Sen july2014

July 2014 Issue 356

Thermal: Strengths vs weaknesses l Security 2014: SEN’s Show Report l Telstra buys into SNP Security l Review: Hikvision 4-Line l SCSI distributing Bold l Sony kicks a goal in Brazil l Bosch’s Starlight 8000 MP l The Interview: Marcus Kneen l Analogue vs IP cameras l FY2013: A year to remember

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editorial EDITORIAL

s ec u ri ty e l e ct ro n i c s & netwo r ks j u ly 20 14 i s sue 356

S EC U RI TY E L E CT RO N I C S & NE TWO R KS

NOVEMBER 2 01 3 ISSU E 3 49

time travel

By John Adams

SALES MACHINE

By John Adams

I

N the wake of Security 2014, It’s a bit depressing when our best new solutions it’s tempting to project the The technical dormancy resulting from margin e live in a competitive world. No sooner has reach giddy heights of affordable performance mind ahead 5 years and try to cutting edge technology been developed crash is most obvious when viewing ‘modern’ imagine the sorts of issues and that no one is prepared to pay for. whose last upgrade was undertaken than it’s shoe-horned into a matchbox of alarm systems technologies we are likely to be white plastic, its price shorn to the bone. The chipset in the 1970s, that wild decade when Fairchild living with. Some technologies of today’s cutting edge video surveillance camera is Optoelectronics’ 5-cent LEDs blasted alarm panel are obvious – there’s going to be agnostic – bringing Z-wave, Wi-Fi sensor alarm systems low grade keypads to technological heightsinpreviously only the chipset of tomorrow’s retail or domestic cloud and lots of cloud. We are seeing it in and more. surveillance cats –on these Star Trek. solution, leased to an end user domestic at no visible cost, like of seen video surveillance, alarms and it comes tounderpins sensors, I’m a things are going to happen but I can’t In my view, the When sales culture that margin some giveaway 4-zone alarm panel. automation, and access control. torn.way PIR,to microwave dual of see them cannibalising seems to have bit given a differentand method And when I say tomorrow, I mean it literally.

Right electronic I think in 5 years cloud will be technology sensors are low cost, that security. is going to business that’s based on relationships now the humblest $200 fixed mini System domes security and winning deeply embedded within the low power drawPart andofvery a big thing with consumer-grade street. the capable problem is compact cameras are rumblingbearound powered by are too often a one-way professional monitoring industry.

24-hours.

We’ll see alarm cloud.

I don’t know whenintense the firstcompetition, big but an inability to winsensors jobs based the most powerful HD processing engines.

Can it go on I think TelstraSNP is a good with 1080p HDofcameras onboard cloudthis security system will on presentation of the benefits system performance indefinitely? I think not. And in news month, we’re breach sign – it shows Telstra knows come IP-based but comeaccess it will. is a key factor. reporting to alarm/automation seeing the advent of simple, unitised what a security system is and panels Another that’s going The impact of poorwith salesvideo skills,boards or no and sales skills, control, designed to integrate with currentparallel IP video understands duty of care. That units. Atfrom the very leastto top. to have more impact in the years flows through storage the industry, bottom solutions without any of the usual fussing about. recognition is likely to be mirrored will allow monitoring is IT integrators competing Integrators andthese installers selling on price, station exist on This development points ahead to commoditisation by new players. We are going to operators and home owners more for electronic security work and their profit across all market segments. Alarms, access control, virtually no hardware margin, making see more alliances between big information when trying a IT departments doing their own from the installation itself. Distributors sellto themake product video surveillance, software management solutions, suppliers, monitoring stations and about the dreadedeach single systems integrations. Better ranges of moredecision manufacturers, servicing less. the lot. telcos. Ownership of the vertical electronic security integrators Manufacturers activation. scrimp on component quality and Is the lower end the only part of the market that’s is a big deal, in my opinion. I can’t Cameras – they are getting better are going to continue to become as more.

Firmware tweaks take price conscious? No fear. It’s slash and burn at the top start dressing up less help but feel every company and lenses. less expensive andgrows morein which integrators thestill place of decent A mindset end, too. And talking about the IT issue recentlybut I gotthere to will Making serious about matters cloud security specialised, as well asmotivator. more general. pressure it’s likelyquantity, to have not quality is the primary To get whether the malaisebe that has longand afflicted worse, in wondering solutions will want a monitoring There’s a camera foror practically a negative impact on system volumes, manufacturers go direct, start searching the alarms segment will infect major systems, as well. station with an integrated Australia just data every application.their I thinkexisting core sales performance. cannibalising What is that sickness? It’s a systemic collapse of sales for new verticals, centre.

We’ve not seen the last now there seems camera technology 5 years The underlying issue isand isolating existing customers, in who losewill brand ability, with all the attendant ailments. acquisition in this area. still besolely 1080pon but video analytics pressure to be a selection loyalty and purchase price.

In the domestic and smalldownward commercial alarmson price.

I think we’ll see a parallel willworse, be doing more – managing it in a number in much Australia just now there per seen cent of their time of Making matters process driven by market where techs spend 90 I’ve industry that provides recording, recognising activity in installations over the past 12 covered in spiderwebs and pigeon poo, you can seems to be a selection process driven by project project managers less serious electronic scenes, providing alerts months – inappropriate hardware managers or electrical contractors whoand windoing tenders understand a reluctance to prance about in board electrical securityor solutions more ofand the things we wished it from selectiontobased on dollars.

It’s alowball quotes using then carve margin rooms up-selling fawning customers enterprise contractors for more general who could do 10 years ago. depressing best new contractor’s hip pockets. solutions with no more than thebit whiff of Dunhillwhen Apresour their use. These solutions win tenders using Rasage and the flash of a Rolex. solutions reach giddy heights Supporting IVA will be integrated Butofthe key element driving commoditisation will lowball come from quotes a whichAwill turn cameras performance no one is lack of salesIR, ability. failure to teach into staff that But when it comes to biggeraffordable systems, an inability that number different automated 24-hourbuilt monitoring is prepared to payand for. It’sparticular security, skill of andofthen carve to sell based on features is harder the sales animal, on an intense to rationalise sources – retailers, devices. not seen integrated When need it, youjustified need belief and in We’ve the capability of solutions, industry as a you whole, margin from their much more dangerous for thepeople. smaller telcos, and white LEDs in serious video it to work. that demands especially when time is added to the equation. The combined with an industry self respect contractor’s hip Internet giants like yet but Isecurity think the area of alarm we apply surveillance buyers true value cameras to electronic margin over time panels pockets. logical progression of a collapseareinIngoing Google, et al. Selfwe will do over the next 5 years. to see productstechnology. with a ]]] is the inability to invest in research and development monitoring of singlezzz lot of capability that are comms that’s so vital to future sales.

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42: Starlight express

july 14 20: Security 2014 Show Report

44: Strengths and weakness of thermal cameras

Once a year we get a chance to take a look at the latest electronic and networked security solutions, giving us a taste of the latest and best product releases, as well as a sense of where the market is heading.

Thermal surveillance cameras have a myriad of brilliant qualities that make them one of the best intrusion detection solutions on the market. Here we look at the strengths and the weaknesses of uncooled microbolometer cameras.

34: Hikvision 4-Line Hikvision’s new 4-Line is a solid range of cameras that combines high performance in key areas like wide dynamic range, colour rendition, and pointy prices. In key ways, the 4-Line represents Hikvision’s coming of age.

48: Telstra Buys Into SNP Security Telstra is reported to have paid between $A40 million and $60 million to buy into SNP Security’s back-to-base alarm and surveillance business in the biggest news ever to hit the local monitoring market.

38: Bold move from SCSI SCSI will distribute the full Bold Technologies Manitou range of central station automation solutions, as well as the rest of the Bold range, including PSIM products.

40: Sony kicks a goal Mineirão Stadium, officially known as The Estádio Governador Magalhães Pinto, has been redeveloped into a 64,000 seat multievent arena with intelligent security systems and sustainable power consumption.

Bosch’s DINION IP starlight 8000 MP camera delivers 5 megapixel details at 0.00825 lux and 1080p resolution and captures moving objects in 5MP resolution, at up to 30 frames per second at 0.0121 lux.

52: One for the team

70

IndigoVision is one of IP video’s heroic explorers.

According to CEO Marcus Kneen, the company’s survival through the fierce landscape of the digital transition has depended on the brilliance of its solutions and the team’s commitment to each other and to customers.

58: Laws of attraction Securing fixed assets is pretty much a text book

44

76

10

66

+regulars

affair; establish concentric security barriers around the asset, which increase in ‘hardness’ the closer they are installed to the item of value.

10: news

Latest business, product and technical news from Australia and around the world.

66: Analogue vs IP

48: monitoring

There’s long been an expectation in the market that analogue cameras would die out completely but that’s not been the case.

Yet while analogue is still being used in certain applications, its volumes are rapidly shrinking.

Telstra is reported to have paid between $A40 million and $60 million to buy into SNP Security’s back-to-base alarm and surveillance business in the biggest news ever to hit the local monitoring market.

76: editor’s choice

72: A year to remember

What’s new from our manufacturers.

The last financial year has been noteworthy from a local business perspective with multiple acquisitions and plenty of heat around distribution agreements. But was it a growth year?

July 2014 Issue 356

THERMAL: STRENGTHS VS WEAKNESSES l Security 2014: SEN’s Show Report l Telstra buys into SNP Security l Review: Hikvision 4-Line l SCSI distributing Bold l Sony kicks a goal in Brazil l Bosch’s Starlight 8000 MP l The Interview: Marcus Kneen l Analogue vs IP cameras l FY2013: A year to remember

PP 100001158

Publisher Bridge Publishing Aust. Pty Ltd ABN 11 083 704 858 PO Box 237 Darlinghurst NSW 1300 tel 61 2 9280 4425 fax 61 2 9280 4428 email info@bridge publishing.com.au

80: helpdesk Our team of electronic security experts answers your tough technical questions.

Editor John Adams Contributor Shane Norton Advertising Manager Monique Keatinge Customer Service Annette Mathews tel 61 2 9280 4425 annette@bridge publishing.com.au

Design Tania Simanowsky e: taniasdesign@ optusnet.com.au Subscriptions 11 issues per annum One year (11 issues) Australia 12 months $A104.50 (incl GST) 24 months $A188.00 (incl GST)

Overseas 12 months $A155.00 (incl GST) 24 months $A270.00 (incl GST) WEBSITE www.securityelectronics andnetworks.com.au No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form in whole or part without prior written permission of Bridge Publishing.

Borg joins IndigoVision p.12 Saab Wins $A26m Qld Corrections Contract p.14 Hills Acquires Audio Products Group p.16 Intek Installs Body Cameras For Transdev p.14

news in brief j u ly 2 0 1 4

Brad Newton

c o m pi l e d b y j o h n a d a m s

Telstra Buys Into SNP Security

■

TELSTRA is reported to have paid between $A40 million and $60 million to buy into SNP Security’s back-to-base alarm, surveillance business and electronic security division. The partners will form a new subsidiary called TelstraSNP Monitoring and Telstra customers will be offered bundled alarm products as part of their existing phone and internet services.

Telstra business group managing director Will Irving has told the Australian Financial Review that Telstra will own slightly more than 50 per cent of TelstraSNP Monitoring but day-to-day operations will largely be managed by SNP staff.

“There’s phenomenal growth in video technology and the ability to do analytics on video plus a whole range of other monitoring and telemetry,” said Irving.

Irving told the Australian Financial Review that Telstra spent “low tens of millions” buying into SNP, though market sources indicated the move was likely worth between $40 million and $60 million.

Tom Roche, managing director at SNP Security and managing director at TSM, says that the partnership allows SNP to focus on its core business while building capability in monitored security. Turn to SEN’s monitoring segment on page 48 for a full report.

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Security 2014 Best Product Award Winner: The official Best New Product Award went to Iomniscient for its IQ FACE, with Hills’ Xandem TMD being a finalist.

10 se&n

Hills Acquires Intek Security Group

Hills NZ Limited has expanded its Hills Electronic Security NZ operations with the acquisition of Intek Security Group Limited.

Intek specialises in distribution in the access control, intrusion, communication and surveillance segments, with core brands being Pelco, Honeywell, DSC, Optex and ACI Farfisa.

Established in 2004, Auckland-based Intek has regional offices in Christchurch and Wellington. The Intek Team comprises 23 staff and has achieved significant growth as a specialist supplier of world-leading security products across New Zealand.

Meanwhile, Hills Electronic Security is New Zealand’s largest supplier of security equipment, ranging from simple domestic alarm systems up to complex integrated access, surveillance and CCTV systems used in commercial and industrial applications.

Brad Newton, COO and Director Hills Technologies, said the Intek acquisition was a great fit for Hills and for the group’s ongoing strategy of building on its premier market position in the Australian and New Zealand security industries.

“It is very much in line with our strategy to focus on delivering integrated solutions into trusted environments, of which security and its managed solutions are prime components,” Newton said.

“Our specialist electronics and security division continues to emerge as a main revenue and profit winner for Hills and we are confident that this trend will continue with the inclusion of the Intek operations into our business.”

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news j u ly 2 0 1 4

Google’s Nest Acquires Dropcam for $US555 million nGOOGLE’S home automation subsidiary Nest Labs will buy domestic video-monitoring company Dropcam, which makes cloud-based security cameras, for $US555 million in cash. According to reports, Nest will integrate Dropcam into its line of smart-home products, which includes the Protect smoke detector and the Learning Thermostat.

Following its acquisition by Google, Nest has ballooned from 130 employees at the end of 2012 to more than 460 this year.

Dropcam will relocate from its San Francisco office to Nest’s Palo Alto California head office.

Dropcam was founded in 2009 by former Axis Communications engineers Greg Duffy and Aamir Virani and has raised $47.8 million in venture capital funding.

“The teams are very well aligned and we love the product,” Rogers,

Anz net_porter 88x125 AU:Layout 1 20.05.14 09:34 Seite 1

Competence in Video Security GEUTEBRÜCK net_porter Business surveillance from a single source

Nest’s acting vice president of engineering, told Recode. “We both think about the entire user experience from the unboxing on.

“We both care deeply about helping people stay connected with their homes when they’re not there.”

Dropcam’s solution incorporates integrated hardware and software based around 3 products: the $149 Dropcam, $199 Dropcam Pro, and $29 Dropcam Tab. All 3 devices are aimed at helping customers monitor home activity through motion sensors and video recordings.

The Wi-Fi-enabled Dropcam and Dropcam Pro allows users to access the camera feeds and converse remotely using the company’s mobile app, while the camera-less Tab can be placed on windows and doors to monitor opening and closing and other types of motion.

Borg joins IndigoVision n INDIGOVISION has appointed Sean Borg as country manager ANZ. Borg’s role is to raise awareness of the brand and to target major verticals. The IP security pioneer plans to expand its business in Australasia, while maintaining the same route to market, through local distributor, Integrated Products.

According to Borg, IndigoVision manufactures Tier 1 product that is mature and he says its VMS Control Center 4.8 solution offers great flexibility and dynamism.

Standout features include threat escalation, response escalation and fast forensics.

“The flexibility of the system is outstanding,” says Borg. “A lot of other companies are just doing CCTV. IndigoVision has integrated so much into its system – access control, alarms, lighting, thermal, bi-directional interfaces.”

IndigoVision Control Centre delivers off-the-shelf integration with ONVIF cameras and numerous third party systems in access control, alarm management, building management and intrusion detection.

GEUTEBRÜCK PACIFIC Australia Suite 8, 40 Yeo Street | NEUTRAL BAY, NSW 2089 | Phone +61 2 89696302 E-mail: info@geutebruck.com.au | Web: www.geutebrueck.com.au Sean Borg

12 se&n

SIG 2014

George Brandis

THE 26th Security in Government (SIG) conference is scheduled from 1-3 September 2014 at the National Convention Centre, Canberra. This annual conference focuses on the information needs of protective security professionals working in or contracting to government.

The theme for the SIG 2014 conference is, ‘Mitigating the Trusted Insider Threat’. The program will focus on understanding and identifying the risk from trusted insiders and examine current and emerging policies, plans and business frameworks available to mitigate the risk.

The Attorney-General, Senator the Hon George Brandis QC will officially open the SIG 2014 conference on Tuesday 2 September. The program presentation topics range from the insider threat from espionage, identity security, and big data to case studies on the importance of sound personnel security practices. Speakers include; David Irvine AO, ASIO; Michael Pezzullo, Australian Customs and Border Protection Service; Lizz Corbett, the Ekman Group or more commonly known as the ‘Lie to me’ experts; Stephen Wilson, Lockstep Group; and James Kelaher, Smartnet Pty Ltd, just to name a few.

The attached SIG exhibition is the networking hub of the conference with approximately 90 exhibitors showcasing the latest physical, technical and information innovations in protective security.

