CCTV cameras News

Just like many things, security systems have their own life cycles.  Most end users would say that a "good" system should last a certain amount of time. Each system or device has a generally established and expected life span, and anything that falls short of its life expectancy is generally deemed as "poor quality." We asked some of our panellists to reflect on the life cycles of security systems. We wanted to get their insights on trends they have observed i...

The general public often has misconceptions about security systems. How should security industry experts educate the general public to better understand security systems and their capabilities? As security industry professionals, our panellists are more than used to explaining security systems to customers and other members of the general public. As experts in the field, it is their prerogative to help set the records straight when it comes to what people understan...

There’s a new international company in the security market this week with the acquisition of Siemens’ Security Products business in Europe by Vanderbilt Industries, a new U.S. company that rebranded the Schlage Security Management Systems (SMS) product line after acquiring it from Ingersoll Rand in August 2012. The European arm of the new global player will be called Vanderbilt International, based out of Germany and led by Managing Director Joseph Grillo, who many remember from his...

In a layered approach to security, the outermost layer increasingly might refer to an area outside a fence line. The sooner a facility is alerted to a possible threat, the better, and when a threat reaches inside a facility’s fence, it may be too late to mitigate it. Security directors need situational awareness that extends outside the facility and provides the ability to intercept intruders before they become a threat. Zones of interest, or buffer zones, outside a facility’s fence...

Event-driven video for surveillance and recording involves using a video recorder or video management software system that is triggered by movement in the areas where cameras are located. Event-driven video can be achieved by using intelligent motion detection or video contents analytics (VCA) on the camera, recorder or PC server. Recently, performance of VCA has improved; however, some conditions can still affect detection using the camera image. Tomo Ito, Business Development Man...

Customers sometimes look at how old or new a company is when having to decide between different security suppliers. But should they? There are several decision-influencing factors in the security industry. Other than the actual technical specifications of the security systems and solutions, there are several other factors people take into consideration such as customer service, technical support offered, product warranties and interoperability, just to name a...

The merger of Vicon and IQinVision has been one of the more interesting business developments in the security and video surveillance markets in 2014. Wondering how the merger is working out, I spoke with Eric Fullerton, CEO, Vicon Industries Inc., at the ASIS 2014 show in Atlanta. Here are some of his comments: SS.com: What drew you to Vicon; what opportunity do you see here? Fullerton: The merger of Vicon and IQinVision was announced at the end of Q1, and I thought: What is that? My first rea...

A year after its launch, PSA Security Network’s National Deployment Program is creating new opportunities to enable local integrators to have a shot at getting business from large companies with a nationwide footprint. Collectively, PSA Security Network’s some 250 electronic security systems integrators are responsible for more than $2 billion in annual security systems design, installation, integration and maintenance business related to access control, video surveillance, intrusion...

If a security or video surveillance / CCTV system isn’t working, who’s to blame? Or more to the point, what’s to blame? Is the problem the malfunction of a specific device on the edge of the IP network, or is it a network or other system failure? How can an end user or dealer / installer know what the problem is? How can a camera manufacturer know if a call to their overworked tech support department is really about the manufacturer’s camera or cau...

Video cameras were big news at the ASIS International Seminar and Exhibits in Atlanta, but the eagerly anticipated new 4K Ultra-HD cameras took a back seat to other camera innovations, including a rash of new panoramic view cameras in various flavours and types (including faster frame rates) and a renewed emphasis on cameras as intelligent system components. Samsung announced its new Open Platform program that leverages the added computing capacity of Samsung’s WiseNetIII computer chip in...

Information overload. That's how tradeshows can seem. You're being fed lots of information by several different people in a short amount of time. It can all be very overwhelming. So what do you do? It's relatively easy to create a plan for smaller shows. But with larger events such as Security Essen, IFSEC and ASIS, it's far easier to become overwhelmed by the amount of choices and options. With Essen and ASIS just behind us, we asked some of our panellists to reflect on the...

We are in the midst of tradeshow season. With Security Essen and ASIS International back to back this year, several manufacturers are present at both. ASIS is one of the largest security tradeshows in North America, but not nearly as huge as Security Essen. Some prefer Essen, and others prefer smaller shows like ASIS or IFSEC. We asked some of our panellists for their thoughts on smaller versus larger tradeshows. Let's see what they had to say.

A busy first day at the ASIS International Seminar and Exhibits in Atlanta ended with a surprise strategic announcement by one of the industry’s largest suppliers and one of its most successful up-and-comers. Axis Communications and Sightlogix announced a strategic agreement to sell both technologies cooperatively to end-user customers through dealer channels. Despite the broad product range Axis brings to market, the company does not have a perimeter security solution, which is the stren...

Commoditisation is the biggest problem facing today’s security integrators, says Bill Bozeman, president and CEO of PSA Security Network, an electronic security cooperative encompassing some 250 electronic security systems integrators, and aligning them with over 150 vendor partners. Multi-million-dollar manufacturers are taking advantage of economies of scale to drive down pricing of many of the components our industry uses, and lower prices are poised to have a long-term detrimental imp...

Just days before the ASIS International conference and exhibits in Atlanta, the global security market's attention last week has been focused on the big Security Essen 2014 trade show in Germany. With more floor space, exhibitors and attendees than ASIS, Security Essen highlights a wealth of technology resources to an eager international audience every two years. Several SourceSecurity.com staff members attended Security Essen last week, and my colleagues reported that the well-attended show ref...

