MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink India - securitylinkindia

Lack of Transparency over Vaccine Trials, Secretive Contracts and ‘Science by Press Release’ Risk Success of Global Covid-19 Response

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink IndiaJuly 2, 2021November 14, 202406 mins

A lack of transparency in COVID-19 vaccine trials and secrecy over deals between governments and drug companies risks the success of the global pandemic response, new research from Transparency International Global Health and the University of Toronto warns. For Whose Benefit? is an indepth study of the development and sale of the world’s top 20 COVID-19 vaccines, including those developed by AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer/ BioNTech. Through detailed analysis of clinical trial data and nearly 200 contracts for vaccine sales up to March 2021, the report reveals a pattern of poor transparency and a disturbing trend of governments censoring key details of their orders from drug companies. Clinical trial transparency is the only way to monitor the safety and efficacy of vaccines and is a key safeguard against selective reporting of results or manipulation of data. Despite this, analysis of the registered clinical trials for the top vaccines reveals that results from just 45 per cent of these trials had been announced. Of this figure, 41 per cent had provided only top-level results via a press release or press conference, with the full data not made available for media scrutiny or academic review. Clinical trial protocols had been published for just 12 per cent of trials. There were no publicly accessible protocols for 88 per cent of the registered trials in our analysis and, therefore, no way of knowing the conditions under which they were carried out. Jonathan Cushing, Head of Transparency International’s Global Health Programme, said, “These results make for worrying reading and carry important implications not just for the COVID-19 response, but also for future health emergencies. The lack of transparency of many clinical trials combined with the huge financial incentives for producing effective treatments leaves the door wide open for selective reporting of results or outright data manipulation. The lack of publicly accessible data creates space for misleading and potentially dangerous half-truths, disinformation, and conspiracy the ories, which in turn contribute to vaccine hesitancy.” The research also highlights poor transparency in contracts between drug companies and governments. Of the handful of contracts that had been published, almost all include significant redactions of key information such as total price paid, price per dose and delivery schedules. Analysis of 183 contracts for 12 different COVID-19 vaccines reveals that only 7 per cent of vaccine contracts between developers and governments were published through official channels. Just one contract (0.5 per cent) was published without redactions. Most feature entire pages of redactions which obscure information of critical public interest. There are large disparities in the price paid. For the Oxford/ AstraZeneca-developed vaccine, upper-middle income economies like South Africa are paying an average of 25 per cent more per dose than high-income economies like the European Union. “Equally as disturbing is the lack of transparency over the contracts between governments and vaccine developers,” Cushing said, “Hiding contracts from public view or publishing documents filled with redacted text means we don’t know what governments have signed up to. Given the huge amounts of public money invested in research and development around the world, citizens have the right to know everything about the vaccines their taxes helped to fund.” With recent polling showing that one third of the world’s population – 1.3 billion people – are unwilling to take a coronavirus vaccine, transparency is vital to build confidence. Transparency International Global Health calls on: National governments to adopt and enforce legislation requiring the pre-registration of all clinical trials and the publication of summary results within 12 months of their completion. All governments that have bought vaccines should also follow the lead of the United States and publish their contracts. Vaccine developers to publish their clinical trial protocols on a publicly accessible registry (if they have not done so already). Developers should also only use media to announce clinical trial results in tandem with data analysis published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, trial registry or as a pre-print article.

Feature

Prama Hikvision’s Smart Healthcare Solutions with AI Empowered End-to-End Thermal Screening Ensures Security

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink IndiaJuly 1, 2021November 14, 2024013 mins