Register at www.ag.gov.au/sig

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emerald™ – The industry’s most multifunctional intelligent access terminal.

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Remote Applications

news j u ly 2 0 1 4

Ted Pretty Honeywell Joins Smart Thermostat Market With Lyric

Hills Signs Distribution Agreement with Xtralis n Hills has signed a distribution agreement with Xtralis, the manufacturer of ADPRO, to expand the distribution of its security and selected smoke detection products in Australia and New Zealand.

Hills chief technology officer Leica Ison said Xtralis’ products were a natural strategic fit for the company.

“This agreement allows Hills to broaden its service solutions and improve our customer offerings.

It will further enhance Hills’ position as the leading provider of safety

and security solutions in Australia,” she said.

“We’re excited about the opportunities this will bring to our security integrators, who for the first time will be able to offer a smoke detection solution for compact areas through the Xtralis VLQ product.”

Xtralis’ director of sales for ANZ, Eddie Tieppo, said that the Hills partnership is the right fit at the right time as Xtralis works to expand its market share in the region “It is an exciting time for Xtralis having recently released our

next-generation Xtralis Everywhere portfolio of converged safety and security solutions. Our new partnership with clear market leader Hills will bring the latest award-winning Xtralis security technologies to the ANZ market,” he said.

Xtralis Security and Safety systems are deployed to protect high value assets globally. They have been installed in the European Parliament in Brussels, NASA, the Clinton Presidential Center, Heathrow Airport, and the Eurostar railway system.

Xtralis products to be distributed by Hills include the ADPRO PRO-E PIR with a 220m range, the new Xtralis VLQ smoke detection system and HeiTel. HeiTel provides mobile solutions for transmission and recording in rugged, harsh and remote environments with limited connectivity.

Also in the mix is ADPRO FastTrace 2E, a Remotely Managed Multi-service Gateway (RMG) scalable from 4 to 20 analogue and IP channels with multi-sensor integration including gas, smoke and perimeter.

Saab Wins $A26m Qld Corrections Contract n DEFENCE and security company Saab Australia has received a $A26 million contract to provide the planned and

14 se&n

corrective maintenance and capital expenditure works for the electronic security system for the 300-bed Southern

Queensland Correctional Centre.

Located near Gatton in the Lockyer Valley and opened in January 2012, the 300-bed Southern Queensland Correctional Centre is the state’s newest prison. The electronic security system was originally installed

by Saab and has been under comprehensive maintenance since the facility opened. The system provides an integrated surveillance picture and total control of security sensors and locks within the prison environment.

“The Southern Queensland Correctional Centre has been a very successful project for Saab and was the first major installation completed by our Security Division using Australian developed technology,” says Mark Slade, general manager of Saab Security.

“Saab is pleased to be able to continue our involvement and support of this modern Queensland Corrective Services facility.”

The contract will run for 14 years and will involve Saab Security and Defence Solutions operations in Adelaide, Australia.

HONEYWELL has launched its Lyric thermostat, which the company says will make temperature adjustments based on a user’s smartphone location. The $US275 thermostat is the first offering in a new family of connected home products from Honeywell.

Using the location of a user’s smartphone, the geofencing feature automatically turns the Lyric thermostat into energy saving mode when a home is empty. It then senses when users are coming home and heats or cools the house to preferred temperatures.

A Fine Tune feature factors indoor and outdoor temperature, humidity, and weather into its algorithm, enabling it to provide the most comfortable temperature for homeowners.

“Most people don’t have a predictable pattern to how they live their lives; why not have a thermostat that adjusts based on your real-time schedule?” says Beth Wozniak, president of Honeywell Environmental and Combustion Controls.

“With the Lyric thermostat’s geofencing capability, my house returns to my preferred comfort setting when I’m within a few miles from home.”

The temperature can be managed using Honeywell’s familiar round dial control on the thermostat itself. With the Lyric app (available via the App Store on iTunes and Google Play), homeowners can adjust their home’s temperature wherever they are.

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Innovative Solutions

news j u ly 2 0 1 4

Hills Acquires Audio Products Group

n HILLS has acquired the Audio Products Group (APG), a long-established and successful Australian and New Zealand value added supplier of professional audio products. It’s the latest in a string of acquisitions from Australia’s most dynamic building technology supplier.

APG was established in 1996 by Ken Dwyer. The combined Hills and APG businesses will position Hills as the leading player in the supply of specialised audio products in Australia and New Zealand, according to the company.

Hills’ COO Brad Newton said the APG acquisition

APG will certainly assist in accelerating our ability to continue to build a marketleading position in the specialised audio markets in Australia and New Zealand

was consistent with Hills’ revenue growth strategy of bolt-on acquisitions that can be integrated into the Group’s core business and realise synergies.

“APG will certainly assist in accelerating our ability to continue to build a market-leading position in the specialised audio

Apple Announces HomeKit Automation, Security Solution n HOMEKIT’S official release came at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco, early June. This enabling solution allows a developer to use a simple set of controls to toggle the states of automation and security devices or send commands to them.

Devices need to locked into the Made For iPhone (MFI) program, which requires a specific wireless chip and software package to be integrated into the devices. Fundamentally, HomeKit empowers every enabled app and

16 se&n

accessory to access a single repository of data about a home’s smart devices. The company filed a patent for the system back in November 2013.

It’s the latest move between a group of tech giants which includes Samsung and Google – all of which are positioning themselves in an attempt to dominate the so-called internet of things. Google recently purchased automation device-maker Nest for $US3.4 billion and Samsung has developed Smart Home fridges, TVs, washing machines and

smart watches.

In Apple’s case, the company is putting together an alliance of automation and security manufacturers whose product lines it will integrate with management software installed on its smart phones and tablets. This integration will turn iPhones and iPads into remote controls for air conditioning, lighting, security, intercom and entertainment systems.

According to insiders, central to Apple’s offering will be a high level of overall system security

and privacy protection, which will give it leverage over Google, whose offerings are based on leveraging advertising income.

Google said recently it was preparing for a “multi-device future” in which “we and other companies could be serving ads and other content on refrigerators, car dashboards, thermostats, glasses, and watches”.

markets in Australia and New Zealand,” Newton said. “It is widely respected as a market leader and trusted supplier with longstanding and exclusive supplier, relations that are reflected in sustained revenue and earnings.”

Meanwhile, APG’s MD Ken Dwyer said he was delighted to join the Hills team at an exciting time in its evolution into Australia’s leading trusted supplier of integrated solutions.

Key products within the APG stable include Aiphone, which is the leading commercial and residential intercom brand. Other highlyrecognised brands such as Tannoy (speakers), Lab.gruppen (amplifiers), Biamp and TOA are also strong APG performers.

The latest expansion of Hills’ New Zealand presence via the APG acquisition follows the Group’s recent broadening of its core electronic security operations with its NZbased business, Hills Electronic Security, acquiring Aucklandbased Intek Security Group.

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Intek Installs Body Cameras For Auckland’s Transdev

n INTEK, a subsidiary of Hills, is equipping a group of Transdev ticket inspectors in Auckland NZ with body worn CCTV cameras for a 3-month operational trial.

The cameras will capture high quality audio and

video of interactions, and will provide the opportunity to take a still photograph of a fare evader to support a Transdev network ban issued to non-compliant travellers. Additionally, it’s anticipated the cameras

will provide a strong deterrent to anyone considering abusing or assaulting a staff member or other customers in the vicinity.

Fare evasion is an ongoing issue for public transport throughout the world –

Auckland is no different.

With fare evasion currently between 4 and 5 per cent and revenue lost to fare evasion estimated at almost $NZ1.5 million dollars per year, additional measures are required to make travel costs fairer for everyone.

Transdev has a team of around 50 ticket inspectors checking train customers at stations and on trains to ensure they are travelling with the correct ticket and, as part of their revenue protection efforts, Transdev is committed to a programme of ongoing improvement.

The use of the cameras and network bans will be evaluated at the end of the trial period using queries including: What did the public think of the use of the cameras and network bans? Were

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the cameras and network bans effective in reducing fare evasion rates? Did the cameras influence the behaviour of fare evaders, either positively or negatively? Did staff find the cameras a useful tool?

The use of the cameras (and footage) will be in full compliance of the Privacy Act 1993 and best practice guidelines set out by the NZ Privacy Commission.

it is anticipated the cameras will provide a strong deterrent to anyone considering abusing or assaulting a staff member or other customers in the vicinity.

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s p e ci al re p o rt

security 201 4

Security 2014

show report Once a year we get a chance to take a look at the latest electronic and networked security solutions, giving us a taste of the latest and best product releases, as well as a sense of where the market is heading.

20 se&n

S

ECURITY 2014 was a good show. The whole Melbourne experience was enjoyable for everyone and in my opinion, the exhibition space was the best I’ve seen locally in 20 years.

There was a good atmosphere, even though the commodious hall meant there were tidal moments of quiet on the first and third days. Many companies put a lot of work into their stands and the general effect was agreeable.

As usual, the big Diversified team put on a good show and things ran smoothly throughout.

Walking around at Security 2014 was in some ways the same as my experience in 2013. That’s probably not surprising. Much of the vapourware from last year’s exhibition has spent 12 months making the transition from prototype to market. For that reason, a number of key products at Security 2014 were market releases of raw solutions we’ve seen before.

Overall, there were more cloud solutions at

By John A dam s

A key release in this space was Hills’ VSD-1, which combines a quality HD camera with remote accessibility.

Security 2014 than we saw last year, though it seems to me it will be manufacturers enhancing existing hardware offerings who win out in this sector on the basis of real cash flow. A software-based startup might struggle over the mid-term in the current price-sensitive market. Certainly, when things get competitive in cloud it will be those at the top of the food chain who have the most margin to play with.

Generally speaking, I think consumer-grade cloud may face security issues in the medium term and that means the security industry should look towards owning their ecosystems. Something else that I don’t think has been adequately addressed is the fundamental security level of smart devices and some of the software apps they drive on. It’s fair to observe that the security level of a system is commensurate with the lowest security level of any smart device with authorised access.

At Security 2014 I saw Genetec’s Stratocast, Risco

showed its cloud-supported alarm panels with video verification. Risco’s VUpoint video-enabled intrusion detection was interesting. It’s a live video verification solution that seamlessly integrates with Risco’s intrusion alarm panels. Speaking of which, Risco LightSYS 2 now offers 50 alarm inputs.

A key release in this space was Hills’ VSD-1, which combines a quality HD camera with remote accessibility. Hills is a big company with plenty of clout and the VSD-1 camera has been thoughtfully selected for performance. Some of the cameras in the domestic video monitoring market are sadly lacking but VSD-1 offers a proper surveillance camera.

It was not announced at the show – the report of Telstra buying into SNP came a few weeks after but it seems likely we can expect something in this market segment from TelstraSNP Monitoring. SNP pioneered remote video monitoring and TelstraSNP is likely to be integrating video verification and domestic video monitoring into future solutions.

Chance of heavy cloud, 100 per cent.

BENS showed its neat Bluehub IP alarm monitoring solution, which is designed to be extremely easy to install and commission and while people on the CSD stand were asking about cloudbased access control product Webtegriti, it was not at the show. Inner Range is a stickler when it comes to releasing product only when its engineers are well satisfied. We’ll see Webtegriti in the poly soon enough.

At the heart of Inner Range’s cloud offerings will be the company’s Sky Tunnel solution, which means installers don’t need to mess around with router configuration. I don’t know much more about Sky Tunnel than this but the fact Inner Range is working on a plug and play backend says something fundamental about the future of a large part of the access control market.

Automation solutions for domestic and small commercial – there was some of this last year but I think the gathering speed of the transition of the alarms industry towards automation was one of the key trends at Security 2014. There are constellations of new sensor types appearing and remote controlled automation solutions are increasingly capable of managing them in a user-meaningful way. It’s nice to see carbon monoxide sensors, flood sensors, noise sensors, temperature sensors and all the rest.

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QSS AlumiaNET

Multicom on BENS stand

Home automation has always been a bit perilous when it comes to security electronics. This comes down to the alarm industry’s fundamental internal contradictions. First, users demand new technology but don’t want to pay fair value for it. Second, home automation is an up-sell and for too many alarm installers, the art of selling hinges on being the cheapest, not the best performing solution. Sadly, you can’t install cutting edge automation tech at the same time you are shimmying out of your daks on price.

Riding to the rescue are control panels that offer low base-price side-by-side with the ability to expand into serious automation solutions. Part of the push towards automation is coming from the U.S. market, where big telcos are looking to commoditise automation and own a slice of the RMR from America’s 50 million monitored lines.

In the wake of releases like AT&T’s Digital Life, a very strong response is coming from the likes of Honeywell with Tuxedo, Vista and Lynx; DSC with NEO, Bosch with its new 2000 and 3000 panels, Paradox with Insight (CSD,) Risco with LightSYS and Agility 3 and Linear subsidiary 2GIG with the Go!Control alarm panel, which includes GSM and a Z-wave chip (Ness has 2GIG locally) for the sensing of everything. All these solutions and more were at Security 2014 and they are taking traditional alarm panel technology rapidly towards automation, with new user interfaces, integrated intercom, access control and remote management using smart devices.

Tangled up in all this is video verification, which was another solidifying technology at Security

22 se&n

2014. I saw the latest offerings from DSC, Risco and Honeywell as well as the HD77 alarm sensor from CSD’s Paradox range – it’s the first high-end intrusion sensor I’ve seen that incorporates a 720p fixed lens camera. The HD77 is part of Paradox Insight solution, an integrated HD video/audio alarm system.

Things that caught my eye in the alarms segment were the more capable Honeywell Vista and the Bosch Solution 2000 and 3000 alarm panels. The new Bosch systems are designed to offer mobile connectivity and plenty of expansion capability, and come with sleek new interfaces. There’s SMS over IP and IP alarm reporting, as well as support for the Bosch Remote Security Control app. Automation and video integration arrive in the next couple of months.

There were also some fun things when it came to alarm sensors. Hills’ Xandem TMD was the most interesting in my opinion. If you’re a clever installer, Xandem TMD could be the keystone to your entire business. It’s not just that the hardware works well, it’s that this core functionality proffers endless opportunities for leverage. Xandem is committed to expanding TMD’s capabilities through software development, giving it applications in automation and monitoring of foot traffic in real time, as well as offering zoning.

Something that’s appealing about Xandem TMD is price. Sure, it costs $800 to cover a 500 square metre space but that space can be complicated and changeful in real time. Masking – well there’s no such thing with Xandem TMD. Nor can you creep up on the system or suffer from thermal false alarms. This solution’s fundamental discretion, ability to integrate with existing alarm systems and future development trajectory made it a standout at Security 2014.

Other new sensors I saw included Xtralis’ (Hills) ADPRO long range PIR, Redwall from Hills and Denso from Bosch Security Systems. What was interesting about some of these solutions was their ability to have detection zones tuned using real time commissioning programs. These high tech intrusion detectors are designed to protect larger external spaces of various shapes.

Another interesting ‘new’ alarm product I met at Security 2014 was Bold Technologies’ Manitou range of central station, PSIM and automation solutions. These solutions have not been promoted in Australia before and through local distributor, SCSI, they give central stations a proven option when it comes to empowering operations.

BENS showed its neat Bluehub IP alarm monitoring solution, which is designed to be extremely easy to install and commission.

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Jagging a mention in alarms is Patriot Systems, which has allied with Inner Range. The combined solution features remote guard tour services, oneclick video verification and there are upcoming features for direct control of Inner Range’s Concept and Integriti Systems. Inner Range also showed its SkyCommand mobile applications for the Multipath-IP alarm transmission system.

I like what Inner Range is doing. If you want to secure remote system management using third party smart devices while retaining existing monitoring infrastructure, then you need ownership of the reporting ecosystem. Suretek is doing something similar and I think this is the future of quality alarm monitoring.

Walking into Security 2014, I expected to get leaned on by 4K but no. While Ultra HD is out there with quality cameras like the new Axis P-1428, there are no unrealistic expectations from manufacturers at this time. UltraHD is a topical application that comes with the intense benefit of being based on a true video standard.

Instead the trends in CCTV came from other directions. Hemispheric cameras – everyone now has one. IR cameras – yes, this might have been predictable but IR is well on the way to ubiquity. I even saw hemispherics with IR support – of particular note was Hikvision’s handsome DS-2CD6362F-I, a 6MP, 360-degree camera with 4 chunky IRs and 5 video streams.

This unit has capable WDR and is available in an indoor and an outdoor IP66 vandal model.

Hemispherics have been traditionally weak with WDR and low light – the latter thanks to their compact image sensors, so I think the move to IR support is a good one. Hemispherics are all about flexibility and combining IR-enhanced low light performance with real WDR capability delivers on that expectation.

