Because physical security information management (PSIM) systems serve as a central point for incident information and communications, they add significant value to computer-aided dispatch, or CAD, systems. Users such as the Port of Long Beach, a Proximex customer, and New York City's Joint Transportation Management Center, a Vidsys customer, are using PSIM and CAD together to manage incoming calls and alarms--by phone, panic button or sensor--and determine and notify nearby responders. PSIM and CAD can be particularly effective in managing and documenting interagency communications during an emergency
At the 2010 ASIS International Seminar and Exhibits last month, we asked PSIM vendors such as Cisco, Vidsys, Proximex and Intergraph about the complementary relationship between PSIM and CAD.
Their comments are featured in the video embedded below. Or watch at YouTube.
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Cloud Computing and Emergency Management The Family CloudVideo analytics is still trying to get over its reputation for overhype. Most vendors are trying to manage expectations, and its pretty much established that analytics perform well when designed to detect trespassing, loitering or attempts at unauthorized entry. Still questionable are applications such as facial recognition and bag-left-behind. Also low light, foliage and background movement can create problems.
Some vendors are trying a new tack, however, steering away from hype and talking instead about how analytics add value in a networked security environment. When integrated with a video management platform, analytics can used in searched of stored video without pre-set rules. Third-party software and applications, such as Google Earth, can be overlayed on the system. Analytics are even finding applications beyond security. The technology can be used in people counting and other business performance metrics, examples of which surfaced at last month at ASIS.International in Dallas.
During the show, I visited with several analytics companies to look at the ways analytics, when combined with video management, create a strong value proposition. My video report showcases interviews with VideoIQ, AgentVI, DVTel/ioimage, ObjectVideo (via Cisco Systems) and France-based start-up Keeneo, along with several demonstrations.
Watch below or on YouTube.
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The Dallas Police Department's outdoor video surveillance system is considered one of the most successful deployments of an IP-based mesh wireless network for urban security. Its vendor, Firetide, claims it is the largest all-wireless city surveillance network in the U.S. Security Squared accompanied attendees on their visit to the department's video surveillance operations center at Dallas City Hall, part of the program at the 2010 ASIS International Seminar and Exhibits.
Sony and Panasonic digital pan-tilt-zoom cameras, along with power units and antennas, are mounted on streetlight and traffic signal poles. The cameras cover downtown and the outlying areas of Uptown, Jubilee Park and Jefferson Boulevard. The mesh wireless system permits both redundancy and efficient use of radio bandwidth by balancing load intelligently among the many routers and nodes of the network. Video is managed by an OnSSI Ocularis system.
The DPD credits the network as instrumental in reducing street crime, vandalism, street-corner drug dealing, loitering and prostitution. In addition to comments from DPD Capt. J.R. Bragge and Sgt. Rosalind Perry, our video shows examples of the Dallas cameras catching a car break-in and mugging. In both cases the video led to arrests. Our video also includes a look at how Lextech Labs technology is pushing surveillance video to iPads and iPhones.
The DPD says the surveillance cameras have resulted in more than 2,100 arrests in 2010 alone. Overall crime has dropped 35 percent in the downtown area, and 59 percent in the Jubilee Park neighborhood since 2007, the year the first cameras came on line.
Embed is below, or view at YouTube.
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Although tucked away on the far end of the ASIS International exhibit hall, Raytheon's introduction of Clear View, a platform for integrating sensors with video management, attracted significant attention.
When a sensor is triggered, the system automatically focuses video on the source and begins tracking. Raytheon was demonstrating a border protection application that could turn cameras on a suspected illegal entry if the individual tripped a ground sensor. Cameras would then zoom in and track the suspect. At the same time, once a person or object triggers one alarm and draws video attention, the system will not repeat the alarm if the same person or object triggers another sensor. This keeps the number of alarms down while focusing the attention of security operators on the immediate problem, said Kevin Stevens, strategy and planning consultant for border security at Raytheon Homeland Security and a retired deputy chief of the U.S. Border Patrol.
