SecurityInfoWatch.com Blogs

Want an approximation of what it might feel like to be a TSA security screener working at a busy checkpoint? Shockwave has a simple Airport Security game out that runs in your web browser. You can choose your level of play — Fickle, Abitrary or Knee-Jerk — and you have to spot threats in luggage and on persons. Click the bottle of liquid in the carry-on bag, manage new security updates (”No cell phones in carry-ons”) and deal with alerts like “security queue too long”. It’s just like the stress of being an airport screener, but at least if the air passengers get angry at you, you can just turn the game off and get back to your real work.

Get to the fun at Shockwave’s Airport Security game landing page.  — Geoff

We’ve previously made mention of blogs in our industry. I just want to point to five blogs you can check out when you have too much time on your hands (and who doesn’t, right? OK, that’s satire…):

• Our friend Steve Hunt is an analyst and general industry rabble-rouser. He’s also got some sharp insights into the world of vendors and hot technologies. Go to http://www.securitydreamer.com/
• Bruce Schneier is THE MAN when it comes to all things encryption. If you want to geek out on encryption or enjoy his lively commentary, get yourself over to http://www.schneier.com/blog/
• I had mentioned before that Frank DeFina (Panasonic Systems Solutions President) has a blog, but that post has been buried in the archives. Frank’s blog can be reached at http://blog.panasonic.com/frank/
• I just learned at ISC West that Dr. Bob (last name Banerjee, for those of you outside of the Bosch Security loop) is blogging — mainly about video surveillance. It’s good to have another familiar name in the security industry blogosphere. Go here: http://blog.boschsecurity.us/
• And although we mentioned it before on the main news site, I want to repeat to you all again that our friend Curtis Baillie, a security consultant from Pennsylvania and general retail loss prevention whiz, is now blogging for SIW: http://www.securityinfowatch.com/blog/category/security2lp/ 

-Geoff

I was on the phone this afternoon with Tim Bigoness, the vice president of sales for D-Tools, a company that has made software for estimating, designing and managing A/V projects and which now offers a version of its project tailored for security systems dealers and integrators. While we covered many of the features in the company’s software, I picked up on some common business management tips for handling sales estimate and proposal processes. Consider the following recommendations as ways to improve your own company’s processes…

Good tips for making estimates and proposals easier on you:

- Create a list of your top 100 products and detail basic information such as your product cost (from distributor), your MSRP (or MSRP range).
- Create a list of estimated time it would take your installers to install and configure each of these common pieces of hardware. Consider also including estimated time for training the end-user.
- Create pre-configured system packages (4 cameras plus a DVR plus cabling, power supplies and mounting kits, for example).
- Create a number of common pre-configured accessory packages (an accessory list for a standard analog fixed camera might include power supply, enclosure, mounting kit, etc.)
- Create checklists of products that are essential to any system (e.g., single and double-gang boxes, flex conduit, hard conduit, etc.) to make sure these easy-to-forget items are included in your costs when making proposals and bids.

We’re sure there are more good suggestions of things to have pre-planned to make proposals and bidding easier. Share your ideas with the industry by adding a comment to this blog post.

-Geoff

The alarm industry gets it. They understand the tie-in to computer and information technology. They understand it’s much more than providing burglar and fire alarms, or at least it is if success is to follow. This was quite evident at the recent ISC West show. Take, for example, Alarm Net, a Honeywell Communications network and its Total Connect program. It’s evolution in action. The alarm industry is doing more than monitoring openings and closings. Total Connect lets authorized dealers provide customers value-added services (another phrase you will hear us talk about more and more in the near future). Basically it sends SMS or text messages to laptops, pda’s, cellular telephones and more to alert the customer of activity or alarms at the home or business. Another emerging facet of this is video–another value-add of the program lets connected customers “look in” on the home or business.

There’s another interesting phenomenon emerging, also from the consumer and computer side of the business: AlarmNet offers three months free of the Total Connect digital communications services, and they are not the only one to take off with this new marketing tactic. Agent Vi’s Chief Executive Officer Buddy Flerl talked excitedly at the show about the company offering unlimited video analytics on up to three cameras for an enterprise system free for 90 days. Of course, they are playing off that fact that after that trial period you’ll be hooked and you won’t be able to live without it.  And, Agent Vi’s solution is not demonstration software on steriods, but the full-fledged program which is yours to tinker with during that three-month period.