This camera exemplifies Hikvision’s induction as a technology leader. It’s not surprising this should happen but it seemed more noticeable to me at

24 se&n

security 201 4

Honeywell Vista

INTEVO from QSS

Security 2014, looking at the company’s 4-Line and 6-Line cameras.

Something else that’s noteworthy is depth of range when it comes to IP cameras. Of the larger manufacturers, Axis Communications, American Dynamics, Sony, Vivotek, Dahua and Hikvision all have very strong lineups. Not only are camera ranges extensive, but they increasingly move in lockstep. If one maker releases something fresh, most competitors will match that product within 12 months. We’ve not seen that before.

Everyone has an economy retail camera, everyone has a rugged transport camera, everyone has an economical indoor dome, a discreet camera and an economical IP66-rated outdoor dome. It

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Pacom Smart IP

Risco LightSYS

There were also some fun things when it came to alarm sensors. Hills’ Xandem TMD was the most interesting in my opinion. should not be supposed that all these camera/ lens combinations perform identically but it is a declaration of what certain parts of the market are demanding. For some end users; price, not performance; governs camera choices. For others, security is defined as performance.

I liked Sylo’s extensive 3S range of IP cameras, including compact domes, IR hemispherics, IR bullet cameras, full body cameras, Wi-Fi cameras and very serious external PTZs. Sylo has been hunting around for a product range of its own since Avigilon opened a local office and 3S might be the ticket. It’s a quality range with strong performance and competitive pricing and it’s exclusive to Sylo.

The company also showed the reputable Opgal thermal imaging camera, the 3D face recognition Artec ID solution, Huawei gear and more.

Other notable releases includes Samsung’s WiseNet III from EOS Australia, which is strong in WDR and bandwidth management, Hikvision’s 4-Line series I think is a pivotal release for the world’s biggest CCTV manufacturer. With the 4-Line Hikvision has for the first time forced its way into the leading group of camera manufacturers.

26 se&n

Industrial strength Axis

We’ve seen some of these cameras before but strong releases at Security 2014 included AD’s Illustra 625, Panasonic’s 6 Series – the full body version was at the show – and Sony’s Generation 6. QSS was showing its Alumia range at the show, which spreads from entry level to premium and is available in 1.3, 2 and 3MP variations.

I was impressed with Sony’s 360-degree hemispheric camera, too. You need to approach hemispheric cameras recognizing the characteristics of the panomorphic lens – they are not about court admissible face recognition at medium or longer ranges. But their ability to give 360-degree situational awareness in moderately large environments is unparalleled. Sony’s Gen 6 is arguably the best of the current generation.

Vivotek released its WDR PRO camera at Security 2014 and its performance really was excellent. Not only was the unit strong in backlight, it was strong with no light whatever. Vivotek also showed its 1.2MP transport camera with EN50155 compliance and IP66-rating.

While we’re talking about low light capable full body cameras, Hikvision’s ½-inch 1080p DarkFighter is another one to watch. Field testing shows this camera to be right up there with the best in terms of low light performance while being weirdly good in general applications as well. Many low light cameras buy their improved night time performance at the cost of native resolution but Darkfighter is a different animal altogether.

Axis Communications always releases a serious spread of new product each year and didn’t disappoint in 2014. I saw a hinged camera for warehouse environments – saves breaking a drop pole mount camera and fitting when hit by an over sized vehicle.

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NEO PIR camera

Paradox HD77

The Q1615 and Q1615-E (external) combines pretty much all of Axis’ functionality in one awesome unit.

Axis Q1615 cameras not only offer full HD resolution but new stuff like enhanced wide dynamic range (Axis’ WDR-Forensic Capture), Lightfinder technology, electronic image stabilization and shock detection. The cameras automatically switch settings between high dynamic scenes and Lightfinder mode.

I also saw Axis’ new P1224-E covert pinhole with separate back box, the M3024-LVE and M3025-VE domes, the 1080p P1355 with P-Iris, a big stainless dome for industrial applications – this camera is doing well with colour rendition and spot lights. It is reputed to handle low light really well, too. Q3505 – 1080p, 2nd generation WDR, second gen Lightfinder, shot detection. Wall mount PTZ, the P5415-E, designed to be painted – the camera is well insulated so it will not overheat if painted a dark colour.

Axis Camera Station runs the show and it’s a really nice piece of kit. Very simple to negotiate and offering users most features they’d require for smaller and even medium applications. Along with everything else it supports up to 4 local monitors – various cameras go to various monitors.

Something else that was nice was Raytec’s new IR VARIO Hybrid, which combines infrared and white light in a single solution. This new light source works with external sensors or alarm inputs to provide event triggered lighting giving surveillance and deterrence.

VARIO Hybrid allows a lighting solution to offer discrete surveillance until there is movement, when white light is activated by movement, allowing colour images of events, a deterrent to crime as well as safety and security for authorised personnel.

PTZs have not died. They have become more capable and more affordable. There were some fine offerings from market leaders at the show – Panasonic, Sony, Axis, AD and Hikvision with its

28 se&n

security 201 4

Standouts in video analytics included Mobotix MxSensor Briefcam Syndex and Axxon Next.

Hikvision 6- Line Hemispheric

150m IR-supported PTZ were all impressive. Price is coming down in this area, too.

Analogue. I didn’t expect to see any analogue this show but there was Samsung’s new 1000-line box camera and it was a nice looking unit, indeed.

Bosch, too, has new analogue surveillance cameras.

DVRs have not died - instead they show every sign of being with us possibly forever. NVRs meanwhile, show every sign of becoming DVR-ish. Compact, affordable, powerful, expandable, self-installing (to a point), with local storage and cloud access.

Milestone’s Husky was the perfect example, as was Geutebruck’s 16-input net-porter NVR with its onboard PoE switch.

I like the looks of Genetec’s rugged, fanless SV-32.

The SV range is now thoroughly mature and the SV-32 supports up to 32 camera inputs, allows local monitoring and recording, and has an Installer Assistant tool. Sylo also has a tough fanless unit and there’s certainly something attractive about a solution capable of shrugging off ingress of fanclogging dust which is certain to lead to overheating and drive failure over time.

Integration was a feature of this show. There were more integration products than I think I’ve seen before and this probably should not surprise.

Companies are increasingly teaming up to jointly cover areas in which they don’t specialise. United Technologies PRISM, Lenel, Genetec, Geutebruck, March Networks Command and Honeywell. I liked PRISM and G-SIM from Geutebruck.

Something else that was really noticeable was video analytics. Sure, iOmniscient’s IQ Face won Security 2014’s product of the year, but that was only part of it. On multiple stands, including Sony, Geutebruck with GTect, Mobotix with MxActivity Sensor, Avigilon, Bosch, C.R.Kennedy (Axxon) EOS (Samsung), Hills, CSD with Hikvision and Avigilon, video analytics was being used routinely to analyse or detect movement in viewed spaces. In terms of

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security 201 4

ADPRO PIR

Avigilon’s compact new camera range

Panasonic 6 Series full bdy

ubiquity, video analytics has well and truly arrived.

Standouts in video analytics included Mobotix MxSens, or Briefcam Syndex and Axxon Next.

A new release for Security 2014 was CBIT technology in Bosch’s IP cameras. As well as handling image processing, CBIT powers Bosch’s IVA and Motion+ from a single processing module.

What’s driving IVA development is a push to reduced WAN bandwidth and storage demands but what’s important is that IVA R&D is ongoing.

Networking. It sounds obvious but there were developments in networking, too. Hills’ Ruckus R700 mesh and point-to-point 802.11n 5GHz wireless IP network solution was an interesting release. Designed for challenging and noisy urban applications it has a range of 15km – ideal for most public surveillance applications. Another expression of network-based thinking was the fact so many cameras were being touted as bandwidthlight.

Also on the network side was Comnet’s Netwave solar off-the-grid remote surveillance solution.

Comnet, distributed locally by Allguard, was also showing a substation-rated switch, HDMI over optical fibre, Ethernet extenders and more. Comnet’s range really looks to me to cover every electronic security application in thoughtful and robust ways.

Things I saw of interest in access control were Inner Range’s SIFER reader, CEM Emerald on the QSS stand – we’ve seen it at our office before but not at an expo – and Tecom Challenger v10’s video integration on the Hills’ stand. This latter has been coming a while and it’s looking good. Inner Range Webtegriti, which we didn’t see at the show but have seen in pre-release gets a reserve jersey.

Of these, Inner Range’s SIFER reader is especially interesting. It’s the first time Inner Range has manufactured its own prox readers. SIFER is a multi-

drop RS-485 reader that supports MIFARE cards, including Inner Range’s own DESfire EV1. SIFER readers and cards deliver AES encryption right through to the access module - that’s way better security than Wiegand readers.

SIFER readers use a superset of OSDP protocol, are IP64-rated and 16 readers can connect in series to the dedicated RS-485 reader port on an Integriti Intelligent LAN Access Module. Of course, SIFER says something else, too. Inner Range is now strong and confident enough to drive its own future across multiple layers of technology. That the company recognises the value of its own brand should come as no great surprise.

When it comes to product development across a range of technological disciplines, I have to recognise the achievements of Honeywell. In an era where we’ve seen many famous manufacturers revert to the status of OEMs, Honeywell has prospered. Given the company’s manufacturing includes intrusion, alarms, access control, automation and more, this is a fine achievement.

If Honeywell does not have the largest product catalogue in the electronic security industry, I’d be surprised. Strong offerings on the Honeywell stand included a more advanced Vista alarm and automation panel, the latest WIN-PAK PE security management solution, excellent NVR solutions including the mighty 256-input HUS-NVR-7200A-E, touch screen intercoms and loads more.

Thermal cameras. FLIR is the market leader here and showed the FC-Series R whose performance we’ve raved about. I also liked the thermal and optical Mobotix M15-D. The thermal and optical combination is usually limited to the highest end applications and it makes the M15-D a powerful tool.

Running thermal and optical alongside each other

30 se&n

Things that caught my eye in the alarms segment were the more capable Honeywell Vista and the Bosch Solution 2000 and 3000 alarm panels.

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security 201 4

XANDEM TMD

Panasonic PTZ cross section

unquestionably improves situational awareness.

This combination further empowers Mobotix MXActivity Sensor. You just can’t beat thermal for intrusion detection.

Canon. This company actually has a deep history in IP CCTV but has been quiet for a number of years.

No more. Anyone thinking the company’s release of a big range of IP cameras last year was a last broadside before turning away should think again.

Canon has just acquired VMS maker Milestone Systems and the company had a strong footprint at Security 2014.

I was asked a few times at the show what jumped out for me in new products and the absence of a clear response from my inner voice then and now suggests we’ve gone through a year of evolution not revolution. That does not mean there weren’t some good things at Security 2014, it just means they weren’t unexpected developments. It’s disappointing that Inner Range Webtegriti was not at the show because it would have probably have taken the gold star in 2014.

Things I liked at Security 2014 in no particular order included Sony Generation 6, Panasonic 6 Series, DSC NEO, Xandem TMD, Paradox HD77, Vauban IP access control, Hikvision’s entire 4-Line range but in particular the full body camera. I also liked a couple of units from Hikvision’s 6-Line range including DarkFighter and the DS-2CD6362F-I hemispheric with IR. Briefcam’s Syndex and AxxonNext from AxxonSoft via C.R. Kennedy were also quality offerings.

Other favourites included INTEVO from QSS, Honeywell Vista, Inner Range SIFER reader, Avigilon’s compact new versions of its entire camera

32 se&n

series, Samsung’s 1000-line analogue camera as well as its WiseNet III lineup. I liked Bosch’s 2000 and 3000 alarm panels, the ADPRO PIR, Sylo’s 3S lineup, Milestone Husky and Vivotek’s WDR PRO was impressive. There was also Ness’s 2GIG, Geutebruck’s G-SIM management solution, United Technologies’ PRISM, and Avigilon’s Control Centre, which always impresses me.

I did not see iOmniscient’s IQ FACE, so I can’t make a call on the official Best Product of Security 2014.

There were also stands I missed – another half a day would have been welcome – for some reason this year there was not enough time to see everything despite putting in long hours. This suggests manufacturers and distributors are carrying more product or more complicated product than before.

SEN’s Security 2014 Best New Product Awards came down to a group including Xandem TMD from Hills, Mobotix MxActivity Sensor, Hikvision 4-Line, Vivotek’s WDR PRO camera, Paradox HD77 720p video verification sensor, AxxonNext from C.R. Kennedy, Geutebruck G-SIM, United’s PRISM, DSC’s NEO intrusion detection and automation solution and Inner Range’s SIFER reader.

Of this group, SEN’s Best New Product - Alarms went to Xandem TMD, runner up was DSC NEO. SEN’s Best New Product - Access Control went to Inner Range SIFER. SEN’s Best New Product - CCTV went to Mobotix MxActivity Sensor with Vivotek’s WDR PRO being runner up. SEN’s Best New Product – System Management went to Geutebruck’s slick G-SIM with United Technologies PRISM being runner up.

There were plenty of stands that stood out, including Axis Communications, Honeywell, CSD and Canon. SEN’s Best Stand Award for Security 2014 went to Geutebruck. Every time we walked by, we liked it more. Good looking and utterly purposeful. Runner up was United Technologies’ clever U-shaped footprint. The official best stand award went to Seadan and we liked this stand as well. zzz

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4 - Line Smart IP

Hikvision 4-Line Smart IP Hikvision’s new 4-Line Smart IP is a solid range of cameras that combines high performance in key areas like wide dynamic range, colour rendition, and pointy prices. In key ways, the 4-Line represents Hikvision’s coming of age.

34 se&n

I

got a look at a swag of new stuff at the Hikvision demo room in North Ryde late last month.

Hikvision’s is one of the better set up demo spaces I’ve seen but best of all, the boys have taken the opportunity to install a broad spread of Hikvision cameras on the roof of the large building housing their office. The building has commanding views over serious distances with major infrastructure assets in all directions. These include nearby roadways, intersections, and multiple industrial and retail complexes.

In this feature, I’m going to focus on the 4-Line series but it’s a difficult thing to do. For a start the Hikvision back story is fascinating and as the boys fill me in on the enormous size of the company, its huge, new manufacturing facilities and 3500 surveillance engineers, it’s just impossible not to warm to their story.

Michael Bates and Tony Lagan are sensible men

by john adam s

The first thing I notice is the WDR performance, which is exemplary for a 3MP camera.

The transition from internal to external view is pretty much seamless to my eye.

Screen grab of 4-Line. Cafe is at 100m. Yeah. It’s bloody good, isn’t it.

with technical acumen and more than enough experience to give them a frame of reference through which to view Hikvision’s current and future aspirations. Their commitment to the company and their ownership of its drive to become CCTV’s technology leader is palpable throughout this demo.

Adding to the challenge today is Hikvision’s 6-Line series and in particular a pair of cameras I take an immediate shine to – the first is an IR equipped 6MP hemispheric. The second is Hikvision’s Darkfighter.

I’m going to review these in upcoming issues but we spent a bit of time looking at each during the 4-Line demo and it’s seriously good kit.

body) cameras, indoor domes, IR bullet cameras and outdoor domes, all with resolution options of 1.4 (720p, DWDR, 60ips), 1.3 (120dB, WDR, 30ips), 2MP (1010p with DWDR and 30ips) and 3MP (1080p with 120dB, WDR and 30ips). If you need it, there’s onboard storage to 64GB with all 16 cameras.

The Hikvision demo room has a group of 4-Line cameras up and running on the video wall but the camera we are looking at most specifically is the DS2CD4024F-(A) 3MP Full HD box camera sitting on a stand on the main table. Doing a lap, I can see it’s a handsome camera - the first thing I notice is the blue LED light on its flank. As well as making the camera look cool, it allows security staff to see at a glance that the camera has power. Neat.

Lagan says this unit is available with a standard or P-Iris lens – the latter is a lens and processing combination that improves a scene’s depth of field.

In this case, we are looking at the standard lens version.

Before we start looking out across the North Ryde scenery, Lagan takes me through the range’s specifications and what really strikes me with the 4-Line is just how well optioned it is. Hikvision’s engineers have left nothing out.

The primary specs include a 1/3-inch progressive scan CMOS sensor giving a minimum scene illumination of 0.1 lux at F1.2 and 0.01 in monochrome at F1.2, both with AGC on. Depending on the model you select, there’s a maximum resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. At that resolution you get 20 frames per second. Come back to 1920 x 1080 and 1280 x 720 and it’s 60 or 30 frames per second, depending on which camera you have.

WDR is a very strong 120dB and there’s digital noise reduction and auto back focus. Although we are looking at a full body camera without IR, you can select an IR bullet camera with a Smart IR function which allows IR strength adjustment governed by analytics. Power is reduced when faces are closer to the camera, reducing blooming.

