Year: 2020

Healthcare facilities like hospitals, special healthcare centers and clinics have myriad of specialized protection requirements. What’s more, they require security, safety and hygienic environment for the patients, doctors, nurses and paramedic staff. Hospital and healthcare authorities should consider a smart healthcare solution to address various security, safety and hygiene challenges effectively. Special Requirements Hospitals and health care facilities are designed to be places of healing, recovery and tranquillity. However, with high volumes of people constantly coming and going – visitors, volunteers, patients and others – maintaining smooth operations and responding quickly to emergency events are becoming more challenging. Furthermore, recording the activities of hospital personnel, securing limited access areas, and keeping parking lots operating efficiently require intelligent technology. Some of the most common requirements for a hospital solution might includeensuring around-the-clock safety for patients and staffs, quickly evaluating incidents for prompt event response, effectively managing access control and attendance for critical and restricted areas and centralizing operations for all the various systems. Hikvision Solution Hikvision’s solution for healthcare facilities helps answer to all of these concerns and more, with its advanced technology, powerful cameras, and reliable recording devices. Everywhere from guard stations to intensive care units, Hikvision products powerfully assist and protect healthcare facilities and personnel, making both security and management for hospitals easier and more intelligent. Temperature Screening and Mask Wearing Alert In the ongoing pandemic crisis innovative solutions like temperature screening thermographic cameras, temperature measurement walk-through detector and MinMoeface recognition terminal with temperature screening and mask wearing alert are helpful to manage large number of hospital staff visitors, patients and doctors. A complete hospital solution requires the synergy of a number of systems – video security, panic alarm, and access control systems to name a few. Hikvision offers advanced and comprehensive solutions that fluidly integrate all the moving parts, making setup and daily operations much easier for your unique conditions.  The solutions include following activities and requirements, reception to patient calling, Internal calling system, doctor monitoring, paging in clinic, 2nd generation IP video intercom solution, IP VDP intercom clinic kit and analog video intercom solution. Hikvision Healthcare security solution covers nurse station to patient areas and other critical parts of the hospital. Control room:Powerful and unified security management Ensure quick response to alarms with advanced alarm management function. Easily manage access control systems including assigning permissions, managing user groups, and more. Enjoy an intuitive dashboard showing the status of devices. Set up automatic health inspections and receive notifications of errors. Parking lots:Efficient vehicle access management Reduce labor costs with automatic vehicle entry by ANPR camera. Effectively manage vehicle flow and entry / exit records. Get comprehensive monitoring for the entire parking lot with clear video both day and night. Entrance monitoring: Clear monitoring at all time Capture sharp imaging at entrances even in high contrast conditions with WDR cameras. Use people counting technology to record numbers of visitors for capacity control and optimized security. Lobbies and nurse stations: Quick response to sudden events Detect and respond quickly to events such as a patient falling with intelligent cameras. Efficiently display hospital floor map or health-related public announcement with digital signage. Clearly record all work and interaction at reception or nurse stations. Pharmacies: All-around protection with multiple systems Strictly control access with face recognition terminals to ensure only authorized persons can enter. Log all entry and exit records. Monitor the indoor temperature and send alarm notifications if a temperature anomaly is found. Doctor’s offices: Compact cameras for routine monitoring Record the daily work for doctors in case of any medical arbitration is required. Monitor offices during off-hours to ensure the safety of all information such as patients’ clinical records or other medical information. Patient areas: Thoughtful and efficient care Provide patients with a panic button to call for help upon emergency. Communicate easily with audio intercom (public broadcasting also available). Corridors: Effective monitoring for all areas Allow full view of the corridor without losing any detail with the specially-designed corridor monitoring mode (3:4 frame ratio). Utilize intelligent cameras to monitor sudden events, enabling quick responses. These solutions are available in two categories of healthcare facilities– hospitalsolutions and clinic solutions. Key Advantages The key advantages includeproperty and personnel safety for all patients and staff, intelligent functions to help improve service and operations, effective, accurate access control for key areas like pharmacies and more and efficient and reliable device integration and management Hikvision healthcare security solution design for Hospitals and Clinic brings convenience, security and safety to the entire ecosystem.  