The suspect's location and movement could also be projected onto an aerial view of the area, which also could show his or her relative distance from the camera, Stevens said. Should the suspect disappear behind foliage or rocks or another obstruction to visibility, onboard algorithms would calculate the suspect's movement and direction while out of sight and pick-up surveillance upon re-emergence. Raytheon demonstrated the system with individuals on foot and with vehicles.
The system can be "configured on the ground," added Curt Powell, director of transportation and border security for Raytheon Homeland Security, and adapted to a user's current requirements. Clear View provides command and control functions via a single interface that can be overlaid on top of existing applications, using a service-oriented architecture, and will work with existing sensors and cameras, Powell said. Changes can be easily made. The system is available now, he said, with pricing based on configuration. While the company was demonstrating a wide area border protection application, the system is also designed to work in smaller installations at single sites. "We're all getting sensory overload," Powell said. "This is the glue that brings it together."
Find more ASIS coverage at Security Squared.
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Among the most notable of patterns at 2010 ASIS International Seminar and Exhibits two weeks ago in was the emphasis on public sector applications both in exhibitor booth demos and in press interviews.
Not so surprising since security purchasing has remained strong from federal to local government levels, and despite budget constraints, it's an area that cities and states are still regularly funding. Firetide, OnSSI and systems integrator Bearcom, for example, hosted a tour of the Dallas Police Department's operations center that's supported by the mesh wireless video surveillance network of some 150 cameras covering parts of downtown.
But beyond the tours and demos, more vendors say they see urban security as a critical element of "smart city" initiatives that are gaining attention worldwide. These plans, spearheaded by major computing and networking companies like IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco Systems, envision large but flexible IT infrastructures supporting intelligent traffic systems, smart energy grids and seamless connectivity with IP-enabled consumer platforms, such a smartphones and tablet PCs. Security, nonetheless, is the initial application that opens the door to a large-scale smart city project, executives at Cisco, Firetide and March Networks all said.
Cisco, for example, paired the introduction of its Physical Security Operations Manager (PSOM) with its announcement of a smart-city pilot program in Holyoke, Mass.
Cisco's Smart+Connected Communities initiative is positioned as transformative in terms of re-inventing a broad cross-section of city services, yet its first phase will use Cisco IP Interoperability and Collaboration System (IPICS) to provide an integrated radio interoperability system for police and fire departments to support the effective deployment of first-responder services.
For its part, PSOM, a physical security information management-like tool, provides a unified interface to manage IPICS, Cisco Video Surveillance Manager and Cisco Physical Access Manager from one console.
Cisco, however, tends to shy away from the PSIM label, pointing out that its PSOM incorporates technology from Proximex, Vidsys and Intergraph, all considered PSIM players in the own right. Cisco positions PSOM as an integration platform that lets users better exploit Cisco's own network IP hardware and software in security applications, a market strategy on which it has settled after several fits and starts.
When it first entered the physical security sector in 2007 after its acquisitions of BroadWave and Ipixx, Cisco's initial bent seemed to be toward IP cameras and video management software. That shifted when it announced an alliance with Pelco at last year's ASIS. Now, with a product strategy more conducive to security interoperability, Cisco seems to be relying heavily on its networking clout and brand awareness to offer smaller and lower-capitalized vendors of IP-based security gear a path to the truly large government business managed by major IT contractors. As Craig Cotton, senior director, product marketing for Cisco's Physical Security Business Unit, Cisco's seeks to be an "integrator for the integrators."
Cisco is not alone. A month before ASIS, March Networks, along with seven other Canadian telecom and networking companies, announced formation of the Secure City Technology Alliance (SCTA). The group brings together suppliers of equipment ranging from intelligent mass notification systems to backhaul microwave systems to high-capacity sensor message routers, all of which easily fit into large-scale urban emergency operations centers.
In its own version of integrating for the integrators, the alliance allows individual SCTA members to offer users pre-certified interoperable equipment out-of-the-box from other SCTA partners. March Networks, for example, can offer its video management systems with BelAir Networks' wireless network systems and Benbria's mass notification system. Users always have the option of choosing other vendors, but SCTA sees more to be gained through a broad partnership based on interoperability.
