We looked at the place where the problems were occurring , this was in a poorly lit section of the school and it was apparent that the area would need a couple of white light illuminators. In addition we wanted to supply an HD CCTV solution rather than analogue. After all they wanted to ID these crooks  not just capture blurred images of an event that would provide no detail post vandalism.

We made the customer aware of his options, 4 analogue cameras or a 2 mega-pixel IP camera plus some LED lighting. The mega-pixel solution meant that they could expand at a later date into other areas of the school but the recording solution was more expensive than a 4 way analogue DVR to start with.

Confronted with costs the customer immediately decided that he wanted analogue, but he did not want 4 cameras just 2 after all surely if they knew the people causing the issues (they assumed it was their own pupils) then the video evidence would be ok. Again we tried to explain why in our opinion this was a short sighted non solution to his issues. Even with a Dem of HD which he was most impressed with did he insist he still knew better and wanted to keep with his idea of an analogue solution convinced it would work.

We would rather walk away, so another wasted day, another customer about to be disappointed with his cameras , another customer who will try to blame his supplier that the cameras are very poor and don’t do the job, another customer who will always rue his purchase and tell all his colleagues how useless CCTV is when they really need it…..oh and another customer who refused to listen and made price a more important point than the CCTV solution itself…………the list goes on………..

IFSEC 2012 shut its doors after yet another excellently attended show.

But how excellent was it really?

Well, we visited each day, dodging the rain showers wherever possible!

On arriving at the superbly located Birmingham NEC, it seemed that each day, despite the arrival time, East car park 4 was our destination!

Excellent and frequent shuttle buses (saved getting wet!) swept us to the entrance in under 10mins – on the one occasion where the queue was more than 2 shuttle buses long, the entrepreneurial local Taxi drivers pulled up and offered rides for £1 per person !!

On arriving at the Halls, swift entrance was gained using the pre-registration number allocated if you were efficient in booking ahead – scan the bar code or enter the number and one of the lovely ladies called out your name and handed the printed pass – valid for the 4 days of the show.

Entrance was only a zap away and then into the huge and almost intimidating Halls – we started each day in Hall 5.

First job, fire up the IFSEC 2012 iPhone APP to get at the list of exhibitors that we had made beforehand

And there was problem number 1 !

We had seen the App before do it’s usual (and time wasting) thing of updating this and that, downloading this and that etc, but we were in the confines of office wifi – standby on a severely stretched 3G signal that was being shared by half the population of the world and the app took a good 20-30 seconds to get to the stage of being useable ! bearing in mind that this process was the same EVERY time the app was needed, even if already running!!

Note to IFSEC App developers – ensure that the APP only updates ONCE and only perhaps on wifi ???? PLUS……use the Push feature of iOS devices instead of pulling everytime the app runs!!!

Once passed the splendour of HUGE stands such as Tyco and Norbain (and a BIG shout out to Samsung for the hugest video wall ever!) the usual Asian section provided an in sight into this years talked about Tech……..namely HD-SDI / HDcctv recorders, cameras and transmission widgets.

Nearly all stands (compared to VERY FEW last year) were extolling the virtues of HD-SDI / HDcctv as the new method for High Def CCTV images………. many interesting conversations took place on compatibility - all centring on the Genum chipset that seems to ensure compatibility amongst various manufacturers – SEEMS ??? well, at one point, we asked a camera supplier to borrow a camera to take next door to his Korean neighbour making DVRs…….sure enough, it worked, we could not however advise this will always be the case so HDcctv compatible seems to be the way forward here.

But, HD-SDI is definitely now more prominent – we expect to see major UK distributors push this retro-fittable tech out to their customers during 2012-2013

Another area of concern was meeting areas – ok, I guess if you are a big corporate exhibitor, hiring a meeting room is de facto, but if you are looking for a quick conversation with a new supplier, where do you go? We were planning a discussion with a leading Korean manufacturer……we thought combining with some refreshment would be relaxing……no seats in the heavily busy internal cafe/rest areas so headed out to the lobby area. EVERY cafe/eating area packed………. options included sitting side by side around the outside walls !!!

Surely some meeting areas with refreshments makes sense?

