IFSEC 2011 – an alternative view

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IFSEC 2011

So, all the hype and advertising is now over….for another year

Was it worth the visit?

Well, this is just my take on it, but here goes….

Spread over 2 halls, Hall 4 and 5, IFSEC was probably no bigger than last year….something of a surprise in that much had been made of exhibitors returning after a year or two absence…..but we couldn’t really find much evidence of that – sure, Norbain were there in all of their fantastic glory (not to mention a dedicated stand purely for their new ‘entry level’ range of kit, SupaVu, yet another Vista or is that Xeno??? Confusion reigns!)

Stand of the show had to be Samsung…..word has it that it cost £750,000 !!!! it was stunning, but for £750k we imagine they could invest that more wisely in e-commerce/advertising etc and gain perhaps a comparable return to IFSEC?? Each to their own !! (Samsung – take note, we do a good deal on advertising!!!)

The Far Eastern section has now been split into Far Eastern country sections, something we feared would happen – China Village, Korea Village and also Taiwan Village….. We’re sure we spotted a few credit card machines and that doesn’t bode well – IFSEC is a trade show to view new technology and make decisions on new product lines – if stands (or booths as our Far Eastern friends like to call them) are taking orders from ANYONE what confidence do you have that they won’t be selling directly to YOUR end user customers……..not good for a fragile enough UK security industry….

What stood out? Well, a couple of things….. HD-CCTV seemed to be gaining traction (something we will post in another section) – There were a few stands offering HD-CCTV cameras and recorders as an alternative to the IP and HD standard offerings via Ethernet…

Rapid Deployment was prominent – CCTV, both static and PTZ – situated on poles, columns, vehicle trailers – all with the common theme, battery backed up, wireless transmission and on board recording to HDDs…. WCCTV, MEL Secure, DM/TransVu to name but a few.

It slowly dawned on us that the main cluster of the ‘big’ names were literally centred in the middle of both halls……as you moved slowly to the edge of each hall then the names were less known….but, not without interesting technology to view – Loc8tor to name one very interesting product offering….

But, with previous shows, you could easily spend a full day, perhaps even two, walking the aisles…….somehow, this years IFSEC was pretty much a couple of hours worth of viewing….unless you stopped for long periods at any of the stands, realistically it was possible to completely view the two halls by early afternoon…..

And, with more and more Far Eastern companies taking up more and more real estate, it does make us wonder if IFSEC has perhaps had it’s day? Contentious we know, but, it is a point to debate!!!

IFSEC 2011 news and reviews

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So here it is again. IFSEC 2011, time flies. Well it was a good journey up . No traffic and straight into the car-park without fuss. Have to say we were well impressed with the organization there. Still £8 for parking and we were all thinking inflation was running at 4.5%!!.

So into the show and checking in was easy. Faced immediately with the Risco stand we thought we would take a look. Lots of wireless intruder options and generally helpful chaps, well done Risco. We had no real plan in mind so started to wonder around and see what caught our eye. Bold communications were advertising that they were celebrating 30 years in the business and their stand certainly outlined that fact. Bold communications are the suppliers of integrated security monitoring software for small to medium sized central stations but also boast some pretty good customers such as the Mitie group, they certainly were able to demonstrate some advanced monitoring technology and and we left quite impressed.

Bombarded with literature we carried on taking in as many stalls as we could but generally attracted to the big names on show. Panasonic stood out and we headed that way. We have to say the stand was impressive, the cameras look great , the DVRs seem to be able to do just about anything, but the guys on the stand just did not seem to understand any of their products, each seeking answers from each other from what should have been simple questions. Not impressed although this observation can only reflect on those we talked to not all the guys on the stand. The Bosch stand was good and the Dallmeier offerings equally impressive, still exhibiting the Netbox we noticed! Walked past dedicated Micros as it just did not seem to have much interesting going on. We wanted to get some information on the Honeywell HRDP DVR did not seem like there was any literature left though, but the staff were helpful, so fair enough. Then we became interested in the HDCCTV on show. Now HDCCTV is a concept where by HDCCTV cameras can be connected to existing coax and the cameras viewed without the need for compression so true HD images can be viewed. Well plenty of  HDCCTV cameras on in the exhibition but no-one seemed to be able to offer us a recording solution, that was until we found Everfocus. They are pioneers of  HDCCTV over coax and offer the complete solution. This technology will sit nicely with smaller installers who have customers craving  HDCCTV cameras but without the cost involved of upgrading analogue to IP, lets see how this HDCCTV technology develops.