Like Cisco, Robert Wu, SCTA managing director and vice president of alliances and corporate development at March Networks, sees urban security networks ultimately fitting into a larger IT and telecom infrastructure. Cities and towns are no longer configuring their IT networks and applications in isolation of each other because it is too expensive and inefficient to do it that way. "Wireless networks cannot be built for a single function," he said, using one example. "There are applications for security, smart grids, meter reading and WiFi hotspots." All of these can contribute to a to a return on investment while securing the environment and making local government more IT-friendly for citizens.
Established integrators also responding to this trend closely. ADT is raising its profile on the IT side. "Enterprise risk strategies, PCI [payment card industry], Sarbox [the Sarbanes-Oxley bill] all tie back to IT," said Bruce Sachetti, director, information technology, new product introduction and convergence at ADT Security Services. "The security function is rolling under the CIO."
In the public sector, IT organizations see security centers as equivalent to any other network operations center, and view PSIM as tool to unifying management, Sachetti said. But that's not to say they view PSIM as a simple appliance. In fact, he said, IT managers are more likely to appreciate the complexity and sophistication of the software. "For the IT guys, [PSIM] is much like an ERP [enterprise resource planning] or CRM [customer relationship management] system," Sachetti said. "They think IT should install it and provide support."
Find this article and more reporting from ASIS 2010 at Security Squared.
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I've been writing about the transition to digital and IP video for several years, and after spending three-and-a-half days at ASIS International in Dallas last week, I'm happy to say that the market is at last truly grasping the significance of this shift. This is largely due to the fact that the industry now has something more than sizzle to sell.
Up to last year, when it came to communicating the benefits of digital, vendors had little more than concepts and the occasional prototype to offer. Like any disruptive technology, appreciation comes through actual use. Users who have deployed megapixel cameras certainly knew they would see the difference in image quality. They also knew that digital video could be transmitted and managed across multiple platforms. The value proposition of the benefits, though, remained elusive until they had product in their hands.
In short, jargon about pixel counts and lines of resolution takes a back seat when you can view and manipulate real-time surveillance video on an iPad.
In fact, the rapid and energetic convergence of wireless, networking and HD video consumer electronics is a sub-story to the digital video revolution in surveillance. CSOs and CISOs now know what HD looks like. They go home to 16 x 9 plasma HD flat screens that can provide indisputable visual proof of an umpire's blown call. Meanwhile, Apple's iPhone and Google's Droid finally have delivered on the promise of mobile broadband. Usually it's business that leads the applications curve, but in video security, it's the other way around.
I'm not saying that these systems are easy to engineer. Significant back-end integration is still necessary (and poses both technical and competitive challenges for physical security integrators). Users are learning, however, that the investment is worth it because they can get digital video--and its inherent information--to more people faster. What's more, the information is delivered via platforms that are familiar - smartphones, text messages, social networking, to name three.
That's why the question today for most organizations about digital video is not if, but when. One of the major product trends at ASIS from established VMS companies was their introduction of IP video and video management for the medium- to low-end. As Eric Fullerton, chief sales and marketing officer for Milestone Systems, told me, "We don't want people to choose analog over IP simply because they don't have the budget." Milestone, Avigilon, Genetec, March Networks, NICE Systems and Timesight all in some way announced versions of their high-end video management software for small and medium-sized systems. Even in cases where these vendors may have had an existing package targeting the SME segment, that offering is being replaced by a version that contains or adapts the core software in the higher end system.
The idea is to offer users an easy way to shift incrementally from analog to digital, then set an upgrade path as users grow their installations. Additional features and functions, such as storage and analytics, can be purchased a la carte as needed.
Speaking of analytics, digital video is also giving users a better handle on the capabilities and limitations of the technology, while sparking vendors to develop better algorithms and interfaces. Digital and megapixel images can boost the performance of analytics, and, since the digital video is data, it can be processed into information that can be presented graphically, such as a bar chart showing foot traffic by hour.
Finally, the networking benefits of digital video may help larger users navigate the often confusing terrain of physical security information management (PSIM). Again, once agencies begin to integrate and manipulate video data through geophysical databases like Google Earth and route them through computer-aided dispatch and mass notification systems, the increased value and utility immediately become tangible.