I love Wikipedia, not just because I use it every day, but also because it reflects the value that can be created when a large community works together. When each member of a community contributes a small part, the result is monumental. I saw an estimate somewhere that it would take a million pages to print out Wikipedia. Is there an opportunity to leverage video in the same way; that is, to tie together the capabilities of millions to create a central repository that could be useful? Consider...

Surveillance cameras in public places and private properties are rather ubiquitous these days, but what is less obvious is whether a camera is a "dummy" camera or not. Installing fake surveillance cameras to use as a deterrent is a common tactic used when the price of a real security camera falls outside of one's budget. But when should dummy cameras be used? What are the implications this poses? Let's see what some of our panellists think.

The Silver Comet Trail is a 61-mile hiking and biking trail west of Atlanta that follows a route previously travelled by the Silver Comet passenger train from 1947 to 1969. I heard about the train when I was growing up but was never a passenger. As an adult, I have been on the Silver Comet Trail a couple of times; it’s mostly level and great for biking (or walking). The former route of the railroad tracks has been paved over, extending through a beautiful, natural environment that feels li...

Abraham Maslow's "law of the instrument" says: If the tool you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail. To avoid the pitfall Maslow describes, let’s remember that the nature of a threat profile should decide the choice of security equipment, not the availability of that equipment. When we hear about a school shooting, for example, some of us immediately think “they should have had a camera system?” The ones thinking that probably sell camera systems. Although we...

If a video surveillance system is installed using public funds, should the resulting video therefore be accessible to the public? A poll in the United Kingdom suggests the majority of Britons think it should. 64 percent of 1,345 people surveyed believe that British taxpayers, who pay for cameras placed in public places, should have access to the video feeds through live web streaming. The survey was conducted by installer CCTV.co.uk. There could be advantages to providing public access to vide...

Maintaining a high level of customer service can be a challenging experience when an acquisition takes place.This issue is of particular relevance to the security industry, where merger and acquisition activity continues to rise. We asked some of our Expert Panellists to share their thoughts on how both the acquired company as well as the company making the acquisition can retain the focus on their customers throughout the integration process. Here’s what they had to say.

A pessimist might see the coming “Internet of Things” as the “Internet of Things that Could Go Wrong.” Clearly the networking of more machines in the home, including video and security systems, suggests that somebody (or something) needs to be available to make sure that the resulting home automation system is working as intended. If you need technical support for home automation, who do you call? It’s not just a theoretical question, given the accelerating trend...

How often have you been caught in the midst of animated chatter and swept up in the anticipation of "the next big thing in X", only to look back and think it was all overhyped? It happens everywhere and with everything, from pop culture films and new budding artists, to aspects in professional industries such as new consumer products and technology. The security industry certainly has its share of overhyped technology. We asked some of our Panellists on their thoug...

If you had a super power, would you use it for good or evil? The question might typically be the subject of vigorous debate among third graders, but it’s also a question that comes up when you consider technology. Sometimes the benefits of technology are almost like super powers. As much as we seek to apply the powers of technology to security, there is also a criminal element that stands ready to use them with evil intent. Such is the case with drones. We have previously mentioned the po...

Recent events in Ferguson, Missouri, have drawn huge national attention, and the news story has the potential to dominate headlines and stir controversy nationwide as it plays out over the next few years. Some elements here are similar to the Trayvon Martin case in Florida, a national story that grabbed headlines for years, climaxing in a televised trial and a troubling (for some) verdict that people are still talking about. The Michael Brown shooting case in Ferguson has similarities, but also...

Editor's Note: HDcctv Alliance has announced that Dahua has opened its patented HDCVI technology to the global video surveillance industry as the basis for HDcctv's AT 2.0 standard. For additional elaboration on what the move means to the growing market for higher-resolution CCTV, we approached Todd Rockoff, chairman and executive director of HDcctv Alliance. SourceSecurity.com: How is HDcctv AT 2.0 superior to HD-SDI or other previous approaches? Todd Rockoff:  When i...

How often is security used as a selling point? You don’t see it very often. Generally greater security is seen as a necessary evil, a corporate “cost.” Interesting, therefore, to see a company hoping that greater security can help turn around a flagging brand. In this case, security is related to identity protection, and the company is Blackberry. Blackberry recently signed an agreement to purchase Secusmart, a company that specialises in secure communication for governments,...

Highlighting China’s Video Surveillance Giants, this is the second in a series of articles on the growing international presence of China’s top three video surveillance/CCTV companies. Check out articles on Hikvision and Uniview, which are also part of the series. Dahua Technology Co., Ltd. is a Chinese video company with roughly 75 percent of its revenue coming from the huge domestic Chinese market. The rest reflects Dahua’s growing international presence in the video survei...

Highlighting China’s Video Surveillance Giants, this is the first in a series of articles on the growing international presence of China’s top three video surveillance/CCTV companies. See other articles in the series from Dahua and Uniview here and here. For three years now, Hikvision Digital Technology Co. has been ranked as the world’s largest CCTV and video surveillance equipment provider. IHS Research estimates the Chinese manufacturing giant’s global market share in...

On April 16, 2013, snipers fired for 19 minutes on PG&E Corp.'s Metcalf electric power transmission station near San Diego, California, knocking out 17 giant transformers that supply electricity to Silicon Valley. At least 100 rounds were fired from at least one high-powered rifle. The power grid was rerouted to avoid a blackout, but it took 27 days to make repairs and get the substation back up and running. The incident got the attention of regulators and security prof...