Video Surveillance

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In this age of heightened security, the sheer quantity of video needing to be monitored from cameras observing sensitive locations can be a daunting challenge for security professionals at all levels. Added to this task is the expense and potential fallibility of dedicated personnel hired to scrutinize video displays for extended periods of time.

Sooner or later, it always happens with a technology discussion; we get to the alphabet soup section. There are a variety of storage options available, the most prevalent being – 1. Direct-Attached Storage (DAS), 2. Network-Attached Storage (NAS) and 3. Storage Area Networks (SAN).

The rate at which many technologies are evolving is astounding. Just think what today’s smartphone can do, how email and the Internet have changed our work lives, or how the fax machine — though useful — is now considered outdated. This rapid evolution brings us many new opportunities; it also raises the challenge of what to do with systems, technology and equipment that are still functional, but no longer as effective. Security and surveillance markets in particular are affected by these exponential advancements.

As the digital transformation of video has progressed, we’ve seen the same sorts of innovations in video that we’ve seen over the years in other realms of information technology. First came video analytics – a market segment that’s still seeing new and smarter software packages emerge every quarter. Then came innovations in storage, with virtualized servers and cloud storage, which have opened up new ways to reduce storage needs and optimize capacity.

Achieving effective security over perimeters and outdoor areas often comes down to detection accuracy and solution cost. While there are a number of options available for perimeter security, thermal video analytic cameras have become a strong contender for best-of-breed in this arena.

As a general rule, forecasting is a bit of guessing. Even economists, whose job it is to make sense of hardcore data and then give solid analysis, often are reduced to intelligent guessing. But security leaders know better. They know what they’ll likely face in 2012, namely terrorism, workplace violence, fraud, cybercrime, regulatory compliance, natural disasters, theft, intellectual property, brand protection, budget concerns and more – the same trends identified in Security magazine’s 2011 Security 500 report.

Storage costs money. With the growing attraction of megapixel cameras coupled with expanding security video uses ranging from forensics to marketing, the storage price tag can go up and up. Then, depending on the devices and their closeness to the IT operation, there is the cost of running and cooling the gear as well as the investment in backup and redundant storage systems.

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.