IP CCTV leads the way at IFSEC but did you read the small print?

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Reviews all week.

As we go through the week we will be looking at the manufacturers and suppliers that caught our eye at IFSEC this year. Today however we focus on IFSEC itself and how our day went.

Getting there.

It was a bit of an early start, the traffic on the way down to the NEC was  light and we made easy going of it. We arrived full of enthusiasm about what we might see at the exhibition this year and had mentally planned our route round some of the stands we wanted to visit.

Getting in.

The automated check in went like a dream.  We walked into the main hall looked around , got our bearings and then checked the exhibitors map we had been provided with. Here though we had a problem!! I had a bit of a laugh as my colleague struggled to read the stand numbers on the map, no matter what distance from his eyes he tried to hold  the floor plan, he said  it was illegible. He then challenged me to try to read the “small Print” and very quickly I had the smile wiped off my face as I realized that I could not read it either. Were we both getting short sited?? Feedback to the organizers published here .

Arecont IP camera.

Not to be deterred by the fact that we had no idea where we were going we made our way into the show. We chose Arecont as our first stop. The main reason for this is we were looking for a megapixel camera that performed well in challenging light conditions. Arecont have just such a camera. The Av10005 1o megapixel 1080p. They use very clever ways of  getting it to perform at night, this is known as binning. When the camera senses low light it changes mode to allow it to use 4 pixels instead of 1,  to increase the amount of light onto the camera chip. We left very impressed. More on this soon.

Dallmeier.

We then moved on to the Dallmeier stand to take a look at their new video Netbox. Dallmeier have always produced quality goods and the build quality of the Netbox was certainly robust. This one box solution is a hybrid unit aimed to bridge the analogue IP gap and is very flexible. It would be very suited to temporary installations or construction sites. We were also eager to learn that Dallmeier has released Pview 7. This is their main software integration package full of new features. Again we left the stand impressed.

Avigilon.

Avigilon was next. Their range of high definition surveillance systems had attracted our attention. Lots to look at here but the most impressive part for us was the build quality of their Megapixel cameras. No plastic here, the cameras were solid, heavy and extremely well put together. The picture quality was equally impressive especially from the 16 megapixel version.

360 vision technology.

We had heard that 360 vision technology had released a new dome for the show and we were not to be disappointed. A very enthusiastic member of the team demonstrated their new IR dome. It has all the features you would expect and night time vision of up to 100m is very impressive. Light being generated from the strategically mounted IR leds ensures nothing is missed by this brilliantly designed camera. This dome is a different animal though from the 360 dome we have been used to. It is heavier and much more robust. Something we look forward to testing.

March Networks.

March networks were demonstrating the Predator camera or is it the Shield? However it is branded this camera stands out from just about everything else at the show. The auto tracking had been set up brilliantly and you could view the meta data as it followed people around the show .The accuracy was stunning . This camera has just about everything you could wish for and the Predator will be coming out in lots of different versions in the near future. We will be doing a special feature on it later in the month, keep watching.

The best of the rest.

Time was moving on and we still had plenty to see. We paid various visits to Samsung, Redvision, ACTi, Emizon and Paxton. All very interesting and each will be reviewed later in the month.

Home.

Well it was time to go , the overall feeling was one of enthusiastic excitement. All the people we saw had something new to offer and it is blatantly apparent that analogue CCTV is very shortly about to become condemned to the history books.  Standard IP cameras  are starting to look dated with all the emphasis at the show on HD and Megapixel. As the number of pixels and picture quality increase in the cameras the frame rates they can deliver decreases dramatically. In addition the storage required can be prohibitive. Neither of these problems though are insurmountable and in a very short space of time the quality we will see from IP CCTV is going to leave the end user in a position where hopefully they are left with little choice but to upgrade. The future looks bright.

Integrated security system

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Next week we write about all the things seen and talked about at IFSEC this week. In the mean time below we list all the parts that can be integrated together to give us a complete integrated security system and links to our blogs for details of suppliers.

Access control.

Card readers.

Biometrics.

Facial recognition.

IP cameras.

Thermal imaging cameras.

Video analytics.

Dome cameras.

DVR’s.

Intruder alarms.

Monitoring and transmission equipment.

VMS software.

Megapixel cameras.

and many more……..

Ifsec ip cctv

Ifsec integrated cctv

Ifsec ip camera

Ifsec predator camera

Ifsec march networks

Ifsec bosch camera

Ifsec Emizon communicator

Ifsec video sphere

Ifsec ip security

Ifsec megapixel IP camera

Emizon 21 line monitoring solution.

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Emizon  FAQ.

What is Emizon and why is it different?

Emizon is dual path signalling device used for the security industry. Uniquely its primary path is IP and its secondary path is GPRS. It has been developed to fit into the new world of IP and is an obvious option to monitor broadband telephone lines.

Is it compliant with BT 21 CN fibre upgrade. Also does it replace traditional signalling devices such as Redcare and DualCom?

It certainly is 21CN compliant. Emizon is designed to work with all upgraded lines. When it comes to replacing traditional signalling methods it is able to signal to grade 2,3 and 4  EN standards so therefore yes, it can replace any signalling solution.

Will the insurance companies accept it?

Emizon have their own advisers on this subject . As with any new technology insurance companies are often slow to move away from what they know. However. Emizon offers some very good reasons why Insurance companies will accept this technology and in terms of price Emizon is highly competitive.

