Month: May 2020

Hikvision, an IoT solution provider with video as its core competency, has announced a new temperature screening integration with Milestone XProtect® versions 2020R1. The plugin-based integration enables the XProtect Smart Client to display skin-surface temperatures in the live feed and during playback, and to receive elevated temperature alarms in the Smart Client Alarm tab. With the new desktop notification feature in the 2020R1 release, operators get instant notification of and can respond to any elevated temperatures detected. The new series of Hikvision AI-powered thermal cameras designed for temperature detection – including the DS-2TD2617B, DS-2TD1217B, DS-2TD2636B, and DS-2TD2637B models – are fully supported in Milestone’s XProtect via the Hikvision generic driver released in the latest Milestone device driver pack. “We are excited that we are able to merge together the latest AI-powered camera technology from Hikvision with the powerful and multi-functional VMS software from Milestone. This enables both existing and new installations to effectively support the detection of elevated skin temperatures so as to achieve rapid preliminary screening in public areas with high efficiency in a multitude of scenarios,” said Jens Berthelsen, Global Partner Alliance Manager at Hikvision. With this integration, operators can: Display accurate temperature measurement within ±0.5°C in the Smart Client (±0.3°C using black body calibration). Trigger alarms based on user-defined temperature thresholds. Show alarms in the Smart Client Alarm View (further attentive viewing options are available via the Smart Client & XProtect Matrix configurations) The plugin and configuration guides are available for download on the Hikvision Technology Partner Portal [https://tpp.hikvision.com/tpp/Solution]. The integration is free to download and install.    

Videonetics launched video analytics based pandemic management suite called ‘SAJAG’ powered by its AI & DL framework, which commits to empower COVID-19 warriors and crusaders by delivering actionable intelligence with in-depth insights to combat spread of the novel coronavirus. Videonetics SAJAG has been trained with real-time video data to address real-world challenges pertaining to COVID-19 such as social distancing, queue and crowd management, masks & PPE detection, identifying vehicles of interest to name a few. The video analytics based Pandemic Management Suite has been efficiently scaled up to act as a true decision support system to not only reduce incidents of infectious disease in current situation, but also ensuring compliance with guidelines post the lockdown. Expressing on the launch, Dr Tinku Acharya, Fellow IEEE, Founder & MD, Videonetics said, “I am proud that we are the world’s first company to unveil AI & DL powered pandemic management suite to vanquish and fight against COVID-19. Built for tough environmental conditions, SAJAG has multi-faceted applications which will certainly equip on-ground team as well as stakeholders at command control center to improve response management and help in taking precautionary measures in saving lives of citizens as well as their own lives.” SAJAG – The video analytics based pandemic management suite comprises: Social distancing management: Videonetics ‘social distancing management’ technology automatically calculates the distance between two neighbouring persons in real time as well as average distance between them within the field of view (FoV). If two or more people violate predefined social distancing norm, authorities will get an alert of the incident. It is also seamlessly integrated with a statistical analysis tool to evaluate and monitor social-distancing compliance within the FoV during certain interval and use the data to aid decision making of the authority. Queue and crowd management: Videonetics queue and crowd management is now enhanced with social distancing norms. The places like airports, shopping malls and railway stations etc., are the areas wherein queue & crowd management can help providing actionable intelligence in such critical situations. Masks & PPE detection: It identifies human faces in real time who are not wearing masks. The system is intelligent enough to classify types of face covers such as mask or any other objects such as cloth, scarf, and so on. In addition, it also detects health workers with or without ‘personal protective equipment’ at health care facilities like hospitals and nursing homes. Detection of vehicles of interest: The software provides unique feature of detecting vehicles of interest such as unauthorised vehicles plying on the road without due permissions. Integration of body temperature detection camera: A number of camera manufacturers proposed to bring ‘fever detection’ cameras to fight coronavirus. Videonetics is offering its API to integrate such cameras with its Intelligent VMS. Fusion of such thermal camera with visual imagery can become another tool to identify people in the crowd with symptoms of possible corona infection and track these people within the crowd. Videonetics Intelligent video analytics can play a vital role in this application, particularly in airports, railway stations, bus stations, supermarkets, malls and other crowded places to fight the coronavirus and manage pandemic.  

