Category: Feature

Normal daily life involves a lot of people moving around the inside of buildings. In bustling transport hubs, busy shopping centers, office blocks and warehouses, people are constantly moving past each other and between rooms and floors. But for the moment, this way of life has been forced to a halt – and understandably so. Within an enclosed space, there is a greater chance of transmission of illness. So to restrict transmission, businesses must also control the movement of people through very busy buildings. The challenge today is how to do this as efficiently as possible, without affecting business interests. As we adjust to a new way of life, businesses must embrace innovative ways to optimize the density and flow of people through their premises, to protect workers, customers and visitors, while also protecting their businesses. The good news is – AI-powered video technology can support businesses of all sizes in this endeavor. Protecting people and businesses with AI video I ntelligent video cameras such as those within Hikvision’s Flow Control Solution, use people-counting technology coupled with dynamic digital signage to display how many people are entering and leaving a building or indoor area. The cameras feature highly accurate 3D binocular vision and deep learning algorithms to accurately count the number of people flowing through, even in the busiest sites with multiple entrances and exits. The same cameras can also support social distancing in areas where crowds and standing in line is unavoidable. When the camera identifies that people are standing closer than the pre-determined threshold, it will trigger an alarm. The cameras can also be linked to digital signage, to display a visual notice. For even greater reassurance, businesses can add in thermal and mask-detection camera technology, to help ensure people are safe to enter a location in the first place. Hikvision’s AI-powered cameras can intelligently identify whether someone is wearing a mask, while also effectively checking their skin temperatures. Equipped with this information, staff can then take appropriate action to reduce the risk of viral spread. Putting the technology into practice At a time when it’s incredibly hard for businesses to balance profitability with safety, Hikvision knows from the projects that they’re working on that AI-powered video can offer business value. Hikvision technology enables people managing office blocks, warehouses and supermarkets to accurately count everyone that enters and leaves the premises, to ensure they never exceed safe capacity. This data can also be linked to access control solutions, to physically prevent people from entering until it is safe to do so. Retailers, especially, can make use of digital signage to display how many people are in a store, so that customers understand why they may need to wait in line. Indeed, in retail – where it’s normal for people to wait at checkouts or crowd together in narrow aisles – making use of a Hikvision dual-lens camera can help businesses to maintain vital social distancing rules. Meanwhile, in indoor transport hubs – where people are not only gathering, but travelling on to new locations – adding in thermal screening and mask detection is especially valuable. Safe building capacity can be managed, while any travelers that may show signs of a raised temperature or who are not wearing masks can be informed. Technology such as Hikvision’s can essentially help businesses to reopen as safely and profitably as possible. Get the full back-to-business story However, choosing the right technology is only one part of the back-to-business story. Businesses should also be aware of the compliance, legal and HR requirements when installing and using this technology. And the technology must be effectively and expertly installed, to ensure it achieves its full potential.  

The cloud has emerged as a more scalable and open option for businesses of all sizes, the security industry is no exception. Read on to discover how the cloud can make premises security of small and medium-sized businesses more cost-effective, efficient, flexible, scalable, and ultimately more effective with convergence and automation. More and more businesses today are leveraging the cloud to improve business operations and management. In retail, for example, progressive retailers have been implementing cloud commerce solutions for their order management, inventory management, financial consolidation and customer relationship management (CRM). Similarly, the physical security industry is embracing cloud in a big way. Cloud-based security systems – which bring together security, networking, storage, analytics and management – are increasing in popularity due to their impressive safety and operational benefits. So what exactly are the benefits of a security solution that’s managed in the cloud? In this blog, we examine five reasons why cloud should be front of mind for small and medium-sized businesses for their premises security solution. Security information at your fingertips: Always A cloud-based security solution enables businesses to access and manage all of their security devices anytime, anywhere, and on any internet-enabled device. And when businesses have multiple premises to manage, the cloud provides an easily accessible and secure collation point for information from all secured buildings. Managers can check live video and stored data from each location, even when they are travelling, as long as there is an internet connection. Reduced upfront investment and easy setup All businesses want platforms or services that offer simplicity, with as few assets to manage as possible, and a setup that’s ultra-simple. This is precisely where the cloud delivers. Through a cloud hosting infrastructure, there is no need for a local server or software to be deployed; to get started, all you need is a username and password, and you can easily connect devices like video cameras to the internet for preview and playback. This is particularly useful for organisations with smaller/ fewer sites and fewer cameras, as it helps reduce the cost of hardware investment and ongoing management. Scalability and flexibility Scalability is one of the main reasons to migrate to the cloud. Whether traffic or workload demands increase