In fact, the whole value proposition of convergence and integration got a practical demonstration during ASIS. One night during the show, several laptops were stolen from the Moog booth, which was in the field of view of live IP cameras mounted in the adjacent Milestone booth. Using Milestone's XProtect software equipped with an archiving system from Rimage and BriefCam's Synopsis viewer, which allows users to search hours of video to find key events within minutes, the Dallas Convention Center security staff was able to get a high-resolution picture that could positively identify the thief as an employee of the nighttime service staff. When confronted with the video, the employee confessed and implicated at least two other employees as part of his ring. He returned the stolen Moog equipment, along with products stolen from another recent trade show. He and his confederates were fired and will likely be prosecuted.
For more news from ASIS, visit Security Squared.
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Defense optics specialist. "Green" company. Consumer electronics manufacturer. General business media have used all those terms describe FLIR Systems. In the commercial security industry, FLIR, which is forecasting FY2010 revenues of about $1.4 billion, is probably best known as a thermal camera manufacturer. As Bill Klink (pictured), vice president, security and surveillance for FLIR's Commercial Systems Division told Security Squared’s Sharon Watson, "That all speaks to the diversification FLIR has now. We touch all those markets."
Sharon interviewed Klink to understand why FLIR is in these different markets and what strategy ties all these disparate parts together. In particular, she was curious about the company's two acquisitions this year. First, in May, FLIR bought Raymarine, a major international supplier of maritime radar and display systems with a huge consumer business. This month, FLIR is acquiring sensor specialist ICx Technologies, Inc. Among ICx's offerings is a line of chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNE) sensors.
Klink spoke with us about how FLIR expects to grow though its acquisitions, its long-term strategy of continually driving down the costs of thermal imaging and the technology it will be showcasing at the industry’s 2010 ASIS International show beginning October 11.
Bill Klink, vice president security and surveillance, FLIR: Our business model has always been to take defense technology and commercialize it. Our legacy has been as a defense optics specialist. The whole thermal line is an outgrowth of military needs for night vision. We now have thermal technology in passenger cars, security cameras, cameras measuring building heat loss, military helicopters, fishing boats. It's really diverse.
We have two divisions, the Government Systems Division and the Commercial Systems Division. Those divisions point to how FLIR intends to grow. Our security business sits in the Commercial Systems Division.
Security Squared: Let's look at security, then. On most security company websites, words like interoperability, openness, connectivity are pretty prominent. FLIR's website talks a little bit about connectivity and about your "Nexus connectivity technology" but doesn't seem to emphasize it. How open is FLIR and what's involved in integrating your devices into an existing IP security or surveillance network?
Klink: Interoperability and connectivity are as important with thermal cameras as they are with CCD cameras. We're slightly muted about the interoperability of our technology because most people deploying thermal cameras have a specialized need to see at night. We put our energy behind creating awareness of the thermal solution rather than emphasizing, hey, put a thermal camera into your network. Other companies differentiate themselves with their list of technology partners. What separates us is the uniqueness of our technology.
That said, Nexus is our software platform--it provides that interoperability. Often a deployment will use Nexus in parallel with a video management system (VMS). Nexus is not intended to be a global VMS. It provides unique benefits for thermal cameras. We support ONVIF. We've got some tighter integrations with some VMS platforms we have a track record with, such as Genetec and Milestone.
Security Squared: Let's talk about FLIR Sensors Manager and Nexus...how do these relate to each other and to video management systems? Are they complementary or competitive to VMSs? How does Thermal Fence fit in?
Klink: Nexus is underlying software. It's in an SDK we offer to people to create underlying connectivity. FLIR Sensors Manager sits on top of Nexus and sits parallel to a VMS from a company like OnSSI, Genetec, etc. Sensors Manager has unique capabilities in it that are not typically part of a VMS.
