ZX55 Infrared Imager.

The Bosch ZX55 Infrared Imager is a camera specifically designed for perimeter protection. It is ideal where the end user has long fence-lines that would require perhaps 3 or 4 standard CCTV cameras to take in the same coverage and critical information.

Powerful camera lens.

The ZX55 is fitted as standard with a powerful 9-90 mm lens and uses Black Diamond infrared technology for illumination. Bosch claim that with the correct field of view, identification can be achieved at up to 100m however usable images can be achieved at up to 300m making this camera a very high performance unit.

Analytics

If you require alarm event notification there is the ZX55-IP it has all the features we have listed above but in addition has on board analytics . Together with the Black diamond illumination, night-time pictures are excellent. The IR technology  helps eliminate hot-spot foregrounds as well as underexposed backgrounds. Black diamond technology also is effective at reducing image noise, this means better compression increasing storage and reducing costs.

All weather construction.

The camera is designed to perform in all weathers as you would expect and has a rugged design to suit all needs.It has been designed to survive a 250km/h wind loading.

Conclusion

Although the camera is not cheap you would not expect this with all the technology and the specification. It wins on performance and reduces costs because this one IP camera solution can be deployed in place of 3-4 standard cameras fitted with IR technology and sensor detection . Visit  Bosch IFSEC IP cameras for more information on both the ZX55 and the ZX55-IP camera solution.

IP CCTV cameras supply the solution.

The police and courts are being encouraged by the picture and recording quality that is now available from both HD CCTV and Megapixel IP cameras. For too long now we have had recorded images that simply are not good enough to secure convictions.

Highlighted in recent report.

This was recently highlighted in an internal report from the Metropolitan police who have compiled figures to prove that for every 1000 CCTV cameras that are positioned across the capital just one crime is solved. Add to this the comments made by a representative of Scyron the company who help the police analyse footage, as he said, as many as half of all of the CCTV cameras across the UK are of no use whatsoever.

Analytics.

Police are also encouraging the use of analytics on existing analogue cameras to ensure that only images are recorded when required ie. when loitering is taking place in known drug dealing areas or fighting outside drinking establishments. This encourages the public that they are not being watched constantly by the Big brother state.

Things must improve.

All the above will help improve every aspect of  CCTV and surveillance in the UK customers will finally get the picture and recording quality they deserve and criminals will find themselves faced with indisputable CCTV evidence to convict them in court. Once people realize the clarity and usability of the pictures then ultimately crime will be reduced . A benefit to us all.

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!

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.

Who takes the wrap when the network goes down?

It seems a fairly simple question. A break -in has occurred, there is a very large loss and someone needs to pay up. Well of course it must be the installer who is to blame? Perhaps in the old days of analogue CCTV systems it generally was and often quite easy to prove that this was the case.

Integrated IP solutions means things are different now.

IP security solutions mean that by the very nature of the product there are lots of different technologies integrated into one holistic solution. We now have an installers cameras going onto to a customers network , linked to a router (sometimes wireless) connected to an unmonitored broadband connection. Then we send the data through countless different routes in the Internet cloud, to be finally viewed by a third party monitoring station. Lots to go awry i would suggest and no real way of finding out who is to blame when things go wrong.

Emizon IP monitoring.

The very first thing that installers should insist upon is that the broadband line is properly monitored and Emizon offers that solution. It gives the peace of mind to the installer and the customer that should the broadband line fail for any reason the key holders will be called . In addition it gives the installer the ability following an incident to check that the line was intact at the time.

Third party remote connection.

It is also crucial that the installer has the ability to remotely connect to the customers site at all times. Most DVR’s and VMS software gives a comprehensive log of how the customers network is responding and will also record if any cameras have failed and for what reason .

Logs at the central station.

Finally a central station should be used that offers both the customer and the installer complete transparency when it comes to viewing events stored at the monitoring centre. The best RVRC’s offer this service through a web browser and this can never be underestimated as a service when a dispute arises.

In summary.

With analytics becoming more popular in generating alarms and cameras becoming more powerful in the images they can provide, remote monitoring of  IP camera systems will be increasing. Failure however in picking up incidents will never go away but the best installers will ensure that with extensive testing during the commissioning process and service engineers who always fully test systems during routine maintenance will suffer far fewer incidents and far fewer cases of litigation against them.

Advice on choosing a CCTV installer

My advice to end users is choose your installer with care IT integrators may seem an attractive solution but there is no substitute for a professional CCTV installer.