Today, the social media have become the biggest platforms that host a diverse range of social interactions. From cyber bullying to fake news, social media platforms have seen a rampant rise in privative news or events. In order to keep such behaviours at bay, Social Media Matters partners with Spectrum Labs to launch a behaviour identification model that can detect caste discrimination within online communities. They contain a spectrum of information ranging from personal to mundane to sharing political opinions and building communities. The online communities have hence become a fertile ground for groups based on ethnicity or castes. The behaviour identification model comes into play to detect the same. The model available through Spectrum’s behaviour identification solution is designed to be flexible and fit into any workflow. Spectrum’s deployment options include a SaaS offering or an on-premise binary. The model is currently trained to detect caste discrimination within all forms of text data including status updates, messages, tweets, comments etc. Both deployments have a streaming API or batch mode for data processing. Spectrum’s behaviour models are all designed to be constantly updated over time. They work with customers to iterate on the baseline model on a regular cadence (typically monthly) to ensure that we are flagging the content that customers need. This process ensures that our results are customized for each customer so they can trust the results. Detecting caste discrimination Real-time: Recognize and respond to toxicity immediately before it evolves into an even bigger problem. Multi-languages: Spectrum Labs has a patent-pending approach to international language that allows us to scale across regions. Secure deployment: Offering the power to understand the community while maintaining the data privacy requirements. The model results are surfaced for customers in a way that they can plug into existing moderation efforts. This includes webhooks into internal systems for customers to manage users (warn, suspend, ban, etc.), manage content (remove a post, limit who can see it, etc.), send alerts, send for moderator review, and even pipe into analytics platforms to see trends over time. Speaking on the launch, Amitabh Kumar, Founder of Social Media Matters quoted, “Caste Discrimination is one of the oldest forms of evils still existing in Indian society. Sadly it is also reflected in the cyber spaces, we together with Spectrum has created an Artificial Intelligence tool that will help social media platforms, like Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, detect and remove caste based abuse from their platforms. It will decrease the time taken for detection, also decrease the constant stress human moderators have to go through constantly dealing with abuse. Initially, the model is trained to work with several languages English, Hindi, and Hindi-English mix and we’ll continue to upgrade it further.” Spectrum also offers a set of moderator tools through a UI called Guardian. This UI includes 4 main features: Moderation Queue, Automation Builder, Retraining, and Analytics. Results can either be piped into this Spectrum offering or plugged into existing moderation efforts. Speaking on the collaboration Justin Davis, CEO at Spectrum Labs quoted, “The hardest part of building an AI model that can effectively detect caste discrimination online is really defining and understanding not only what caste discrimination is, but also what it is not. Ami and his brilliant team at Social Media Matters have dedicated themselves to raising awareness about injustice and discrimination in many forms, so we could not have asked for better partners: their insights and expertise helped us navigate the nuances, history, and politics of caste discrimination, to build a tool that can combat it effectively and inclusively. We were humbled and honored to work with them.”  

