It is always interesting to compare my past predictions and technologies of interest with what is being introduced or shown at a major show such as ASIS. I feel pretty good that I have not strayed too far off the mark, however, there were a couple of things I did not expect that also caught my attention in Orlando.
H.265 Arrives
H.265 looks like it is right on schedule. When the H.265 High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard was adopted in January 2013, I felt that it would be about five years before the technology became mainstream, if history is any guide. Three years later, Hanwha has made H.264/H.265 capability a key baseline feature of its very capable WiseNet Q Series (see www.securityinfowatch.com/12239359 for full product details). The WiseNet chips provide lots of processing power for video encoding, 120 dB WDR, image enhancement and resolution.
Panasonic also announced its first H.265 cameras, NVR and VMS (www.securityinfowatch.com/12270054); while several other vendors, including Hikvision, have incorporated H.265 compression into NVRs.
Depending on your definition of mainstream, I still think that early 2018 is reasonable, given that other IP camera manufacturers are sure to follow and that the VMS software and necessary horsepower will be deployed to support H.265 decoding in a multiple image environment.
In the meantime, IP cameras that support both H.264 and H.265 provide an upgrade path for users without having to switch out cameras. Lower bandwidth and storage costs, as well as the ability to efficiently use 4K displays provide the impetus for H.265 to take hold going forward.
NVRs with Integrated Switches
Although not the first to offer an NVR with integrated switch capability, I was surprised to learn about Salient Systems’ Red3 integrated switch/VMS servers (www.securityinfowatch.com/12270057), which have 16 or 24 ports of PoE or PoE+ connectivity, power capacity of up to 487 watts, and 2 Gig E SFP ports. The product has 16 or 24 channels of Salient’s CompleteView ONE or Pro VMS software fully licensed.
Exacq’s LC-Series Una (www.securityinfowatch.com/12187522) provides 8 or 16 ports of camera connectivity, furnishing PoE up to 240 watts, along with 8 or 16 Exacq Start licenses.
Although I did not see it at ASIS, I know Seneca Data’s XNVR has up to 16 ports of PoE+ with up to 32 TB of storage and support for a number of different VMS systems.
By integrating camera power with recording, monitoring, and control, systems such as these deliver compelling single box integrated solutions that are sure to find their niche.
Intercom Innovation
Commend USA is on the threshold of bringing to market complete, full-featured intercom systems that do not require dedicated hardware or virtual servers. The technology is based on SIP (Session Initiation Protocol), a key element in IP telephony and video conferencing, and leverages existing SIP servers. The company predicts this will be a game changer, and I was sufficiently impressed that I am committed to dedicating a future column to this topic.
Audio analytics is an important feature in the Commend System, which is not limited to just its technology; in fact, I have written previously about Louroe as a pioneer in bringing this technology into the security market. They exhibited expanded capability for their suite of analytics, which includes scream/duress, aggression, car alarm, glass break, and gunshot detection.
Mobile Access
Nedap, known primarily for vehicular access control using RF, unveiled MACE, a new platform that enables smartphone access using any brand device for any access control system. MACE uses the phone as a container of access control credentials. The system supports Bluetooth, NFC and QR-codes to identify people using virtual credentials stored in the MACE app.
Tailgate Detection
In the Automatic Systems booth, I discovered a company called IEE demonstrating a Tailgate Detector product. Mounted above a door or turnstile, the unit uses an active light source emitting modulated infrared energy. Phase shifts between the emitted and reflected light are measured to create a real-time topographic image of the scene below. The number of individual people is calculated, with an alarm triggered in suspected tailgating or piggybacking situations. The system may operate in real or virtual mantrap modes.
Advanced Video Mining
In recent columns, I have written about the impact of Graphical Processing Units (GPUs) in bringing massive parallel processing capability to image analysis, thereby enhancing analytic capability. I discovered a great example of this in a product offered by IronYun.
Its CityEyes appliance, based on NVIDIA GPUs, is a private — or hybrid — cloud video surveillance system which consolidates hardware and software components that are needed to build a secure private surveillance infrastructure. It pools multiple analytics engines used by a Platform as a Service (PaaS) framework to provide end-users with advanced video search and video mining features.
3D
Closet video gamers should check out a product from ARES Security. Its AVERT solutions use 3D modeling and simulation technology — allowing virtual construction of a facility. This includes realistic interior and exterior features, access points and entrances, natural features, and the placement of both active and passive barriers and security detection devices.
It then employs a technique called “Monte Carlo simulation” to test the facility against varied attack scenarios. Virtual parameters can then be changed to optimize and “harden” the facility. Users can even adopt the role of intruder and navigate their way into and through the facility, in a way that is reminiscent of kids playing video games, without the attendant slam, bang, boom effects.
Power Supplies
A last word, moving from the gee-whiz to the mundane. Do not overlook the impact that Altronix and LifeSafety Power are having as a result of bundling their power solutions with controller boards from the likes of Lenel and Mercury. Efficient, integrated single enclosure packaging saves space, time, and effort, all commodities prized by the system integrator.
Ray Coulombe is Founder and Managing Director of SecuritySpecifiers and RepsForSecurity.com. Contact him at [email protected], through LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/raycoulombe or via Twitter, @RayCoulombe.