suddenly or grow gradually over time, companies choose a cloud solution because it’s scalable, allowing businesses to increase storage and performance appropriately and cost-effectively. This is very much the case for cloud-based security solutions. When businesses grow, the cloud enables their security system infrastructure to scale with it. Companies can add new devices, services, functionality and enhanced analytics and data storage in stages, to suit their growth and development. Remote system maintenance 24/7 Cloud-based platforms can help make managed security services far more responsive. Security service providers and alarm receiving centers (ARC) can constantly monitor the health of an end-user’s security system and resolve any problems remotely, delivering a sophisticated service without the added expense of an on-site visit. All that’s required is consent from end users when the system is deployed. For businesses, this offers peace of mind that their security system is up and running 24/7. Any issues such as device failure or communication loss can be addressed rapidly and efficiently. Technology that’s always up to date Technology is always changing. So for on-premise systems, regular maintenance must be carried out on-site or through remote desktop. This can be a burden to IT services, especially if there are multiple sites. A cloud-based solution, however, requires no onsite manual updates, as customers will stream the latest version of the software that is fully and centrally maintained by the service provider. This saves a significant amount of time, while reducing the potential of security lapses and the associated risks. A convergent, cloud-based security service solution from Hikvision Prama Hikvision’s cloud-based security service solution, Hik-ProConnect, is designed for small and medium-sized businesses and residential applications. It uses industry-leading standards and protocols for maximum security and reliability, making it ideal for today’s security market. Incorporated with all these cloud-hosting benefits, Hik-ProConnect allows users to converge multiple devices into one management platform with a single login. This goes above and beyond conventional security systems made up of disparate elements. Integration of devices provides users with different types of events to suit their requirements, away from manual approaches to the use of automation. Examples of device linkage include merging intercom calls and intrusion or access events with video verification. Whether being used to manage a single simple site or multiple complex locations, Hik-ProConnect ensures users enjoy an up-to-date and smooth running security system.  

So, as we near the end of 2020, I imagine there are many CISOs, CIOs and indeed business leaders sitting out there, patting themselves on the back as they survey their workforces, established in remote/ hybrid office-and-home systems, happily and productively accessing data and continuing to work in an entirely new way. It’s true that their teams have been, like so often, unsung heroes, making the impossible possible in the first part of the year. However, I’m afraid I need to burst this bubble. In 2021, I believe we will start to realise exactly how much intellectual property was stolen by external attackers and malicious insiders during the 2020 remote working shift with the implications it had on ways-of-working, maintaining infrastructure security and continuing to protect data everywhere. What did we do? Almost overnight organizations flipped a switch from a predominantly office-based workforce to remote workers using a plethora of operating systems and equipment. Employees with a wide range of technical know-how were left to set up and configure home networks and devices, while IT teams added and tried to scale VPNs and moved data into SaaS applications. It is almost as if companies gave up on protecting the perimeter, and trusted in basic networking and cloud services to protect what I call the ‘branch office of one.’ The old perimeter is clearly gone, data needs to be more accessible than ever, and the ability for the user to work remotely is paramount. It’s my view that we don’t yet know what impact this has had, and 2021 will start to unveil it to us. Did we keep an eye on our attack surface and did we really examine the vulnerabilities we exposed during this time? When cloud service providers spun up new clouds or SaaS applications for us, did the security keep pace and did our policies get applied consistently? Has lockdown meant that cyber-enforcement got lighter? Did cybercriminals think they could get away with stealing data while security and IT teams’ attention was elsewhere? The treasure trove has been opened right up, and security teams should not rest on their laurels. From past experience, I must assume that we haven’t moved as fast as the attackers, and that 2021 will see several large data breaches revealed, while some firms discover to their horror that what appear to be nation state attackers or well-organized criminal groups have infiltrated their defences. Like it forcefully happened to digital transformation programs, the notion of multi-year security programs will be replaced, in 2021 and beyond, with more agile security. We need to move at ‘bad guys speed,’ and our responses to threats must be completed at the same rate of change we would expect from a business model pivot or adaptation. The imperative of visibility in 2021 imperative for enterprises in the next year. In this way, 2021 can become the year of working securely, regardless of location. These new patterns are here to stay, and we must do our best to introduce resiliency, security and visibility into our efforts. As part of this, we must address the elephant in the room. Data loss is damaging to business, and in order to stop that loss, we need to know exactly where our data is, on a minute-by-minute basis. That means we must introduce real-time (or near real-time) user activity monitoring. We should be monitoring to prevent data loss, not productivity tracking. Transparency in the roll-out of these solutions and the careful consideration of user privacy should be at the heart of any user activity monitoring solutions. Forrester analyst Chase Cunningham has advised, “If you aren’t monitoring your