Tag Archives: integrated CCTV

NSI, SSAIB why they are needed within the CCTV industry.

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SSAIB, NACOSS, NSI

It does not matter what inspectorate you use, the need to audit is an unquestionable asset in the security industry today. To be fair most of the big companies are “forced” to subscribe to an auditor to be able to give the correct certification to their customers in order that the customer can comply with their insurers demands.

The dreaded visit.

It is fair to say that most company Quality assurance managers dread the impending visit by their inspector,  MD’s also tend to fuss around at the last minute trying to ensure that all their paperwork is up to date and all their internal and external audits have been completed. Staff are briefed what to say and the office and vehicles are meticulously cleaned ready to greet the unwelcome guest.

Think about it though!

Why is this necessary though? At the end of the day all the inspector will look at is to see that you do what you actually say you do in order to give your customers fair service , well installed equipment and value for money. The company should always work to these standards and seek to continuously improve on them. Whats wrong with doing what you have agreed to do when you are certificated? After all it is usually the MD or QAM who has written the proceedures your company will be following anyway.

What are the benefits of being audited?

Well, training is audited , administrative procedures to, Installation standards, stock control, security screening and so on. All of these things are a crucial to maintaining the highest standards within your company. Lets be honest would you want to let anyone into your house or business to install something as sensitive as a security system if they had not been audited on the above subjects? I would think not!

It should be easy.

It certainly should be easy. All your company and its employees have to do is follow the instructions written down in your company manual , simple! Any changes or improvements to procedures simply need to be noted and updated within the manual and adhered to. Anyone cutting corners or breaking company procedures really do need to be reprimanded and bought to book . After all you must want staff to do as they are are asked and follow the instructions laid down pretty much to the letter.

Changes within the industry.

With the rapid introduction of integrated CCTV, IP cameras and integrated access control companies and inspectorates alike must adapt to these changes. Manuals will need to be re-written and procedures changed especially bearing in mind that third party networks will form the backbone of any IP CCTV solutions in the integrated security market place. This being said it will not be insurmountable to introduce standards to ensure the end user is not short changed.

Summary.

So in summary being regulated and inspected is actually good for all involved . Security companies get the staff they deserve and the staff get the training and clear working mandate they need. Most importantly the security industry is thankfully short of cowboy installers and this of course means that the end user can be rest assured that they will get a well installed reliable security solution.

Raytec,the lighting solution for CCTV

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About the Raytec lighting system

Raytec supply state-of-the-art lighting systems, basically they have pitched their product as an energy saving method of illuminating areas covered by CCTV cameras. They use energy efficient LED lighting technology that can either be white light of infra-red.

Energy saving

By using LED lighting, cost savings can be quite dramatic, cameras nowadays need very little light to work effectively, so, although the light given off is not as bright as a traditional halogen light, it is still highly effective and can also be used as working light to. We did notice that if you look directly at these lights they can be blinding,  so we do not recommend this!

So how much can it save?

A recent study estimated  that an organisation using 200 old-style CCTV lights will save at least £90,000 per year by switching to Raytec LED technology. This is based upon 4,400 hours usage per year at 10p kw/hr; The above cost saving also takes into account bulb changes including the labour involved  to change existing halogen light bulbs and fittings.

How often will the bulbs need changing?

Well, Raytec have proved that their lights have a longer life cycle than an ordinary halogen. Not surprising really as halogen bulbs tend to be highly volatile and often burn out the nipples that hold the bulb in place when they blow. Halogens are generally poorly manufactured (therefore the low cost) and rust making them very difficult to get into to change the bulb if they have been up on a wall for a number of years. Better reliability means of course when a critical situation arises ie a break in or an accident the lights are more likely to be working and the incident caught on CCTV .

Lighting Amnesty

Raytec are currently promoting a “Lighting Amnesty”  the hope is end users and CCTV providers alike will be encouraged to upgrade to be more energy efficient and of course gain more reliability.

Cost.

Inevitably all things come down to cost. To be fair the Raytec illuminator is not cheap by any stretch of the imagination. Security companies have struggled purely on price to integrate this product and sell to end users and get Raytec lighting up on the wall. Lead times are poor as well. When you order the product 6 weeks is not unusual. So if Raytec are to see more of their product sold the above must be addressed

Can we get integrated CCTV solutions using this product?