Lunchtime……. could IFSEC 2011 beat the offerings of IFSEC 2010? Well….. it was …..ok……..So on we go to the Adpro stand. They have released the new FastTrace 2 , now this one is a winner, a good name and a great product. A Hybrid recorder with transmission that central stations are familiar with and rock solid delivery of images, quality images at that.

Stand of the day was Samsung, fantastic,impressive and must of cost a few quid but it drew the crowds in and with good reason, excellent products to view and very helpful staff. Panasonic, learn from this!!!

Now a few mentions for others. Silvernet, great product.Wireless IP transmission, easy to set up and and some rave reviews about how successful some of thier projects have been. Recommended if you need wireless IP. Paxton as always were there and their new POE IP solutions look like they will make life easier for installers, so well done Paxton. Avigilon………..Quality !

Finally we had the side shows lots of exhibitors who had obviously travelled from afar to show off their cameras, DVRs, IP products etc. but they still lack the clout in the UK enjoyed by the recognised names so they tend to get politely passed by.

All in all a good exhibition, was not so IP focused as last year but the market place is still taking time to move that way , much to many peoples surprise. However IFSEC 2011 as an exhibition certainly held its own and will be worth a visit again next year.

FastTrace 2 from Adpro launches at IFSEC 2011

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FastTrace 2 from Adpro

Adpro has been the leading name in remote monitoring since the technology actually became commercially viable during the mid to late 90’s.The FastScan and FastView always delivered fantastic picture quality mainly over ISDN telephone lines and pretty much every central station runs Video Central Gold the front end receiving software a central station needs to process the images.

The next logical step for Adpro after the FastScan and FastView was to combine video transmission with high quality digital recording; this product was launched and came to the market place branded as the FastTrace.

A good product but unfortunately at the time a very expensive one. It was still cheaper to buy a FastView or FastScan and put a cheap DVR along side to do all your recording, so the FastTrace struggled in the early years.

Then came broadband and IP cameras, The FastTrace became not only expensive but the cheap DVRs could now do transmission over broadband and this seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for Adpro who watched their market share evaporate from market leader to also ran.

The trail then goes a little cold but Xtralis bought the Adpro product range and over the next few years fought to develop a product that could compete and sell against all the various recording and transmission units that seemed to flood the CCTV monitoring world.

The V3100H was born, a hybrid recorder with high quality transmission over broadband. The product has been a huge success but installers and end users alike are not that familiar with the name.

So add some clever analytics, write some more IP camera protocols into the software so the likes of Samsung and SANYO IP cameras can be integrated. Put some clever alarm programming features in to give installers excellent flexibility and the new Fast Trace 2 is born.

With a name the industry trusts and a high quality, robust product that is able to compete on price, The Fast Trace 2 will be a success and ADPRO is very likely to be the leading name in remote CCTV monitoring once again.

Gary Mercer of video IQ talks to Integrated CCTV about digital recording and video analytics

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A Beginners Guide to Video Analytics by Gary Mercer of VideoIQ
Part 1
There have been many significant technological advances in the security industry over the years, most of which we now take for granted.The transition from VCR’s to DVR’s and NVR’s, the introduction of the first colour/mono cameras and more recently the arrival of IP and Mega Pixel technologies.
In their own way each of these has been a significant breakthrough that has led to an improvement to the systems installed, either in terms of quality, price, or both. But in the most part none of these developments has altered the modus operandi of a CCTV surveillance system.

iCVR VideoIQ camera
iCVR Video IQ camera

The majority of new installations are still designed on the basis of continual recording, storage for 31 days and reactive responses to alarms or incidents. The advances in technology have now enabled us to have higher quality images, faster playback and intelligent searches with enormous levels of recorded data stored on hard drives with mind boggling capacities of terabytes and petabytes.
• Do we still have a high level of false alarms?•

Are we still reliant upon the diligence and alertness of an operator to spot an infringement?•

Do we still record thousands of hours of completely useless footage?•

Are installers and end users still locked into a 31 day recording cycle, originally written around the 24 hour time lapse VCR that was first introduced into our industry over 20years ago?
The answer to all of the above is yes!
So the $64 question is why are we using technologically advanced equipment to provide us with the same information (albeit in better quality) we used over 20 years ago?