data, your intellectual property is walking out of the door, and you’ll be out of business in twenty years.” The fact that we have shifted to remote working so quickly, and relatively smoothly, may mean that we have no need to go back to a structured perimeter. But we will need a fast movement towards user activity monitoring – an approach that relies on analytics to understand data access patterns. Without visibility of data in this way we cannot scale and understand how to work productively, flexibly and securely. Through the combination of behavioral analytics and indicators of behavior (IoBs), we can achieve visibility alongside control. Data usage must be examined and understood in context, and data loss prevention policies applied adaptively and dynamically. If we can create cybersecurity technologies which build upon machine learning and analytics to measure and understand data movements in quasi real-time, we can avoid the upcoming dawn of disappointment on the horizon. As the ‘new normal’ becomes ‘just normal,’ leaders must get the basics right – revisit their policies and processes, validate their posture and risk appetite, and avoid assumptions that all is well just because they haven’t seen an incident yet. Longer term, cloud-native solutions with a deep understanding of users’ behavior will deliver permanent solutions, rather than stopgaps when it comes to protecting data and intellectual property.  

Even as efforts to control the COVID19 pandemic intensify, the world is preparing to re-open economies and get back to business. Economies, jobs and livelihoods are in dire need of revival after the long pandemic-induced hiatus, but businesses and governments also have the unenviable task of ensuring public health safety. Amidst all this, video technology solutions have emerged as one of the key tools for governments and businesses to ensure the safety of customers, employees and the general public. Video’s key role in fighting the COVID19 pandemic transportation Video came to the aid early in the battle against COVID19. As the pandemic unfolded globally, immigration counters at airports were equipped with thermal cameras that helped screen passengers for COVID-related symptoms. Thermal imaging, which ensures that scanning is contactless and safe for both the tester and the tested, is now being adopted more widely around transportation. International Airports across nine Indian cities have installed thermal cameras and Indian Railways is rolling it out across more and more railway stations in India. Healthcare For healthcare providers and hospitals, video technology is providing safer alternatives for patient care and treatment. Tele-Kiosks for instance are facilitating video consultations with doctors, making contactless and distant consultation possible. These kiosks are connected to devices which can monitor vital signs such as blood pressure, oxygen saturation and temperature. This enables healthcare workers and doctors to remotely monitor COVID-infected patients, with fewer in-person touch points required. This could also enable tele-medicine for less critical patients so that resources in short supply such as hospital beds and PPE equipment can be saved for patients who need it more. Public spaces The threat of increased infection has made social distancing and crowd control mandatory in public places, shops, offices and business establishments – wherever there is potential for people to gather in large numbers. As businesses start to re-open, enforcing these measures will become even more of a challenge and virtually a tightrope walk between safety and sustenance. Video technology solutions, combined with an open platform video management Software, can help provide a feature-rich tech platform to tackle the challenges ahead. With advanced features such as heat mapping and occupancy statistics, crowd counting for public spaces within retail or private sectors, distancing detection and enforcement of one-way direction in retail outlets, businesses can ensure better compliance within safety measures. With an open platform VMS, business owners will be able to regulate access from a centralized location and benefit from statistics and data gathered. An open platform VMS will also allow the integration of other devices such as audio, visual display systems and even mobile devices to help with challenging issues like crowd control. Drones and robots can also be integrated with the VMS to aid with social distancing measures on a much larger scale. Data privacy concerns must be addressed With visual and other forms of data being increasingly collected through the adoption of video and other technologies, data privacy is a key concern for both businesses and individuals to watch out for. Businesses and governments must use the powers of technology responsibly as outlined in the guidelines of international legislation such as the GDPR and Milestone’s Copenhagen Letter. With the increasing need for provisions such as contact tracing,The EY Future Consumer Index found that the public is now more receptive to make private information available if it’s for the greater good of the society. For example, millions of people in India have downloaded the ArogyaSetu app to stop the spread of COVID-19 through community-driven contact tracing – even if that means having to constantly share their location with the App. In Singapore, we found that eight in ten Singaporeans are receptive to the usage of video technology such as thermal imagining cameras and crowd management video analytics, when underpinned by a health benefit. Yet, there is still a significant portion of the population that is unfamiliar with the purpose and benefits of such solutions, and therefore greater public education of benefits, protection and privacy regulations is required to sustain the overall acceptance of video technology. This shows that despite people’s willingness to part with private data for a greater common cause, businesses still have the responsibility to prioritize data protection and privacy as it emerges as a key tool, changing the ways we live and do business. Innovation that ensures that businesses and governments can maximize the value add of data while respecting individual privacy and data protection regulations will be the way forward in our future.  