Installers need this product. It will eventually be the only realistic way to light a site but competitors may take a good share of the market if they are able to replicate the LED solution at a cheaper price without infringing on any patents.

CCTV integration across the world

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CCTV integrado …………………….Spanish

Integrati TVCC……………………….Italian

Integrierte CCTV……………………German

Integree CCTV……………………….French

Integreret CCTV…………………….Danish

Geintegreerde CCTV………………Dutch

Pinagsama-samang CCTV……….philippino

Integrert CCTV……………………….Norwegian

Integrerade CCTV…………………..Swedish

Zintegrowane CCTV………………..Polish

Adpro upgrade to IP

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Adpro

For many years now the Adpro has been the old workhorse in the CCTV monitoring market place. It was originally conceived to use the “new” ISDN technology that took off in the late 90’s. It’s success was phenomenal and it dominated the market place for 10 years or more. Its crown finally started to slip when competitors started bringing out IP security solutions that could both record and transmit pictures but most importantly transmit pictures over IP networks.

So is Adpro finished as a product?

Many would say yes, but in its defence it is very stable and very reliable. Why change?  The main reason is simple . ISDN is being phased out and Adpro have not come up with a competitively priced product that can compete with some of the newer players on the market. It may also be suggested that Adpro was so confident with its market share it took its eye off the ball and started to to try to penetrate the external PIR market instead of concentrating on its core product , transmission of CCTV images.

But all is not lost.

What many installers have overlooked in an effort to sell DVR’s that can include  integrated CCTV and IP cameras  but also transmit images, is that Adpro has always been capable of IP transmission. It’s just that when Adpro was the number 1 player , IP was not ready for it!  So we have hundreds if not thousands of  Adpro transmission units out there still chugging away and working on ISDN phone lines.

Upgrade

 We can upgrade the units still out there by simply fitting a suitable IP converter to the Adpro and then plugging this into a network. We then have a stable , reliable IP transmission path to the central stations who’s front end software can easily accept the new IP transmitted  signalling.

What does this mean to the customer?

Well the customer gets better quality transmission , he is also able to do away with expensive ISDN lines and most importantly the call charges. It is estimated that a site with average traffic to a central station on ISDN will cost at least £1000 per annum. The upgrade should be able to be done for much less than this , delivering savings in the very first year.

So why is this not happening more?

Its all about economics, why would an IP CCTV systems seller upgrade a legacy product that is going to make him very little money. Any salesman worth his salt would always try to pursued a customer that buying a brand new DVR with all the bells and whistles is the way forward. This may of course be true but there is definitely a case to be made for preserving the old Adpro technology and we are pleased to be able to inform you the end user that you actually have more choice than you thought.

Video sphere VMS software

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Why VMS ?

There are many benefits being touted about Video sphere VMS software.The main one we can see is the ability to support so many applications and be so flexible when trying to design a hybrid CCTV system.

The framework to have a scalable IP CCTV solution.

Video sphere can support small, medium and large applications that need IP CCTV solutions but need to consider legacy analogue devices . By using codecs all analogue camera equipment can be converted to IP CCTV cameras and integrated into the VMS framework. Video streaming of high frame rates up to 256 IP or converted analogue cameras per server. Ultimately by correctly configuring the network servers VMS can support thousands of cameras across a company group.

MPEG4 and H.264.

Both the above video compression formats are supported by VMS as is multiple PTZ IP cameras and video sphere HD IP solutions. As we mentioned before codecs in the form of Edge encoders are used to introduce analogue cameras in to the overall solution and this then enables existing equipment to run analytics that make these cameras intelligent this has to be considered a valuable upgrade benefit.

Alarm switching.

An important part of all IP solutions is the ability to support alarm switching to follow analytic generated alarms. VMS does this and can also be integrated to data sources such as ATM and POS transactions.

Conclusion.

VMS is a powerful piece of software , designed to be future proofed and has many features and benefits that will suit designers of IP camera solutions and integrated CCTV. It does need a robust server to work in unison with it that can back up recorded images effectively and this does add to the cost. However VMS does offer the maximum flexibility and has many benefits over black box solutions that ultimately will become a thing of the past over time.