VIVOTEK, the global leading IP surveillance provider, has deployed its IP surveillance cameras in the residential project ‘New Borovaya,’ constructed by A-100 Development, one of the largest developers of residential and commercial real estate in Belarus. This deployment has been carried out by long-standing distributor DataStream DEP, and has successfully put into action the high-quality products and brand value of VIVOTEK. On land with a total area of more than 100 hectares, a whole district is being actively developed in line with the most modern European trends of improved urban living environments. Based on the principle of ‘smart’ and ‘social,’ the new Borovaya project is one of the most innovative and upscale developments in Minsk, the capital of Belarus. In order to ensure public safety and protect private property, A-100 Development pays special attention to the security of the huge residential complex. To meet the demanding requirements of the project, including high-quality imagery, reliable equipment from a global brand, excellent technical characteristics and optimal price, the distributor DataStream DEP had complete confidence in recommending VIVOTEK’s IP surveillance solutions. VIVOTEK’s IB8369A and IB8367A bullet-type network cameras were selected for video surveillance of streets, playgrounds and outdoor parking, while the FD8369A-V dome type cameras were chosen for the entrances of residential buildings. A single data transmission network has been built at the facility, which unites all cameras and provides easy-access to any camera. Commenced in 2014, development of the new Borovaya project will last for 10 years. In the first two quarters, solutions based on VIVOTEK IP surveillance cameras were implemented, the success of which has led developer A-100 Development to proudly place VIVOTEK solutions in its marketing materials and confidently declare the reliability of this brand during both operation and for further cooperation. VIVOTEK is honored to have this decade-long strategic partnership with A-100 Development and looks forward to providing its latest surveillance solutions again in the near future.  

Videonetics Intelligent VMS is now ONVIF Profile ‘T’ compliant. It supports video streaming features such as the use of H.264 and H.265 encoding formats, imaging settings, and alarm events such as motion and tampering detection. These encoding formats ensure high compression efficiency which results in less disk storage space and less bandwidth usage for streaming, reducing overall costs of system ownership. Moreover the new standard supports on-screen display, PTZ configuration, motion region configuration (analytics for a specific area of an image), digital inputs and relay outputs, and bidirectional audio for conformant devices. Videonetics Intelligent video management software is also compliant to ONVIF Profile S & G. On this achievement, Tuhin Bose, VP & CTO, Videonetics expressed, “Receiving ONVIF Profile T compliance is a benchmark for us. The new standard makes our Intelligent VMS future-ready to efficiently manage streaming of the most advanced HD and 4K cameras to keep the highest video surveillance standards. Videonetics is committed to continue adopting open standards for better interoperability and openness.” Videonetics Intelligent VMS is based on a unified, monolithic architectural framework integrated with intelligent video analytics applications. The underlying technology of the VMS is agnostic to any operating system (Windows, Linux, Unix, Mac OS etc.), database, browser interface etc., and follows the principle of true open architecture. Highly adaptable to customers’ existing workflow and diverse environments, the software is also extremely simple to use and investigation friendly. Hence, they do not need much training, and can interact with the system using a very intuitive interface with minimum number of clicks.  

Prama Hikvision recently conducted an exclusive Smart Technology Show in Mumbai to evangelize intelligent technologies and solutions with the demonstration of some of its latest as well as forthcoming innovations. Hikvision’s AI (artificial intelligence) applications driven by deep learning algorithms were demonstrated through various application scenarios related to face recognition, people tracking and perimeter security. Several emerging technologies (AI solutions) and advanced applications (traffic violations, VIP recognition, people counting, heat mapping and business intelligence) were showcased at the show highlighting Hikvision’s intelligent solutions and tech-leadership in the security industry. Ashish P. Dhakan, MD & CEO, Prama Hikvision India said, “Smart and intelligent trends are driving the Indian security industry into a new growth cycle, while promoting advanced security solutions through transformative technologies like AI, IoT, big data and video analytics. We are providing cutting edge technology solutions to our consumers to ensure a great end-user experience. Our ‘Make in India’ manufacturing facility is a remarkable milestone in our decade long journey and we are committed to expand our Make in India mission further by manifesting the maxim ‘Made in India, Made for India, Made by India.’” “Hikvision’s core technologies includes facial recognition, ANPR, false alarm reduction, color imaging 24/7, ultra low light imaging, 4K resolution, smooth streaming, thermal imaging, seamless image stitching, Power over Coax, Power over Ethernet, H.265 plus codec, direct streaming and alarm verification,” Mr. Dhakan added.   