As 2020 comes to an end, the importance of understanding the relationship between humans and technology is at an all-time high. Widespread shifts in the fabric of our society, prompted by the ongoing pandemic, exposed weaknesses in security tools and protocols for remote workers, highlighted issues of network reliability and accessibility, and demanded that humans find innovative ways to keep organizations running. While the fallout from the pandemic is unignorable, the ability for people to respond to seemingly endless challenges has been nothing short of remarkable. The year 2021 will continue to reflect human resilience and ingenuity. It will be the year of workarounds and self-serving insider threats, where people find ways to accomplish their goals despite dealing with personal and professional adversity. Workarounds, shortcuts, and creative work strategies are simultaneously a celebration of human creativity and a risk for organizations who are desperately trying to maintain visibility of their assets. Ultimately, people sharing data and accessing corporate networks in new and potentially unsanctioned ways carries quite a bit of risk – especially for organizations that are new to managing remote workers. The result of these changes is that successful cybersecurity strategies will stop trying to use technology as a unilateral force to control human behavior. Rather, organizations will come to terms with the reality that adding more and more technology or security does not lead to behavioral conformity, especially not conformity that aligns with security principles and adequate cyber hygiene. In fact, additional layers of security may push more people outside of the guiderails due to increasingly aggravating security friction that blocks them from completing tasks or easily accessing critical organizational assets. Understanding precedes predicting In light of this, understanding how people adapt to, respond to, and inform their environments is critical for organizations heading into the new year. For far too long, the tech world has created products with the assumption that people will use them in an expected or uniform way, or that people would conform to the rules and constraints laid out by well-meaning engineering teams. If we’ve learned anything from 2020, it is that people are not always predictable, and making assumptions about human behavior is a dangerous game to play. What’s surfaced is that expectations, guidelines, best practices, and even commands will yield every type of behavioral response – from rigid compliance to retaliatory noncompliance. What can we do? We can learn more about what motivates behavior, and how people ultimately choose to behave. We can also commit to designing and implementing security practices and tools that work with humans instead of against them. To do this, however, we have to focus on measuring and understanding behavior instead of focusing exclusively on detecting compromises and vulnerabilities. For instance, we know that people’s immediate needs often outweigh potential negative consequences – especially when the consequences do not have a direct, individual, and immediate impact. This means that when we need to accomplish our goals we often take the easiest route. Unfortunately, the easiest route is often riskier than the ‘ideal’ route. When faced with frustrating, security-heavy file and data sharing tools, we may turn to sharing via personal cloud applications. Making rules to stop people from engaging in this type of behavior is not working – so rather, we have to better understand these behaviors to find ways to mitigate their risk to organizations and organizational assets. Building behavioral understanding into systems Within the cybersecurity industry, observing and understanding behaviors must come with context. What may appear at first glance like an obviously malicious act likely to lead to data loss – for example an engineer requesting access to multiple sensitive data repositories over the course of two days – could simply be a person getting their job done. Our engineer may be doing this because she’s been added to several new projects and needs to be able to collaborate with her new team. We want people to be able to do their jobs within the constraints of our corporate network and policies, so blocking them would only encourage the human tendency to find an easier (and less secure) route for getting their jobs done. With an interdisciplinary research team, pulling experts from security, counter-intelligence, IT, and behavioral sciences together, behavioral understanding can be built into cybersecurity systems. And this is the first important step for finally starting to move cybersecurity left of breach – designing security for the human element.  

