Checking the List, Twice

Bringing systems together should be a big reason to move to IP video

• By Mark S. Bavousett, CPP
• Mar 06, 2007

AS the security industry and those it serves evolve, it is no longer a question of whether you should switch to an IP video system—it is when you should switch over to IP video. Face it, it’s not just a digital world, it’s a network world, as well. In many cases, this is a result of technology crawl. For instance, you can still do your word processing with Word Star, the program you probably used when you first installed your analog CCTV system. You can read it, but nobody else can. Everybody’s using Microsoft Word now.

Digital video recording and retrieval in a network setting makes an entire security system better. The system will integrate easily with access control and provide a variety of ways to distribute video clips.

And, as Word documents are being shared today, different security systems also must be able to communicate with each other and other systems within the company. Whether it’s access control, intrusion, fire/safety or video, users are going to want to tie the systems together. That’s the reason, if for no other, why users should start shifting video to an IP-based system.

Increased Management Flexibility
Digital video recording and retrieval in a network setting makes an entire security system better. The system will integrate easily with access control and provide a variety of ways to distribute video clips. If recorded, users can virtually obtain immediate retrieval of transactions and alarms, along with associated video clips for security and law enforcement personnel via the Internet. Users can tie video authentication with security credential authentication, providing guards with images of where things are going wrong via PCs, PDAs or cell phones.

Integrating video systems with standalone or offline access control systems, as well as networked access control, is a new ability. Today, video verification and authentication can work with standalone and enterprise access control systems. Whether the access system is standalone or networked, users can link video and capture an image whenever a specified type of transaction occurs.

Because security devices can be connected anywhere on the network, specific real estate at a specific facility is no longer required. A company in Connecticut can have all its security images recorded in Maine, or some in China and Italy. Monitoring can occur from anywhere that can connect to the network or the Internet, and multiple facilities can be added seamlessly into a network with no extra equipment.

IP video systems provide users with multiple video solutions becoming prevalent today such as mobile and intelligent video. For instance, there is no way to monitor mobile video systems other than with an IP system. And intelligent video systems, almost by definition, are IP-based, since its job is to alert people wherever they may be.

Beyond Busses
More companies are looking at the opportunity to transmit and control live, high-quality video from and to moving vehicles. Much is made of such systems on busses from the daily news, if not from reports in the security trades. However, the systems are moving well beyond classic transportation venues such as rail, bus and law enforcement applications.

The systems are used for video verification of delivery personnel, on-call monitoring of cash trucks and to directly alert clients worldwide of an event. There is a good possibility the security and supply chain departments will be working closely together. Users want to ensure that the right person is at the right place. They want to ensure deliveries are being made on time. In government applications, first responders can monitor a disaster the security department noted. Worldwide, law enforcement can be networked for a host of security applications, including border control and terrorist monitoring.

Without question, whether retail, financial, industrial or a host of other sectors, video recording from moving vehicles via cellular, wireless, mesh or LAN/WAN is becoming more popular. As a result, security directors in many organizations are being asked to have high-quality live video sent to control centers, mobile phones, PDAs and PCs from vehicles.

In most cases, the systems installed on vehicles transmit and record four channels of high-quality video and voice through cellular networks. The systems use advanced cellular technologies, such as GPRS, CDMA and 3G, to send the information to people on the move while simultaneously recording video signals on up to four video cameras.

Intelligent Needs
With an IP-based platform, security directors and integrators can create full-package business solutions that include software and product suites for a wide range of security and business productivity needs. Retailers can look for theft at POS terminals and analyze traffic flow. Digital guards and virtual fences can monitor perimeters, alerting guards of breaches.

Such intelligent video solutions provide immediate access to CCTV images Access control audio, data streams and public address functions now leverage management application software packages designed for specific market concerns. From checking license plates to verifying how many people are behind a POS when a return is being made, the systems are helping to usher in an entirely new era in security.

With increased flexibility of security systems, it is possible to detect incidents in real time before the event becomes dangerous—users can see smoke before there’s a fire or catch a shoplifter pocketing merchandise as it happens, not waiting until an alert detects them leaving the store with something stolen.

With IT departments becoming more involved in security system decisions, new solutions will require network environments. Users need to create network platforms that support mobile video applications, intelligent video suites, POS and other vertical productivity tools, including an IP-based video system.

Your Next DVR When buying the next DVR, buyers should look at what they currently have in stock and what will be needed in the future. Beware, technology will continue to move forward and older systems will at some point become obsolete. It’s a future-shock world, and technology breakthroughs are coming faster than ever. Be ready for them. Make sure the DVR of interest includes the these features: Scalability. The system may be smaller now, but it will grow. Be prepared for business growth and the idea of adding new applications to the system. That’s a truism with almost any system. Features should include the ability to assign access permissions per camera from a central server, assign access for playback and remote access and create virtual groupings of cameras regardless of server. That might not be needed now, but the day will come. Make sure the DVR being implemented today will provide the needs of tomorrow. Hybrid capabilities. Do not remove the investment in legacy analog cameras to move into the IP video world. It is not necessary. Select a DVR that will work with both analog and digital cameras. Advanced search, save and playback. Select features that allow searches by time, date, motion or event type, as well as live-view toggle. Users should be able to save files. Also ensure the new DVR can be used to integrate the video and access control systems. The new DVR should be able to playback multiple cameras simultaneously or independently, as well as provide simultaneous live and playback access. Also ensure the DVR provides a proprietary encryption/watermark feature that is placed on the video when recorded. Other strongly desired features include a point-of-transaction indicator and access permissions. Search on motion. Ensure the system operator can conduct a post-event search on motion detection alarms and confine the search within a specified portion of the camera’s field of view. In addition, users want to be sure the playback software allows for search on scene changes, whether or not the camera has motion detection deployed. Audio/video synchronization. Even if audio is recorded in real-time mode and video is recorded in time-lapse fashion, make sure the video will be displayed and refreshed to remain synchronized with the audio portion of the recording. Hot swappable. Make sure the drives are hot swappable and can be configured in RAID 0, RAID 1 or RAID 5 arrays. RAID (redundant array of independent disks) is a way of redundantly storing the same data in different places on multiple hard disks. By placing data on multiple disks, it increases system reliability. It can slow the system down due to the same data being written on more than one disk, but RAID is worth the negative aspects. Since multiple disk increases mean time between failures, storing data redundantly also increases fault tolerance. Multi-video remote. With a multi-video remote feature, multiple cameras can be viewed concurrently. Users obtain full PTZ functionality for every camera in the network. For public places, it provides the opportunity to mask off certain fields within any camera’s view. Whatever can be done with any one camera should be able to be done with any camera on the network from anywhere on the network by any authorized operator. Monitor maintenance. Many companies are touting automated video system maintenance as one of the first intelligent video applications. Ask if the system itself monitors the health of the video server and cameras, alerting the operator of a connectivity break. Will it also monitor video control and check if there is camera loss, saturation or blocking? If so, users want an alert sent. Meet IP standards. Devices connected to the network should communicate via TCP/IP. The system also should be dynamic host, configuration protocol capable. The feature will allow the IT departments to better manage network devices.