Emerging Technology Watch: Intelligent Network Audio
If you are like me, any time you walk into a shopping mall, an airport or even a train station you cannot help but notice all the cameras installed there. But pause for a moment and look a little closer – what else do you see? If you are being observant, you will quickly realize how many speakers are also mounted in the environment. Perhaps there are even more speakers in place than cameras.
We are all familiar with their purpose, but as video surveillance specialists, how many of us really understand the technology behind speaker systems, and why should we care? The answer is pretty straightforward: it is an opportunity to increase customer satisfaction by making their audio systems smarter and safer.
Twenty years ago, IP network cameras launched a revolution in video surveillance, opening whole new markets for integrators in the physical security space. Today, network audio systems are about to do the same for the speaker market – and since these new network audio systems are IP-based, they are a natural complement to a dealer/integrator’s existing portfolio of network surveillance solutions and services.
The Rise of Networked Audio
It is a foregone conclusion that network audio solutions will be following the same adoption trajectory as video cameras – gradually supplanting older speaker technology with a more feature-rich alternative. From a historic perspective, remember that 20 years ago all video surveillance cameras were analog. They were not intelligent, they required an expensive and complex head-end of recording and monitoring systems, and their scalability was limited. When IP video systems came on the market they provided a much more scalable solution with powerful, native intelligence and a majority of the functionality residing in-camera.
The better value proposition eventually won out: Analog sales began to wane while IP camera sales overtook the industry. That same story is starting to play out in audio systems.
Today’s speakers are relatively inexpensive and predominately “dumb” devices. They have no local intelligence, and they require complex head-end equipment – mixers, amplifiers, etc. – that make them expensive and difficult to scale.
Intelligent network audio systems, on the other hand, present a much more scalable solution. Like their IP video camera counterparts, they provide far more power and functionality than what is currently available. This affords integrators and dealers some great opportunities in a new market.
What is an Intelligent Network Audio System?
Much like IP video cameras, IP network audio systems are intelligent devices. They come as a complete audio solution in a single unit – including on-board intelligence, equalizer, amplifier, mixer, digital signal processor, microphone, power supply and loudspeaker, as well as streaming functionality and network connectivity through a PoE port. They also come with built-in SIP support which makes it easy to integrate them with a company’s VoIP telephone system for live announcements. They have open API for integrating into different subsystems, or for having additional functionality running as an app on-board the speaker. This makes the network audio system future-proof and ready to support additional music streaming solutions.
Installation is simple because all-in-one solutions are pre-configured to work and sound great right out of the box. No extra hardware is needed, nor do they require any audio expertise to operate. Here are some more enticing features to relay to customers:
High quality audio: As full-featured sound systems, intelligent network audio systems are designed to deliver high-quality music playback and clear speech announcements. Combining two functions in one unit makes managing announcements and background music simpler and also helps customers create a uniform atmosphere and consistent service policy across multiple facilities.
Programmability: A manager can pre-program audio schedules centrally as well as adjust the timing and volume of music and live and pre-recorded voice announcements on the fly.
Easy self-monitoring: When the speaker sends a test tone through the system, the built-in microphone picks it up, providing users verification that the speaker is operating properly.
Seamless integration: As IP-based technology, the intelligent network audio system easily integrates with other systems on the network. For example, when tied into the user’s surveillance system, the cameras can trigger an alert to the audio system to play a welcome message when someone enters the facility. A more advanced application might involve video analytics to detect a person’s age and gender and trigger a command to the audio system to begin playing a certain type of music. Conversely, if a certain type of individual crosses the threshold the camera may trigger an alert to the audio system to stop streaming music altogether. Or if the camera analytics detects suspicious loitering, it can trigger an alert to the audio system to play a warning message.
Scalable and customizable: Since the audio system is IP-based, users can add or remove individual speakers from the network in an instant to accommodate changing needs.
Versatile operating options: Because they are intelligent, programmable devices, they can be addressed and controlled individually or in groups. Through a smart interface, a user can send a command to a single speaker or a unified command to multiple units simultaneously. By creating zones to address groups of loudspeakers the user can direct different background music, live or pre-recorded announcements or control and change the volume for each unit individually and/or synchronize music and announcements for different clusters.
Multiple audio sources: The ability to play music is integral to intelligent network speakers. When it comes to sourcing that music, the devices leave the path wide open. Users can draw from the speakers’ preinstalled audio player application; they can create and schedule their own MP3 playlists from audio streaming services; or, they can air local playlists that have been compiled and stored on an SD card residing within the network audio system. Announcements can be scheduled from pre-recorded audio files or, as mentioned earlier, triggered by an event captured by a network surveillance camera.
Replacing Two Systems with One
The first network audio system offerings are being targeted to retailers – especially those who operate two separate speaker systems in their stores: one for broadcasting background music and one for announcements. The former is generally linked to a streaming or canned music source and the latter is usually tied to the Voice over IP (VoIP) telephone system.
For businesses trying to protect their bottom line, maintaining and managing those two separate systems is a costly and inefficient proposition. An all-in-one intelligent network audio system, on the other hand, can handle background music and announcements in a single, easily managed all-in-one solution; thus, for retailers they are obviously a much better value proposition.
As intelligent network audio systems gain a foothold in retail, other industries are likely to follow suit. Dynamic environments such as airports and train stations, hospitals and hotels, even educational institutions, are ideal venues for intelligent network audio systems because they produce higher quality sound than legacy speaker systems and can be programmed to adapt audio output (targeted announcements, background music, etc.) to specific zones and foot traffic.
For example, an airport might pipe in Disney music for passengers waiting at the gate for a flight to Orlando at the same time they are broadcasting multi-lingual instructions for travelers in the international terminal. A hotel could pipe music into the fitness center for a Zumba class while broadcasting announcements in the lobby for people waiting for an excursion to a local attraction.
On the Horizon
In addition to being smarter, easier to manage, more cost-efficient, and more scalable than their dumb predecessors, these new intelligent network audio systems are designed on open platforms. This provides endless potential for integrating the sound system with a user’s other communications and security systems – creating virtually limitless opportunities for strategic deployments across business sectors.
Building on the open-platform design, third-party developers will be able to create add-on applications that will further increase the functionality and adoption of intelligent network audio systems across industries for many years to come.
For security dealers and integrators, the long-term revenue potential can be enormous, and provide a much greater experience for end-customers.
Fredrik Nilsson is the VP, Americas for Axis Communications (www.securityinfowatch.com/10212966). He has more than 15 years of experience with IP video systems and is the author of “Intelligent Network Video: Understanding Modern Video Surveillance Systems,” published by CRC Press.