Video surveillance has evolved from a simple requirement for clear images to video content analysis (VCA) for improved management. Now, with deep learning, security solutions are enabled with sophisticated intelligence and efficiency at a whole new level. Prama Hikvision’s AcuSense is newly born out of this, which makes advanced VCA and deep learning capabilities available to small and medium businesses, and residential customers for the first time. Small and medium businesses have many of the same surveillance and security requirements as larger organizations. They need to identify and react to perimeter breaches in real time, and they need to automate footage searches to fast locate true events. Another example could be the security and protection for your residential area. Why you need accurate alarms? I magine, when you need to look into the security of your house, the first line you probably would consider is its perimeter. The idea is to prevent intruders from breaking in. However, conventional surveillance system may not do the job well enough. Why? Conventional surveillance systems provide certain detection features enabled by video content analysis (VCA) such as motion detection, line-crossing detection and intrusion detection, but they would simply compound all event detections, triggering frequent alarms when an object is detected. This could be an animal, a shadow, or other natural movements – we call them false alarms. As a result, you need to spend time to investigate each one, potentially delaying any necessary response and generally affecting efficiency. So being able to identify the real threats – the presence of a human or a vehicle – would greatly improve the accuracy of perimeter VCA functions. Prama Hikvision’s hassle-free AcuSense technology can help achieve this goal, and give you a cost-effective way to protect your locations and assets. Enhanced alarm accuracy saves time and worries Employed with advanced VCA and deep learning algorithms, Prama Hikvision AcuSense helps you maximize security with efficient human and vehicle detection by categorizing alarm information into human, vehicle, and other objects. With high accuracy, the system disregards alarms triggered by other objects such as rain or leaves, and delivers alarms that are associated with human or vehicle detection. With Prama Hikvision’s AcuSense, you also get a ‘quick target search’ feature that allows security personnel or local police to find footage quickly in the event of a security incident. This saves many hours rather than searching for footage manually. Efficient alerts and video clips help you in the know Now re-imagine your perimeter security system armed with Prama Hikvision’s AcuSense technology. Video surveillance is in operation when an intruder tries to sneak on a windy and rainy day. The intruder probably thought such bad weather would do him a favor, as there are no witnesses near your house. But this is not the case. The security camera incorporated with AcuSense precisely captures the intruder entering your front yard. At the same time, you receive a message on your smartphone and view the video feeds. With this verified alarm, action can be taken straight away. Prama Hikvision’s AcuSense prevents problems before they escalate into would-be emergencies. Our fully-integrated video surveillance makes it easy for you to see and capture important activity with video alerts, live feeds and 24/7 digital video recording – all easily viewed from your Hik-Connect app. Prama Hikvision AcuSense key features False alarm reduction: Reduces false alarms triggered by inanimate objects to a minimum, vastly improves alarm efficiency and saving costs; Quick target search: More efficient and effective file searching based on human and vehicle classification, preventing security personnel from having to search through footage manually; Strobe light and audio alarm: Wards off potential intruders by combing siren with flashing light. Prama Hikvision’s AcuSense technology can be found in our EasyIP and Turbo HD product ranges, which provide the ideal security solutions for small factories, residential estate and villas, small hotels, and gas stations, indoor and outdoor, to name a few.  

