Security Solutions for the Past Present and Everything In Between
Innovative technologies rely on past success to enhance the security market.
- By Jamie Friedlander
- Jun 01, 2014
Operating in the United
Kingdom and America
for over 30 years, surveillance
technology company
Dedicated Micros
continues to innovate on a regular basis.
The company ensures its customers—
both old and new—transition to HD in
a way that works best for their company
while also realizing that users are primarily
looking for an exceptional return
on their investment.
Dedicated Micros designs and manufactures
cameras and recording equipment
that can be seen in a variety of
installations, from transportation, to retail,
to education. The company has also
pioneered various technologies, such as
closed IP network security, and has diversified
into using multi-mode recording,
making Dedicated Micros a security
company to look out for in the future.
Closed IP Network Security
According to Pauline Norstrom, the
vice president and marketing director at
Dedicated Micros and the COO at the
AD Group, the invention of closed IP
network security is arguably the most important
part of this company’s portfolio.
“The key advancement in the Dedicated
Micros portfolio is the invention
of the closed IP network security feature,”
said Norstrom. “Not only does
this ensure that end users can have one
hundred percent peace of mind, but that
IP cameras are one hundred percent safe
and trusted.”
In addition to being safe and secure,
the closed IP network security feature is
also cost-effective and easy-to-use.
“The installers and integrators
who put this together can configure
the system automatically without having
to use highly-skilled labor, which
is not only a benefit for installers and
integrators, it’s a benefit for the user
in that once they start using the system;
the skill of the labor involved
is much lower.”
Another benefit of the closed
IP network security feature is that
users do not have to re-license
their cameras.
Dedicated Micros sets itself apart from
other companies by addressing the fact
that analog cameras cannot be fully
phased out quite yet. Dedicated Micros
has created technologies that help make
the transition from analog to HD less
drastic and more cost efficient.
“The customers who have been in the
analog market are taking a long time to
transition into IP,” said Norstrom, adding
that closed IP network security helps
make the transition easier. “However,
once they’ve seen the closed IP system,
it enables them to offer IP cameras to
their customers without the retraining
of installation teams.”
Product Line
Dedicated Micros’ product line includes
a handful of solutions that help make
the transition from analog to digital
easier. Two of these products include the
Hybrid IP Video Solution and the NVR
Cloud Solution.
Hybrid IP Video Solution. Most users
cannot make the jump from analog
to HD in one swift move. Therefore, this
solution enables an incremental upgrade
to an HD solution while allowing the
customers to get the most for their money
by letting their analog cameras, which
can last for 10 to 12 years, approach their
end of life. The solution is ideal for applications
in small businesses, retail, education
and small manufacturing.
“The Hybrid IP Video Solution is a
transitional product that enables users
who have invested a great deal in analog
systems to continue using their analog
cameras, because in many cases, analog
cameras outlive the recording device,”
said Norstrom. “During the life of the
system, there is going to come a point
when the recording device has to become
upgraded, but the user can’t afford the
update and moves to a high resolution
IP camera system estate. So, they want
to use those analog cameras for a bit longer.
And, we’ve found that by switching
to one of the hybrid systems, they can
retain their analog cameras, and they
gradually update the estate to include IP
cameras in which one system will manage
both from the same user and space.”
Cloud NVR Solution. This product accounts
for the variety that exists among
video security users by offering fail-safe
architecture that can be managed seamlessly
through a single user interface. It
can also be replicated at multiple locations
on a property, campus or estate.
Ideally designed for use in multi-site or
multi-floor buildings, the Cloud NVR
Solution includes lower maintenance
budgets, flexibility, the option for remote
hosting and more.
“The Cloud NVR Solution uses the
closed IP system, which enables IP cameras
to be configured and secure lines to
be set up with very little programming,”
said Norstrom. “The cameras are configured
from a remote location, so it is very
easy to actually deploy a multiple camera
system.”
The system, according to Norstrom,
also allows the user to deploy in a secure,
private cloud security system that gives
them complete trust in the secureness of
the IP cameras being used.
Multi-mode Recording
Dedicated Micros has developed multimode
recording over the last few years.
During the time when users primarily
used analog video, a major problem
was an abundance of tapes that did not
contain relevant footage. Multi-mode recording
eliminates this problem by using
video cameras that only use high-res capturing
when action occurs on the video.
“Multi-mode recording was invented
to help analog systems reduce their number
of tapes,” said Norstrom. “When hard
drives came out, they were very small and
it wasn’t possible to store a lot of data on
them, so we solved this problem by creating
a way of recording video such that
you can have a very low resolution for
background recording when nothing’s
happening. And, based on event triggers
and analytics, we can up the resolution record
rate to ensure the critical aspects of
the event—the face shot, the identifying
shot—are actually captured.”
Multi-mode recording has been a
technology used in Dedicated Micros’
portfolio for quite some time. When HD
video became mainstream, many users did not fully understand the storage
problem they were going to face, and
multi-mode recording helped them deal
with this storage problem.
Implementations
Though Dedicated Micros can be seen
in retail, small business, education, finance
and hospitality sectors, they have
recently diversified into other sectors.
“We’re very strong in the transportation
sector because we have a ruggedized
recording solution for buses and
trains which is combined with a powerful
video management system,” said
Norstrom. “It’s probably a little known
fact, but we’re very strong in this sector
because it doesn’t go anywhere near
the traditional installer base. It involves
specialized sizes and typically working
with the actual bus manufacturers.”
Dedicated Micros has diversified
into the transportation sector in the
UK and the political sector in the United
States. Though the company’s highprofile
clients cannot be publicized,
Norstrom said that the installations are
in areas that secure high-profile politicians,
and the feedback from these clients
has been pronounced.
A Look to the Future
What makes Dedicated Micros unique,
according to Norstrom, is that the company
has a completely harmonized video
system in which all the products work
in the same way. The interface works
with all products—including the older,
legacy products—which ensure that cost
of ownership remains constant.
“In terms of cost of ownership and
the upgrade of an estate, there is a significant
benefit in choosing Dedicated
Micros because we commit long-term
to our customers and ensure that we
provide support not just through our
people, but also for the legacy estate of
the product,” said Norstrom. “And that
solution is provided free of licenses, so
if you choose our product, you don’t
have to pay any license fees.”
In the coming months, Dedicated
Micros plans on bringing a new version
of its FireVu products to market.
They have redeveloped the products
to make them more sophisticated and
better at detecting false alarms, the
main barrier to sales for a video-based
detection product.
“We’ve put such sophisticated processes
in our product that the false
alarm rate in many circumstances is
down to zero, which is very important
to high-risk environments,” said Norstrom.
“This positions the product as
the leader in the market and that’s an
area we’ll be focusing on over the next
12 months.”
Another goal for Dedicated Micros
is to get their products out there. The
company’s traditional marketing route
was through the security distributors,
but that is no longer effective. The company’s
new business model doesn’t align
with the security distributor’s business
model because they are selling a single
solution. Norstrom sees this change in
marketing as a benefit.
“What we are saying is we are far
more consultative now. We help installers
design systems, and we help the user
get the best out of the product, which
means there’s far greater direct interaction
with ourselves and also the ability
to buy all these solutions directly from
Dedicated Micros.”
This article originally appeared in the June 2014 issue of Security Today.