Four security market leaders gazed into their crystal balls and shared their thoughts on “Technology Trends in the 21st Century” at the 12th annual Securing New Ground conference in New York City in November 2007. Security Magazine is a partner. The group focused on IP video, network solutions and video analytics because, as moderator Sandra Jones, principal, Sandra Jones & Co., Chardon, Ohio, summarized: “These are sectors with the greatest growth potential, both in and of themselves and as drivers of additional technologies.” Panel members were:

• Bob Beliles, senior manager physical security, Cisco Systems.
  
  
• Ray Mauritsson, CEO of Swedish-based Axis Communications.
  
  
• John Romanowich, president, SightLogix.
  
  
• Scott Schafer, senior vice president, Pelco, a Clovis, Calif., manufacturer of video security systems.

The Zalud Report asked Linda Pohle, a contributing writer and editor of the ISC Show Dailies, to provide this report.

The Video Opportunity

According to Mauritsson, average worldwide penetration of network cameras is only 15 percent. With plenty of room to grow, Mauritsson said “the technology shift from traditional analog to digital network cameras is a strong and accelerating trend.” Three advancements are fueling this shift by significantly improving network camera performance:

• Higher megapixel cameras provide better quality images over larger areas.
  
  
• H-264 compression is becoming the new standard, reducing bandwidth and storage requirements.
  
  
• Video intelligence and analytics at edge devices are transforming video into meaningful data for end users.

Value of Technology

Panel members emphasized that the value of these emerging and evolving technologies is not in their bells and whistles. Value, as Jones put it, “is creating intelligent environments and providing access to realtime information anywhere at any time. The bottom line of video is the bottom line of business.”

“When designing technology, we need to think about what keeps end-users up at night,” explained Romanowich. “One big worry is business disruption and the huge losses, both in dollars and reputation, it can cause. Video security measures become more valuable to a business when they prevent or minimize disruption by giving responders information quickly and accurately about the nature of an event and where it is—day or night.”

Cisco’s Bob Beliles believes the network is the value linchpin. He described the network as a “transformational platform” that can turn once siloed infrastructure expenses into collaborative application assets. “As networked applications, safety and security gain new capabilities and provide additional cross-functional capabilities that facilitate information sharing, correlation and collaboration with peer and organizational applications. Intelligent video surveillance, for example, enhances security and gives other departments, such as marketing, information to improve customer service and facilitate productivity.”

New Opportunity, New Challenge

New video technologies are creating new challenges for everyone. “Reliability, scalability, ease of installation and supportability are more important considerations for manufacturers today than inventing, say, a core processor,” noted Pelco’s Scott Schafer. “Providing measured business value is an important new requirement in the sale, delivery and support of IP-based systems. There’s a very real need for system integrators to be more consultative in their approach and provide more system design than ever before.”

Beliles added, “There’s a lot to learn about networking. You don’t get video over the network suitable for business use simply by putting an Ethernet chip on the backend of a camera or recorder and running it over an IP network. That’s just a science fair project.

“The fact is many networked systems are difficult to deploy. Manufacturers that make IP video and video analytics easier to provision and easier to connect to other systems will be the winners, as well as their integrators and end-users.”

SIDEBAR: SecurityXchange Hits It Big

Before Securing New Ground, Security Magazine presented a unique, first of its kind event called SecurityXchange in the Phoenix area and which brought together high levels chief security officers with technology experts. TSS International was a critical component to the event’s success by providing consulting services and using that firm’s strong business relationships.

TSS International is an executive search and consulting firm specializing in recruiting, organizational design, cultural development and leadership development. For Zalud Report readers, to learn more about TSS International, contact David Cullen at (781) 328-4190. To learn more about future SecurityXchange forums, visit www.security-xchange.com.