There are over 1200 NHS hospitals across the UK, spread across 223 NHS trusts, ranging in age and complexity. Very few of them are single stand-alone buildings, instead the sites usually represent complicated infrastructure networks, that have grown and developed over a few decades. This in turn increases the complexity of the fire detection system across the whole site. The challenges in managing fire detection system in such structures can be associated with:   Cost of ownership: Management of aging system and replacement components availability. Contracts locked to a single supplier of the fire protection services. Structural challenges: Management of different detection systems within one hospital. Management of works and renovations in the hospital, while ensuring uninterrupted fire safety. Protection of temporary structures. Maintenance of challenging wards that do not allow for interruption of services. Management of full or partial fire system upgrades. Evacuation and fire strategy: Buildings cannot be fully evacuated. Complex fire safety strategies employed. Fire spread information is routinely used. System performance issues within specific environments: False alarms. HPV cleaning. COVID-19 nebulising spray. Contingency wards protection. Cost of ownership Many of the challenges associated with the management of an aging system and immutable maintenance contracts could quite often have been avoided if the new sites were delivered with consideration for future building evolution, system lifecycle and the total cost of ownership. Fire detection equipment is generally expected to last 10 years (FIA guidance on the life expectancy of a fire detection & alarm system issue 1). However, the same equipment will often remain in place for up to 25 years. In a national survey carried out with healthcare fire officers, 50% of respondents described their system as between 10-20 years old, with a further 13% saying it was over 20 years old. Old systems tend to be difficult to manage due to reduced system reliability. Varied faults can cause false alarms and unnecessary disruption to hospital operation, and this can result in fines. The biggest issues come when the system cannot be maintained any longer due to component obsolescence or due to becoming unsupported by the manufacturer. A system renovation often only replaces sections of the system. Equipment such as detector heads and the control panel are likely to be replaced only if proven to be troublesome or prone to false alarms. Ideally the fire detection system will have forward and backwards compatibility meaning that a modern control panel can replace the ageing one without changing the detectors and modern higher reliability detectors can be used in the current control panel to address false alarms. Thus, areas of the system can be updated and will work seamlessly with the original system. This gives the ability to manage specific issues and to be able to renovate the system in phases, spreading the cost and minimising disruption. It also ensures that even if some components have been made obsolete, there is a modern replacement available, that will work reliably on the old infrastructure. Otherwise, it is possible that the whole system will require a full and immediate overhaul due to an unforeseen component obsolescence or non-compliance. The cost and complexity of renovation itself can vary dramatically depending on the type of system installed. Some NHS sites in the past have experienced very high cost of ownership for closed protocol systems. Closed protocol can be described as a system where only a single supplier of installation and maintenance services is authorised to work with the fire system. The ownership of systems like this means that the building owner is locked into a contract and the only way out is a full system replacement. The cost of replacement usually deters end users from changing a manufacturer and therefore they usually don’t have a choice but to carry on managing a system that is expensive to run and limited in choice of service suppliers. By avoiding closed protocol solutions, a competitive tendering process can be encouraged between different fire protection service providers. A fire system that allows the customer to choose between any qualified engineer to service/ install a system is known as Open Protocol. The original cost for these systems can be higher than the closed alternative, but once the total cost of ownership is considered, over the lifetime of a system, open protocol solutions tend to be more cost effective and flexible, allowing the building owner to choose between service providers that suits their requirements and quite often between control panel manufacturers. The total cost of ownership is often overlooked due to differences in managing capital and operational expenditure within NHS trusts, nevertheless, it is paramount to ensuring the best system is chosen for the building and is future-proofed, as well as the best possible financial outcome for the NHS. Structural challenges There are usually a number of construction and renovation works happening across a hospital complex at any one time, which often creates additional challenges for the fire system. Any works being carried out must be done without any downtime and minimal disruption as hospitals are operational 24 hours a day 365 days a year. Contractors can create copious amounts of dust that can set off smoke detectors, causing false alarms. This combined with maintenance work being carried out at night can cause a headache for healthcare estates staff as personnel must be called out of hours to correct it. One option to prevent these false alarms while ensuring fire safety is to temporarily replace smoke detectors for heat detectors in the area being worked in. Heat detectors or CO/ heat detectors are not prone to contamination and therefore are less likely to falsely activate due to dust. It is important to consider that smoke detectors’ coverage area is larger than a heat detectors and therefore a point for point replacement will result in a loss of coverage. Another option is to use a multisensor with multiple modes of sensitivity such as Apollo Soteria, this detector is much more resilient to false alarms due to its advanced chamber…

