Year: 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.”