The alarm industry gets it. There’s much more value to signaling and communications. The consumer venue is leading the charge and security manufacturers and distributors are learning from that side of the business. Another example, and if you didn’t see it at ISC you missed a great show: the new platform for IP video control from OnSSI called Ocularis that lets users deploy their own personal touch pad stylus (like a finger) to control and manage IP video. Fantastic! Or Brivo, with its Web-hosted access control architecture (the OnSite SE product won two NPS awards at ISC West ) that does so much more than provide access control–it provides “econtrol”—management, accountability–truly value-added services.  It’s all so exciting and great to be witness to an industry whose time truly has come.       

The other day I was interviewed by a writer for an international HR magazine on the use of cameras in the workplace. The writer was interested in the legalities of using cameras in employee locker rooms and fitting rooms in retail establishments. The answer to both is no.

The rule of thumb is wherever there is a ‘reasonable expectation of privacy’ you cannot use cameras to view employee/customer activities. I explained that you could use cameras to view the entrances of locker rooms and fitting rooms, but not to peer inside the private or changing areas.

We also talked about the use of ‘fake’ cameras. At any given time, you can look for fake cameras on EBay and find 200 or more ads. Only a few will include a disclaimer of liability. I advise my clients not to use fake or dummy cameras in their business. If a business makes exclusive use of dummy cameras, they have created a reasonable expectation of security for their customers.

Look at it this way - you, the storeowner, has purchased fake cameras because you are having a shoplifting problem and think the cameras, visible to the public, will have a deterrent effect on your shoplifting problem. A few months later, a customer is in your store when a street thug steals her purse. She resists and is struck in the face and injured. The robber gets away. The customer is injured to the point where she is taken to the hospital by ambulance. This is a tragic experience, not only for the customer but also for you the business owner. During the investigation, the police see the cameras and ask you for the video tape in hopes of identifying the criminal. You tell them your cameras are not real and there is no video tape. Many months later, you receive a notice from an attorney and learn the injured customer is suing you. During the discovery process, it’s found that you used fake cameras to save a few dollars. You can see where this little scenario is leading, especially when the customer says she felt safe shopping in your store because she saw the cameras. To make matters worse - you had a sign in the window proclaiming the premises were being monitored by surveillance video.  I hope your business is able to survive!

Curtis Baillie, Principal Consultant - Security Consulting Strategies, LLC

CNBC’s Power Lunch news program featured Napco CEO Richard Soloway and the company’s iSee Video offering on its “One Good Idea” segment on Tuesday afternoon, April 8th.

Soloway joined CNBC’s Bill Griffeth for the lunchtime program to talk about enabling video surveillance in residential environments. The 2-1/2 minute program showcased how video surveillance could be an additional source of RMR for dealers, and pointed out how low the costs have gone for this kind of technology solution. Soloway’s solution, he said, would start at about $500 for the technology installed, and then from $10 per month for service that would connect users remotely to the live video.

The solution can push video to PDAs, phones and other mobile devices; in fact, the ubiquitous iPhone was the solution shown on the CNBC segment. The goal is while the customers see video, your security business sees RMR. Our take? Thumbs up for creating another potential revenue stream for security dealers.

Check out the video of Soloway on CNBC: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=706138627

-Geoff

The SecurityInfoWatch.com and Cygnus Security Group crew is back from ISC West 2008. It really was a great show, and from what SIA’s Richard Chace told me after the show, the numbers looked really good. The second day of the show, Thursday, was jam packed with attendees in the tradeshow floor, and although session attendance was apparently hit or miss (that probably depends more on the subject matter than the number of people there), it was clear that ISC West was the place to be! In fact, all you had to do was to send an email out to the industry, and judge by the number of “out of office” replies you received to tell how well the show was doing!