The global video surveillance market size is expected to grow to USD 74.6 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 10.4%, according to a Markets & Markets report. The ever-increasing requirement of safety, coupled with a boom in smart cities, has led to a rise of the security market in the country. Notwithstanding the current pandemic, here are six trends to boost video technology adoption in the coming year. 1. Need for smarter, safer cities   By 2030, India is expected to have 155 tier-I cities, 104 tier-II cities and 331 tier-III and IV cities, as per Anarock Research. This burgeoning urban sprawl is expected to further raise the demand for video technology solutions as one of the measures to ensure public safety. In February 2019, the government of India teamed up with state governments for a pilot safe city project to be run in eight metropolitan cities in India – Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Ahmedabad at a total cost of Rs.2919.55 crore. With funding from the central government’s Nirbhaya fund, there will be a high emphasis on women’s safety in this project. Cameras will be installed in public places, intersections, buses, and other critical areas. A centralized control room will be set-up in each city, security vehicles will be equipped with dashboards for live streaming, GPS tracking and other advanced features will be implemented. While the zeal to use advanced video technology to ensure public safety is appreciable, the government must ensure that it is balanced with citizens’ right to privacy. There is a need for more transparency on how the visual data collected by these cameras will be used, and the opinions of digital rights groups and experts must be considered before implementation. 2. Demand for industry-specific solutions will increase   The demand for customized video technology solutions is growing across industry verticals including financial services, retail, healthcare and manufacturing. The availability of IP-based cameras and open platform VMS has enabled a lot of new functionalities which are being exploited for industry-specific uses across sectors. Retail outlets, for instance, use video technology for stock verification, crowd management, trend analysis, PoS integration and personalized service to customers. In the financial services sector, video analytics is being used to identify suspicious activity in ATMs and get real-time alerts about the same to reduce the incidence of theft. In the healthcare sector where theft of expensive surgical equipment and drugs remains a concern today, video technology is seen to be increasingly employed to tackle the problem. Likewise, in manufacturing, where fully automated plants are replacing manual activity, motion detection functionality in IP cameras immediately identifies any stoppage of crucial machines like conveyors, thus eliminating loss of time in problem identification. Going forward, the ability to customize solutions for industry verticals will be key differentiator for video technology solution vendors and will benefit end users looking for better functionality from their video solutions. 3. Open platform software adoption will soar   Thanks to the growing awareness of its capabilities and declining prices, the adoption of IP-based surveillance systems is expected to increase manifold in the coming years. IP cameras can leverage IoT and AI technologies to provide additional capabilities beyond mere security. They can enhance operational efficiency, aid in real-time responses and provide valuable business intelligence, which could prove instrumental in enhancing customer experience and in boosting the overall profitability. An important principle underpinning all these capabilities is the interconnectivity of systems, which is enabled by an open platform VMS. As IP cameras go mainstream, and users can look to take advantage of technologies such as IoT, AI and smart devices. Open platforms that support multiple technologies and avoid vendor lock-in will be in high demand. Open platform video management software (VMS) promises flexibility, choice and possibilities that future proof your solutions. We expect end-users to opt for resellers or solution providers who can support them with a flexible and customizable platform and communicate the right value and benefits of the open VMS. 4. Cybersecurity   As video cameras become more connected to diverse systems because of increased IoT adoption, cybersecurity concerns are likely to increase. Hackers gaining access to cameras to record videos, selling camera access to third parties, or even using cameras to spy on shops or steal credit card information could become a common occurrence. Customers will need to be aware of and seek out sophisticated security protocols in video solutions such as high-level encryption of web and mobile user access, authentication and authorization of third-party applications, physical separation of camera and client networks, and vulnerability scoring systems. Customers must increasingly evaluate video management solution vendors on these criteria to ensure that their advanced, feature-rich video solutions are secure and stable. 5. Demand for Cloud-based video surveillance solutions will increase   Cloud-based video solutions are gaining in popularity due to their efficiency, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and security. Small and medium-sized businesses are mainly enthusiastic about Video-as-a-Service (VSaaS). VSaaS enables hosting of hardware and software of security operations in the cloud so that users can access their IP cameras and IoT devices and check video footage or alarm linkage from anywhere. With no on-site server installation and system configuration required, it is often more convenient than traditional video solutions. Cloud also enables metered use so users can distribute costs over a contract term and pay only for the services that are used. Popular cloud services providers like Amazon offer flexible and scalable VSaaS solutions with elastic compute, storage and networking capabilities. VMS solutions that integrate well with AWS VSaaS will witness increasing traction. 6. Smart search will become increasingly popular in video solutions   Smart Search is an advanced feature based on motion detection that helps users review videos in sizable numbers or huge file sizes. Users can search for a specific activity based on pre-described smart search settings. Combined with metadata search and indexing, this feature can make searching and reviewing relevant video content much faster. With smart search, organizations can improve the speed and…