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 paramedical staff. Hospital and healthcare authorities should consider a smart healthcare solution to address various security, safety and hygiene challenges effectively. Specific 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 include, ensuring 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. Smart healthcare solution Prama 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 face mask wearing alert thermographic cameras, temperature measurement walk-through detector and MinMoe face recognition terminal with temperature screening and face mask wearing alert, are helpful to manage large number of hospital staff, visitors, patients and doctors. Hikvision temperature screening solution, with multiple product types and wide range of applications, is designed for the detection of skin-surface temperatures so as to achieve rapid and safe preliminary screening in public areas with high efficiency in a multitude of scenarios. These include thermographic cameras, MinMoe terminals, metal detector door, DeepinMind NVRs and smart onboard terminals. 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 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. Prama Hikvision’s smart healthcare security solution covers nurse station to patient areas and other critical parts of the hospital. Command and control room I t offers powerful and unified security management to ensure quick response to alarms with advanced alarm management function. It effectively helps to manage access control systems including assigning permissions, managing user groups, and more. It also offers an intuitive dashboard showing the status of devices. It further helps to set up automatic health inspections and receive notifications of errors. Parking lots The parking solution helps efficient vehicle access management by reducing the labor costs with automatic vehicle entry by ANPR camera. It helps to manage the vehicle flow and entry/ exit records efficiently. It enables comprehensive monitoring for the entire parking lot with clear video both day and night. Entrance monitoring I t helps clear monitoring at all time by capturing sharp imaging at entrances even in high contrast conditions with WDR cameras. It uses people counting technology to record numbers of visitors for capacity control and optimized security. Lobbies and nurse stations I t helps enabling emergency response to sudden events. The solution helps detect and respond quickly to events such as a patient falling, with intelligent cameras. It helps efficiently display hospital floor map or health-related public announcement with digital signage, clearly record all works and interactions at reception or nurse stations. Pharmacies All-around protection with multiple systems helps keep pharmacies safe and secure. Strict and controlled access with face recognition terminals to ensure that only authorized persons can enter the premises. The solution keeps video log of all entry and exit records of the visitors. It monitors the indoor temperature and send alarm notifications if any temperature anomaly is found. Doctor’s offices The solution has compact video security cameras for routine monitoring. They record the daily work of doctors in case any medical arbitration is required. These cameras monitor offices during offhours to ensure the safety of all information such as patients’ clinical records or other medical information. Patient areas Thoughtful and efficient care is ensured by the CCTV monitoring of patient areas. The patients are provided a panic button to call for help in case of emergency. They can communicate easily with audio intercom (public broadcasting also available) Corridors Effective monitoring of all areas enhances healthcare security. It offers full view of the corridor without losing any detail with the specially-designed corridor monitoring mode (3:4 frame ratio). It helps utilize intelligent cameras to monitor sudden events, enabling quick responses. These solutions are available in two categories of healthcare facilities – hospital solutions and clinic solutions. Safety and hygiene through Prama Hikvision intercom (VDP) solution This solution can be used for doctor to patient as an intercom (VDP) solution. Further, it can be used for reception desk for patients. It can be used to effectively communicate between nurse, doctor and patient in the hospital. DS-KD9613 is FRS unit, which is having face+biometric+card access. Visitors either call to reception or patient room. After the visiting hours visitors can contact patients. It can help maintain social distance in hospitals and health centres. Doctors, nurses and other regular paramedical staff of the hospital can directly use facial recognition terminals for their touch free entry and attendance in the hospital. EZVIZ solutions for healthcare EZVIZ camera can be installed in the isolation ward of each patient using Wi-Fi, then to install EZVIZ app on the doctor/ hospital mobile/ laptop, and to add all cameras on the app with name of the cameras as patient name/ id. One can monitor patient remotely from anywhere whenever possible using mobile…

Case Study

The University of Arizona Speeds up COVID-19 Vaccine Roll-Out with Genetec AutoVu ALPR

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink IndiaJune 30, 2021November 14, 202406 mins