Are they easy to install?

Emizon have spent a long time developing this technology awaiting the time when IP solutions will begin to dominate all physical security products and IP will become accepted as the standard way of communicating data. The installation is simple and non site specific , meaning engineers can carry the unit in their stock. The Emizon website offers a comprehensive guide to installation techniques and what will be involved.

Why would we want to change from traditional monitoring methods?

Digicoms are being routinely replaced now as this old technology is vulnerable to line cuts and changes to the BT network. A customer with a large number of sites will see significant savings on their monitoring costs if they chose to use Emizon over some of their more famous competitors.

New markets and opportunities for Emizon.

The most important opportunities lie in the CCTV monitoring field where the use of broadband lines is becoming the most popular way of transmitting CCTV alarms to a central station. In fact anyone who needs a permanent broadband connection for critical data transfer should consider having their lines monitored by Emizon 21.

Conclusion.

Emizon has hit the market place at just the right time. Broadband has started to take a grip as the most important communication path we have. The ability to monitor this 24 hours a day for a minimal cost can only mean this monitoring option goes from strength to strength.

IFSEC 2010 Integrated CCTV wish list.

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What’s new in 2010?

What are we at Integrated CCTV looking for this week at IFSEC 2010? We have set this out in our wish list below.

Megapixel camera.

Well we would be very interested to find a megapixel camera with wide dynamic or back light compensation. We know that megapixel cameras do struggle at times in challenging light conditions. We believe Panasonic are about to release their new i-pro range of IP megapixel/HD cameras and these boast this particular feature. March Networks have the Videosphere 1080p that has been recently tested by us and the pictures were simply stunning. In addition we would also like to find a megapixel solution that properly supports IR.

Analytics.

As we know analytics are currently only available in standard IP cameras or with an analogue camera that has been converted to IP via a codec. So we are interested to see the progress any manufacturers have made with megapixel cameras that support or are capable of processing analytics and generating alarms.

IP delivered externally over 100m.

With more external IP cameras being specified, we realize the limitations of trying to deliver IP over distances of more than 100m. Of course we can use fibre but this is expensive, so, a cost effective way other than powered switches would be interesting to us.

Thermal camera solutions.

Thermal cameras are a brilliant solution for external detection especially when combined with analytics. Are they however priced competitively enough to sell?  Several companies are now looking to bring this type of security solution to the commercial market place and we will be looking hard for the most cost effective solution out there. FLIR as we know are the market leaders.

Storage solutions.

Megapixel cameras means massive storage issues , before this type of technology can be used to its full potential storage prices need to drop. As we know many Terabytes of storage are needed and so any company that can supply this at a competitive price could find business taking off this year.

Dome camera.

Auto tracking domes have been about for a while but has anyone been able to integrate this technology into a Megapixel version of their dome? We know March Networks have an excellent version of a megapixel dome surely they are close to being able to give us this feature? Can anyone else?

Dome camera with IR.

Dome cameras with integrated IR solutions are growing in popularity. We did a feature on the predator dome and we know the IR version is out shortly. This is something we have wanted to be able to Spec for some time and has many applications externally. We will be checking out all the dome suppliers to see if they are able to provide this feature at the best possible price of course.

Case study.

Features and benefits of all the products that we think you need to know about will be following on this site after IFSEC. So, if you would like us to write an article on your product or carry out a case study especially if you think it fits into our wish list then please contact us here at Integrated CCTV and we will be happy to help.

ONVIF Standards for IP based security products

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ONVIF global open interface standard

CCTV integrators have long struggled to integrate CCTV security products together because of all the different protocols and platforms out there developed in isolation by individual manufacturers.

IP CCTV and CCTV software.

With the growing influence of IP cameras and CCTV software ONVIF have bought together the larger manufacturers and integrators to embrace a protocol that will help form standard platform for CCTV integration in the years to come.

Why?

Well quite simply it makes it easier for manufacturers to sell their products. The installers are not hampered by constantly trying to integrate together several different products that are not compatible and the end user gets a better deal and is not beholden to the installer for the life time of the equipment.

What does the standard do?

Well essentially it looks at the network interface , specifically the network layer and looks to ensure all products conform in the following areas:

Real time viewing

Device discovery

Device management

Media config

Event handling

PTZ control

Security

Video analytics

IP configuration

Future proof.

The standard allows flexibility and does not prevent innovation and of course should a manufacturer who uses ONVIF compliant equipment go out of business then there are plenty of others there to pick up the pieces and most importantly the end user is not left with a system no one else can integrate IP CCTV equipment into.

When.

The first product that conformed to ONVIF was released in August 2009 and by the time IFSEC 2010 arrives there will be over 70 products from 10 manufactures to check out.

Three founder members Bosch AXIS  Sony

The 3 founder members were Bosch AXIS and Sony since then more have joined including:

Cannon

IDIS

IndigoVision

Panasonic

March Networks

Samsung

Siemiens

Texas Instruments

Hik Vison

Cisco

Alhua

There are many others now contributing to this standard.

IP Access control.

ONVIF also have now announced that they will be extending their scope to incluse IP access control products to. With so much integration going on between the two technologies it will be interesting to see what manufacturers jump on board and how quickly they do this.

Conclusion.

Open platform standards really do help everyone in the end. They allow innovators into the market place and give stability to the industry and value to the end user. As IP security products become the dominant force in the security industry we applaud this bold step forward.