NETGEAR, the leading provider of networking products that power businesses in both large and small sector announced the inclusion of free one-year Insight subscription with the registration of selected list of Insight managed switches, wireless access point and routers. The offer applies to all devices added on or after April 27, 2020, for both new and existing Insight accounts. NETGEAR Insight is an industry-first remote network and device management solution that provides easy plug-and-play set-up and management using its cloud portal or the intuitive Insight mobile app. The Insight cloud-based application, designed for remote network management is especially well suited for the current environment that both IT teams and managed service providers are now required to address. Providing a broad variety of configurations and network scenarios, the Insight application supports everything from the most basic of networks, through to multi-tenancy and multi-roles. Speaking at the occasion Marthesh Nagendra, Country Manager India, ME & SAARC, NETGEAR commented, “At NETGEAR, our key focus is to meet the demands of our customers and provide businesses a platform where they can manage numerous customers remotely which makes it possible for the SMEs to seamlessly access all the information to ensure the business is running smoothly. Through NETGEAR’s latest offering, we aim to provide our customers to experience the best of the Insight solution and simplifying their network management considerably.” Now the users can easily experience Insight remote network management for a full year without a subscription fee. With the purchase of any qualifying Insight managed switch, router or wireless access point listed on NETGEAR.com, simply following the steps described to enable one-year of free remote management for new Insight device is sufficient. “This is a natural step to easier and faster deployment for our customers. Including one year of the Insight remote management subscription with some NETGEAR Insight devices will allow our customers to experience the benefits of the solution instantly. We are confident that our customers will find the Insight remote management solution to be a valuable asset to their business by simplifying their network management considerably. Plus, the power of remote network visibility and control cannot be overstated in these times.” said ShaheenKazi, Director of Product Line Management for Insight.  

Fortinet® recently announced increased global growth of its network security experts (NSE) institute comprised of the NSE certification program, Fortinet Network Security Academy (FNSA) and the Fortinet veterans (FortiVet) program. With significant growth in its training and education programs, Fortinet is further advancing its efforts to close the cybersecurity skills gap and address the talent shortage. Cyber skills gap is a leading risk According to the 2019 ISC2 cyber security workforce study, around 2.8 million professionals currently work in cybersecurity around the globe, but an additional 4 million trained workers would be needed to close the skills gap and properly defend organizations. Organizations need a skilled workforce to protect against threats that have increased in sophistication and volume across an expanding attack surface. A Forbes Insights survey commissioned by Fortinet uncovered that CISOs are looking for more talent and need better training for employees. Recognizing this industry-wide obstacle, Fortinet is tackling the cybersecurity skills gap issue through its global NSE institute programs. Fortinet narrows the skills gap globally Fortinet has a history of being a learning organization through its NSE Institute programs and initiatives focused on addressing the skills gap. Recent highlights from continued momentum across these initiatives include: Continued collaboration with World Economic Forum: As a founding partner of WEF’s Centre for Cybersecurity, Fortinet has been engaging in discussions at WEF events in the past year and offering unique and valuable insights to the global cybersecurity conversation. Fortinet’s Founder, Chairman and CEO Ken Xie offered strategic insights as a panelist for the Building Resilient Health Systems session at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland. Uptick in awarded NSE certifications: Fortinet has issued more than 270,000 NSE certifications to date, of which about 300 are for the distinguished NSE level 8. With a growth of 45 percent in NSE certifications in 2019, Fortinet is sharpening and up-skilling professionals’ knowledge of the cybersecurity landscape and Fortinet’s products. The fast track program – made up of comprehensive workshops that cover significant topics in cybersecurity – also grew significantly with more than 300 percent growth in participants in 2019. To date, there have been more than 30,000 customers and partners who have been through the fast track program. Globally expanding Fortinet Network Security Academy (FNSA): Through FNSA, academic institutions and non-profits receive access to Fortinet’s NSE certification curricula to prepare students and participants for a career in cybersecurity. Fortinet has more than 200 academies in more than 60 different countries. New FNSAs to join the program in 2019 include: Al Hussein Technical University in Jordan, Business and Technical Training College in Canada, ICT School of C.P in Angola, InGenio Learning in Peru, University of Nuevo Leon in Mexico, Portmore Community College in Jamaica, Valoris in West and Central Africa, and FDETEC in Ecuador, among others. Helping veterans enter the cybersecurity workforce through training: As part of the FNSA and FortiVet program, Fortinet collaborates with non-profit organizations focused on helping veterans and their spouses enter the workforce.Non-profits joining FNSA are able to provide their constituents with access to Fortinet’s NSE certifications and training, while FortiVet helps veterans transfer relevant experiences to a career in cybersecurity. Veterans focused non-profits that became academies in 2019 include: Corporate America Supports You (CASY), Train Our Troops, VetCTAP, Coding for Veterans in Canada, and TechVets in the United Kingdom. Rajesh Maurya, Regional Vice President, India & SAARC at Fortinet said, “Fortinet prides itself on being both a leading technology and learning organization. From the beginning, continuous learning and innovation has been part of our DNA. Through Fortinet’s Network Security Expert (NSE) Institute programs, we are dedicated to addressing the cybersecurity skills shortage which is one of the biggest challenges facing organizations and our customers today.”  

