Bad day for plane spotters but a great day for maintenance.

Posted on by

All UK airports closed.

 Airports across the UK are saturated with security measures from access control CCTV biometrics and so on. Normally the on going programme of maintenance for all this equipment has to be carefully scheduled to fit in with passengers and staff to ensure that when tested it causes the minimum inconvenience and disruption .

Icelandic volcanic eruption.

 A unique opportunity for security installers arose yesterday and today however when a volcanic eruption in Iceland over 900 miles away from the UK grounded every single aircraft in the country. The situation is not expected to be resolved until at least tomorrow and with this information very well publicized it means that the airports for the first time ever are deserted. What a great chance for security installers to get on site and carry out all those jobs that normally mean either working at night or working around many hundreds of people.

Unique testing opportunity.

It also offers a unique opportunity to carry out testing on analytics in an almost a completely sterile environment. With the runways effectively reduced to parking lots day light testing with no movement has never been able to have been done before and the smart installers will be using this very rare window of oppotunity to carry out some experimentation.

How long have they got?

No one is able to tell for how long the eruption will continue but it seems certain that the combination of  the weather patterns and a local volcanic eruption are highly unlikely to ever occur again. So our advice would be to all installers of CCTV, access control or any kind of security device get on site today and make the most of it!

Moving sales forward with IP camera solutions

Posted on by

A new sales opportunity.

So how do we pursued customers to upgrade to new camera systems? . Well of course firstly we have the lever that no forward thinking business is gong to want  to get left behind with their security solutions. With the advent of HD CCTV we have a consumer led technology that people want to jump on board with, this technology is good  but megapixel technology offers some even more amazing picture quality as long as the network that is is in place has the ability to handle the amount of data that is going to pass through it.

So much to offer but who is ready?

It seems that we have cameras that can do more than we could ever imagine but customers generally don’t have the bandwidth to handle it. Add to this the hundreds of different and incompatible recording solutions and we find that on many occasions we have to compromise on the  CCTV software. We need CCTV software that  can handle most if not all the  manufacturers cameras. Analytics will only work with analogue cameras that have been converted by codecs, we see this as a completely unsatisfactory scenario. Analytics for HD and mega pixel cameras are a must.

What the industry wants.

What we want is a recorder/CCTV software that can do analytics, record the best quality that the best cameras on the market can supply and no network restrictions , This is still a long way off  but without doubt within the next 3 years an IP solution will emerge that will take the market place by storm . If the manufacturer who can fulfil all the above criteria does emerge then  they will dominate the market for many many years to come.

Metal Mickey v Predator 360 camera cctv

Posted on by

Metal Mickey V Predator

Metal Mickey kumpara sa paninila. Sound ng ilang uri ng mga pamagat ng pelikula. Today inaabangan namin ang panahon sa bagong simboryo paninila kamakailan-lamang na inilabas sa pamamagitan ng 360 paningin at tingnan kung paano ito kumpara sa mga lider sa merkado sa Metal Mickey. Metal Mickey namin ang lahat ng nakita ko ang camera Metal Mickey sa Big Brother. Ito imperiously watch ang contestants at tunay na nagbibigay-daan sa malaman sa kanila na sila ay sa ilalim ng pangangasiwa. Ito ay ang kagandahan ng Metal Mickey, ito ay may “pagkakatigil” at ito ay malinaw naman sa likod ng tagumpay nito sa nakaraang ilang taon. Gayunpaman, ito ngayon ay may isang katunggali. Ito ay tinatawag na paninila. Paninila. Ito ay hindi kapani-paniwala bagong camera na binuo ang nangungunang koponan sa Vision 360 ay sakop sa bawat aspeto ng kung ano ang mga customer ay naghahanap sa uri ng mga high-profile na kamera. Ang paninila pangalan ay napakatalino dahil kamera ang anyong mirror ang mga sikat na kapangalan mula sa pelikula. Ito ay pananakot, masungit pero strangely kaaya-ayang paraan ito gumagalaw, medyo naiiba mula sa mga mas robotic Metal Mickey. Ano ang mga saklaw ng paninila sa iba? Kaya kung ano ang mga benepisyo ang claim na magkaroon ng higit pa sa produkto na katunggali? Well ito tiyak makina aesthetic disenyo. Ito rin ang boasts ng isang 3 motor bahagi para sa tahimik na makinis at napaka-tumpak na control. Ito ay bumalik pabalik sa kawali bearings galaw upang masiguro na urong-sulong ng libreng operasyon. Paninila dumating bilang parehong analogue camera at IP kamera upang matiyak na ito ay angkop para sa pagsama sa anumang solusyon sa seguridad. Ang paninila din ang mga simpleng gamitin. Ito ay naka-setup ng isang PC o laptop at tampok ng malawak na on-screen ng mga menu. Ito rin ay dumating na may maramihang mga protocol upang magkasya sa anumang umiiral na sistema ng CCTV. Kalidad. 360 paningin talagang dumating sa isang perlas dito. Ito ay angkop para sa anumang at kapaligiran ay mahalaga “ngunit mahirap estilo. Bilang ng ganitong uri ng seguridad na solusyon ikaw ay nagiging mas popular na ito ay ang presyo ng kamera ay maaari lamang pumunta mula sa lakas sa lakas ng Integrated CCTV merkado lugar.