When the University of Arizona (UA) was chosen as a COVID-19 vaccine point of dispensing (PoD), they wanted to put in place a distribution process to get the vaccines out to as many people as possible as quickly and efficiently as possible. To do this, they turned to Genetec Inc. (Genetec), a leading technology provider of unified security, public safety, operations, and business intelligence solutions, and Route1 Inc., a leading data-centric systems integrator. “We had already heard about how ALPR (automatic license plate recognition) could be used for tolls and monitoring traffic flow, and we were eager to see if the ALPR cameras could help us automatically track vehicles entering and exiting our PoD,” said Jim Sayre, Director of Operations – Parking and Transportation Services at the University of Arizona. To build a solution that would not only offer valuable insights about their PoD operations but would also be affordable and easy to set up, UA chose to implement the Genetec AutoVu™ Managed Services (AMS) solution with four ALPR cameras installed throughout the PoD. This was paired up with the Travel Times module within Genetec Security Center for added insight and functionality. Having mounted the poles and set up the cameras beforehand, the actual set up was completed in under two hours on opening day. Because the entire Genetec solution is hosted in the cloud, the university is able to use the software for as long as the PoD remains open without draining budgets. Using AutoVu, the UA operations team can see exactly how long it’s taking vehicles to get through the PoD and for people to get vaccinated, and then identify what they can do to get them through faster. All ALPR data is sent back to Security Center, where the Travel Times module automatically analyses data and delivers insights the UA team can act on. This helps them immediately identify if there are random delays or potential issues that need to be further investigated. As a healthcare-related operation, UA made sure the Genetec solution complies with all Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requirements. According to Sayre, “The cameras don’t know who the driver is, or the people in the vehicle; and we’ve made it clear that we’re not running this against a motor vehicle database or anything like that, so we’re ensuring privacy.” Thanks to the Genetec solution, the UA team discovered early on that various team leaders had different processes for appointment checkins. When UA standardized those processes, they could consistently get vehicles through the PoD faster and maximize the number of vaccinations. The team also noticed that on certain days of the week, cars were taking longer to get through certain points in the PoD. After an initial inquiry, they realized those days often had mostly new volunteers who were still learning the ropes. The UA team was then able to adapt the volunteer schedule to ensure experienced personnel were always onsite to assist newbies and keep the throughput of vehicles high. “This AutoVu™ and Travel Times module within Security Center built by Genetec and Route1 have helped us make the vaccination process more efficient and was so easy to deploy. We’ve been able to increase the number of vehicles through the PoD in the same amount of time, and consequently, we’ve given out more vaccinations. And that’s what this is all about – helping our community get vaccinated against COVID-19,” concluded Sayre. “We never cease to be impressed by our customers’ ingenuity, resilience, and resourcefulness,” said Stephan Kaiser, AutoVu™ General Manager at Genetec, Inc., “The University of Arizona is another shining example of the ways in which our customers are using their security systems as strategic tools to fight against the pandemic, and go beyond traditional applications to deliver more value.”

Case Study

Malta Police Deploys Motorola Solutions’ Body-Worn Cameras to all Frontline Officers

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink IndiaJune 29, 2021November 14, 202403 mins

Malta Police Force has recently deployed Motorola Solutions’ VB400 body-worn cameras to all frontline officers across the Republic of Malta. The roll out is part of the Malta Police Force’s transformation strategy which aims to modernize the police force while increasing trust and transparency with the community. The five-year service contract for the comprehensive video solution includes evidence management software to process captured video footage securely and the new Holster Aware feature which allows the camera to automatically start recording if a weapon is unholstered. “Every day, these body-worn cameras will capture evidence, deliver transparency and increase the efficiency of our workflows,” said Malta Police Commissioner Angelo Gafà, “In high-stress situations – which our officers often face – this technology will capture critical footage of what’s happening on the scene without impacting our officers’ focus or attention.” Integrated with the VB400 cameras, the new bluetooth-activated Holster Aware sensor detects if an officer removes their weapon from its holster and automatically activates the officer’s body-worn camera to start recording. When this occurs, the bodyworn cameras of officers in close proximity will also activate, providing a holistic view of the situation from multiple perspectives. As part of the agency’s workflow, the video footage will be directly uploaded, securely stored and organized using Motorola Solutions’ VideoManager evidence management software. “Malta Police joins police agencies around the world in adopting our integrated body-worn video and cloudbased evidence management solution to increase transparency and allow police officers to focus on keeping communities safe,” said Michael Kaae, Regional Vice President of Europe. Motorola Solutions’ VB400 bodyworn cameras are widely adopted by frontline emergency teams including the National Police in France, Belgium Police, Romanian Police, Romanian Border Police and multiple police forces across the U.K.. Motorola Solutions is a global leader in mission-critical communications and analytics. Our technologies in land mobile radio mission-critical communications, video security & analytics and command center software, bolstered by managed & support services, make communities safer and help businesses stay productive and secure.