Intelligent security technologies Prama Hikvision is driving the future of surveillance in India with an intuitive integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into its cutting-edge products and solutions and setting new benchmarks in the security and surveillance industry. Prama Hikvision offers latest solutions in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, AI cloud, deep learning, which are leading the tech trends in the global scene and also redefining the Indian security market and creating new growth opportunities. The company also offers Machine Vision, Robotics and Factory Automation solutions to bolster the Industry 4.0 trends in the Indian manufacturing sector. The event also showcased the latest AI enabled cameras including DeepinView cameras and DeepinMind NVRs. These AI enabled solutions boast a bundle of intelligent features such as facial recognition, vehicle recognition, object detection, people counting, behaviour analysis, and much more. Smart security solutions The live demos of smart home (EZVIZ smart home products and solutions), video surveillance (DeepinView camera, DeepinMind NVR, Easy IP 4.0, ColorVu and AcuSense cameras), access control (face recognition terminals), perimeter security (security radar), and intrusion alarm (AXHub Hybrid) product categories were displayed during the show. In the special product category, walk-through metal detector, smart pole, interactive screen and transparent LED screen were displayed at the Prama Hikvision Smart Technology Show. ‘Make in India’ manufacturing facility visit The Smart Technology Show concluded with a tour of Prama Hikvision’s state-of-the-art ‘Make in India’ manufacturing facility in Vasai, near Mumbai. The facility is India’s first and largest integrated world-class security and surveillance products manufacturing facility – a milestone achieved by Prama Hikvisiion in the electronic security manufacturing sector. The facility was inaugurated in 2019 by Dr. V.K. Saraswat – Member, Niti Aayog, Former Director General of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), and Former Chief Scientific Advisor to the Indian Minister of Defence, and Dr Neeraj Sinha – Advisor, Science & Technology, Niti Aayog. The mammoth manufacturing facility, built at an investment commitment of INR500 crore, has a production capacity of 1.5 million cameras per month, and has been manufacturing a record number of products since its launch. The company is focused on building this facility and has plans underway to cater to the fast growing domestic demand in a phased manner. ‘Make in India’ manufacturing facility factsheet Employing over 2000+ skilled and semi-skilled employees, the brown-field facility is spread over 900,000 sq.ft., and comprises end-to-end production capabilities, which also supports an initial localization target of 50% with gradually transitioning to 100% localization. The facility is certified with ISO 9001:2015 (Quality Management System), ISO 14001:2015 (Environmental Safety Systems), and ISO 45001:2018 (Occupational Health & Safety Management System). The Prama Hikvision’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facility has the capability to manufacture over 850 product models out of total 3000 products. Mr. Dhakan, said, “This integrated state-of-the-art manufacturing facility is an expression of our full commitment to the Government of India’s flagship ‘Make in India’ program. We remain committed as a long-term partner of the country and continue to pursue our vision of ‘Make in India for a Safer India’ with manifold commitments. We have so far invested INR500 Cr. in this new plant with further investment commitments in the pipeline to ramp up productions, local R&D, skilling and giving back to the communities. This new unit has an installed capacity to make 1.5 million cameras per month. It has multiple lines that does surface mount technology level manufacturing and enables us to make electronic chips and cameras locally instead of importing them. To upskill a significant part of the workers in this factory, we have developed in-house training programs comprising world-class modules thus bringing them into the mainstream socio-economic fold.” “Prama Hikvision has embarked on a transformative journey with ‘Make in India’ mission, we are committed to serve the nation with India specific products and solutions to fulfil the local and vertical specific requirements,” concluded Mr. Dhakan.  

