Perhaps one of the more overused buzzwords of the last decade is “convergence.” While its origins lie in the foundational achievement of the convergence of networking and routing using a common Internet Protocol (IP), telecommunication companies and cable operators have brought this terminology mainstream to describe the passing of voice, data and digital media, such as video, over some common network infrastructure.
This month, Bill Whitmore, Chairman and CEO of AlliedBarton, will release his book, Potential, Workplace Violence Prevention and Your Organization’s Success. “As business leaders, the safety and security of our employees is critical to our operations,” Whitmore says. “As individuals, the well-being of those to whom we have promised a safe workplace is a great responsibility. And in today’s society, implementing safety initiatives and security programs is only the beginning.
Communicate security’s value. Save money. Create business efficiencies. Reduce risk. Gene James did that and more. He saved Jack in the Box $1.9 million dollars.
SecurityXchange, held this year in Park City, Utah, has come a long way since it was founded shortly after 9/11. Every year, the event gathers integrators and manufacturers together for targeted meetings focused on relationships, both establishing new ones and building into existing relationships, as well as finding new technology solutions. This year, more than 325 scheduled meetings occurred during the event — in addition to the impromptu meetings over lunch, dinner and drinks.
It started with fairly simple video motion detection, a certain change in pixels raises an alert. Nowadays, algorithms – basically instances of logic to produce output from given video input – have expanded to cover people, behavior, demographics, traffic patterns, objects, vehicles and virtual perimeters. Video analytics has also evolved beyond security to include myriad business applications that can range from highway traffic management to retail merchandizing.
Brains or beauty? Both are bundled into many of today’s enterprise-sized security video designs, which intelligently apply technology, smartly migrate from analog to digital and wisely solve challenges both security and business related.
In most corporate sectors those responsible for providing leadership, guidance, perspective and program management are torn between the corporate realities and the unthinkable damage one catastrophic incident of homicidal violence will have on their personal reputation and the corporate image. I am reminded of The 10 Myths of Workplace Violenceoriginally introduced by Dr. John Baron, PhD, arguing the need to implement basic workplace prevention strategies. Of which the most memorable myths that come to mind are “It won’t happen here” and “Workplace violence is not preventable.” Integrating and Collaborating Resources allows for the sharing of the Workplace Violence Prevention Mission through “strategic intervention.” Why? Because it allows for flexibility in managing the program in organizations, eliminates the stovepipe approach and spreads the program management and commitment throughout the organization.
When the 16-acre campus of the new World Trade Center and Memorial and Museum was being designed, architects were solely focused on building the strongest structure they could. But New York City officials targeted their attention to how to secure the perimeter of what is certain to become a significant attraction, expecting to host more than 250,000 travelers per day when it opens in 2014. Diebold, Inc. will design and implement the security system for the facility, where the World Trade Center Transportation Hub will re-establish the transportation infrastructure and facilities in existence before September 11, 2001, and transform Lower Manhattan into the third largest of the transportation center in the city.
The surveillance industry has seen a massive amount of innovation in the past decade. New technologies, revised efficiency requirements and an information-centric workforce all continue to demand new approaches. However, in most cases, these innovations – ranging from IP networks and remote access to intelligent search technology – lag several years behind similar advancements in the IT sector.
On Sept. 11, 2001, Stephen Morrill spoke to the FBI, dealt with the media, executed a crisis management plan, comforted a grieving family and assisted company employees get safely home. And all that was all before the end of the business day.