Case Study

HID Global Supplies Republic of Estonia with Next-Generation ePassport Solution

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink IndiaJune 29, 2021November 14, 202404 mins

HID Global has recently delivered a redesigned ePassport booklet and document issuance software to Estonia’s Police and Border Guard Board (PPA). The European country, known worldwide as a pioneer of electronic identity and services, recently issued the new passport booklet, making it possible for citizens renewing their travel documents to receive the new ePassport. “HID is proud to meet the rigorous quality and technical ePassport specifications required by the government of Estonia, which is widely renowned for providing high-caliber electronic identity documents and services to its citizens,” said Craig Sandness, Senior Vice President and Head of Secure Issuance and Citizen ID Solutions, “The new booklets and supporting software solution simultaneously enhance the country’s ePassport document with industry-leading security features, while capturing the essence of Estonia’s national identity.” Document holders benefit from various forward-looking features included in Estonia’s unique and improved ePassport. The document’s polycarbonate datapage incorporates optically variable inks, two laser images and a window in the shape of Estonia for strong protection against fraud. Additional visual components that reflect the country’s identity include visa pages that showcase six native animals found in Estonia’s natural habitats and UV and embossed features that depict the local climate. “Estonia took a significant step forward with the new passport project, introducing the identity document which binds the history, present and future of Estonia as a cohesive design and tells the story of Estonia in the world,” said Eliisa Sau, Chief Expert of the PPA Identity and Status Bureau, “With the project not only was the design changed, but the first ever polycarbonate datapage was introduced together with new technology and semi-automated personalisation process.” HID’s personalization and quality assurance software modules seamlessly integrate into Estonia’s existing issuance system and enable polycarbonate datapage personalization, secure chip encoding, encryption, and help ensure the condition of the ePassports. For additional security, the PPA is able to track each booklet from the manufacturing facility to the conclusion of the personalization process with HID’s inventory software module. The Estonian government issues seven types of travel documents to citizens that are valid for up to 10 years.

Case Study

Make Faster and Better Traffic Management Decisions with Hikvision Traffic Visualization Dashboard

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink IndiaJune 29, 2021November 14, 202406 mins

In today’s crowded cities, effective traffic management is critical for reducing congestion and preventing accidents. With the Hikvision Traffic Visualization Dashboard, traffic managers can view historical and real-time traffic information, helping them make the best decisions and improve outcomes for road users and residents. The growing traffic management challenge Cities around the world are experiencing major traffic management challenges related to congestion, air pollution, slow journey times, and increased road accidents. With 68% of people expected to live in cities by 2050 (compared to 55% today), and therefore there are tough demands for sustainability and lower emissions, the challenges are set to increase exponentially. In an attempt to keep traffic flowing and to maximize road safety, many cities are investing in roadside infrastructure to monitor traffic conditions – including cameras and sensors at key junctions. However, with no way to convert vast quantities of traffic data into actionable insights, this kind of infrastructure can rarely support effective strategic and real-time traffic responses. Converting traffic data into actionable insights To help authorities overcome their immediate and longer-term traffic management challenges, Hikvision has created the Traffic Visualization Dashboard. This integrates data from roadside cameras and sensors, and displays it to traffic management teams via an immersive, map-based interface. With options to overlay historical and real-time traffic data on either a 2D or 3D map, it gives traffic managers fast, easy access to the information they need. The dashboard can also be customized quickly and easily, allowing teams to focus on the traffic information that is most important to them – from vehicle counting and congestion information, to traffic incidents and violations – such as drivers who break the speed limit, drive without their seat belts fastened, or run red lights. Key benefits of the traffic visualization dashboard Optimized traffic management decisions The Hikvision solution combines historical and real-time traffic data to help managers understand key traffic trends, helping them to make better planning decisions. In particular, the Traffic Visualization Dashboard can support in making better decisions in terms of traffic management policies and solutions to implement – from signal optimization to access management solutions and congestion charging schemes. By helping traffic managers to make better longterm planning decisions, the Traffic Visualization Dashboard can help tackle traffic issues such as traffic congestion and other negative impacts of excessive traffic. Key features of the Hikvision traffic visualization dashboard Immersive 2D or 3D map-based interface for traffic insights ‘at a glance.’ Simple configuration for specific use cases – including congestion management and traffic violation management. Real-time incident responses and improved traffic violation management As well as helping to inform long-term traffic planning, the solution helps teams identify and respond to traffic incidents and violations in nearreal-time. This helps keep key corridors on the road network as clear as possible, helping to speed up journey times for road users. Actionable traffic insights ‘at a glance’ The solution provides 2D and 3D map options that model junctions and traffic corridors accurately, and to the scale. The map-based interface provides a fully immersive experience that allows traffic and incident managers to quickly spot congestion and to detect traffic incidents and violations in different areas of the city – all in a matter of seconds. With no need to generate reports to understand real-time traffic conditions and ongoing traffic trends, managers can also make faster, better informed decisions – helping to optimize traffic flow and public safety.