Anil Puri, CMD APS Group A thought leader and an action catalyzer rolled into one – Anil Puri is a rare combination of a visionary, and one who has mastered the art of strategic and tactical thinking to the core. He has been using this combination to seed new ideas and to lead them to their implementations on ground. This has been a consistent feature of his career. Here he writes about the National Lockdown imposed in wake of the pandemic caused by the Corona Virus and the challenges faced by the Private Security Industry. The Pandemic The private security industry (PSI), comprising over 23000 private security agencies (PSAs) employing nearly 9 million security personnel, is the single largest employment generator in India. These security personnel protect the personal, corporate and industrial assets 24×7 across entire geographical contours of the nation. Probably that explains the reason why the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) included security services as part of the essential services. The wild speed of the spread of Corona Virus and the obvious absence of any vaccine for their treatment has added to the fear and gloom. Lessons learnt from the Chinese experience of combating the fatal impact of COVID 19 forced India for a pre-emptive surgical action to go for a 21 day national lockdown from 24 March to 14 April 2020 bringing the entire economic activity to a grinding halt. The implications of such a measure had never been foreseen in the corridors of corporate and industry as a whole; hence, it got trapped unprepared into an unchartered territory and is possibly still grappling to find ways to navigate through it. The challenges Every industry has its own diverse yet specific peculiarities and so is the case with PSI. The footprints of the security services of a PSA could be global and hence has to face challenges at multiple geographical dimensions. However, restricting to the Indian context, the challenges for the PSI at ground zero are primarily on two fronts – ‘operational’ and ‘financial.’ Operational challenges broadly can be summed up as under: Panic amongst migratory population and their sudden move to return to native homes. Motivation of the security personnel to brace the pain of the lockdown. Fear of loss of jobs and salary on the minds of the security personnel due to the shutdown at client sites. Absence of public transport and restrictions on movement creating problem of commuting. Lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) at sites for the security personnel at front office or at main gate. Ban on the use of biometrics and issues of identification/ verification of identity. Absence of frisking and baggage screening due to the norm of social distancing. Non availability of temperature scanning devices in markets and at sites. Closure of street eateries, dhabas and hotels near the sites forcing provisioning of food and shelter at work site. Principal employer (PE) demanding colossal reduction in manpower deployed at site or face the termination of contract. Also out of the reduced manpower PE demanding conversion of 8 hrs duration of duty into 12 hrs. All new deployment and renewal of contracts put on hold. Blanket ban by MHA on lay off of employees. Financial challenges transformed mainly into the following: Non-compliance of PE to honor the directions of the MHA to pay salary to security personnel as per contractual T&C. The applicability of the relief measures announced by the MoF as regards to PF and ESI only to the PSAs with upto 100 employees which form only 2% of the total PSAs on record. Thus passing on benefits to only a fraction of PSI and leaving the 98% high and dry. The economic package unveiled for the industries did gross injustice to the PSI by not treating it at par with other segments in terms of 90 day moratorium for payment of PF, ESI and GST. The levy of penalty of interest of 9% on those availing the moratorium of GST is more of a counterproductive step. It was an opportune time to have applied the Reverse Charge Mechanism or GST should have been made payable on amount collected from PE. Holding of salary by the PE in some cases. Additional cost of provisioning of food and shelter at site. Conclusion At this juncture I must highlight that the entire basket of the security services are not feasible to be delivered remotely at client premises as physical security does not work in virtual domain like the IT, ITEs – BPOs and KPOs – where employees can afford to work from home (WFH). While one fully appreciates the genuine humanitarian approach of the Govt at this juncture which is citizen welfare centric, and which aims at mitigation of problems of poor, population below poverty (BPL) and women folk to avoid pain caused by the lockdown. One also applauds the govt approach to keep the financial system on track. But in direct relation to PSI, the PEs who constitute the corporate must be made to honor the directions of the MHA to prevent cascading adverse effects to PSI due to job losses from lockdown. Notwithstanding the above, while we continue to brace the challenges of lockdown and race continues to find the vaccine, I strongly feel that there is a need for ‘think tanks’ to apply their mind on the following aspects of security: Security implications of the national lockdown. Meaning & implications of remote working for security. Crime trends during lockdown and its implications for security. Evolution of new technologies and processes like use of drones, AI, robotics, machine learning and IoT to deliver security services remotely. Evolution of SOPs of BCP to combat such crisis in addition to plans of NDMA & NDRF. Review – is security delivering during this crisis? Rethink – the role of women in security; and where do we go from here.  