So, Hall 5 was where the main action was but to be honest, we were strangely warming to the exhibitors in Hall 4 !! Seemed to be more of the IP based guys (Axis, Milestone, IndigoVision) were up there and somehow, it kind of felt more ‘techy’ up there, like a club that announced “downstairs for cable, upstairs for IP!’

Milestone and Axis were showing various new technology – Axis with a HUGE PTZ camera and their Thermal offerings……..Thermal seemed to feature very well throughout the show, mainly because of its superb analytical capabilities. We saw several companies such as Flir and 360 Vision demonstrating their products on various partner stands to good reception.

Milestone had an interesting ‘wall’ of affiliated partners – companies such as IFSEC award winners Ipsotek showed their excellent analytics and Milestone integration to good effect!

The usual bevy of beauties lined the stands – obviously employed for their amazing product knowledge. So, what was the thought on this years IFSEC?

Well, apart from the troublesome app and the lack of meeting areas, really rather good – the new tech appearing is refreshing, the layout over 2 Halls was spot on and the show had enough to fill 4 days of interest easily.

Roll on IFSEC 2013!

Its the worse feeling for any business but sometimes security companies need to learn when the time is right to simply walk away from a potential client. There are times in the security business when we as installers need to know when we are being squeezed too hard. It is very tempting to keep cutting costs to keep a “big name” but if a client is looking for the lowest cost of service in order to fulfil their remit and your organization has built a reputation over the years as highly qualified and trained security professionals, giving a service that is second to none, then you need to have the balls to tell your potential client they need to look elsewhere.

Quite simply put, a company/client prepared to compromise service in favour of cost are not looking for an organization who provides your level of service and commitment. It’s always a fine line of course and we are all out there to make our business a success but some buyers are starting to take advantage of  too much good will as companies fight for the ever decreasing contracts on offer.

Most businesses will know when they are being taken for a ride but can’t they help themselves still trying to deliver even if it is at their own expense but they must realize they are just undermining the entire business for a valueless contract. Over the last 3 years or so there have been too many organizations out there prepared to buy business  and they will always bid lower then everyone else.

This results in awful service for end users and everyone is a loser, the good suppliers miss out , the customer gets disillusioned and the company  that wins the tender makes no profit, sometimes they even make a loss. Minimum wages result for engineers and this drives the good guys out of the industry. The problem is when the dust settles and all involved in the tender process realize the mistakes that have been made …its too late……… for everyone.

If this rings true with your organization then give this blog a retweet and lets put a stop to this practice once and for all.

The range will include a world first, an HD SDI PTZ dome camera. This will be complimented by a smart IR bullet camera and two HD SDI dome cameras and of course as the Cobra Alpha HD SDI DVR.

The new  Cobra Alpha HD SDI recorder offers HD clarity over coax and is targeted at installers who want to give HD to their end users without some of the complication involved in IP HD systems.

The Cobra Alpha  HD SDI CCTV range is priced to sell against analogue rather than IP and is looking to take a market share of camera systems that are in need of upgrade here in the UK and primarily run over coax.

The Cobra Alpha range offers crystal clear 1080P images and exceptional recording quality. HD SDI CCTV is simple to install and can use both new and existing coax. It is not an IP system so no expert IP training is required. It is an HD definition system for CCTV installers and is quite simply plug and play. This is what CCTV installers have been waiting for, a simple HD CCTV solution without the complication that can come with IP CCTV installations and what’s more at an affordable price.

So the Cobra Alpha HD SDI DVR will prove a big hit with installers looking for a simple solution but with 3 times the definition of analogue.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/avigilon-corporation-announces-first-quarter-200000580.html

Check the full set of financial results through the link above.

Avigilon encoder

Dallmeier  have announced the end of the Leonardo product range’ and h.264 DLS series recorders.

As from the 14th May 2012* the following h.264 recorder models will be discontinued:

DMS ‚In memory of Leonardo‘ recorders and h.264 DLS Series recorders.

With this change Dallmeier will from this point onwards be promoting only SMAVIA software. The new products are completely forwards and backwards compatible and Dallmeier offer full support in order that new products may be integrated into older systems.