National

Videonetics Announces Technology Integration with Future Fibre Technologies

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink IndiaJune 29, 2021November 14, 202403 mins

Videonetics, the world’s leading AI & DL powered Unified Video Computing Platform (UVCP™) has announced the integration of its Intelligent VMS 3.0 with perimeter intrusion detection system (PIDS) of Future Fibre Technologies (FFT). Avinash J Trivedi VP – Business Development, Videonetics “Our mission is to build strong ecosystem relationships and collaboration, hence making our technology accessible to everyone and making the world a safer, smarter and happier place. This technology integration deepens our long-standing and mutually beneficial relationship with FFT, bringing ‘true’ value to our customers and partners, by delivering comprehensive solutions to unlock new possibilities for vertical markets” The technology integration will empower users to monitor zone alarms and videos from a centralized system, providing further situational awareness, maximizing preparedness and response to perimeter breach or sabotage. Furthermore, they can view real-time notification of intrusion alerts on the map along with multiple video streams that capture the movement at the scene and vision of the nearby area, everything in a single unified user interface of the video management system. Sanjay Oberoi Country Manager (India), Future Fibre Technologies “With more than 2,500 systems installed in over 70 countries, we remain committed to integrating our perimeter intrusion detection technology with the leading security management, physical security information management, video management and access control management systems around the globe. With FFT CAMS (central alarm monitoring system) a key component of our PIDS system, its integration with Videonetics Intelligent VMS 3.0 platform further enhances our offering as we continue to expand our presence in the region” Future Fibre Technologies (FFT) manufactures a complete portfolio of fibre optic intrusion detection and location products for the protection of high value assets and critical infrastructure. Deployed by some of the most security conscious industrial, military and government organisations in the world, FFT’s advanced applications include: Perimeter intrusion detection (fence mounted and covert buried). Data network tapping and tampering detection. Oil and gas pipeline third party interference (TPI). Health and safety and traffic monitoring.

National

CrowdStrike and Google Cloud Extend Strategic Partnership to Deliver Defense-in-Depth Protection Across Hybrid Cloud Environments

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink IndiaJune 29, 2021November 14, 202406 mins