The unprecedented COVID 19 pandemic compelled the national lockdown which froze the entire spectrum of economic activities and also brought the social activities to standstill. More than two months of lockdown have played a major role in containing the spread of virus and is probably inching closure to the exit gate wherein barring the regions located in the Red Zones, the wheel of economic and social activity is expected to stumble back to partial normalcy in Green Zones and Orange Zones. Though the lockdown has been extended upto 31 May 2020, it has dawned on the policy makers and think-tanks that extending the lockdown for indefinite period will be disastrous as India does not have the requisite resilience to sustain the resultant economic shock. The fear of community spread of virus still looms large, and hence there is a caution, and graded approach to open up the economy. After having ‘Saved the Lives’ the phase of ‘Saving the Livelihood’ begins. Unlike other segments of the industry, the PSI has been very vibrant and quick to adopt itself to the challenges and the evolving environment which is prominently visible.   THE IMPACT The sudden crippling jolt of the national lockdown did not give reaction time for due diligence, planning and structured response. Some of the major fall outs of the COVID 19 lockdown can best be summarized as under: Restrictions on commuting brought the pivotal role of national command and control centre to the forefront for running the operations by the security providers. Fear of the termination of service contracts left security providers with no choice but to continue running the business with downsized man power at client sites. Representations from PSI were well received by the MHA, Finance and Labor Ministry in the matters of GST, PF and ESI. Deep cuts in revenue had to be taken by service providers with a pinch of salt due to complete freeze in business activity in Multi-Cineplexes, malls, hotels, resorts, education institutes and e-commerce ventures. Despite raising the bar to the highest pedestal of law & justice – the Supreme Court – the salary of the security guards as per pre COVID 19 contractual terms will have to be paid by the security providers. PE has brazenly refused to honor the contractual terms by invoking Force Majeure. CAPEX plans had to be frozen and laid to rest till the situation becomes normal and suitable for review. OPEX is likely to take additional knock on account of kitting with mask, gloves, thermal sensors etc. Gross deficit in cash-flow has surfaced as stark reality since business of clients came to standstill. Cost cutting turned to be most preferred word in the corridors of PSI. The concept of Work From Home (WFH) has got validated. Business travels were brought to naught, but the business did not come to grinding halt. Virtual video conferencing through ZOOM or other Apps facilitated frequent interface within the industry, management and with the clients. Social distancing became the norm through NAMASTE.   FUTURE ROAD MAP The lockdown period of COVID 19 has laid out the turf for many new concepts and work culture. Some of them which are likely to become part of the Best Global Safe Practices are illustrated below: Containment of CORONA virus will be the main focus of the law enforcing authorities, and law and order will take a back seat. Use of mask and gloves will be accepted as part of the attire. Thermal sensors and AI enabled mass thermal screening of employees will become standard practice. AI enabled face recognition technology is likely to replace the traditional access card and thumb, iris or finger print dominated biometrics for attendance at work places. The social distancing will take the center-stage and will necessitate the re-organization of the work place. Work in shifts, whereby 30% of the work force to work at any one time may be an established practice. Work on alternate days from office and home could be an option to avoid issues of parking space. Work from home or make your workplace your home, will become preferred option to avoid expenditure on electricity, air conditioning of offices and house keeping. Business travels will be cut to minimum to reinforce cost cutting. Tight control is likely to be exercised over all office expenditure. Frequent business meetings through ZOOM, SKYPE, WhatsApp will replace physical gathering. Business reviews will be either done online or through virtual meetings on above Apps. As a cost cutting measure, promotion and incentives will be done away with for the current year. Cost cutting may also transform into job losses due to lay offs. Source of revenue generation will become future thrust lines. To prevent loss prevention AI enabled search of baggage & personnel may become necessity. Incidents of theft and pilferage will increase at manufacturing plants and ware houses. Drones will be widely used for monitoring the crowding and non- compliance of the social distancing.   CONCLUSION The PSI unlike the other segments of the industry like manufacturing is not confined to one plant or premises but has footprints over diversified businesses. It enjoys the status of essential services and still has the avenues open for running the current business and its expansion. Thus PSI does not suffer from the full-fledged closure of their business activity. Taking the one time knock of loss to bear the burden of salary may be life time benchmark of loyalty bonus for the noble cause towards the humans who served the organization. Lockdown has presented many opportunities for refining of work culture, redefining the health & hygiene norms, adoption of new innovative technologies and business ethics. These are unprecedented difficult times. Sailing in the turbulent waters is not easy but an experienced and seasoned sailor will adjust his sails to brace the tornado/ storm and will arrive at the shores of his destination. Let’s see the positivity in this gloom, golden opportunity in the despair to chart our future roadmap and be the differentiators. Let…