Compression options are H.264, MPEG4 and MJPEG, with H.264 in baseline profile, main profile and high profile. This is nice work from Hikvision.

H.264 is a framework rather than a standard – for the company to have gone to the trouble of developing

4-Line Smart IP 4-Line Smart IP is a range of 16 cameras. For the sake of readability I’m going to generalise here and not include the model numbers. There are box (full

se&n 35

p ro d u ct rev i ew

high profile H.264 shows great integrity in my opinion. Depending on the compression option selected, video bit rates run from 32Kbps to 16Mbps.

A big thing these days is clever bandwidth and storage management and Hikvision is on the money here. An advanced codec is used to increase image quality by 30 per cent at 2Mbps in 720p mode – these are good numbers in the real world. Also helping out with bandwidth management is region of interest which allows techs or users to pare back the resolution of nonessential parts of a camera’s view – the sky, a ceiling or a blank wall, for instance.

And speaking of walls, 4-Line also sports a corridor view which maximises useful pixels in a hallway. You simply select Rotate Mode when commissioning the camera. Meanwhile, getting live images in front of security staff is handled by triple streaming and there’s autofocus, which saves operators from having to make adjustments due to drift, changes in a scene or action that takes place right in front of a camera.

Intelligent video analytics is a big thing with 4-Line and it’s used to undertake recognition of the presence of human faces (which can activate recording). IVA-driven intrusion detection picks up moving objects in a scene and can trigger alarms or event recording. The analytics also notice if there are storage problems, loss of network connection, lens redirections, de-focusing or tampering thanks to integrated video quality detection.

Something else the 4-Line has is 2-way audio, with a built in microphone and appropriate audio compression. Audio detection is also part of the analytic suite. Operators can use audio detection to analyse sounds and trigger alarms based on particular noise parameters – gun shots, shouting, or no noises at all.

36 se&n

4 - Line Smart IP

Driving the 4-Line

An advanced codec is used to increase image quality by 30 per cent at 2Mbps in 720p mode – these are good numbers in the real world.

The first thing I notice when we start driving the 4-Line is that the Hikvision GUI is simple and it works well. As Lagan shows me features like clip recording on the fly I can see how easy it all is. There’s deep functionality but you’re not monstered by multiple camera trees or overly complex controls.

It’s a funny day – cloudy and bright. Later on when I’m leaving I measure the lux outside just over 6000, but it was much brighter during the demo period – probably 15-18,000 lux. All this glare made it a good scene for a camera with 120Db of WDR. We are looking out a window, across treetops and over a road lined with cars to further commercial buildings. There are people on the street giving us a good frame of reference in the middle distance.

Looking at the image out the window the DS2CD4024F-(A) 3MP is really doing well. The first thing I notice is the WDR performance, which is exemplary for a 3MP camera. The transition from internal to external view is pretty much seamless to my eye.

“As far as I am aware our WDR is one of the highest – that’s why that image looks so good,” Lagan tells me. “We are using the Amberella chipset which gives better low light performance and 3D dynamic noise reduction, which works really well. It cuts noise and reduces bandwidth.”

Something else that’s noticeable is the colour rendition. Inside and outside it looks very balanced and natural to my eye – especially outside where the backlight flaring off the building next door is giving it every excuse to go to pieces. All the way through the trees and across the street, contrast and detail stay tight. I’m getting a lot of detail and texture from every surface in the camera’s wide field of view.

After we’ve checked the scene outside, Lagan shows me how the auto focus works – putting his hands in front of the lens – instantly the motorised lens in the 4-Line adjusts to the closer subject and we get a clear image at a range of less than 6 inches.

Next, we look at a recorded demo of the 4-Line’s de-fogging technology. This might sound like a gimmick but when the boys run the demo of a very smoggy cityscape the results are impressive.

As Lagan explains it, activating defog really is like flicking a light switch. Given Australia has rainy days, bushfires, dust storms and foggy mornings of its own, such capability is worthwhile. The tech behind defogging is an algorithm that strips out the light reflected from particles in the atmosphere and amplifies available colour and it works a treat.

Hikvision’s 4-Line Smart IP series is an important release. This big range of cameras comes with plenty of operational functionality but most importantly, it’s based on an optical solution supported by quality processors that offers strong performance in the real world. It’s not a stretch to say I was surprised

by Hikvision’s 4-Line. It really has taken the world’s biggest surveillance manufacturer to another level. zzz

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scsi

Bold move from SCSI SCSI will distribute the full Bold Technologies’ Manitou range of central station automation solutions, as well as the rest of the Bold range, including PSIM products.

Chuck Speck (l) and Dale Acott

B

OLD Technologies ManitouCS central station automation solution supports more than 600 central stations most in North America, 30 of which are 100,000 lines or more. The average number of lines per Bold central station is about 25,000, with the largest being 425,000 lines split between commercial and residential.

According to Bold, ManitouCS is monitoring close to 12 million customers from a total of 50 million monitored lines in the US. Now ManitouCS will be integrated with SCSI’s Direct Wireless solutions, which are installed in around 100 central stations across Australia.

It’s a great fit for SCSI and for Bold Technologies, both of which have long histories in the alarm monitoring market. Importantly, there are a number of Bold Technologies’ solutions already installed in Australia, meaning significant backend integration has already been successfully completed, with one mid-sized central station running Manitou in Melbourne for the last 5 years.

“I’m excited about the development – the features are extensive,” says SCSI’s Dale Acott. “There are open API’s in Bold’s Manitou solutions that allow integration with our Direct Wireless products. In fact, there are 65 modules that bolt onto the back of the Manitou central station automation solution offering new features and new revenue streams people have never seen before.

“Advantages include the need for fewer staff, as well as greater functional capabilities. Obviously, because Bold has been here for some years, the necessary conversions have already been carried out and the system works well. This partnership with Bold is important to SCSI – you can’t stop developing or you fall behind.”

According to Chuck Speck, president of Bold 38 se&n

Technologies, SCSI will have the full product line at their disposal, they’ll have front line support through a specialized team that works Australian business hours, in order to support local sites.

“We are a very active developing company growing at more than 60 central stations per year,” Speck explains.

“We have more developers than our competitors have staff – we push our products every 2 months. Software is a difficult business – it’s a challenge if you don’t have the staff and the active resource to keep up with it.

“There are a couple of things that set us apart – we are the only automation platform that has a full software development kit and open APIs – we open the guts up to our partners and customers,” says Speck. “It’s scary as a company to put your secrets out there but we feel we are good enough and we are growing fast enough that it’s not a threat to us and really opens development up for the control rooms.

“Manitou allows customers to take their business in the direction they want to take it. It can be different from the guy down the street even if they are using the same software – different service, quality and offerings – you’ve got that capability at your disposal. The most exciting part for us is having a partner like SCSI, with 100 control rooms, that’s really exciting.”

Importantly, Bold Manitou has already been developed to support the Australian market after Melbourne’s Guardian Security Group switched to Bold 5 years ago.

“Pete from Guardian Security Group came over to talk to us when his business hit 10,000 lines and he needed something a bit more per performance,” explains Speck.

“Pete put us through the wringer – he evaluated us for more than a year, came over 3-4 times himself and was on the phone beating us up on Australian-izing the product. By the time we put the system in and did the data conversion he had it rock solid. He’s paid some dues for the rest of Australia.”

Bold Technologies has a complete disaster recovery centre in Colarado and Acott says this facility will be replicated here in Australia to give monitoring stations full redundancy. zzz

Features of Bold Technologies’ Manitou CS include: l Process alarms and signals quicker through standard features and add-on modules l Increase accuracy and reduce training times with action patterns and workflows l Handle customer base efficiently, whether 5000 accounts or over 5,000,000

l Maintain control with standard Windows conventions, easy keyboard and mouse use l Protect users from getting lost under a shower of windows with Manitou Navigator l UL 1981 Certified for Central Station and Control Rooms l Includes the SnapReporter module to easily create custom reports.

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cas e st u dy

Mineirão Stadium

Sony kicks a goal Mineirão Stadium, officially known as The Estádio Governador Magalhães Pinto, has been redeveloped into a 64,000 seat multi-event arena with intelligent security systems and sustainable power consumption.

A

S part of an upgrade for matches during the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics, Mineirão Stadium in Brazil has undergone large-scale redevelopment to make it a multi-event arena. Managed by Minas Arena, it is considered one of the country’s main stadiums and is one of the key venues for the 2 biggest sporting events in the world.

The main challenge was to select a high-tech security solution for the arena, with technology that reached and exceeded the standards in force at major football stadiums abroad. This had to be done while complying with FIFA’s requirements, while minimising costs in order to remain within the set budget.

A technology committee was established at the planning and construction stage. This committee defined the systems, IT and telecommunications solutions for the Minas government’s public notice, using the most sophisticated technology, in line with FIFA’s requirements.

Systems integrator Johnson Controls set the parameters for consideration. The selection process took several types of cameras into account, based on the individual requirements of each parameter.

Johnson Controls carried out a broad market analysis, to select the best partner for the project. It required a partner that would honour the company’s strength and had appropriate technical expertise, with the potential to provide its employees with the best training.

In a partnership that was approved by the

40 se&n

Technology Committee, Sony was selected because it best fulfilled these criteria, while also providing the reliability and versatility that the stadium needed.

Sony’s cameras were easily integrated into the stadium’s CCTV management infrastructure.

The solution included 364 Sony IP cameras - 275 fixed HD high-resolution cameras and 89 mobile HD high-resolution rapid dome cameras with optical and digital zoom. The Sony SNC-DH180 was used for the fixed camera requirements. Used to protect against vandalism, it has an infrared illuminator that guarantees images even in darkness. These are highresolution HD cameras, offering 30 frames per second and support for PoE networks, meaning they can be powered using the data transfer cable - simplifying the infrastructure.

Sony SNC-ER520 rapid dome cameras were used for the mobile cameras, providing a 360-degree continuous pan quality image, with a wide visual field, PTZ 36x optical functions and 12x digital zoom. Their power system is HPoE (high power over Ethernet).

The cameras were installed in strategic locations to allow monitoring of internal areas, the stands and critical areas. They are located in areas including internal corridors, the car park, turnstile access areas and by the pitch. All the images generated by the CCTV system are directed to Mineirão’s Operational Control Centre. These images are monitored in real time to assist with security. CCTV operation and management software is available, and all images are stored on a server for a fixed period of time.

On top of high image standards, Sony’s IP cameras also offer DEPA (Distributed Enhanced Processing Architecture) smart image analysis features. These offer the Minas Arena the perfect recording and monitoring solution for high quality image analysis and detection through alarm activation and processing in and around the stadium.

The planning, supply and installation of the Sony systems were completed in record time. The stadium is now equipped with a state of the art security solution that meets the safety requirements set by Johnson Controls and Minas Arena Technology Committee. zzz

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n ew p ro d u ct

bosch

Starlight express Bosch’s DINION IP starlight 8000 MP camera delivers 5 megapixel details at 0.00825 lux at 1080p resolution and captures moving objects in 5MP resolution at up to 30 frames persecond at 0.0121 lux.

using the camera’s ability to simultaneously combine 8 of the 15 available IVA rules, complex tasks are made easy and false alarms are reduced to a minimum.

Limited bandwidth often makes it impossible to stream HD video on mobile devices whereas Bosch’s Dynamic Transcoding delivers both smooth live video streaming and instant access to HD (1080p) images when needed, regardless of available bandwidth. It also allows access to camera controls, live video streams and HD images via a mobile device anytime from anywhere. Dynamic Transcoding also enables users to instantly retrieve the correct video data from hours of recorded material. The DINION IP starlight 8000 MP is supported by Dynamic Transcoding in 1080p mode in combination with either one of the Bosch DIVAR IP recording solutions or a Bosch VIDEOJET. To reduce storage costs and network strain the new camera has intelligent Dynamic Noise Reduction (iDNR). The power of this technology is that it leads to bandwidth being used when needed.

When there is little or no movement in the scene, less bitrate is required. iDNR actively analyses the scene distinguishing between relevant information such as moving objects and image noise artefacts. The degree of noise reduction is adjusted accordingly so that important objects are captured and image noise artefacts suppressed, optimizing the camera’s bitrate. iDNR saves up to 50 per cent on bitrate and reduces storage and network strain by a half without compromising video quality. Local storage on the camera further enhances network performance by compensating for short network outages, ensuring that video data is continuously available in VRM systems without breaks. zzz

D

INION IP starlight 8000 MP is designed to produce full color images in the dark beyond the point where other cameras have turned to monochrome. Possible disturbances caused by fluctuating front or backlight are eliminated by Bosch’ built-in intelligence.

The intelligent Auto Exposure (iAE) technology dynamically adjusts the exposure of the camera to automatically adapt to changing light conditions, providing strong exposure of objects of interest every time. The iAE technology also contributes to the dynamic range of the camera which has 103+16 dB for the 1080p mode.

Bosch’s Intelligent Video Analysis (IVA) helps to focus on relevant situations by alerting users when needed, or automatically track objects of interest.

IVA also adds sense and structure to video data by adding metadata. This allows the quick retrieval of the relevant images from hours of stored video.

Metadata can also be used to deliver irrefutable forensic evidence or to optimize business processes for people counting or crowd density information. By

42 se&n

Features of the 5 megapixel Bosch DINION IP starlight 8000 include: l Minimum scene illumination 0.0121 lx black and white, 0.00825 lx l 5MP high detail at fast speeds (30 fps) l Low network strain and storage costs l Outstanding wide dynamic range (97+16 dB)

s p e ci al f eat u r e

thermal

Strengths and weakness of

thermal cameras Thermal surveillance cameras have a myriad of brilliant qualities that make them one of the best intrusion detection solutions on the market. Here we look at the strengths and the weaknesses of uncooled microbolometer cameras.

L

AST month we looked at what was available in thermal cameras and this month we’re going to look at the strengths and weaknesses of thermal camera technology. The key strength is obvious. Thermal cameras can detect warm objects day and night, regardless of weather and tree cover, at great distances – from several hundred to thousands of metres.

44 se&n

The sorts of applications that best suit thermal cameras have a security team, have fast contract patrol response to off-site monitoring, use the cameras to drive alarm inputs, or simply seek to keep an eye on changing threats to high security perimeters – in real time or retrospectively.

Thermal makes for a massive extension of perimeter detection capability and for really big sites, like mines, solar and traditional power generation plants, and industrial facilities with line of sight along perimeters, thermal is a great solution. Thermal cameras can see deep into heath, bushland and tree cover either on the sterile or public side of a secure perimeter.

The key weakness of thermal cameras is that this imagery does not provide optical detection, though some cameras are far better than others in this regard.

by john adam s

Thermal strengths and weaknesses According to Brad Ballesty of Infratherm, CCTV in general is an historical or re-active security tool.

“Video surveillance systems record what has happened and provide evidence for police to follow up,” Ballesty explains. “But thermal cameras change the game in the CCTV space. Thermal is a proactive tool that can detect threats well in advance of optical systems – especially at night, which is when 99 per cent of intrusions take place.

“This early warning detection can help prevent crime before it happens. And with analytic products being able to stream information of a possible threat and 2-way audio alerting of perpetrators that their intrusion has been detected, prevention of crime is successful in most cases.

According to Ballesty, thermal cameras are also environmentally friendly because they work with no additional lighting and do not need much power to run.

“Their strength is that they can see in the dark through smoke, fog and foliage and long ranges of detection can be achieved – an entry level 640-pixel camera can detect vehicles out to 2000-3000m without breaking a sweat,” he explains. “That

Thermal is a proactive tool that can detect threats well in advance of optical systems – especially at night, which is when 99 per cent of intrusions take place.

makes thermal cameras enormously capable early warning detection systems.”

When it comes to weaknesses, Ballesty says cost comes into the equation but he believes that is rapidly improving in favour of integrators and end users.

“Thermal does not specifically identify a threat yet, either. You can see it’s a person or a vehicle but you don’t know what person or what vehicle,” he says “CCTV land is obsessed with resolution and identification. When you mention early warning detection with a thermal camera they immediately think ‘yeah – that’s great’ but when they work out they can’t differentiate between Jack and Jill – they lose interest, despite all the benefits of thermal not just as a standalone solution but in terms of support for an optical CCTV system.

“Thermal cameras do not identify people – they detect them. They do have different resolutions 160 x 120, 320 x 240, 640 x 480 but this mainly relates to the distances the cameras will detect out to. A 640-pixel camera will detect 4x the distance of a 160-pixel camera with the same lens and twice as far as a 320-pixel camera. In saying that, a 640-pixel camera looking at a target only 60m away is starting to get so good you might be able to identify a person

se&n 45

s p e ci al f eat u r e

thermal

It really is virtually impossible for an intruder to defeat the camera by trying to hide their heat signature. Because of this, an alarm is verified.

and it will only get better.”