Finally, here are some more photos of the tradeshow floor, ranging from access control to chemical threat detection. There’s always cool technology to see at this show, and I’ve been amazed at how ISC has transitioned from a alarm dealer’s show to be a real, widespread gathering place for everything security, from computer access systems to mobile surveillance trucks. It really is an amazing place to see the industry.

From left: Alexander Ivanchenko of the Security Industry Association of Russia (RASI); Inna Svyatenko, deputy of Moscow City Council in charge of security; Sara Scroggins, product marketing manager with Pelco and a Women in Security Electronics (WISE) member; and Dale Eller, executive director of WISE. The four caught up after the show to discuss security in Moscow and advancing the role of women in the security industry. Svyatenko and Ivanchenko were on hand to review security solutions that could be used in Moscow for community protection.

What’s a tradeshow without a hands-on contest? This one pitted techs and dealers against a clock and a retrofit project.

OK, you get the sneak preview here if you didn’t make it to ISC West 2008. The Ford Transit Connect is a commercial delivery vehicle that would work especially well in urban environments and for small projects where you don’t need as much delivery space. It’s no E-150 full-size van, but it’s probably just right for technicians, and the 4-cylinder engine won’t drink up your business profits.

…but if you want to go heavy-duty, here’s the bigger brother from Ford with a nice custom storage system. This thing is built to be a workhorse.

We caught up with Kevin Wine, who recently made the move from Lenel to ICx. The firm provides a broad array of security and threat detection solutions, designed to be integrated together. Here he is with the company’s Fido detection unit for scanning liquids for chemical threats. The unbelievable thing is that this particular unit can detect liquid chemical threats through a sealed plastic bottle. That’s right, you don’t have to remove the cap (and potentially expose the environment) to test for liquid threats.

I wrote that ICx wants to integrate security. It may start with things like the Fido (or a cool card reader that tested for explosives residue), but the data can end up in the company’s CommandSpace situational awareness system for linking video surveillance, sensor data and a lot more.

As the show ended, I ran into the staff of ScanSource Security Distribution, and got them together for a group shot. The beach theme had everyone smiling  in the booth (or maybe those smiles were because the show was over and they could all get home!).

See you all at the next show…

-Geoff

The camera didn’t get much more use today, but I did manage to click away at some interesting technologies. Overall,  the feel from ISC West is that the show is about as big as it can realistically be for most people to still get value out of it. Sure, there are bigger shows, but they often have bigger boooths, rathn than scores of 10′x10′ exhibits. We’re pretty amazed at the breadth of technology at ISC West — this is the kind of show where you can find a booth on wire snakes for pulling low-voltage cables and also find a platform truck loaded with high-end camera solutions that could be used for border patrol or temporary surveillance a national security event. Well, onto the photos…

Above: Privaris PlusID units — the unit on the right is the PlusID 75, which includes an RSA one-time password unit (the screen show on it) as well as Bluetooth wireless communications.

Above: Ionit’s booth had a full-size pool table and billiards hot shot Ewa Mataya Laurance (The Striking Viking) showing off trick shots.

Above: Fast company in the aisles of the ISC West tradeshow floor

Above: Brivo was showing how the company’s access control solutions integrated directly to AMX automation controls.

 Above Samsung GVI Security’ s Duncan Havlin shows the firms three new IP cameas and new video management software.

-Geoff

When I heard Wakefield, Mass.-based NoblePeak Vision’s TriWave camera won the SIA New Product Showcase “Best In Show,” my thoughts turned to when I was first introduced to their technology last September at ASIS. At the time, I had been impressed enough by the demo I had seen to write: Another company focused on high-tech surveillance engineering, NoblePeak, was showing off a futuristic technology they plan to start offering dealers next year. NoblePeak’s “Germanium” technology, capable of sensing the spectrum from near-infrared to short-wave infrared, is able to display nighttime images by using “Night Glow.” Phil Davies, vice president of marketing for NoblePeak, explained that hydroxyl ions in the earth’s atmosphere absorb sun rays during the day, and at night they “glow”-the human eye can’t detect this “glow,” but NoblePeak’s Germanium technology can. As such, this camera has a uniform light source which enables it to deliver quality images during the night.