CrowdStrike, a leader in cloud-delivered endpoint and workload protection, and Google Cloud recently announced a series of product integrations that will deliver joint customers defense-in-depth security, comprehensive visibility and workload protection at scale across hybrid cloud environments. These integrations will enable more seamless sharing of telemetry and data between the two security platforms, helping maintain high levels of security across a customers’ entire cloud or hybrid environment. Under this expanded partnership, CrowdStrike will tightly integrate its CrowdStrike Falcon® platform with Google Cloud’s suite of security products including Chronicle, VirusTotal Enterprise, and Google Cloud Security Command Center (SCC), helping security teams increase visibility of threats across cloud and hybrid deployments, and enabling them to act much more quickly to address them. “The past year forced organizations to push their digital transformation forward at record pace to support remote workforces. However, digital transformation cannot be done without security transformation, in order to protect organizations’ cloud presence,” said Amol Kulkarni, Chief Product Officer of CrowdStrike, “That is why we are proud to expand our partnership with Google Cloud and deliver deeper integrations with their security capabilities. These integrations are powered by our best-in-class, AI-powered telemetry to provide contextual and actionable intelligence that accelerates incident response to better protect cloud workloads from sophisticated threat activity.” “Security issues continue to disrupt enterprises across all industries, prompting many to modernize their security plans and operations with the cloud. At the same time, attackers continue to become more sophisticated and evolve attack methods,” said Sunil Potti, Vice President & General Manager of Google Cloud Security, “Our expanded partnership with CrowdStrike helps our joint customers make the most of their security investments and gain multi-level defenses that can only be delivered by the power of the cloud.” The new integrations between CrowdStrike’s Falcon platform and Google Cloud include: Google Cloud’s security analytics engine, Chronicle, will integrate with the CrowdStrike Falcon platform, which processes over five trillion endpoint-related events per week, enabling security teams to more easily analyze endpoint and workload telemetry in order to find and address threats quickly. Teams will also be able to correlate petabytes of data from Chronicle with datasets from the Falcon platform, enabling them to thoroughly investigate longterm attacks and stop new ones. VirusTotal, a crowd sourced malware collection platform, will integrate with CrowdStrike Falcon and will also be available via the CrowdStrike Store, allowing cybersecurity teams to quickly search for and identify files or URLs that are relevant to an investigation, and uncover previously unknown threats. Integrating VirusTotal with the Falcon platform also enables customers to more effectively track adversaries and generate detection rules that can eliminate blind spots in their cloud and hybrid infrastructure. Google Cloud’s SCC will aggregate alerts and events from the CrowdStrike Falcon platform, which helps provide a single comprehensive view of security and compliance across a customers’ cloud environment. This unified management console makes it much easier for security teams to maintain visibility and control over their environment and to more quickly prioritize violations and investigate alerts. Google Cloud’s BeyondCorp Enterprise and Google Workspace will also integrate with Falcon Zero Trust Assessment (ZTA) to allow joint customers to create and enforce granular access policies to applications using CrowdStrike’s unique risk signals, strengthening zero trust initiatives. In addition, CrowdStrike will offer integrations with Google Cloud’s Security Agent Deployment taking advantage of the Operating System Configuration Management for automated and scalable sensor deployment.

Colt Takes Network Innovation to New Heights with a 400G-Capable Routed Optical Networking Solution on its IQ Network

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink IndiaJune 29, 2021November 14, 202406 mins

Colt Technology Services, a leading provider of high bandwidth and on-demand connectivity, has recently announced that it is transforming its global IQ Network through the deployment of Cisco’s cutting-edge Cisco 8000 hardware alongside 400G OpenZR+ pluggable coherent technology and Segment Routing MPLS throughout the network, moving towards Cisco’s Routed Optical Networking solution. This multi-faceted development sees Colt leverage an industry-leading combination of hardware and software innovation with 400G capability to provide enriched high bandwidth and software-defined connectivity for its customers globally. As part of this initiative, Colt is leading the industry in the trial and adoption of Acacia’s 400G OpenZR+ technology for long-haul inter-metro connections that are greater than 200km. Since the IQ Network launch in 2016, Colt has continued to drive innovation in next-generation networking through an extensive investment programme, testing and deployment of leading-edge technologies. Today, the IQ Network connects over 900 data centres across Europe, Asia and North America’s largest business hubs, with over 29,000 on net buildings and growing. Colt is further future-proofing its global IQ Network with the Cisco 8000 router series powered by Cisco Silicon One, Segment Routing MPLS, and Acacia 400G OpenZR+ technology. Cisco 8000 and Acacia 400G Open ZR+ technology provide a simpler and more scalable architecture that delivers cost efficiency with reduced space and power usage. These Cisco technologies within the IQ Network will help Colt address the exponential increase in demand for high bandwidth services from its customers. Building a strategic partnership since 2019, Colt has been working closely with Cisco to optimise and evolve the IQ Network from 100G to 400G. This is to ensure Colt can address the exponential increase in demand for high bandwidth services from its customers and remain ready to power organisations’ digital transformations across the world. Cisco’s 8000 hardware combined with Acacia’s 400G OpenZR+ pluggable coherent optic converges IP and optical networking layers for a simpler and more scalable architecture that delivers cost efficiency and reduces space and power usage in data centres and colocations. Segment Routing MPLS offers software capabil ities which further simplify the network and provide fine-grained control for supporting stringent SLAs. With the combination of these Cisco technologies within the IQ Network, Colt will deliver high-bandwidth and software-defined networking that meets connectivity demands of today and the future. “Colt is committed to ensuring its network is at the forefront of technological innovation, and this latest investment is the next step in our network optimisation strategy, as we continue to leverage next- generation optical and packet technologies”, says Vivek Gaur, Vice President – Network Engineering, for Colt, “Over the last couple of years, Colt and Cisco have built a strategic relationship centred on innovation, and we’re excited to continue to push boundaries for our customers and the industry. We know the requirement for ultra-high band width services is increasing. With Cisco’s technology in specific layers of our network, we’ll have a scalable and efficient packet core network that fulfils the connectivity demands of our customers across the globe.” “The internet is now an integral part of critical national infrastructure and must be continually reimagined to help transform the way we live. Colt is helping accelerate this as one of the first network providers to leverage the full capability of 400G OpenZR+ coherent pluggable optics in data centre interconnect for metro and longhaul applications,” said Adam MacHale, Vice President of EMEAR Service Provider, Cisco, “We look forward to continuing our exciting journey together with Colt and unleashing the full power of Routed Optical Networking technologies.” Colt customers are expected to benefit from these upgrades in September 2021.