Meanwhile, Flir’s Peter De Ieso says in the thermal world resolution has 2 meanings; camera resolution and temperature resolution.

“Camera resolution is how large the camera image is or the pixel array size, for instance, 320 x 240 or 640 x 480 pixels. A 320 x 240-pixel image looks sharp on small screens whereas 640 x 480-pixel images have the advantage of looking sharp on larger screen sizes.

“Conversely, temperature resolution is how small a temperature variation can be before the pixel array can depict it. For example, at 100mk a river is seen as black on all pixel array sizes. But at 50mk we can see the ripples on the water because the ripples are a slightly different temperature.

“This requires a higher temperature resolution in order for it to be detected in the first place. Therefore a small screen like an iPhone can present 320x240 well, however, if your thermal camera has poor temperature resolution you will then be stuck with a lower quality image regardless of the screen size.”

According to De Ieso, the strengths and the weaknesses of thermal cameras in real world applications include 24-hour operation with no lighting required and good performance in adverse weather conditions “Compared to traditional outdoor intruder detection systems, thermal cameras can reduce the cost of ownership due to the fact one camera does cover longer distances and the ongoing charges are less,” De Ieso explains.

“It really is virtually impossible for an intruder to defeat the camera by trying to hide their heat signature. Because of this, an alarm is verified, saving money on unnecessary alarm call out fees.

“When it comes to weaknesses, thermal can’t see through glass, so standard (lower cost) optics cannot be used. Nor can thermal cameras visually identify people – instead the technology is used to detect and pinpoint the location of intrusion.”

Over at Mobotix, the M15D-Thermal is the only

46 se&n

dual optical and thermal camera in its price segment.

The prices of all the competitors for dual cameras with thermal imagers are many times higher. Yet the M15-D gives all the benefits of a thermal optical combo and operators view the 2 images of a scene side-by-side on their monitor. From the point of view of situation awareness, it’s profoundly capable.

“The most common application for CCTV systems is the protection of buildings, boundaries, fences and the like,” explains Mobotix’ Frank Olson. “This application ideally fits thermal imaging cameras since they require no visible light. In complete darkness, it is impossible for a b/w sensor to see, however, the thermal camera senses the person and converts this into a visible picture.

“Detecting a person in the shadows even in daylight situations can be very useful. In this case, the thermal imager exposes the person because it works on the warmth information, not visible light.

The thermal imaging camera can also obtain better results in foggy conditions than optical cameras.

Although the range for the thermal imager is reduced in fog, it is still more than we can see with the optical camera.

“A thermal imaging camera can be used to monitor objects at long distances. This is possible because the thermal radiation of a body can be measured over long distances while side effects like optical jitter caused by air do not apply.”

According to Olson, because thermal imaging does not use visual light, resolution is not the same factor it is when using a sensor for identification purposes. However, he says the higher the resolution, the more distance becomes a factor.

Movement can be recognised at a greater distance as the pixel rate goes higher.

At Axis Communications, Wai King Wong says the key strengths and the weaknesses of thermal cameras in real world applications include: Pros - to be able to detect in adverse conditions without light, total darkness. Cons with thermal include that it cannot see through glass.

“With thermal the performance is in detection, not face recognition or identification,” Wong explains.

“When it comes to resolution, I think 640 x 480-pixel 4CIF resolution for thermal cameras is good for most applications,” And if you have a large open space to defend, then the larger resolution obviously allows you to cover a wider area. zzz

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Telstra Buys Into SNP Security Telstra is reported to have paid between $A40 million and $60 million to buy into SNP Security’s back-to-base alarm and surveillance business in the biggest news ever to hit the local monitoring market.

48 se&n

BY JO HN A DAMS

W

E’VE spent a few years talking about the likelihood of Australia’s dominant telco, Telstra, hopping into the alarm monitoring market in the way AT&T and others have done in the U.S. but even though expected it’s still an eye opener. As part of the deal, Telstra, through TelstraSNP, is also now an electronic security integrator.

In a move that mirrors events overseas, Telstra customers will be offered bundled alarm products as part of their existing phone and internet services. Exactly how these services are going to be presented is not clear yet but there’s no chance TelstraSNP will stick to basic alarm reporting.

We’re going to see things like video verification, cloud-based monitoring services of video and alarm events, and almost certainly home automation capabilities with real central station monitoring running alongside a remote user management layer. How TelstraSNP handles these layers is going to be instructive.

What happened late last month was that Australia’s dominant telco and privatelyowned SNP Security, reportedly the third largest security company in Australia, formed a new subsidiary called TelstraSNP Monitoring. According to an official release, Telstra SNP Monitoring (TSM) will provide “the next generation of monitored security for Australian residences and businesses”.

Telstra business group managing director Will Irving has told the Australian Financial Review that Telstra will own slightly more than 50 per cent of TelstraSNP Monitoring but day-to-day operations will largely be managed by SNP staff. SNP’s existing tens of thousands of monitored security customers, who purchase CCTV monitoring and alarm systems from the company, will transfer to TelstraSNP. Irving told the Australian Financial Review that Telstra spent “low tens of millions” buying into SNP, market sources indicated the move was likely worth between $40 million and $60 million.

“I will be the chair of the new entity and Tom Roche SNP Security’s managing director will be the initial MD of the joint

There’s phenomenal growth in video technology and the ability to do analytics on video plus a whole range of other monitoring and telemetry. venture. It’s not a precise 50-50 joint venture.”

SNP is one of Australia’s most venerable full-service security providers and the company’s canny MD Tom Roche looks to have decided a smaller percentage of a vastly bigger pie offers SNP the best future revenues. Given Roche is strongly aware of his company’s history and future, this is a display of intensely pragmatic thinking predicated on the fact that Telstra’s dominance in the Australian market cannot be overstated. A mutually beneficial partnership with the gatekeeper of our digital future is a ticket to vast growth

for TelstraSNP. Given Telstra’s complex relationships with multiple other electronic suppliers in Australia as infrastructure provider, the news is going to have a far-reaching impact for many businesses over the next few years. There are sideline issues, too. While SNP Security will continue to operate its successful Protective Service and Aviation Security businesses, its Electronic Services division will transition to TSM. SNP is an electronic security integrator with some major clients and given SNP’s electronic business is bound up in the deal, Telstra, through TelstraSNP, is now an electronic security integrator.

It’s obviously a mistake to see TelstraSNP outside of global trends. When Google bought automation outfit Nest Labs for $US3.2 billion we speculated it was unlikely Google would turn its eyes on alarm monitoring. That was before last month when Nest Labs, which runs independently of Google, swallowed Cloud Home Video Monitoring Outfit, Dropcam for $US555 million.

Furthermore, Nest has tripled staff numbers since the acquisition and they must be working on something. Given the

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idea is that Nest will integrate Dropcam into its line of smart-home products, which includes the Protect smoke detector and the Learning Thermostat, that something looks like RMR. And when you think about RMR in home automation, you think about all those loyal monitored customers just waiting to be upgraded to greater functionality.

Irving’s comments about plans for TelstraSNP don’t leave much room for doubt about what Australia’s dominant telco intends to do.

“The market for back-to-base alarms in Australia is potentially very large because a lot of businesses use them but only to a smaller degree than we think is possible,” Irving said. “There’s phenomenal growth in video technology and the ability to do analytics on video plus a whole range of other monitoring and telemetry.”

Meanwhile, Tom Roche, Managing Director at SNP Security and Managing Director at TSM, says that the partnership allows SNP to focus on its core business while building capability in monitored security.

“SNP Security is a fifth generation family company with a more than 90 year history of delivering innovative, unexpected security solutions to safeguard homes and businesses across the country. We have developed a

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Tom Roche Will Irving

“SNP Security is a fifth generation family company with a more than 90 year history of delivering innovative, unexpected security solutions to safeguard homes and businesses across the country.

reputation for leading the industry in both technology and service, as demonstrated by our close working relationships with some of the country’s largest security clients, including Sydney Airport and Sydney Trains,” says Roche.

Roche says the partnership is the latest in a string of successes for SNP and cause to celebrate the rich history of the company.

“SNP Security has taken the lead in driving a new and innovative culture to ensure the company delivers unexpected levels of service to its employees and customers. This has resulted in SNP becoming an adaptive and agile customer service-centric organisation focused on delivering exceptional customer experiences.”

“I am very pleased…with the implementation of a wide range of initiatives and security solutions that have challenged perceptions about what a security organisation can be. With my sons joining the business in 2014, I look forward to a fifth generation of the Roche family playing a part in the ongoing success of SNP,” says Roche.

“In the past 12 months, SNP Security has undergone a journey of innovative cultural change. This has included the launch of our new brand ethos ‘Expect the Unexpected. We Do.’ ” So do we, Tom. So do we. zzz

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t h e i n t e rv i ew

J o h n A dams w i th Marcus Kneen

One for the team IndigoVision is one of IP video’s heroic explorers. According to CEO Marcus Kneen, the company’s survival through the fierce landscape of the digital transition has depended on the brilliance of its solutions and the team’s commitment to each other and to customers.

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M

ARCUS Kneen, IndigoVision’s CEO, is a zealous touring cyclist and sea-kayaker and his love of elemental challenges that pivot on dependable gear, logistics, and a combination of teamwork and selfreliance, says much about the nature of the man. At the end of our chat when Kneen tells me one of his heroes is legendary Australian Antarctic explorer; scientist and academic, Douglas Mawson; I’m not surprised. The consummate team leader, Mawson refused to quit, even when he believed he could not survive.

Formerly the company’s CFO, Kneen comes from the finance side but talking with him it’s easy to see why he’s now running things at IndigoVision.

Kneen is technically very solid and has an intensely holistic sense of what IndigoVision’s solutions mean for integrators and end users. For Kneen, IndigoVision’s solutions are the physical manifestation of the company’s commitment to its customers.

From the moment we start talking Kneen doesn’t use the first person pronoun once in an hour and 15 minutes.

I can rarely hold out more than 3 paragraphs. But while he’s genuinely self effacing, there’s intense passion under the surface. It comes out most strongly when he starts talking about business values.

When Kneen talks about integrity and loyalty to team and customers something in his tone and face makes you instantly aware he’s projecting things most central to his own character.

JA: How is the IndigoVision business going right now – where are you at?

MK: We are experiencing our best growth rates since 2009. Every single part of our business globally is growing. Asia Pacific is having its best year ever – the highest rate of growth we’ve ever achieved. Very strong – 50 per cent growth. We recently broke into Macau winning a system for the Grand Waldo Casino.

The best is definitely coming for IndigoVision. We’ve grown the business on a comparatively limited product set but our product range is expanding rapidly and combined with the buzz in

The best is definitely coming for IndigoVision.

We’ve grown the business on a comparatively limited product set but our product range is expanding rapidly and combined with the buzz in the business – it’s going to be exciting. the business – it’s going to be exciting. We want to be much more present in our key markets – office space, engineers, committing for the long term.

JA: Something I don’t think many people appreciate here in Australia is just how many big sites IndigoVision has across the world – rail systems, airports, industrial facilities. Then there are the defence and high security sites, including mines here in Australia, that no one ever lets SEN write about.

MK: Yes, we actually have many big sites here in Australia. Globally, we have enterprise solutions up to 25,000 inputs with integrated sites of 600 cameras, we have a segmented database capability so there can be simultaneous local and overall control.

In an application in Columbia we have a system that offers this capability across 160 towns and cities – town, district, state and national and this system is continuously expanding. It is essentially Columbia’s homeland security. That IndigoVision can supply end to end video streams over any legacy infrastructure makes it a strong proposition in many applications, including those in Australia.

JA: IndigoVision was a pioneer of analogue to digital encoders, wasn’t it?

Is the hardware side still integral to the IndigoVision business?

MK: Absolutely - IndigoVision is a onestop shop. Our hardware and software teams work side by side so we can offer a solution which is perfectly integrated – a big breakthrough has been going totally open – you need a lot confidence to say we’re open as a camera manufacturer, open as a VMS supplier, with storage and the whole thing locked in.

JA: That complete open-ness is a huge deal – very few hardware and software makers are prepared to be completely open – why did you make that choice?

Isn’t it nerve wracking?

MK: It’s taken quite a bit of courage and confidence – but we really are that good.

Our cameras, our VMS, our storage all stand on their own and being open to all other solutions works very well.

JA: And all your gear is backwards compatible, isn’t it? This would be important given the length of time you typically hold major customers?

MK: Yes, all our product is backwards compatible and designed to allow simplest upgrades when required. Many of our customers have been with us 10-15 years so that compatibility is vital – it’s also important that our staff understand all our legacy solutions.

JA: New things – are you working on developing new technology currently or is it more a matter of the evolution of existing product lines?

MK: IndigoVision released 24 new cameras in the last year so we have a full range of cameras at multiple price points. We released a great new 1080p HD camera at Security 2014.

When it comes to cameras, low light performance is what IndigoVision is famous for and it’s awesome. We are very good at compression, too, and the new camera performs over a wide range of connections.

When it comes to cameras, most the industry uses generic image sensing chips but we don’t. Our chip is dense and multi-layered and we have 2 chips where other manufacturers would have one. In the early days there was huge investment into sensors of our own design and that’s

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t h e i n t e rv i ew

J o h n A dams w i th Marcus Kneen

a real differentiator. We have some very smart people in R&D. On the VMS side, we do 3 software releases each year. We work with end users to ensure the features and benefits demonstrate value. Our software developers don’t stay in the office. They go onto site, so they know what end users need and they are close to our integrator partners as well. Our engineers know they have a responsibility to add value and they are not isolated from real world applications.

JA: Something that has always been central to IndigoVision’s local and global topology is distributed architecture. What does that mean for end users and their solutions?

MK: We have distributed architecture so there’s no need to clog networks with video data. This is an area where we are unique. It’s hard to understand in the security industry why there is one central point that if you take out, the system goes down.

With IndigoVision, you can take out one camera, but no more. How many casinos, cities, major events use a central server? It’s just so vulnerable. We have a completely different architecture – that’s part of our success. We have no single point of failure and it takes out load that can flood a network. We’ve done 5 Olympic Games and we are doing the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow – every single site – and all have been distributed architecture models.

IT infrastructure remains central to our solutions but we are more infrastructure tolerant than most – we can get video across wet string. One of the comments we get from customers is that it ‘just works’. The reason is there’s a lot of cleverness in the kit to make it ‘just work’.

JA: While we are talking about infrastructure tolerance, do you find there is a real world demand for high resolutions in many of your markets – recording in real time at maximum resolution?

MK: In theory yes, but people are pragmatic when it comes to cutting the

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IT infrastructure remains central to our solutions but we are more infrastructure tolerant than most – we can get video across wet string. One of the comments we get from customers is that it ‘just works’. order. We have won 3 tech shootouts with our Ultra 5MP camera but when it comes to cost, end users will ask for 500 720p cameras because that’s a good workhorse.

From an end user’s perspective, how many cameras actually need 1080p or higher at full frame rate?

There is some marketing dazzle when it comes to multi-megapixel cameras and the industry gets pulled along because it’s new and bright and shiny. But there’s a whole section of the industry that’s educated and pragmatic and has a real awareness of cost. They will use higher MP cameras where it’s appropriate and are happy to use a 720p camera in a less demanding location.

JA: Where do you see future improvements in surveillance hardware technology coming from?

MK: What we will see in the future is more processing power in the cameras themselves – that’s something we already have.

JA: More processing power…do you mean for edge storage or analytics in the camera?

MK: For serious applications edge storage in the camera is more marketing dazzle.

If you take out the camera you take out the recorded footage and for real security installations that’s not good enough. Also, SDXC type storage devices are not yet reliable enough for continuous read and

write operations over extended periods.

But there’s far more that processing power can handle than just edge recording. There are a lot of sensors – location, temperature, humidity, smoke, all sorts of different things. In the future cameras will do a lot more than just video.

For instance, IndigoVision already has one of the highest quality 2-way HiFi audio chips – our audio chip is way above the quality standard of other manufacturers. With audio analytics you can tell broken glass from other noises.

You can have something happen offcamera but the audio analytic will detect something and alert operators, or it will drive an output to activate a preset.

JA: Software - what are some of the new features you’ve added to your VMS solution over the past year?

MK: Mapping – our mapping is excellent.

Rather than accessing camera views by tree and branch directory, having it managed visually is fantastic. We are also doing more with big data, integrating with point of sale – the value here comes from integrations. The integration might allow you to link video with a transaction, video with a weighbridge measurement, video with LPR – some sites will have a payback on our system in weeks.

JA: Is LPR growing in your experience?

MK: Yes, but it’s regional. Again it has to work operationally – some types of analytics are over-sold at trade shows but don’t offer functionality in the real world. We don’t go for dazzle marketing in Northern Europe – we are conservative and we do a lot of serious engineered solutions for clients who don’t take dazzle – Northern Ireland, Mexico – these solutions simply have to always work.