The lack of change may in some cases be driven by end users who are locked into procedures based on the 31 day cycle and some of it by the manufacturers of the recording and transmission equipment, who do of course have a vested interest in maintaining the current methodology. And the marked reluctance of installers to change what they perceive as a winning formula, utilising PIR’s, PTZ’s and video transmission.
So should we be looking at alternatives?
Video analytics seem the natural choice but is it reliable? Is it difficult to install? Obvious questions, but as always it depends on which equipment you select and this choice is somewhat blurred by many manufacturers now claiming to have “on board analytics”.
Because of the lack of maturity of the video analytics market, many installers, who instinctively know a good DVR from a poor one, will be bemused at the diversity of VA products available. This is further clouded by a lack of clarity from the manufacturer as to the capabilities and limitations of their equipment.
Here at VideoIQ, we often spend as much time explaining to our customers what analytics won’t do rather that what it will do, in order to establish which of our many feature sets will be applicable to the installation in question.
In the second part of this guide I will deal with the fundamentals of Video Analytics and the questions installers and end users should ask their supplier in order to avoid specifying the wrong equipment. I will also simplify the various technologies utilised in video analytics and explain the limitations and pitfalls of some of the more basic forms.

Gary Mercer Sales Director VideoIQ  UK

IFSEC PTZ dome cameras

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PTZ dome cameras at IFSEC  2011

PTZ….as the acronym stands, Pan Tilt and Zoom

PTZ dome cameras at IFSEC

Years ago it was confined to huge behemoth camera housings, with large cameras and even larger optical zoom lenses……mounted on gigantic P&T units that rumbled and groaned at snails pace to get to their intended targets……..try tracking a WALKING man with one of those and you’ll know what I mean

And presets? Nope, only the REALLY expensive units offered those, upping the speeds slightly to enable something close to reasonable movement speed

Washers and wipers helped clear away the residue of a typical British day (please substitute ‘British’ for any rainy region!!! Except sunny ones of course!)

And night time use? IR lamps hung from the sides like huge ears, glowing faint red, or, if you invested more, completely invisible with 930nM+ bulbs

And bulbs……no warranty, could blow in 3mins, 3hrs or 3 years – no way of knowing until the time you needed them……and then the cost to replace…..

Roll forward to the 90’s…..great companies like Pelco, VCL, Ultrak, Vicon etc switch their attention to Dome based PTZs……quick, discreet, covert, presets…… Operators loved their ease of control, day/night capabilities offered great pictures day or night, rapid response to alarms to give near instant access to alarm presets

Dome drawbacks? No IR….where would you fit them?…..no wipers……no washers…..and by design, their covert appearance conspired against them in a deterrent requirement

Early 2000’s saw the introduction of the new age of PTZs….the ruggedised ‘bad boy’s of PTZ…..Bosch (formerly the great pioneers, Forward Vision) release the MIC range of units……unfairly, catching the imagination by it’s use on the Big Brother TV show….but hey, advertising nonetheless…….. Strong, quick, offering IR, wiper, washer etc etc….

Followed by Ganz with its AllView…..and others

High ticket value but specialist…….

Now, companies like Bosch, Ganz and the likes of UK Manufacturers 360 Vision Technology, are producing more and more innovative PTZ units that somehow complement domes, yet give the deterrent reassurance back to PTZ units…. 360 recently introducing a completely innovative and patented Dual White Light And IR unit to give colour images at night……discreet it is not, effective it most certainly is!

And rapid deployment companies are embracing these ruggedised units in their quest for the ultimate ‘tough’ unit to, well, rapidly deploy!

Go take a look at IFSEC 2011 and see the amount of overt, loud and proud ruggedised PTZ units are on display

And the future? Well my sources at one manufacturer suggests that HD and Megapixel will replace the ageing analogue camera units, offering HD quality that far exceeds even the highest resolution offered by today’s camera blocks…..

At the end of the day, it is indeed horses for courses…….but PTZ units are here to stay….and really, can a single static megapixel REALLY replace a PTZ with all it’s moving, zooming talent.