Videonetics has been honored with the CSI IT Excellence Award 2020, for its AI & DL DeeperLook™ platform. The award was presented at 53rd Annual Convention of Computer Society of India (CSI) at Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology, Bhubaneshwar. Initiated by CSI, this award recognizes the achieved exceptional results through the organization’s outstanding implementation of technology and its high levels of professionalism in IT. CSI is the largest association of information technology professionals in India, with over 90,000 members and the CSI society has 70 chapters all over India. Videonetics AI & DL DeeperLook™ enabled Intelligent VMS and video analytics along with intelligent traffic management system (ITMS) was adjudged as winner after surpassing rigorous evaluations by panel of IT professionals, scientists, academicians, project managers, CIO’s and CTO’s. The state-of-the-art DeeperLook™ is a distributed video and data analytics platform which is deployable at cloud as well as in edge devices. It not only improves the performances of the conventional analytics, but also paves the way for many new security and surveillance applications. Commenting on the achievement, Dr. Tinku Acharya Fellow IEEE, Founder & MD, Videonetics said, “We are thankful to CSI for acknowledging our innovation. Trained with humongous amount of video data, AI & DL DeeperLook™ enabled solutions are successfully deployed across a range of verticals to efficiently address their security & safety challenges and improve business efficiency along with productivity”. He further added, “We will continue to invest in R&D to generate Indian intellectual properties with a mission to create local solutions for local problems.” The three-day 53rd Annual Convention attracted a congregation of more than thousand delegates, decision makers, stalwarts from government, healthcare, hospitality, education and many more.  

Parking can be a major chore for shoppers and commuters alike. Searching for a space in a parking lot can waste valuable time, which is frustrating at the start of the working day for commuters, and a disruption to the shopping experience for retail customers. What’s more, slow paper ticketing systems can cause congestion as drivers queue to enter and leave. Intelligent parking guidance and smart entrance/exit control can ensure efficient, free-flowing parking at all times, while improving the user experience. Parking lots that are close to town centers or attached to popular retail and entertainment facilities can be especially problematic. During rush hour or times of high customer flow, congestion can build at entrances and exits, resulting in lengthy queues. Given the extent of customer frustrations – and the rising costs of land on which parking lots are situated – organizations must make the most efficient use of the space available. In fact, those who succeed in doing this can potentially turn parking into a competitive advantage. Smart parking solutions State-of-the-art smart parking solutions can improve the management, security and profitability of parking lots, thanks to an array of new and intelligent features. Simpler entrance and exit management Smart parking solutions can integrate the latest barrier technology with industry-standard automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras, to make entering and leaving parking lots much more efficient. By rapidly identifying vehicles and sending this data to the barriers, intelligent cameras can speed up vehicle flow and can minimize queues, improving the productivity of the whole parking site. When it comes to payment for parking, organizations can also integrate an ANPR system with a third-party ticketing system, to make the customer experience even smoother. Intelligent parking guidance Parking guidance cameras can automatically monitor the availability of spaces. One camera can have visibility of multiple spaces, and intelligently detect if there is a vehicle in each one. This information is sent to a guidance terminal, which then calculates how many spaces are occupied or available, and informs customers via parking guidance screens installed at critical junctions of the parking lot. In addition to this, a dynamic lighting indicator system can be incorporated to guide driver straight to available spaces, helping to ensure they can always park their cars quickly. ‘Find my car’ A holistic smart parking solution can also improve driver safety and offer them peace of mind, by helping them to locate their cars efficiently when they return to the parking lot. Using touch-screen Query Kiosks located at the entrances, drivers can simply enter their license plate details to locate their vehicle on a schematic floor map. The system can also give them the shortest and quickest route to it. Find out more The Hikvision smart parking solution gives parking operators everything they need to improve their daily operations, from entrance & exit management, to parking guidance and customer vehicle location. It can optimize the use of parking lots, boost the flow of vehicles, and enhance driver satisfaction – which means parking is always efficient and cost-effective.  

