email protected] www.boschsecurity.co.za 71Bosch Security Systems +27 (0)11 651 9813 www.boschsecurity.co.za 31*C3 Shared Services +27 (0)11 312 2041 [email protected] www.c3ss.com 67Card Control Systems +27 (0)11 907 3192 [email protected] www.cardcontrolsystems.co.za 39*Cathexis Africa [email protected] www.cathexis.co.za 47*CCTV In Focus SA +27 (0)87 940 1391 [email protected] www.cctvinfocus.co.za 41*Clearline +27 (0)11 848 1100 [email protected] www.clearline.co.za 55*Crown Hyper World +27 (0)11 830 1452 [email protected] www.crownhyper.co.za 73*Dahua Technology +86 571 8768 8883 [email protected] www.dahuatech.com 32*Dallmeier electronic Southern Africa Offi ce +27 (0)11 979 4540 [email protected] www.dallmeier.com 43,44Devtrade Distribution +27 (0)21 552 6891 [email protected] www.devtrade.co.za 75EICO Manufacturing +27 (0)11 792 8622 [email protected] www.eico.co.za 72Elecsec Distributors +27 (0)31 705 2664 [email protected] www.elecsec.co.za 16*Elvey Security Technologies +27 (0)11 401 6700 [email protected] www.elvey.co.za 29*,72Enforce Security Services 0860 11 00 11 [email protected] www.enforce.co.za 7*,63Frank Street +27 (0)11 496 2300 [email protected] www.frankstreet.co.za 49*Geutebrück +27 (0)11 867 6585 [email protected] www.geutebrueck.com 6,27*,39,70Graphic Image Technologies +27 (0)11 483 0333 [email protected] www.git.co.za 53,63*Hikvision +86 571 8807 5998 [email protected] www.hikvision.com 11*Honeywell Building Solutions +27 (0)11 695 8000 [email protected] www.honeywell.com 71*Honeywell Systems Group +31 646 201 557 [email protected] www.honeywell.com 64IAC +27 (0)12 657 3600 [email protected] www.iaconline.co.za 40,41Inhep Electronics Holdings +27 (0)31 705 1373 [email protected] www.inhep.com 65*IP Security Solutions +27 (0)11 553 3300 [email protected] www.ipsecuritysolutions.co.za 45*,73,74ITGility 0861 IT4ALL (484255) [email protected] www.itgility.co.za 58Jasco Security Solutions +27 (0)11 266 1500 [email protected] www.jasco.co.za 30Leaderware +27 (0)11 787 7811 [email protected] www.leaderware.com 4Mantech Electronics +27 (0)11 493 9307 [email protected] www.mantech.co.za 35*,43*Mimic Crafts +27 (0)11 689 5700 [email protected] www.mimic.co.za 23*NICE Systems +44 1489 771 200 [email protected] www.nice.com 28Norbain SA +27 (0)11 887 1546 [email protected] www.norbain.co.za 42*,69*Pelco by Schneider Electric +27 (0)11 254 6400 [email protected] www.pelco.com OBC*Pelco South Africa +27 (0)12 809 3493 [email protected] www.pelco.com 76Pentagon Distribution +27 (0)11 312 0745 www.genetec.com 21*,52Progroup +27 (0)11 493 1545 [email protected] www.progroup.co.za 56*PSS +27 (0)11 608 4259 [email protected] www.pss.co.za 57*Regal Group +27 (0)11 553 3300 [email protected] www.regalsecurity.co.za 67*,74Secequip +27 (0)11 624 2576 [email protected] www.secequip.co.za 19*Secure Group +27 (0)12 667 2323 [email protected] www.secure.co.za 32Security & Communication Warehouse +27 (0)12 653 1005 [email protected] www.securitywarehouse.co.za 51*Sentronics +27 (0)11 312 4147 [email protected] www.sentronics.co.za 76Surgetek +27 (0)11 792 1303 [email protected] www.surgetek.co.za 75Syntech SA 086 127 4244 www.syntechsa.co.za 17*Tyco Security Products +27 (0)82 566 5274 [email protected] www.americandynamics.net 3*,66UBM Montgomery +27 (0)11 835 1565 [email protected] www.ifsecsa.com 33*UTC Fire & Security +27 (0)11 579 7300 [email protected] www.utcfi reandsecurity.com 5*,69UTM Group 0860 22 22 66 [email protected] www.utmgroup.co.za 24Vision Consulting +27 (0)11 830 2688 [email protected] www.viscon.co.za 53*Vox Orion [email protected] www.voxorion.co.za 15*Wright Surveillance 0861 974 448 [email protected] www.wrightcms.co.za 61*

http://www.hsbd.co.za



http://www.adt.co.za


http://www.lightlink.co.za


http://www.axis.com







http://www.c3ss.com


http://www.cardcontrolsystems.co.za


http://www.cathexis.co.za


http://www.cctvinfocus.co.za


http://www.clearline.co.za


http://www.crownhyper.co.za


http://www.dahuatech.com


http://www.dallmeier.com


http://www.devtrade.co.za


http://www.eico.co.za


http://www.elecsec.co.za




http://www.enforce.co.za


http://www.frankstreet.co.za






http://www.hikvision.com






http://www.iaconline.co.za


http://www.inhep.com




http://www.itgility.co.za




http://www.leaderware.com




http://www.mimic.co.za


http://www.nice.com


http://www.norbain.co.za





http://www.genetec.com


http://www.progroup.co.za


http://www.pss.co.za




http://www.secequip.co.za


http://www.secure.co.za


http://www.securitywarehouse.co.za


http://www.sentronics.co.za


http://www.surgetek.co.za

http://www.syntechsa.co.za


http://www.americandynamics.net


http://www.ifsecsa.com


http://www.utcfi


http://www.utmgroup.co.za


http://www.viscon.co.za


http://www.voxorion.co.za


http://www.wrightcms.co.za

http://sereply.com

Documents

2012 CCTV Handbook