JA: Speaking of dazzle, the cloud model many companies are investing in right now. What do you think of that model for real world applications?

MK: We are keeping aware of cloud, talking to end users and our integration partners and when cloud becomes commercially viable we will move quickly. But we’ll let other companies be

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Milestone XProtect® is the world’s leading IP video surveillance management software and is reliable, future proof and easy to use. It supports the widest choice in cameras and seamlessly integrates with business and security solutions such as video analytics. Which means your possibilities are unlimited and you can keep your security options open.

See our new products and the new ways to use XProtect at: www.milestonesys.com and at Security 2014, booth: D14.

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t h e i n t e rv i ew

J o h n A dams w i th marcus kneen

We stand by every single IndigoVision installation globally.

We see end users and integrators as partners and we will support our partners. at the bleeding edge. At this early stage it seems the people who will do best with cloud are those serving domestic and small commercial markets – that’s the big volume market. In the real world, many high security sites where we install systems have no internet connections at all – deliberately. Instead we employ local subnets.

JA: You mentioned the strength of the company’s compression technology and given IndigoVision focuses on this in the real world of variable links, what do you think about Ultra HD/4K? Does it have a present and a future in serious CCTV applications?

MK: It will come. Ultra HD is a video standard but it’s been demonstrated and taken to trade shows ahead of its time. Give 4K another couple of years and it will be out there. Obviously, talking about 4K means talking about compression and because we are so good at compression we are most likely to build a 4K solution that works.

JA: Getting back to the IndigoVision business, have you ever had a major customer require an unusually high level of service – some epic challenge you’ve had to fly technical people in to resolve?

MK: Absolutely. The BP oil rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The CCTV solution that monitored the disaster was IndigoVision – very high quality image streams were needed. We needed to get video from the sea floor and then via satellite undertake video enhancement in Belgium and then get the images back to the US with very little latency.

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Our ability to do compression and long haul transmission were vital.

There have been certain incidents in Australia where we have assisted, too.

When it comes to support, we don’t go on the defensive if there are issues.

We recommend the best switches and network equipment to use but in the event of challenges, even if they have nothing to do with IndigoVision gear, we will respond. That’s our policy – we will grab a problem and work it. We stand by every single IndigoVision installation globally. We see end users and integrators as partners and we will support our partners.

JA: What are the core values of IndigoVision as a company – what’s most important to your success?

MK: For long term success you have to have deep technology and

values in the business that see you through the rough days. Toyota, BP, IBM they survived real traumas by taking ownership of mistakes. Other companies like Enron could not survive such challenges. The difference was their company values.

In one word, IndigoVision has integrity.

Integrity comes in many ways. If a customer has an issue, you own the issue – it doesn’t have to be a big customer. If your business has integrity it will guide you through the challenges. Customers appreciate integrity.

Also important is loyalty within our team and loyalty to IndigoVision’s customers.

We are not into getting new customers and letting them go at the first challenge.

We want to keep customers forever.

Winning our customers’ lifelong loyalty through our integrity is the IndigoVision business. zzz

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as s et p rot e cti o n

by shane norton

Laws of attraction Securing fixed assets is pretty much a text book affair; establish concentric security barriers around the asset, which increase in ‘hardness’ the closer they are installed to the item of value.

W

HEN you are protecting attractive and portable assets, the rule of thumb is if you are not using it, keep it locked down; classic Defence-in-Depth. However, it’s a different story when the object requiring protection needs to remain portable and even more difficult when it is mobile. Such protective security challenges require solutions that are often technology dependent (tech-heavy), focusing on improving detection and assisting the security response with plenty of up-to-date information, on top of any deterrence and delay characteristics designed to discourage would-be perpetrators.

Imagine having the ability to know the real time whereabouts of all your portable assets, and be alerted to conditions that might indicate a problem, whenever an asset makes an unexpected move. A range of technologies

58 se&n

and systems designed to permit this degree of situational awareness are readily available, although they can come at substantial cost and complexity if you are not careful. Knowing what you really need to monitor and under what conditions, will help to maximise effectiveness and minimise unnecessary capital outlay towards your chosen solution.

Keeping an eye on portable assets within buildings is fairly straight forward. Data projectors, laptops and small, high value objects have a bad habit of disappearing, especially in places like hospitals and universities. Where the asset is normally static, such as a data projector mounted to a ceiling, a simple break/no break detector (such as a surface mounted reed switch or close proximity detector) can be attached to it and hardwired back to the alarm panel; removal of the device will break the monitoring circuit and cause an alarm. This is a cheap and cheerful, although not very intelligent, solution.

Some attractive assets within buildings are a lot more portable, and so require a different approach – usually employing wireless technologies. For example, where hospitals provide care for high risk patients (infants, elderly and/or mental health), it is possible to implement an active patient wandering system; otherwise known as an asset tracking system.

as s et p rot e cti o n

Imagine having the ability to know the real time whereabouts of all your portable assets, and be alerted to conditions that might indicate a problem, whenever an asset makes an unexpected move.

These systems require an active (battery powered) tag to be attached as a wrist or leg band to the patient and the location of this tag is periodically transmitted to the hospital’s security management system via ceiling or doorway mounted receivers. Radio frequency triangulation is a common locating technique; however, some tags use multiple technologies to improve accuracy, especially infra-red, which helps to narrow locations down to discrete rooms. The same tags can also be attached to employees or high risk physical assets as well, although care needs to be taken with regards to privacy laws surrounding workplace surveillance obligations for employers and also the limitations apparent with only being able to track assets while they remain within the building.

Electronic article surveillance Retailers and librarians have been monitoring their stock with electronic article surveillance (EAS) systems for decades. These systems use fairly simple technologies; magnetic, acoustomagnetic and radio frequency based systems are common place and have been proven to be highly effective towards improving retail loss prevention. Most people will be familiar with the vertical gates at store fronts, and the need to have the shop assistant deactivate or remove the EAS tag at the point-of-sale before leaving the store.

While these devices are quite robust, they are prone to defeat by skilled shop lifters and at times create nuisance alarms for legitimate shoppers.

It is for these reasons that you may also see a security guard at the store front supervising customers entering and exiting. Nevertheless, the technology is relatively cost efficient and a proven crime reducing practice.

Geo-location is a growing trend that is more than using simple global positioning systems.

The procedure usually involves the use of multiple technologies including GPS, as well as mobile phone, radar, or Wi-Fi to determine a meaningful location (such as a street address) of the asset rather than just a set of geographic coordinates, anywhere in the world.

The reliance on multiple locating technologies

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Shane Norton is an Associate and the Protective Security Leader for Arup in Australasia. He is also a SCEC Approved Security Zone Consultant. Contact on (02) 9320 9305 or shane.norton@arup.com

improves tracking accuracy and also provides a degree of redundancy should one of the technologies be rendered ineffective (such as loss of GPS signal when driving through a tunnel).

This aggregated information is then displayed to the operator at a remote security monitoring centre using a map based user interface.

Once near real-time geo-location information is obtainable, rules can be set up to create alarms when unexpected events occur. For example, if a mobile asset on a truck stops unexpectedly, or travels outside of a pre-planned route, this would be detected with an alarm raised to prompt an appropriate response by the monitoring operator.

Probably one of the most promising technologies is the rapid expansion in the availability and effectiveness of tracking apps now available for smart phones and tablets.

Why bother investing in a completely new asset tracking system when the mobile phone can do it all for you? Not to mention that everyone carries one on their person almost all the time these days. Tracking apps use the internal cellular, Wi-Fi and GPS sensors to accurately report location details; usually uploading information to the cloud and allowing restricted access to another smart device or prearranged and trusted third party.

These apps are extremely handy; especially when you misplace your device and use the service to ‘Find My Phone’. However, it could be argued that perhaps consumers are not yet ready to divulge such specific and personal information to employers, government agencies or other third parties for fear of unwanted oversight and that always worrying concept of Big Brother. In any case, watch this space for innovative location-based systems in the coming years.

Building a strong business case to support the implementation of systems that protect attractive and portable assets can be challenging because there is a need to demonstrate an acceptable Return on Investment (ROI). Putting a dollar value on the benefits (in terms of preventable losses) can be tricky; especially if historic information about previous events is patchy or incomplete. A better way might be to connect with industry peers operating similar businesses, and share information about security incidents and loss prevention strategies. This will help to benchmark your position against industry norms; providing confidence to yourself and your management cohort that the proposed solution has merit. If in doubt, seek independent, professional advice to ensure all options have been considered and the best outcome is presented. n

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s p e ci al re p o rt security 201 4

Stand and deliver

Plenty of action on Day 2

Australia’s premier security event didn’t disappoint, with big crowds getting a taste of the security industry’s latest products.

S

ecurity 2014, held in Melbourne last month was an enjoyable show with decent visitor numbers, especially on Day 2, a great atmosphere and certainly the best layout I’ve seen at an Aussie security expo.

The Best New Product Award went to Iomniscient for its IQ FACE, a product designed to enhance public safety and security by providing end users with the unique ability to detect, capture and identify a face in a crowd using face recording, matching and recognition technologies, with Hills’ Xandem TMD intrusion detection system being a finalist.

Best Shell Scheme Stand Award went to Jacques, with Netcomm Wireless a finalist. Best Custom 62 se&n

Stand 36sqm & Under Award went to Seadan Security with finalist being AME Systems. Best Custom Stand over 36sqm was taken out by Salto with finalists being Hills Ltd and LSC. According to organisers, Diversified Communications Australia, more than 4,500 security industry professionals from Australia and as far as the Netherlands converged on the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre for the 29th annual Security Exhibition and Conference earlier this month – making it the most successful event in its history.

The 30th annual Security Exhibition and Conference will be held at Sydney Olympic Park July 8-10, 2015.

Angelo Salvatore of Milestone

CSD saw strong traffic

The heart of the Hills’ stand

Action at Bosch

United Technologies

According to organisers more than 4,500 security industry professionals converged on the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre

Sony showed off Gen 6

SEN’s best stand winner

Plenty of interest in IQ FACE

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s p e ci al re p o rt security 201 4

Hills’ Airstream display

Andrew Del Biondo, Camvex

Bosch off and racing

Best Custom Stand over 36sqm was taken out by Salto with finalists being Hills Ltd and LSC

Avigilon – great product

Genetec was humming

Looking towards CSD

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lowER REsolution

highER REsolution

lowER REsolution

s p e ci al re p o rt

analogue / ip

Analogue vs IP

There’s long been an expectation in the market that analogue cameras would die out completely but that’s not been the case. Yet while analogue is still being used in certain applications, its volumes are rapidly shrinking.

A

S we mentioned last month, 2014 was the year IP was going to overtake analogue as the predominant camera technology.

Because the pace of change has been very slow, many people may have felt the swing would continue at the same steady rate but that does not seem to be the case. Instead, growth in IP sales has accelerated.

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SEN spoke to a number of surveillance distributors to get a feel for how their sales were tracking when it came to analogue vs IP. While their experiences were variable, it’s clear that the majority of our bigger players do most their camera sales in IP. Something that was unexpected though, was that HD-SDI is making inroads – for some distributors, it’s now a bigger slice of sales than analogue.

Peter Grimshaw of CSD says the percentage of IP cameras the company sells compared to analogue is approximately 90:10 in favour of IP. “Comparatively, our analogue versus IP figures 2 years ago were around the 30:70 mark so there is a definite trend towards IP cameras and we have noticed the analogue market shrinking dramatically over the past few years.”

There’s an industry theory that a core of traditional installers continue to use analogue cameras and Grimshaw says this group may be traditional techs

by john adam s

We also have a very strong HD-SDI range which is quickly eating into our analogue sales. HD-SDI has definitely expedited the death of analogue.

Bosch DINON 960H

who may not be proficient with IP networks and do not have the ability or confidence to install IP systems.

“Within the CCTV subsection of the market there are some integrators which are chasing low cost systems who do use analogue, however, we’re finding that in most cases these are predominantly domestic or minor expansions of existing analogue systems. Most installations above 8 cameras are now IP.” Does CSD have any new analogue cameras planned or just released?

“There may be some small variations to existing models that we currently stock, but at this stage we are not planning to release any new analogue camera ranges,” Grimshaw says.

Over at Video Security Products, Zaki Wazir says around 70 per cent of the company’s camera sales are IP with analogue now being only 10 and HD-SDI

making up the balance.

“IP seems to be growing at around 20 per cent per annum and analogue is definitely declining to a near insignificant level,” says Wazir. “We as a company are wanting 100 per cent of all new systems we sell to be IP and/or DH by 2016. We will still carry some analogue for existing systems, however.”

Does VSP see a particular group of installers who continue to use analogue?

“No, it I wouldn’t say it’s a particular group,” he says. “The little analogue that we do sell is spread across our entire client base.”

Something else is that the analogue VSP sells is only used in smaller applications.

“Certainly, we haven’t sold any analogue-based system with over 20-30 cameras for quite some time,” says Wazir. “We also have a very strong HDSDI range which is quickly eating into our analogue sales. HD-SDI has definitely expedited the death of analogue.

“We definitely don’t have any plans to release any new analogue cameras- there just isn’t the need. IP will be our main offering and HD-SDI will replace analogue in the 4-16 camera space where the installer is retrofitting into existing sites.”

But things are different for Steve Malesevic at Bosch Security Systems, who says the company still does good sales in analogue. Perhaps a factor here is that Bosch’s analogue cameras have such a strong reputation that anyone wanting an analogue camera knocks on Bosch’s door.

“It’s still more analogue than IP for us right now but you can see in the sales figures that IP is rapidly increasing and analogue is diminishing but not at the same rate IP is increasing,” Malesevic says.

“We find if the infrastructure is too costly to replace in terms of the cabling, then a lot of people are going to stick to the analogue. But the new projects coming out are using IP more often. Analogue ultimately will be used on smaller installations.

“In terms of the percentage of IP cameras we sell compared to analogue I’d say right now it’s about 50/50, with IP growing at about 8 per cent year-onyear. The percentage of analogue cameras is not shrinking much – it’s been stable over the last 2 years, perhaps reducing by 2 per cent annually.”

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One thing that only Bosch, Samsung, AD and a handful of manufacturers are doing is releasing new analogue cameras. In the case of Bosch, the new 720-line analogue units will replace all Bosch’s older analogue gear.

“We’ve released a bunch of 960H cameras and corresponding DVRs – 720-line at the camera and recorded at 650 lines,” says Malesevic. “It’s a whole range of new cameras. All our older analogue stuff is being phased out for the 960H (720TVL) product line.”

When it comes to IP, Malesevic thinks there are some smaller installers who stick to analogue because it’s easy and they know it.

“There are still many installers out there whose skill set is analogue – they don’t understand IP addressing schemes, subnet masks and all the rest,” he explains. “You do have to plan out a networked system so if an installer can’t afford to bring in an IP expert then they will stick with what they know.”

According to Malesevic, installers do need to understand the basics of IP networking.

“It’s hard to step someone through that over the phone. We can offer assistance through tech support but there are some small installers who don’t want to try to understand IP.” Meanwhile, Rob Rosa says QSS is very strong in IP sales but there’s still a lump of analogue business being done.

“We would have a split of around 40 per cent analogue to 60 per cent IP camera sales. This number is growing each month in favour of IP and many new sites and projects are all IP now. But analogue is not dead yet.

“For QSS our IP camera growth is strong,” Rosa says. “We have been seeing growth in this IP range

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analogue / ip

Samsung 1000-Line

IP seems to be growing at around 20 per cent per annum and analogue is definitely declining to a near insignificant level

of around 20 per cent in the last 6 months which is pleasing. The fact that we have increased our product offering such as AD, DVTEL, FLIR and expanded our own QVS Alumia-Net range definitely has helped in this area. Now being a Bosch distributor will continue to assist our growth in the IP space.”

According to Rosa, in the past 6 months QSS has seen a slow decline in analogue.

“That move is low single digits so it hasn’t been one of an alarming nature,” he explains. “I dare say that this will start to move south in the coming months but to what extent remains to be seen. I recall a couple of years ago being asked a similar question as were some other industry people and looking back at my notes we were not too far off with our comments – those being that it would take a couple of years to start feeling a drop in analogue.

“I feel we are on the cusp of it now but how much it will drop off, is the question. I also remember the timelapse VCR and multiplexer days when the DVR was first introduced. It took quite a while for DVRs to completely take over.”

According to Rosa, some clients will continue to use analogue and he believes this may be because they just don’t have the applications that require an IP solution.

“It could involve a simple retrofit whereby the application doesn’t justify the whole IP thing,” Rosa says. “Some installers are also more comfortable with analogue systems and haven’t got a requirement (or client base) that needs an IP system. Eventually this will need to change as blue cable becomes the standardised cable that is installed.