Dallmeier state that “SMAVIA is a recording technology which is based on 25 years of experience and competence in professional video security technology, thus ensuring maximum reliability. SMAVIA enables the recording of video images and streams in a large variety of image compression and transmission codecs (H.264, MPEG-4, MJPEG). In addition to standard definitions, SMAVIA also supports Full HD (1080p) and up to 8 megapixel”.

“The SMAVIA Recording Server Software can be used on a wide range of different hardware platforms; either on special video recording servers made by Dallmeier or as stand-alone software on standard servers or PCs. SMAVIA is compatible with both Linux and Windows. The corresponding management software SMAVIA Viewing Client offers the perfect interface for the comfortable processing of live and recorded pictures”.

Dallmeier have always been a company who evolve through good ideas which in turn become quality CCTV equipment, which helps them stay at the forefront of the industry. With this commitment to software Dallmeier have committed themselves fully into IP CCTV and it will be interesting to see how they compete.

The questions we challenge Dallmeier to answer is why? Are they just following the trend or do they see this as the future. Was it a result of a loss in sales? Or an effort to keep up with others in the IP CCTV market place? Were their DVRs too expensive to sell and to maintain and was their returns policy one that put off prospective buyers of their hardware?

Lets hear from you Dallmeier!

What all the commentators seem to agree on is that IP is inevitable, analogue CCTV as a technology is finished and it is now just a matter of time before those who have invested in IP surveillance training, ICT staff and IP CCTV products will prevail. In market that before IP CCTV came along, was dominated by installers who generally operate with 5 or 6 hard working staff and have little or no time to invest in a discipline that is far more demanding than installing simple closed circuit analogue systems, this news is quite daunting!

Now it has to be noted that IP CCTV brings many benefits but the most obvious is HD quality. This is the driving force for IP CCTV to really take off and this is what will cause forward thinking end users to upgrade. It was noted that  in a later article on P40 there is a quote that suggests” if you want a high resolution system you have to go IP”, ironic then that the advert directly following the “Know IP or no IP” article is for the new HD SDI CCTV range from Videcon.

Now that is forward thinking!!!  HD SDI CCTV offers high definition images over coax. It is widely acknowledged that coax makes up over 70% of all CCTV systems here in the UK at present. Many of those systems consist of less than 16 cameras and many of those systems need upgrading. Many of those systems are installed and maintained by CCTV installers who have little desire to go over to IP CCTV technology.

It would therefore be fair to ask then who is looking beyond IP surveillance? Is HD SDI CCTV a technology that can allow smaller traditional CCTV companies to compete against the tide of IP CCTV products flooding the market place? We certainly think it is!

Avigilon are also expected to announce that they will be releasing  An HD CCTV PTZ dome camera. This is an interesting move when it was thought that HD CCTV could spell the end of the PTZ dome altogether.

We will keep you informed of developments.

Avigilon CCTV

http://www.integratedcctv.co.uk/2010/11/23/avigilon-talk-to-integrated-cctv-about-their-company-and-the-future/

How can companies cut costs on external remote monitoring but still maintain a high or even higher level of security than they already have? The answer it seems may be to install thermal CCTV cameras. The increasing reduction in the price of thermal security equipment is meaning that installers and end-users are increasingly more  interested in protecting sites with thermal imaging cameras instead of deploying traditional CCTV cameras.

The reasoning behind this shift is relatively simple. Thermal CCTV can cover far greater areas without the need for expensive lighting. The combination of the cost of installing this lighting together with the running costs associated with it over the lifetime of the security system means forward thinking installers can justify the cost of installing a more expensive thermal camera solution in the first instance.

Add to this the benefits that thermal cameras will operate in any weather conditions and in total darkness and will operate over far greater distance. Suddenly end users are starting to sit up and take notice.

With thermal security systems, false alarms are more or less a thing of the past. Objects become incredibly easy to identify on screen, either with the naked eye or with the use of advanced analytics.

The thermal solution is not of course of benefit for evidential purposes , however not many analogue CCTV systems are either. HD CCTV is the only way to tackle  the issue of identification.

So thermal CCTV is making in-roads into all areas of security now and as customers become ever more aware of the way thermal can help them, the price continues to fall. This is good news for all those involved with thermal CCTV.