National

Security at the Edge: Thermal Technology Can Now Provide Affordable Perimeter Protection

MassMediaLink India LLP SecurityLink IndiaJune 29, 2021November 14, 202407 mins

It’s true that every building has a different security need. There are various factors that can change this, not least the surrounding area that the building is in. Imagine, for example, a place surrounded by thick foliage, fences or outlying buildings. Imagine also that there are no street lights in the area. All of these make perimeter security harder, especially for traditional optical cameras that rely on line of sight and at least a low-level of light to spot intruders. It’s these scenarios that benefits greatly from another technology – thermal imaging. Now affordable and accessible to SMB According to Inkwood Research, the global perimeter security market will grow to $38459 million by 2026. Companies are realizing that securing their perimeter, so often previously added as an ‘afterthought,’ is increasingly important. The use of thermal technology has been traditionally for large-scale projects, with technology prices being quite high. These days, however, manufacturers like Hikvision have brought costs down, making this technology accessible to a wider range of projects. Smaller business and homeowners can now benefit from this extra layer of security, which gives more peace of mind, since intruders can be flagged even before they get to the front door. With modern convergence technologies now available, they can also link their thermal cameras to their alarm systems. This means that they can have a simple way to monitor the situation holistically, even through their mobile phones using an app. See through the perimeter I n a perimeter security situation the focus is on ensuring a person does not approach past a certain ‘line’ into an area. But this can be tricky, since it deals with an outside area, which is more likely to be out of the direct control of the home or business owner. In this scenario, there are lots of places where potential intruders can lurk, behind fences and in dense shrubbery, for example. Traditional optical cameras alone would not be able to detect them. Thermal technology, on the other hand, does not require any light at all. Since thermal sensors detect emissivity – the low-level radiation given off by all ‘surfaces’ at different levels – it can ‘see through’ obstacles like fences and bushes. Another issue at the perimeter is that of distinguishing between a human trespasser and another object, which could set off a false alarm. Sometimes animals can be picked up, for example, or even branches and other non-human items. To counter this, deep learning technology can be used in combination with thermal imaging. It enhances video analytics to distinguish humans, thus reducing false alarms and the associated operating costs. When detection rules are triggered by a human being, for example, line crossing and intrusion detection, the camera can instantly raise an alarm to the operator. Some cameras can flash to deter the intruder away, or even give the operator the ability to give a warning through the builtin speaker. Efficient technology The effective nature of the technology mean fewer cameras are necessary to cover a perimeter. For instance, for a 50 meter range, a camera (for example a Hikvision HeatPro) can usually replace 2-3 optical security cameras. This is partly due to the fact that object movement sensing capability is more accurate using thermal imaging in this way. Even when the target is at the edge of the detection range, thermal imaging can still sense the object movement accurately; while for video cameras, the object needs to get much closer for the sensor to detect it. It’s usually been the case that, as technology advances, it becomes more affordable and so accessible to more people. Security is no exception here, and Hikvision is at the cutting-edge of innovation, creating an effective perimeter security using thermal technology, for example. This development has meant it’s available to be used in smaller projects, at a lower cost. Now, small businesses, and even home owners, can reap the benefits of thermal technology protecting their perimeter and seeing the unseen, in the form of Hikvision HeatPro cameras.