Doing More With Less
Compression technology improves performance, reduces cost of video management
- By Brent Hamachek
- Jul 01, 2008
Drug store giant Walgreens has just completed
installing and networking Ionit Technologies
Inc.’s DVR system to monitor, manage and protect
more than 6,200 stores, facilities and distribution
centers around the country.
The DVRs offer advanced compression technology
for Ionit’s clients that improve performance and reduce
the overall cost of managing video. The company has
designed real-time custom software for Walgreens’ 16-
channel DVRs located in each store. Using advanced
recording codec, the technology can compress data up to
2,000 times and interface with both analog and digital
cameras. The new DVR system has the capacity to add
more cameras, as needed per location, giving Walgreens
several months of reliable recording time.
A Powerful Solution
“The number one concern for businesses today is physical
security—keeping employees and customers safe,”
said Jim Talbot, CEO and founder of Ionit Technologies.
“Walgreens sees the value in using Ionit systems for
business intelligence with add-on modules that will
increase not only customer safety, but the customer’s
experience in their stores, as well.”
Walgreens chose to partner with Ionit for its security
needs because retail officials felt the systems were
reliable, had an acceptable compression rate and
achieved less than a 2 percent failure rate in large test
patterns. The security system can be customized over
time to meet Walgreens’ needs as the company
changes and grows.
“Replacing the low-cost embedded systems and creating
enterprise security over an existing infrastructure
met Walgreens’ requirements,” Talbot said. “We wanted
to fit into their systems so they didn’t have to conform
to ours.
“Additionally, we are actively integrating with
other systems inside the Walgreens network. They see
the value of the system as a powerful business intelligence
solution.”
Maximizing Value
As the economy teeters on the brink of a recession, large
corporations are attempting to maximize the value of
every dollar they spend on every element of infrastructure.
As an example, a difficult business environment is
forcing corporations across the country, in various
industries, to manage more locations with fewer people.
High resolution and constantly streaming video help
make that feasible.
Since virtually all companies recognize the need for
security and some form of video surveillance system,
the question becomes, “Since I need a system in place
for security anyway, what else might I be able to accomplish
with it?” For example, something previously
thought to be only a cost-center for a large company’s
operation can be converted to a tool that helps increase
the return on investment.
In boardrooms across the country, the expression
“thinking outside the box” is devalued and overused. In
the case of high compression video imaging, however,
that type of creative thinking can be rewarded by reshaping
traditional camera security into a valuable marketing
and management tool.
While virtually every DVR manufacturer can tout
the capability for remote access and monitoring, some
difference within the industry relates to the pure functionality
and high-quality resolution that is enabled by
compressing file sizes up to 2,400 times. It is not
enough for an off-site manager to simply have a DVR
system that delivers the image. The image must be
delivered in a manner that does not overwhelm transmission
channels and that provides a clear, high-resolution
image that also is manageable.
To change the paradigm that cameras and DVRs are
just for security, an enterprise solution has been developed
that can be integrated with other business intelligence
software to let multiple departments within the
same organization use the system for multiple objectives.
Again, because of its compression capability, a single
system can allow simultaneous viewing of multiple
locations and can even have those locations viewed by
different departments. If the marketing department
wishes to use the DVR to track store queues or count
customer traffic, the company can create a customized
integration to work with the preferred vendor’s peoplecounting
software.
The same would be true for facial recognition,
POS applications and other state-of-the-art integrations
now being used by companies attempting to maximize
their ROI.
Continued Innovation
The systems have been engineered to provide a substantial
amount of computational overcapacity so additional
software can be used. Ionit provides an open platform
for integration, and to the extent that required hardware
in a system is reduced, the risk of system failure is greatly
lessened, as is the overall cost.
“As a company’s vision grows, we are prepared to
grow with it,” Talbot said. “Our intent is to be a corporation’s
long-term surveillance and management solution
provider. We believe superior service, product features
with measurable benefits and reasonable pricing is critical
to delivering that solution to the client.”
Companies cannot stand still with their current product
line or system capabilities.
“Biometrics and applied behavioral algorithms are
clearly the future for automating and enhancing the
customers’ experience,” Talbot said. “Biometrics,
incorporated into surveillance products, will seamlessly
automate customer verification and information
retrieval into meaningful activities. We are working
with some of the leaders in the field to make tomorrow,
today. Any company not
already working on these things is
behind the curve, and the market
won’t be forgiving.”