Today, more than six months later, I stopped by NoblePeak’s booth during Day 2 of ISC West to congratulate them on their newest award. Clifford King, Ph. D., one of the founders of NoblePeak and a developer of the technology, showed me that they’re now able to demo the camera at VGA resolution (which is a big improvement over the tiny screenshots they were using at ASIS). He also was able to report that NoblePeak is finally starting to sell product.

I also had a chance today to stop by the booth of another SIA New Product Showcase winner, VideoIQ, which won in the category of video analytics with its iCVR . The iCVR is a camera with built-in storage and video analytics, allowing the camera to efficiently manage network bandwidth by only transmitting video over the network when there is an alarm. For instance, an iCVR pointed at a parking lot will record video locally to the camera for hours at a time, but as soon as a car pulls into the lot seven seconds of video will be transferred over the network (the 2 seconds before the “incident” and 5 seconds after).

Scott Schnell, president and CEO, VideoIQ, also pointed out some other features of the iCVR solution. One was that the cameras can have an audio output, allowing a guard at a command center to call out a warning or directions to a suspicious person. An example Schnell used was a car dealership where somebody is walking around the lot after hours. Once the guard has been alerted to a suspicous person, he or she can take a proactive approach and actually call out to the person something like, “The car dealership is now closed. If you would like to see a car, please come back during normal business hours tomorrow.”

Another feature that Schnell demoed for me was VideoIQ’s ability to search by objects. For instance, you can search for “people” or “cars” or “trucks” as opposed to just things that move.

Many new products at the show seem “cool,” especially the SIA New Product Showcase winners. However, as with most new products, it’s going to take a while to see how they really do on the market place. Will they hold up in real world environments, and if so, exactly how profitable will they be? Time will tell.

-Greg

We were too busy taking notes on new technologies too blind the attendees of ISC West 2008 with the flash of a camera, but here is the start of a photo archive for Day One at ISC West 2008. There’s a lot to be seen, and this doesn’t even begin to show what’s happening here, but I’ll give you a quick run-down in photos.

Above: Michael Regelski is the CTO at UTC Fire & Security. The quote that summed up his morning presentation: “We are committed to building interoperable platforms.” It’s a strategy that is working for the company (which has such companies as Lenel, Onity, and Verex in its mix). Duncan Gillis, president for the UTC Fire & Security products group, said that in 2005, before UTC acquired Lenel, the company’s digital video sales were in a decline. The company has since refocused on interoperability, rather than siloed, proprietary solutions, and the firm has seen a direct reversal of that trend. Interoperability works, seemed to be the consistent message from Gillis and Regelski.

Above: Okay, how do you know you’re really in Vegas for ISC West 2008? Here’s a hint: Beautiful women hired for booth promotions, high-tech cameras and the flood of people entering the tradeshow floor at 10 a.m.

Above: This looks exciting right? Despite its small size, there’s a lot of excitement and guts in this chip. The ARTPEC -3 processing chips will be appearing in Axis Communications’ new cameras and encoders. It allows the company to integrate in-camera processing for megapixel video, H.264 compression and video analytics. Axis has the chip appearing already in the Axis P3301 dome, the Axis Q7401 video encoder, the Axis Q7406 video encoder blade (6 channels), and the Axis Q7900 encoder rack (which has 14 encoder blades totaling 84 channels, and still fits in a 4 unit rackspace).

Above: Just another circuit board? I didn’t think so. Dave Ella, CTO for AMAG, showed me this EN-1DBC single-door POE controller. This networked device speeds installation time and the POE can support readers and most locks (don’t expect the current POE to support the highest-powered magnetic locking devices, but the POE model does support many devices for door control). The device is being called the Symmetry Edge network controller, and expands the company’s distributed access control model. Set-up is indeed quite quick; I got a preview of the set-up for configuring this controller, and it’s fast.

That about covers our photos; the rest were plagued with bad light, unsteady hands, or subjects who blinked too much to include. Look for more pics tomorrow and Friday as we continue to cover ISC West 2008. Of course, if you haven’t yet, head to our ISC West 2008 page for reports from editors and tons of product announcements.

-Geoff