Today, the ease of getting from point A to point B, the effective movement of goods and services, and the flexibility and integration of various modes of transportation are the key aspects of mobility. Smart mobility has been a key theme in the transportation industry for a while. The idea is to keep traffic flowing and help people to get where they need to be, in a smarter way. To this end, industry players are now innovating and introducing advanced technologies and solutions. Examples include intelligent traffic management systems, free-flow tolls, autonomous driving, smart location solutions and more. At the same time, traffic congestion, aging infrastructure, rapid urbanization, and increasing sustainability demands are also intensifying the need for smart mobility solutions. One way to overcome these obstacles is to use intelligent video surveillance technology for improved traffic management, making the roads safer and more efficient for every user, while also reducing emissions. Perceptive intersections Relying on intelligent video analytics, traffic video cameras identify traffic build ups at intersections by counting numbers of vehicles crossing an intersection and detecting their speed, while also counting the number of vehicles queueing in real-time. Aggregated data informs the system when to switch traffic lights to red or green. Intelligent optimization for traffic signals ensures more effective traffic flow. Benefits: Improved safety on roadways, intersection reconstruction can be avoided, drivers can be advised about the speed of their route, forecasted by traffic signals, reduced wait times and stress for commuters, reduction of harmful emissions, and positive impact on public satisfaction. Road safety Traffic incidents can be disastrous, not merely for causing congestion on roads but sometimes far worse – resulting in injuries and even fatalities. These incidents have many causes, not the least of which is drivers’ willfully violating traffic laws. Video technology can aid in detecting all kinds of events – for example – illegalparking, jumping a red light, wrong-way driving, over-speeding, and making illegal U-turns can all be detected by smart camera technology. By using deep learning technology, cameras can recognize these events and traffic authorities can be immediately notified to enable necessary actions even before traffic incidents occur. Scenarios include stopping a driver who is occupying an emergency lane, or notifying a driver who parked their car illegally. Furthermore, ticketing systems can be incorporated to further regulate driving behaviors. Benefits:Incident prevention, better driver performance, increased safety on the roads and streets etc. Public information Sharing information is the key to keeping city drivers and travelers informed. Intelligent communication about warnings and updates helps everyone save time, avoid frustration, and simplify everyday mobility. This can be done via traffic guidance screens displayed at highly visible locations such as congested areas, transportation hubs, shopping malls, and city plazas – or even at your fingertips on your favorite mobile apps. Traffic video cameras generate real-time data of traffic flow and incidents, sending it to a central platform to further fuse with data from third-party systems such as radar and GPS systems. They also disseminate traffic information including traffic status, warning and advisory notices, as well as parking status. Benefits:Improved public awareness of traffic information, improved travel convenience, overall enhancement of mobility in the city, and more. The Hikvision practice Hikvision has accumulated sophisticated experience in traffic management both at home and abroad. Product lines offer versatile solutions to resolve multitudes of problems in urban traffic management, traffic incident management, highway management, and more. Going deeper, it’s essential to note that efficient signal control management is dependent on the quality of traffic data, system algorithms, and the hardware devices in use; it is also closely related to the mobile environment, such as road conditions, historical traffic conditions, and urban infrastructure. Because of this, no single solution solves traffic congestion everywhere. Hikvision believes that only by working closely with city authorities, public safety organizations, consultants, even academia and other relevant stakeholders, can applications and operational processes be developedto achieve the best possible outcomes. The possibilities for traffic video data are endless, especially now that it can employ artificial intelligence for advanced functionality. Harnessing its power will make all the difference, but the ultimate goal remains the same: safe and smooth traffic, smart mobility, and improved quality of human life.