At the ISC West conference in 2009, I saw a great keynote speech delivered by Lt. General Kenneth Minihan, former Director of both the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) and the National Security Agency (NSA).
Hospital and healthcare settings offer many ways to use video surveillance. The security needs of these institutions reflect the life-or-death work they do and also a volatile environment where emotions can run high.
In the Norton Healthcare System in Louisville, Ky., there are behavioral patients who need round-the-clock monitoring. To do so, explains Stanley Helm, security director, the rooms are equipped with security cameras. But the cameras used for years required plenty of background light in order to get clear pictures, and that meant the lights were always turned on, even when the patients were trying to sleep.
When loss prevention directors first brought security video into their stores, an initial aim was to deter shoplifters or, if that failed, use the recorded video to make the shoplifter agree to restitution, or to fight slip and falls.
As video surveillance systems continue to grow in size and functionality with new technologies driving even higher levels of performance, there’s still one basic premise that applies to each and every one of them: if the power goes down, your system is of little practical value.
In IP video surveillance understanding the relationship and interdependencies between bandwidth (any/all cameras and storage playback), the network switches and Virtual Local Area Networks (VLANs) can be daunting. But it doesn’t have to be. Also, how does this relate to the operational and business needs and goals of the physical security organization?
Bigger isn’t always better and less can beat more. Important keys to the video kingdom now include aspect ratio, actual resolution, frame rate and color rendition. Standards are essential except when they are not.
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