Completely On Line
Why they are essential to the networking mission
- By Bud Broomhead
- Feb 01, 2015
The past few years
have been unlike
any period we’ve
experienced in the
professional security
industry. The journey
from the first
IP cameras to the
present day is now rapidly accelerating.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is poised to
make a fundamental change in professional
security technology at any moment—
a change which is already well
underway in the consumer world. Over
4 billion devices are now sending data
to the Internet—data which is spun into
valuable information. For example, your
smart thermostat can detect an unusual
drop in outside temperature and raise
the heat an hour before you get home
from work.
This is true integration between products
and systems—the fulfillment of a
vision once referred to as convergence in
the security industry which has become
far more relevant today now that big data
plays such a critical role in enterprise level
security. As we continue to connect more
and more things via the network, technologies
and devices are finally and truly
converging.
Convergence of systems means the
sharing of data, a central point for security
since much of the data being generated
from these systems, as well as the functionality
driving them, comes from physical
security systems like video and access control.
In fact, video is a tremendous source
of both archived and real-time data. The
number of installed IP cameras is growing
swiftly, and with megapixel imaging,
bandwidth expansion and multi-imager
cameras, the quantity of data being produced
is growing geometrically. At any
moment, any frame of this data can instantly
become mission critical for identifying
individuals, reading anything from a
license plate to a serial number on a bill or
gaining insight into an incident.
In fact, a moment of recorded video
can save executives from a legal action or
save a corporation millions of dollars in
liability. On the other hand, if the video
system fails to record during that critical
moment, the loss can be staggering.
This is why assuring the video stream is
completing its intended path has become
one of IT and security’s biggest challenges.
Oversight for this has become the
role of what is beginning to be termed a
Video Network Administrator (VNA),
a position that for the most part does
not formally exist, but should. Unlike a
team comprising of security technology,
systems integrator technicians and IT,
these individuals work diligently to keep
video surveillance up and running. Now
it is time to recognize this position and
the person fulfilling it, as the VNA will play a vital role in security strategy, a role which will increase
in importance with the continuing expansion and integration of
video surveillance technologies.
Successful video infrastructure management requires visibility
into the network’s behavior. Each video stream is an amalgam of
many different systems and processes, the failure of any one of
which can result in missing video. Heterogeneous video networks
may include cameras at the edge, complex VMS and other software,
networking infrastructure and hard discs for recording. The
more technology that is deployed in a video solution, the more elements
there are which could potentially run slow, cut out intermittently
or fail at any given time. Spot-checking the system will not
identify degrading components or other developing problems.
Once a problem is detected, it can be a tremendous challenge
for the VNA to identify the cause. Uncertainty about where the
root of the problem lies can lead to guesswork and an inefficient
trial and error process to try and solve it. Having a number of
providers, contractors and vendors for your system exacerbates
the problem as they may be reluctant to take responsibility for
the issue, which only prolongs video downtime. Informational
truck rolls are expensive and use even more time in trying to solve
problems. During this time there is a lack of situational awareness,
video is not being archived, investigations are negatively impacted
and as a whole the organization is at a higher risk.
Without question, management of the video stream is a serious
and complicated issue for risk management, highlighting the
crucial nature of the VNA’s role in the organization. This role will
only grow in complexity and importance as video surveillance
systems become larger and integrate with more hardware and
software solutions. It is time not only to recognize the value of
the VNA, but also to consider how automation can make them
more effective and efficient at their profession.
The rising recognition of these challenges is driving a new
segment of growth in the IT industry which has strong applicability
within the security industry, as well. Software-as-a-Service
(SaaS) solutions now exist which can monitor each unique video
stream, detect when any interruption or decay is causing a gap in
the stream, and alert the VNA with actionable information on
how to quickly solve the problem. This software provides almost
immediate ROI, but very quietly, as there is no way to measure
the problems and liabilities that an organization has avoided by
ensuring a robust video stream at all times.
What can be measured, and therefore managed, is diagnostic
data. SaaS solutions do this, providing key performance indicators
(KPIs) that give visibility and insight into the behavior
of the IP video network and video operations. Furthermore, a
well-designed user interface delivers the information directly to
mobile phones and tablets in addition to desktop PCs, utilizing
data visualization and diagnostic graphing to help the user better
understand system statistics. Useful KPIs include:
- Video path uptime
- Video stream delivery index
- Video retention compliance
- Average ticket response time
- Mean failure recovery time
Finally, in the current environment where customer service
and support truly defines a brand’s value to their community, it is
essential for expert live assistance to be a quick call or click away
at all times. This helps to get any questions or issues resolved even
more quickly, further raising the ROI.
The individual who is fulfilling the role of VNA in any organization
will, with absolute certainty, welcome the adoption of
this type of automated software to maintain the health of the
video network. For executive management, who are ultimately
responsible for any risk that exists in the organization, this is a
winning solution.
This article originally appeared in the February 2015 issue of Security Today.