“I also think that comfort plays a part in it. Some people are very knowledgeable in analogue systems and they wish to remain there for the time being as some of their clients do not wish to change or have no need for IP at this stage. Small applications also may not justify the investment of IP.” Do you see analogue being used in small applications only?

“Good question and I believe that it will remain in that space,” Rosa says. “Imagine trying to justify a large installation with analogue cameras and recording devices. Analogue for small applications is well suited and if you require limited resolution and feature set then small applications are ideal.”

And do you have any new analogue cameras planned or just released?

“Absolutely - we have a range of AD, Bosch Advantage Range and QVS Alumia which provide a very cost effective analogue solution,” Rosa says.

“While we don’t believe this will be a growth area overall, we still have a large range on offer and given we still sell a fair bit of analogue equipment, we need to ensure when new products are released, we are at the front of technology at the right price with the back end support. While we still have demand for analogue we will continue to invest in finding the best products on offer.” zzz

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montreal schools

Mounted police Hikvision and Milestone Systems have successfully implemented a large-scale project that aims to provide secure environments for hundreds of schools throughout Montreal.

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INE hundred Hikvision IP cameras managed

by Milestone VMS software have been installed throughout hundreds of Montreal Schools by integrator, Alpha TSi. This integration allowed the Commission Scolaire MargueriteBourgeoys School Board to significantly elevate safety and security for the students, faculty and staff members.

“The video quality provided by Hikvision cameras has been truly superb,” says Rémi Asselin, IT services director, Marguerite-Bourgeoys School Board. “Both Hikvision and Milestone products demonstrated outstanding functionality for educational facilities. We are very happy with the outcome.”

Alpha TSi, a Canadian integrator specializing in network security architecture sector has been at

the forefront of implementing this critical project.

“Hikvision cameras have great image quality, impressive true WDR, motorized lenses that are easy to adjust using the Milestone VMS, and the edge storage precisely meets the client’s needs,” says Philippe E Bergeron, vice president, Alpha TSi. Sébastien Céré, president of Alpha TSi agrees.

“We were really impressed with Hikvision’s prompt customization of special firmware required by the scale of this project,” he says. “This is the kind of service we just don’t see from everyone.”

Hikvision cameras the company installed include fixed domes for indoors and outdoors: 1.3MP domes with true WDR (wide dynamic range), true Day/ Night, superior low-light performance, motorized lens for remote focus and remote zoom, and POE/ High POE. Both camera types are fully integrated with the Milestone software including SD edge storage support.

Using Hikvision’s WDR technology the internal HIK-2CDx64FWD camera demonstrates powerful light handling abilities under extreme backlight conditions. Hikvision’s advanced ISP (Imaging Signal Processing) technology means the HIK2CDx64FWD series is able to deliver excellent image quality for both indoor and outdoor environments without concerns of surrounding light interference.

Features include 1/3-inch progressive scan CMOS, 120dB wide dynamic range, H.264 / MPEG4 / MJPEG video compression, Full HD 960P real time video, True day/night, 2-way audio and vandal proofing.

Outside, Hikvision 1.3MP outdoor domes offer Commission Scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys School Board the same strong WDR and 3D DNR with 2.79mm Zoom Lens with Auto Focus. There’s 120dB wide dynamic range, super low-light functionality, Motorised VF lens, 3D digital noise reduction, vandal-proof housing and an IP66 rating. The same ISP (Imaging Signal Processing) featured in the indoor domes means clear image quality in low light conditions without noise problems.

Meanwhile, the Milestone XProtect software provides 3 flexible client interfaces in 27 languages for the efficient administration of the system, the users, and the cameras that are distributed across multiple sites. Live video is also recorded for fast searching in case of incidents, and easy sharing or export to authorities.

Key features of Milestone’s XProtect include

We were really impressed with Hikvision’s prompt customization for putting together a special firmware required by the scale of this project.

a multi-layered map function allowing users to manage cameras and security devices, and overlay buttons that intuitively control cameras, camera integrated devices and connected systems via camera views. There’s also a virtual joystick allowing easy PTZ control.

Other neat Milestone features include a singlepoint alarm management function, the ability to bookmark video sequences with attached notes, independent playback while viewing live video and multi-screen handling incorporating floating windows across multiple screens. Something else the system will do is email authorised users if it’s running out of recording space or there are critical failures.

Very useful is sequence explorer, which shows previews of recorded video sequences as timebased groups of drag-and-throw thumbnails that allow management to easily locate specific events during investigations. Great for police are advanced export options with digital signature, as well as the XProtect Smart Client Player, which includes room for commentary.

“Milestone has a special focus on the education sector, to support the future of our world through knowledge by helping to ensure that its environments are safe today,” says Peter Lintzeris, sales manager/directeur des ventes, Canada for Milestone Systems.

“This large implementation in the schools of Quebec also attests to our strong relationship with Hikvision as one of our fastest growing Manufacturer Alliance Partners,” zzz

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201 4 in review

A year to remember The last financial year has been noteworthy from a local business perspective with multiple acquisitions and plenty of heat around distribution agreements. But was it a growth year?

T

HERE’s not much doubt the last financial year was awash with acquisitions. Never has the local industry seen so much activity – with Hills taking on networking specialist OPS, Intek and others, Suretek buying NT Software, Allegion (formerly Ingersoll Rand) acquiring FSH, Ingram Micro breaking into physical security and

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Telstra buying into SNP Security. There’s been plenty going on in the global market, too.

Broadly, you can read a number of things into an acquisitive market. For a start it suggests many companies are holding large cash reserves. A wave of acquisitions could also suggest the market is peaking and businesses struggling to find real growth are buying market share.

While a run of acquisitions can suggest challenges ahead, in the Australian electronic security industry things seem stable. Our biggest player, Hills, is already strong in the technology space and is looking to expand in its core area - nothing to fear there. As for Telstra’s buy into SNP, it’s a move that makes a lot of sense for both companies and the same applies to the other key acquisitions we’ve seen this year.

Ingram Micro’s play in electronic security is more of an unknown. The company is an IT distribution giant – the largest in the world - with enormous buying power. That Ingram

by john adam s

Micro can reach IT integrators is beyond dispute.

However, its establishment of a physical security division in Australia is something completely different and I think we’ll hear a lot more from Ingram over the next 12 months.

Other noteworthy developments include the change of management at QSS, with Rob Rosa, former GM of Pacific Communications taking up the reins with great energy. CSD has also done well, taking on exclusive distribution of Hikvision and Avigilon.

While it’s been a busy year for businesses, has it been a profitable year? We asked a bunch of companies how they found the financial year just gone June 30 – had they seen growth? What did they expect in FY2014?

According to Hills MD Ted Pretty, the company’s research suggested the Australian market was worth around $A3.6bn for security and fire ($2.1bn being intrusion and access) and he says the expected annual growth between 2014-2019 is estimated to be 1.4% in revenues. The estimated industry profit is around $345m.

“However, we estimate that masked in that number are growth rates for video at 9 per cent, access control at 7 per cent, building automation at 4 per cent and most interestingly; growth in security managed by mobile device at 9 per cent,” Pretty says.

“Retail, home and office are still the user growth markets followed by hospitals.”

Pretty points out that strong unit growth is being moderated by steep price declines and that gross margins are under pressure due to technology and cost shifts.

“But the interesting data fact for the security industry is to recognize what is happening in adjacencies as they will drive change in security,” Pretty explains.

“For example, this growth in legacy security devices is being outstripped by growth in mobile devices (tablets and mobiles 12-18 per cent) and cloud services at around 25 per cent.”

Pretty identifies macro industry trends including the expanding definition of security to include physical, information, risk management, compliance, disaster recovery and privacy, as well as the convergence of information security and physical networks.

Pretty also points to the move of global tech players into security including Google, Apple, Microsoft (Google’s acquisition of Nest and Nest’s foray into home security with Dropcam), and the entry of IT distribution and integrators players into security (Ingram Micro).

“In Australia we are also seeing cross broader distribution and an increase in the grey market,” Pretty says.

According to CSD’s national sales manager, Peter Grimshaw, generally speaking the security

Ted Pretty of Hills

industry in Australia has been static for a number of years.

“However CSD has experienced continued solid growth over the past 12 months, especially in the IP CCTV and integrated access control market,” he explains. “The domestic market is also seeing signs of improvement with alarm system sales far exceeding same time last year results.

“More significantly, there are changes underway in the security wholesale and distribution sector whereby a number of wholesalers are changing their channel to market by means of branch and delivery consolidation. We have already begun to see this in a number of states. CSD will be maintaining its traditional channels to market.

“We believe that the continued product diversity in the security industry is playing a significant role in the growth of our industry,” Grimshaw says. “More project work is being quoted and won and there is most definitely a very positive and enthusiastic attitude as we head into 2014.

“In summing up the next 12 months, we expect to see continued growth across all of our product segments and are very much looking forward to the opportunities ahead.”

Rob Rosa, COO, Q Security Systems says QSS has had a strong 12 month trading and is very happy with its growth path.

“We have added some new vendors/ manufacturers to our product portfolio and have exited others,” Rosa says. “Our performance is about growth and product strategy along with

In summing up the next 12 months, we expect to see continued growth across all of our product segments and are very much looking forward to the opportunities ahead.

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Tony Lagan, Hikvision

Rob Rosa, QSS

value adds such as training and Professional Services. The next 12 months for QSS is exciting – we have one more major announcement to make this year and then it truly is about consolidating and growing our market share using good old customer service and basic 101 sales.

“We see that as respect to your clients and always go the extra mile, keep products on the shelf, fast turnaround times on repair and warranty items, training and product development facilities being used to the max and the launch of our Q Professional Services model. My prediction for QSS in 2014–2015 is positive - we have some aggressive growth targets we want to achieve.”

Tyco says it has seen steady growth across brands over the last 12 months and believes the company will see this continuing into 2014, especially with new product releases across intrusion (POwerSeries NEO), access control (Emerald touch screen readers) and CCTV (Victor unified video management system).

Meanwhile, Honeywell Australia’s John Gellel

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says there has been a very nominal growth at an industry level for video surveillance over the past 12 months.

“However, if we break up the segments into analogue and IP surveillance then it is easier to recognize that IP surveillance is growing in double digits and will continue to post strong growth in the market place whereas analogue will be declining consistently. HD-SDI is another new trend which is cannibalising the analogue segment.

According to EOS Australia’s Tooma Chong, over the past 12 months growth in network surveillance has been significant and he believes performance is measured to be consistent for next 12 months as well. Chong says new HD-SDI technology will bring new vibe in the electronic security business in 2014.

Vivotek’s Stacey Lien sees growth over the next 12 months thanks to rising security concerns due to the theft, burglary and terrorist attacks.

Vivotek also believes advances in technologies like improved network communications, high standard video quality, business intelligence applications are also driving demand.

“Looking forward to 2014, Vivotek is to create more added value and increase return on investment for customers for sustaining the corporate development and competitiveness,” says Lien.

At OPS Kobi Ben Shabat says growth for next 12 months will be very good compared to the IT market’s general growth.

“Having said that, the estimate of few research companies is that we should see a small decrease in security market growth over the next 12-24 months. Nevertheless, we feel that the growth opportunity in the IP Video and IP access control market is still strong with a growing demand for upgrade of old systems.”

At Risco, Tim Prag says the market is growing and more important, it is changing.

“If in the past hybrid control panels had the lion’s share of the market, we see more and more demand for advanced systems with cloud-based functionality and added value services to the end users like controlling the system with their Smartphone App, seeing images upon events as well as live video upon event or on demand.

The market is becoming more demanding and requires advanced capabilities.”

Meanwhile over at Bosch Security Systems, James Layton says the number of new intrusion panel installations has slightly declined in the last year.

“We believe this relates to a movement towards more advanced technologies, such as CCTV, which is now at a lower cost; and general uncertainty on the back of technology changes like DSL Naked connections and the National Broadband Network.”

Writing before the SNP/Telstra announcement, Layton showed prescience.

“Telecommunications providers have started to look closely at the OTT (over the top) services that go on to their connections, and it’s likely in the future that they may look to enter this space as solution providers – one man on your doorstep can offer you television, telephone, internet, and security.”

According to Bosch video systems product manager Steve Malesevic, the last 12 months has been a challenge.

“But we are already seeing improved growth in 2014,” he says. “With a focussed sales team and business development taking us in new directions, we are looking forward to more sustained growth in 2014. Things are looking good for Bosch for the next 12 months.”

Steve Charles of Sony Australia says the company has seen a significant increase in its business over the past 12 months.

“We believe this is a combination of past efforts in our marketing and advertising campaigns and the aggressiveness of our distribution partners,” Charles says. “The release of our Generation 6 line has set the market benchmark in both performance and reliability for others to follow.

“Over the course of the next 12 months our belief is the market will continue to climb as confidence in the construction and infrastructure sectors increases - NSW seems to be the state most likely to lead this growth.”

Senstar says it has seen significant general growth across most product lines in the last 12 months in addition to some major project wins globally.

“It has been refreshing to see the number of system integrators recognising the need to maintain and grow their technical skills in their teams,” the company says. “We are also seeing a greater awareness and subsequent addressing of the merging or blurring of the physical and cyber security realms given how drastically they can impact on one another.”

Meanwhile, FLIR’s Peter De Ieso says the FLIR business is growing fast due to the constant new technologies the company are releasing.

“In the beginning, FLIR was selling cameras that cost over $100,000 and this year we will sell a thermal camera for under a thousand dollars,” De Ieso says.

“I’m excited by the prospect of lower cost, higher volume products because it means more people will

Tim Prag, Risco

Telecommunications providers have started to look closely at the OTT services that go on to their connections, and it’s likely in the future that they may look to enter this space as solution providers.

benefit from the power of thermal imaging over the next 12 months.”

Yunus Mamoniat of Comnet says the company has seen substantial growth in the region from standard security CCTV installations to sophisticated and challenging infrastructure projects covering rail, road, mining and utility/power markets that requires robust transmission. According to Mamoniat, further growth is projected from the critical infrastructure industry as the region embarks on investing in the upgrade of its network.

Access control and locking specialist Kaba has also seen growth over the 12 months.

“Our electronic security business has been on the increase in recent years and this year has been no exception,” says Kaba’s Nicole Richardson. “We cannot imagine this upwards trend ending any time soon with Australia businesses adopting this type of security at a rapid rate.”

Over at Hikvision, Tony Lagan says he thinks the market in general has shown signs of recovery and there seem to be a lot more discussions about upcoming projects.

“But there is no doubt that the market over the last 12 months has been exceptionally competitive and thankfully from Hikvision’s perspective we have seen exceptional growth,” says Lagan. “We put this down in part to an exceptional range of products as well as to the great support and focus of our distributor, Central Security Distribution.

They have also benefited greatly from the growth and emergence of Hikvision as a major player in the Australian market.

“I think the next 12 months will see the market continue to cautiously recover and grow,” Lagan says. “Hikvision is very well positioned as a brand as we are producing some quality product at very competitive prices. With the release of the 4-Line series of cameras we will be able to offer a product capable of easily matching the industry’s big boys at a price end users are most willing to pay.” zzz

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editor’s choice

What’s new in the industry

Rialto – Avigilon’s Award Winning Video Analytics l RIALTO A4 and I4 analytic appliances provides a cost-effective way to easily add video analytics to analogue or IP video surveillance systems. Analyse and record up to 4 security cameras per unit with intelligent analytics technology that will continuously self-learn and improve performance over time. Additionally, the high density, small footprint makes it easy to deploy and scale, and there are no complicated per camera license fees or registration processes.

With options available for both analogue and IP systems the Rialto video analytics appliances are a fast and easy way to add real-time response capabilities to any video surveillance system.

Distributor: Central Security Distribution Contact: Contact: 1300 319 499

Hikvision battles low light with DarkFighter camera l HIKVISION is setting new standards for ultra low-light surveillance with the launch of the DS-2CD6026FHWD DarkFighter network camera.

This cutting edge camera utilises an industry-leading, ultra low-light MP lens and is designed specifically to capture sharp colour and monochrome images in extreme, lowlight conditions. The result is crystal clear colour images down to 0.002 Lux and B/W to 0.0002 Lux. The DarkFighter’s ultra low-light performance delivers full colour images day and night that would defeat conventional monochrome IP cameras and competing low-light cameras. As well as opening up new opportunities for 24-hour CCTV surveillance, it is the ideal replacement for conventional network cameras.

Distributor: Central Security Distribution Contact: Contact: 1300 319 499

Axis Q1615 l AXIS Q1615 and AXIS Q1615-E network cameras offer full HD resolution and automatic switch settings between high dynamic scenes and Lightfinder mode, ensuring all details are captured in dark and bright areas at the same time, see film.

The latest cameras offer a number of new capabilities including wide dynamic range (Axis’ WDR-Forensic Capture), Lightfinder, HDTV 1080p resolution, electronic image stabilization and shock detection.

