ISC West attendees were targeted with Artificial Intelligence marketing from the moment they entered the Sands Expo in Las Vegas, with multiple large banners from Dahua Technology reminding everyone that “AI Creates Value.”
While there is still debate as to whether intelligent video analytics truly qualifies as “Artificial Intelligence,” there is little doubt that AI created a ton of buzz on the show floor in Las Vegas.
In addition to hosting a keynote presentation focused on the “AI Creates Value” messaging, Dahua also introduced its “deep sense” products, which include cameras, NVRs, servers, etc. – all of which offer advanced video intelligence capabilities, such as human characteristics analysis, face recognition, ALPR, metadata collection and analysis, people counting, image search, facial flow, traffic incident detection and traffic data statistics.
According to Tim Shen, marketing director for Dahua Technology USA, the goal of AI is to make data better and more actionable for end-users, which is what the company aims to do with this latest product line. “People get (what AI is), but they still need to know how this is going to help them,” he says.
During the keynote, Dahua President Ke Li noted that “innovation has been the persistent force behind Dahua’s technology development,” and that company will “lead the application of AI in the security industry.”
Axis Communications North America General Manager Fredrik Nilsson also saw AI as generating some of the biggest buzz at the show. “From an end-customer and integrator point of view, it must be exciting, and somewhat overwhelming,” Nilsson says. “If I were in their shoes, there are a few questions I would ask myself: What is the difference between deep learning, analytics and Artificial Intelligence, and how does it apply to my business; and when is a complete solution from a vendor the best solution vs. a partner/software solution?”
The difference between AI and intelligent analytics was one of the central themes of SD&I’s research and interviews with security industry experts in our Sept. 2017 cover story (read the full article online at www.securityinfowatch.com/12363103).
Dahua was just one of a large number of vendors offering intelligent video analytic-based solutions on the show floor; in fact AI and deep learning are finding their way into products that go beyond the video surveillance market. Hikvision, for example, even incorporated deep learning facial recognition into its new Swing Barrier Turnstile product.
Robotic Assistance Devices debuted what it calls an “artificially intelligent guarding solution,” the Security Control and Observation Tower (SCOT) – a standalone, remote, portable, self-sufficient observation tower “equipped with artificial intelligence that powers human detection analytics.”
The vast majority of AI-based products, however, were focused tightly on intelligent video analytics.
Pelco announced a collaboration with IBM to integrate IBM’s deep learning analytics into Pelco’s VideoXpert VMS to quickly analyze huge volumes of archived video to identify people and objects of interest, dramatically decreasing the time needed for video forensic analysis.
IndigoVision’s “Artificial Intelligence powered by BriefCam” enables users to quickly and easily review hours of footage in minutes.
Avigilon previewed an enhancement to its “AI Appearance Search” technology that will enable operators to search video based on physical descriptions, such as hair and clothing color, gender and age.
Other AI-based news included:
Ron VanTassel, Seneca’s Market Development Manager for Intelligent Systems, discusses back-end solutions to help the industry take of advantage of AI technologies;
Also, check out Ray Coulombe's latest Tech Trends column for more AI from the ISC West show floor.
Paul Rothman is Editor in Chief of Security Dealer & Integrator (SD&I) magazine. Access the current issue, full archives and subscribe at www.secdealer.com.