How to provide a good service to your customers

Posted on by

What level of service do customers expect?

In today’s market place customers really do expect the very highest level of service. Companies need to provide continuity in terms of engineering staff and service levels. Redundancy in terms of spare parts is always an issue. Most of the top companies carry spare parts in local storage so that the company can offer a hot swap solution if a customers CCTV system fails. This can be costly and most customers do not appreciate just how expensive it is to provide this service.

Resilience.

The kit must be able to stand up to harsh environments when put out into the field. What most customers again don’t realise is that the saying buy cheap buy twice is often very true. It is almost always the case that the cheapest quote very rarely offers the best value in the long run

Response times.

A 4 hour response is generally accepted as a sensible and reasonable expectation but same day response rarely attracts a complaint. Follow up calls are often needed especially where parts are required. No engineer can be expected to carry every part on board that will be required for each job.

Training your customers.

A well trained customer who fully understands their CCTV system is a benefit. It means there is a better understanding of faults when the system fails and more likelihood it will be picked up by the customer before an incident occurs. Spending time talking to your customers will always pay dividends.

Conclusion.

Good practice, motivated staff, quality equipment and good training will always add up to a happy customer. Actually selling this at point of sale with the extra costs that are generally involved can be a more difficult matter. If you are an installer or service provider who has any points to add to the above observations please feel free to comment. On the other hand if you are a business who have experienced problems with your service provider please leave a comment with some of the bad things your have experienced at the hands of a CCTV installer.

Home office appoints interim CCTV regulator

Posted on by

New CCTV regulator appointed.

Andy Rennison has been appointed by the home office as the interim CCTV regulator. His role has been defined as one that will set standards and regulation for contemporary CCTV systems.

What is involved?

The job will include setting up a quality standards framework that will ensure that images are delivered that improve security, reduce crime, and create safe environments for the public and the business community.

Why now?

Essentially to enable CCTV to be used in the public domain it must be treated in the same way forensic evidence is processed by the police and the courts and to this end the aim is to ensure quality images are recovered and these are processed correctly during the  enhancement and analysis stage.

A modern standards framework.

The new regulator will also work towards a modern standards framework to guide us in the responsible use of CCTV and set regulation that will suit the public interest. With IP CCTV bringing new installers into the market place standards are crucial to ensure experience and high standards of installation are rewarded

Complaints process.

A complaints process will also be put in place to ensure the public feel that CCTV is being used correctly and this will also enable them to appreciate the benefits that the use of CCTV systems brings to us all. The interim process will take up to 12 months and its hoped will have the wide support of the public , police, courts and of course the government.

Much awaited detail and clarity.

As we all know business drives the CCTV market and the market place is moving quickly to embrace new IP camera technology and integrated CCTV systems. This brings us much awaited detail and clarity but also this change brings many new challenges especially from a forensic and evidential point of view . So to allow us all to go forward we need to take stock now, set standards and regulation that can be implemented and used by all to ensure CCTV continues to drive crime and unsociable behaviour away. This will give the public, police and courts the utmost confidence in this new IP world.