For example, it has geo-location and geo-reference mapping capabilities for locating cameras and sensors. So when you're working through Sensors Manager, you can see on the map which direction cameras are pointing and with geo-reference you know where in space they are. A typical video management system doesn't do that. We do that because most of our applications are outside rather than inside a building. Most of the applications for thermal cameras have detection ranges longer than what most people would use a video camera for. A video camera might be looking down the hallway 50 or 100 feet or so, or it might be a parking lot going 200 feet. With a thermal camera, we're oftentimes looking at 300, 400 or 500 feet and want to be able to detect a person at night, so referencing those cameras in their views on the map tends to be more important. That's something we do in FLIR Sensors Manager that isn't normally done in a typical video management system.
Analytics is another one. We embed video analytics in our FLIR Sensors Manager product. Some of the VMS's have that, some don't. But again they and FLIR Sensors Manager work in parallel. It's different than the VMS, but typically not competitive. Rather, it's a complementary product.
The Thermal Fence is an end solution version of FLIR Sensors Manager where we use our video analytics. We use our ability to move a pan-tilt camera to the location of an alarm that might come from something other than a camera. It may be a sensor alarm or a shaker fence. Those can be integrated into FLIR Sensors Manager because it manages sensors, not just video. Our thermal camera products are then used to assess that alarm in darkness.
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For more, including Klink’s comments on how ICx and Raymarine will expand FLIR’s markets and provide opportunities for integrators, see the full interview at Security Squared.
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The 2010 World Equestrian Games got underway in Lexington, Ky., last Saturday. The competition, which will continue through Oct. 10, will involve some 900 horses along with riders, trainers and support staff, and is expected to draw 500,000 spectators.
Behind the scenes, the event will be a major implementation of integrated security systems via an IP platform, using a network of megapixel cameras tied to video management and storage. Arecont Vision, Verint, EMC and Theia Technologies are all providing equipment, with Orion Systems doing the integration.
Notably, the World Equestrian Games’ management took a strategic approach, looking for ways to derive value out of video surveillance, seeing megapixel cameras as something more than expensive eyes-in-the-sky. In line with this, and with the start of the games, I thought it a good time to revisit a video produced my colleague Sharon Watson at the ISC Show last March, when the contract was announced. In it, EMC and Arecont Vision comment on the use surveillance video as another source for data about the overall performance of the enterprise.
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In a frank talk to members of ASIS International's Houston chapter earlier this month, Del Mitchell, corporate security director for Citgo Petroleum Corp., said private and public sectors must share responsibilities for the antiterrorism effort.
While military and law enforcement are charged with the common defense, the private sector must bring strong prevention, detection and documentation measures to the effort.
As I note on the Security Squared site:
Speaking at the monthly ASIS Houston chapter meeting, Mitchell gave a sobering assessment of the existential terrorist threat to critical infrastructure in the U.S., citing the importance of layered security and hardened facilities, physical and electronic protection, and accurate and reliable reporting systems. While acknowledging that new government demands for increased security raise costs, Mitchell, a 20-year veteran of the FBI, emphasized the importance of compliance with Department of Homeland Security initiatives such the Transportation Worker Identity Card (TWIC) program and the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards (CFATS), as well as provisions of the Maritime Transportation Security Act (MTSA).
Although Mitchell did not go into specific technology solutions, he implied that effective security will require functional interoperability of systems within the enterprise that will, in a major emergency, extend out to larger management, communications and reporting systems shared by private and public security, defense and emergency response agencies in the vicinity.
Still, he said, much of the private sector antiterror role lies in effective identification of threats, both to physical and cyber infrastructure. TWIC, for instance, strengthens identity management of port personnel. CFATS sets rules for managing dangerous chemicals and detecting accidental spills or deliberate tampering with equipment.
Mitchell gave good marks to the energy sector in Houston for its response so far, stating that area companies "were doing pretty good." But he did not mince words about the threat that terrorism poses to the Port of Houston and other port facilities throughout the country, which DHS has identified as strategic targets. Houston itself is a center for international terrorist activity, he said. Central communications for the 2008 Mumbai bombings were served out of Houston. Operational planning was done in Houston for a coordinated assault against U.S. oil interests in the Middle East--attacks that were thwarted by the arrests in Saudi Arabia of some 113 Al Qaeda militants in March.
