| Milestone Interconnect provides a cost-efficient and flexible way to have central surveillance operation across geographically dispersed sites |
The transportation vertical is embracing the open platform for video systems. In the past, manufacturers required transportation end users to purchase the camera, the recorders and the software all from one manufacturer. Now, with IP, organisations in the transportation vertical can use off-the-shelf cameras, servers (recorders) and software that best fit the needs of the end user. The end user can save time and money with an IP system that allows him or her to transfer only the video that is used for investigations without pulling from a hard drive. They can also now manage the health of their entire system with off-the-shelf, highly reliable software.
Milestone has been among the biggest proponents of open systems. The Milestone line of products has been applicable to end users in the transportation vertical from the beginning. XProtect Corporate is an IP-based video management software (VMS) designed for large-scale, high-security deployments that demand high-performance surveillance. The Milestone open platform provides the freedom to integrate throughout a deployment, liberating end users from proprietary systems.
The XProtect Smart Client easy-to-use interface makes it possible to monitor video, respond to alarms, investigate incidents and manage evidence. The XProtect Web Client provides instant access to video from any computer, while Milestone Mobile enables the viewing of video anywhere at any time on smart phones and tablets. Video Push can send video from mobile device cameras, with GPS location data, back into the command and control center, allowing other operators to view situations that are happening. To help unite surveillance across locations, Milestone Interconnect enables central management of remote sites.
Flexibility built into Milestone’s |
Flexibility built into Milestone’s XProtect Corporate software allows transportation end users to record high-frame-rate, high-resolution footage from one camera stream for a set number of days internally on the server. On the same server, the user can record video of a lower quality and frame rate from a second stream and keep the video for a longer period of time and then, at any time, have the ability to access any of those streams, live or recorded, for investigation purposes and transfer only the portion of the video needed by investigators.
Transportation integrators should start looking at more IT-type solutions, says David King, business development manager, city surveillance, transportation and critical infrastructure, Americas for Milestone Systems. They also need to further credential technicians in areas like SQL clustering, VM (virtual machine) software, and wireless networks. End users are starting to require their systems to be more stable and offer greater clarity than what they’ve had in the past. It’s important therefore for integrators to keep current with those kinds of skill-sets. Milestone provides extensive training for its partners, says King.In the future, there will be new ways both to view video and to share it. Examples include viewing video of the passenger platforms from inside the train’s car as it approaches the platform or from inside a bus as it approaches the stop. “We’ll become able to bookmark a video based on an event that can later be transferred off the train or bus, based on network availability, for further investigations,” says King. “Passengers will be able to send video from their cell phones or PDAs to command centers and security personnel, who will be stationed on the trains or buses operating remotely.”