In addition to the ability to seamlessly transition between WDR – Forensic Capture and Lightfinder mode, the indoor AXIS Q1615 and the outdoor-ready AXIS Q1615-E offer several image processing features to enhance image usability, such as barrel distortion correction, electronic image stabilization for steady images in an environment with tough vibrations. The fixed cameras also support high profile in H.264 and enhanced Max Bit Rate controllers which ensure that the bandwidth remains within the defined limits. AXIS Q1615/-E cameras are planned to be available in Q3 2014 through Axis distribution channels.

Distributor: Axis Communications Contact: +61 3 9982 1111

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duct showcase / n ew p ro d u ct s h owcas e / new pr o d u ct showcase / new p roduct showcase / new p roduct showcase /

Genetec Stratocast

Samsung Techwin launches remote head camera l SAMSUNG Techwin has introduced a 2MP Full HD discreet remote head camera. A key feature of the SNB-6010 is that its processing unit, which houses the camera’s DSP chipset and Ethernet connection, is supplied as a separate unit that can be installed in a secure location to prevent would be attackers from gaining access to video stored on an SD card.

The SNB-6010 can capture quality (1920 x 1080) images in real time when the lighting level is as low as 0.05 Lux. An enhanced Wide Dynamic Range feature, with performance greater than 120dB, enables the SNB-6010 to accurately produce images in scenes that simultaneously contain very bright and very dark areas. This can be particularly important when, for example, the camera may be looking out from a ‘hidden location’, while the camera’s privacy zone masking feature can blank out sensitive areas, such as a pin code keypad, from being recorded.

The SNB-6010 provides IVA to detect activity by various means such as face detection and ‘tampering’ which creates an alert if paint is sprayed on the camera’s lens or if there is unauthorised movement of the camera away from its usual field of view. Alternatively, advanced motion detection technology built into the SNB-6010, can greatly reduce the false alarm rate by learning what the normal motion of the scene is.

l GENETEC Stratocast allows businesses to stay connected with an easy and affordable cloud-based video monitoring system. Genetec Stratocast is an affordable, yet powerful video surveillance as a service (VSaaS) solution that’s designed to meet the needs of small and mid-sized businesses.

Benefits include minimal on-premise equipment to maintain and manage, simplified system installation and commissioning, reduced investment in hardware and professional IT/security staff; automated and frequent release cycles and; high-end and extremely reliable video security solution with advanced configuration at a fraction of the costs of on-premise surveillance systems.

Distributor: OPS at Hills Contact: 61 3 9646 9004

Raytec IR VARIO Hybrid l RAYTEC has expanded its flagship range of VARIO illuminators to include a new, all-in-one Infra-Red and White-Light solution - VARIO Hybrid. VARIO hybrid seamlessly combines Raytec’s latest infrared and white light LED technology into a single unit for easy installation and increased functionality. Illumination on demand is highly effective at deterring crime and increasing user safety as well as reducing a lighting system’s running cost and environmental impact. VARIO Hybrid features include interchangeable lensing to quickly and easily match the beam pattern to the camera FOV, elliptical beam patterns with hot-spot reduction technology for enhanced images and greater distances, LED status indicators for easy diagnostics, and a hand-held VARIO remote control for easy set-up and adjustment from ground level.

Distributor: Pacific Communications Contact: +61 3 9638 6400

Distributor: EOS Australia Contact: +61 2 9749 5888

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editor’s choice

What’s new in the industry

Honeywell releases LYNX Touch 5200 Demo App l HONEYWELL 5200 demo app showcases the LYNX product’s new look and video viewing capability. In this demo app all of the same great features from previous LYNX Touch demo apps like automation control and security operation are included.

And, the new features allow full demonstration of capabilities of the LYNX Touch 5200.

New things include single camera video viewing on the LYNX Touch 5200 4.7-inch touchscreen, simplified home screen layout and user instructions, updated LYNX Touch 5200 literature, updated connected home feature and updated toggle switches for options menu Distributor: ADI Global Contact: 1300 234234

Axis releases F Series modular mini cameras l AXIS has introduced F Series, a highly flexible, modular network camera series that involves extremely discreet HDTV 1080p cameras with wide dynamic range. The divided network camera concept allows a small sensor unit to be installed discreetly in tight places and the bigger main unit to be placed elsewhere and away from public view. Axis F Series consists of units that are all sold separately. The series includes Axis F41 Main Unit and 4 compatible Axis F sensor units with different form factors and lens types for different field of views. Axis F41 Main Unit houses the processor, network, power, SD card slot and other connections, and can connect to one Axis F sensor unit.

Each sensor unit, which consists of a lens and image sensor, comes with the choice of a 3-m or 12-m (10-ft. or 39-ft.) pre-mounted cable for connecting to the main unit.

Distributor: Axis Communications Contact: +61 3 9982 1111

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Bosch DINION IP starlight 8000 MP camera l NEW 5 megapixel Bosch DINION IP starlight 8000 MP camera delivers five megapixel details at 0.00825 lux at 1080p resolution and captures moving objects in 5MP resolution at up to 30 frames per-second at 0.0121 lux.

DINION IP starlight 8000 MP is designed to produce full color images in the dark beyond the point where other cameras have turned to monochrome images. Possible disturbances caused by fluctuating front or backlight are eliminated by Bosch’ built-in intelligence.

The intelligent Auto Exposure (iAE) technology dynamically adjusts the exposure of the camera to automatically adapt to changing light conditions providing perfect exposure of objects of interest every time. The iAE technology also contributes to the dynamic range of the camera which has 103+16 dB for the 1080p mode.

Distributor: Bosch Security Systems Contact: +61 2 9672 1777

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Vivotek releases VAST 1.8 CMS l VIVOTEK is pleased to announce the release of its central management software VAST V1.8. Vivotek has added a series of new features to this new version, including ONVIF Camera Support, Device Packs, Playback Rewind, Seamless Recording, Windows Active Directory.

With intuitive functions VAST provides strong support for cameras, servers and clients in a hierarchical system structure, efficiently and effectively monitoring, recording, playback, and event trigger management. The system is backwards compatible with existing solutions.

Hikvision develops HD Wi-Fi kit l HIKVISION has launched a plugand-play HD IP Wi-Fi Kit. Featuring a simple 2-step start-up, each kit includes an advanced WiFi camera and DS-7104NI-SL/W NVR together with Hikvision’s iVMS-4200/4500 video management software that enables users to monitor activity from anywhere, at any time.

At the heart of the new kit is the DS-7104NI-SL/W NVR, which can be connected with up to 4 network cameras from Hikvision or thirdparty manufacturers. The IEEE 802.11b/g/n NVR supports live view, storage, and playback of connected cameras with a resolution of up to 5 megapixels, simultaneous HDMI and VGA output at up to 1080p resolution, and synchronous playback of 2 channels at 1080p and 4 channels at 720p resolution.

Also included in the kit is Hikvision’s iVMS-4200 client software and iVMS-4500 mobile phone software that offer users the advantage of video management. 5 highperformance camera ranges are included in the HD IP WiFi Kit, all equipped with motion sensors and 3D DNR, Digital WDR and ICR for clear images even under challenging lighting conditions.

Distributor: Vivotek Distributors Contact: +886-2-8245-5282

Xtralis VESDA-E from Hills l VESDA-E’S VESDA Smoke+ technology boasts 15x the sensitivity of its predecessor.

VESDA Analytics further improve the effectiveness of very early warning by providing supplementary probabilistic information for an informed targeted response.

WireTrace provides targeted detection of particles from slowly overheating PVC insulated wires. Supplementary info can direct investigation to primary source (i.e. electrical wires and/or cables) resulting in a faster response for asset protection and business continuity.

Boosting coverage in high airflow environments by 40 per cent, VESDA-E offers a substantial CAPEX saving. System OPEX is reduced further by easier servicing and field-replaceable architecture. Extra functionality is afforded by the VESDA Stax, a range of hardware expansion modules added to VESDA-E during or beyond installation. Along with its major developments VESDA-E ASD system is backwardscompatible with the existing VESDA range.

Direct Alarm Supplies Contact: +61 2 9897 7722

Distributor: Central Security Distribution Contact: Contact: 1300 319 499

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re g u lars help desk

helpdesk

Our panel of experts answers your questions.

circuit, or to any circuit that’s energized 24 hours a day.

Connection to a lighting circuit is preferable - it’ll demand the least work and the least expense. If an alarm is being wired into a lighting circuit, with wiring passing from a light, through the smoke sensor, then on to another light, you can use twin-earth cable along with single 3-core TPS for the switch wire. Never use the green and yellow earthing conductor as a switch wire. Finally, stay away from mains if you’re not qualified.

Q: What’s best practise for grounding alarm panels?

Q: Would you recommend wired smoke alarms over unwired so as to cut out the issue with battery failure? How many sensors would cover a typical house?

A: What is a typical house these days? Even a modest 3-bedroom home should have at least 3 smokies – most importantly there should be one for every sleeping area.

Whether these are wired or wireless is more challenging. BCA regulations demand all new homes in Australia be fitted with one hardwired smoke sensor on each floor.

Hardwiring of smoke detectors is a thorny issue for most alarm installers.

While it’s easy enough to install a wireless sensor communicating with a receiver, getting a hardwired sensor into a ceiling is harder. You need to be a licensed electrician for a start.

Importantly, there’s no need to install wired smoke sensors in compliance with requirements for fire and smoke control equipment - that’s connected to the supply side of the general installation main switches. Instead, smoke sensors can be supplied with a dedicated circuit originating at the switchboard, connected to a lighting

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A: Be sure to keep grounding wires short and straight as possible when installing alarm panels - no twists or kinks in the grounding wire. Get your digital multimeter out and check panel ground. If it differs to other grounds in the building by more than 2 ohms then you’ve not found true ground and you’ll need to try again. And read the manufacturer’s instructions carefully and talk to the experts before trying anything out of the ordinary. Every panel will have a separate grounding terminal and you should be very sure of what you’re doing before you start connecting ground wires to unrelated terminals.

Q: During a process of trouble shooting I took a lot of measurements for EMI across a large alarm and access control system and back in the office they don’t really make sense when compared with threshold values I ought to have seen.

Could I have introduced errors through the testing process?

A: Avoiding errors caused by misuse of test equipment is a major challenge. It’s very easy for any tech, no matter how experienced, to test on a wrong setting, or fail to allow for transducer factor. First you need to make sure the test equipment has a dynamic range capable of measuring the values you’d expect to find on the tested circuit. Other things you must look out for are selecting the wrong bandwidth, using a scan-rate that’s too fast, using the wrong detection tool, and having EMI and ambient signals add up in the resolution bandwidth.

It’s also a problem if broadband EMI carries a narrowband EMI signal, the result being that you’ll overestimate amplitude.

One of the hardest things for any technician is to guarantee during an EMI test is ensuring results don’t include global errors caused by miscalculations and mistakes in technique. For instance, if you’re measuring EMI, you need to make sure ambient noise (equipment under test turned off) is 5-6dB lower than the EMI presence being

Q: If I have to run RG-59 with power, what can I do to avoid too many issues with interference?

One of the hardest things for any technician is to guarantee during an EMI test is ensuring results don’t include global errors caused by miscalculations and mistakes in technique. tested for. Another issue is making sure transducer factor has been calculated when you start drawing your conclusions. It’s not just an antenna or zone loop that’s going to impact on transducer budget. What about your current probe? What about test connections? Additional sensors running on the loop? Finally, a messy connection can make your measured EMI results irrelevant.

Q: Are all PIRs the same or do the better and more expensive ones really offer superior performance? What sorts of features offer end users and installers the best results?

A: Quality sensors are superior, especially in challenging installations. If you’re looking to protect a space that is not perfect for PIR detection every day of the year, features to look for include sensors with dual edge or quad sensing zones and an array that incorporates look-down zones, as well as more than one sensing range and the greatest possible number of discrete zones.

Look for surge and low voltage protection, as well as RFI suppression, pyro electric sensing elements and adjustments that let you alter the range or mask zones.

Walk-test is a valuable feature as are LEDsupported latching and a plug-in test meter.

Other features to look for include fastchange sensor head, anti-masking (a lowpower active infrared transceiver), tantallum

capacitor-based RFI and EMI protection, a high signal-to-noise ratio, trouble log capability, auto self-test capability and a temperature range of -10C to +50C. Mirror optics are better than Fresnel lenses – more discerning so the sensor can be more highly tuned without being prone to false alarms.

Better PIRs will have silent alarm relay, multi-facted reflectors, low voltage signal and some enhanced processing or design characteristics that allow sensitivity to be linked to rate and rise of threshold, duration of zone disturbance and intruder presence in both elements. They’ll also have a tamper contact, site-adjustable sensitivity, first-to-alarm memory and temperature compensation. We also like video verification.

A: If you’re forced to run coax with mains wiring, bear in mind that the amount of interference induced into your coax is going to depend on how long the cables remain in each other’s company. If the contact is maintained for only 20 or 30 metres, you may get away with a shared tray. Even if there’s a really strong mains signal running in the tray it can take a shared run up to 50 metres to distort a video signal significantly.

A trick in a shared environment is to pull the mains cable to one side of the bottom of the cable tray and to use cable ties to tie your coax to the upper lip of the other side.

It’s not much but it helps. To get this right you’d need access to the tray along most its length. Keep a monitor handy when working around mains power and regularly check the health of the video signal. Look out for wide horizontal bars either at rest or moving up or down the screen. Mains signals induce frequency into coax runs at no more than 1 hertz - that’s why the induced signal will appear relatively stable on the monitor.

Q: We’ve had an analogue CCTV system at a factory that’s been working fine for years. But just lately we’re experiencing picture roll needed periodic V-adjustment – it’s happening on 3 cameras, all installed in the same area. Could there be some interference causing it?

A: Sounds like a phase issue. If you install 24V AC cameras and carefully adjust the V-phase to tune out picture roll only to find later on there’s a demand for continual V-adjustment, be aware the problems may be due to changes in the electrical phases delivering power to the cameras. What may have happened is that an electrician or company tech changed breakers across phase legs.

What is likely to happen in such an event is that if some of the low voltage transformers in your surveillance system is on such a circuit, you’ll get picture roll from cameras connected to that circuit. The solution is to mark circuit breakers to ensure other technicians are aware of their significance to your system. zzz

se&n 81

events

july 2014 – october 2014 May 2014 Issue 354

THE BIG PICTURE l Garmin’s magic integration l Thermal is so hot right now l DSC releases PowerSeries NEO l Axxon Next from AxxonSoft l ISC West: Expo snapshot l Freedom Surveillance VMS l Don’t fear the Megapixel l HikVision Super Embedded NVR l Security 2014 pre-show report l Exploring QSS’ service centre

Secutech Thailand Date: 3 – 5 July, 2014 Venue: Bangkok / Thailand Contact: 886 2 2659 9080 Ext. 665 Secutech Thailand is a dynamic trading platform for security, fire and safety that helps spearhead security businesses into Pan Asia.

Technology includes CCTV, access control, biometrics, RFID, smart cards, gate/fence, intrusion alarms, intercoms and networking solutions.

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29/04/14 4:11 PM

Security in Government Conference 2014 Date: September, 1-3 Venue: National Convention Centre, Canberra Contact: 61 2 6141 2987 The SIG Conference targets senior executives responsible for managing security in agencies; officers from all levels of government who contribute to the development of security capability and response; security practitioners from the public and private sectors who contribute to the provision of services to government and critical infrastructure providers

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Security Essen Date: 23 - 26, September2014 Venue: Messe Essen Fair Site, Germany Contact: +49-201-72440 Security Essen is the world's most important trade fair for security and fire prevention. The world market for security is booming – it is presenting itself with all its facets in Essen. From fire prevention and cyber security and CCTV to the protection of outdoor areas: experts, decision-makers and buyers from this industry will be meeting in Essen.

Security China

= DAILY, WEEKLY, MONTHLY.

Date: 28 - 31 October, 2014 Venue: New China International Exhibition Center, China Contact: Tel: 86 010-51920615 Fax: 86 010-51920049 Security China in Beijing is located in the biggest security distribution and procurement center in China and provides a major platform for exhibitors to meet government level buyers and senior management.

The annual SIG Conference and Exhibition, hosted by the Attorney-General’s Department, is the largest gathering of government and private sector protective security practitioners in one conference.

The theme for the SIG 2014 Conference program is Mitigating the trusted insider threat. The conference program will focus on: •

understanding and identifying the risk from trusted insiders; and

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xamining current and emerging e policies, plans and business frameworks available to mitigate the risk.

Senator the Hon George Brandis QC, Attorney-General, will give the opening address at SIG 2014.

REGISTER NOW at www.ag.gov.au/sig For all other queries contact SIG2014@conlog.com.au

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