Also during his talk, Mitchell, who was a lead FBI investigator in Afghanistan during the first two years of Operation Enduring Freedom, described the three principal types of terrorist threats to critical infrastructure, and provided insight into each. For more, see the complete post here.
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A group of eight Canadian companies has formed a technology and marketing alliance aimed at delivering integrated video, messaging and sensor networks to urban and regional emergency operations centers with an emphasis on wireless.
The Secure City Technology Alliance (SCTA), announced this week, is the latest signpost on the road to the convergence of security and surveillance technology with IT and open networking. SCTA brings together companies such as March Networks, a supplier of IP-based video cameras and management systems, and BelAir Networks, a vendor of mesh wireless systems, with vendors of large-scale telecommunications and enterprise data networking hardware and software, including Benbria, Bridgewater Systems, DragonWave Inc., Mitel and Solace Systems. Their equipment, which ranges from intelligent mass notification systems to backhaul microwave systems to high-capacity sensor message routers, could easily fit into large-scale urban emergency operations centers (EOCs) now that are being built on open, interoperable platforms.
Indeed, that is the aim, said Robert Wu, managing director of SCTA and vice president of alliances and corporate development at March Networks. Alliance members seek to present a "pre-integrated" solution to end-user agencies and tier-one integrators that are building fusion centers and regional EOCs. Such centralized response centers, which can bring together a large number of agencies at federal state and local levels, are increasingly being seen as a cornerstone for coordinating cross-agency communications and response in the event of a natural disaster, industrial accident or terrorist attack. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has created 72 fusion centers across the country. Elsewhere, cities and municipalities are following the fusion center model.
"We're offering a turnkey solution that can be deployed quickly," said Wu. "It will allow people to save time and money in implementing a best-of breed solution."
'Pre-integration'
"Pre-integration" means that equipment from the alliance members will interoperable out of the box. "Large customers will be able to do the integration themselves," said Stephen Rayment, chief technology officer at BelAir Networks. SCTA companies will also work through top level integrators that handle city contracts. The alliance will also leverage relationships its individual members have with customers and the reseller channel. When it comes to dealing with specific prospects, "the appropriate company will take the lead," Rayment said.
For members with IT and telecom backgrounds, such as Bridgewater, Mitel and DragonWave, the security segment represents a growing market for the IP infrastructure they sell. "They see it as a strong play," said Wu. Benbria, supplier of an intelligent mass notification system, and Solace Systems, which makes message routers for sensors, already have a presence in industrial safety and security and are looking to expand further into the public sector. Among all members, March Networks has the strongest presence in public sector security video security, and thus forms "the tip of the spear" for the group, Wu said.
BelAir Networks also provides additional security market strength for the alliance. BelAir deployed the Minneapolis wireless network that got high marks for its performance in supporting emergency response during the August 2007 I-35 bridge collapse.
Solace Systems is an example of how enterprise data networking equipment can be applied to EOC and fusion center communications. The company's message and content routers were originally developed for the financial trading industry, to provide a platform that could support scalable and reliable transmission of trading orders. The same platform can support messaging from radiological or chemical sensors and nuclear power plants or industrial refineries, and has been doing so, said Wu. From there, it's only a small step to introduce the messaging platform into consolidated urban EOC.
Benbria provides intelligent multimedia mass notification systems to enterprises and universities. These systems send messages via phone, email and text messaging, in emergency and non-emergency situations. They can be easily adapted for EOC support.
March Networks will provide video tie-in to both the Solace and Benbria systems. The company will demonstrate Benbria interoperability at the ASIS International annual conference in Dallas next month, Wu said.
The SCTA, Wu added, is open to new members. Right now, however, the alliance is something of a close-knit group. Not only are all members Canadian companies, but they are all based in Ottawa, Ontario. More significant, they have all received financing from the Wesley Clover International Corp., an investment firm headed by long-time data and telecom networking entrepreneur Terry Matthews. Along with funding, Wesley Clover has relationships with other start-ups, such as Magor, a developer of telecollaboration software, which may bring technology to the alliance at down the road.
More details about the SCTA members can be found at the Security Squared web site here.
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