A hotel stay is more than just a place to catch a few winks. It connotes uppermost safety and security followed by comfort to most, as well as luxury to a few. Big brands advertise their stays basis star ratings, which primarily denote amenities and luxuries. When it comes to star rated properties, safety and security is taken for granted by the travelers/ customers, but should it be so? And can it be so for all the other hotels? More so, how will safety be ensured in times of COVID-19? Terrorists attacks at hotels in Sri Lanka, recent fires reported at different hotels in India and now safety issues with regard to COVID-19 infection highlight the spectrum of security and safety issues that need to be catered for by hotels. Big gatherings/ conferences/ functions have always posed multitude of challenges as regard to safety and security for most hotels, and COVID-19 further adds to these challenges, requiring special preparations on part of the hotels to ensure security and safety. Screening of staff as well as ensuring their safety is another area, which if not looked into, can pose a threat to the safety and security aspects of a hotel and its customers. Most of the safety requirements related to fire and building code are very clearly articulated by various rules, laws, guidelines of relevant municipalities/ countries, however, to what extent they are being met and ensured tends to remain a question mark, and as such are never promulgated for the information of travelers. In the pre COVID-19 era, travel for business and vacations showed an increasing trend with the user penetration expected to hit 16.2% by 2023 from 15.4% in 2020 and the revenue from the hotels segment expected to show an annual growth rate (CAGR 2020-2023) of 4.1%, resulting in a market volume of US$ 432,095 million by 2023 (Travel & Tourism report 2019 – Statista Mobility market outlook – pre COVID-19). At the same time, as per an article published in ‘NY Times’ in 2018, there was approximately a 20% increase in crimes in city’s hotels and motels over the previous three years. Today the industry is reeling under the effect of COVID-19 with the industry coming to a complete standstill – leading to closures, layoffs etc., as is evident from news reports such as Hyatt Hotels is reported to have closed some of its properties and furloughed staff to cut costs and a net loss of $103 million (https://www.hotelmanagement.net/human-resources/hyatt-plans-temporary-closuresfurloughs-due-to-covid-19), in the first quarter of this year. French hospitality group Accor is reported to be closing more than 3,000 of the group’s 5,000 hotels and making more than 200,000 staff temporarily redundant during the outbreak (https://www. thejakartapost.com/travel/2020/04/03/accor-saysclosing-two-thirds-of-hotels-over-coronavirus. html), and other such reports. The effect of COVID-19 is more likely to introduce different ways of operating and being able to ensure safety and security is definitely going to help kick-start the industry and keep it going in times to come. COVID-19 is very likely to define a new normal for the industry. The safety and security readiness of hotels thus needs to find an expression, which should easily be convertible into a decision. The world as such does not have a standard established for safety and security ratings, which if established will help in the aforementioned decision making. A study conducted by Tyra W. Hillard, JD Seyhmus Baloglu, PhD in 2008 on ‘Safety and Security as Part of the Hotel Servicescape for Meeting Planners’ (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233203682_Safety_and_Security_as_Part_of_ the_Hotel_Servicescape_for_Meeting_Planners) concluded that ‘visible safety features’ along with ‘documentation and staff training’ had a significant and positive impact on actual hotel selection and meeting planners willingness to pay more for a hotel with a safety and security certification. Having a safety and security rating displayed clearly is the need of the hour to encourage travelers to venture out of the safety of their homes. Most of the starred hotel chains, world over, have incorporated procedures to ensure safety and security and are incorporating measures to conform to the guidelines issued by WHO and governments in respect of measures to safeguard against COVID-19. They ensure the same by conduct of surprise checks/ audits undertaken through inhouse efforts as well as through conduct of third-party safety and security audits. The economically viable options like Oyo, Zolostays, FabHotels etc., also need to ensure the safety and security to remain viable. The star ratings elude to a competent safety and security establishment even though it is not specifically depicted by any rating, nor it is corroborated by any form of external certification; the other hotels/ stays in the market do not have any recourse to claim their safety and security status. Hence, there is an emergent need to have a safety and security rating/ certification by an external agency to help the travelers decide on a place to stay and understand the associated risks. The online travel agents (OTAs) like MakeMyTrip, Expedia, Cleartrip, Yatra, Trip Advisor, Booking.com etc. could help in assisting the customers make an informed decision by displaying the safety and security ratings. Needless to say, even the starred hotels could do with safety and security rating/ certification to further ensure the trust of the travelers/ customers. The challenge off course is to have a standardised format for safety and security, which cuts across different size and types of hotels, so as to enable availability of a common point or level rating system. There is a lot of work which has happened in this field. One such pioneering firm is Sky Touch Global, Australia, which has standardised the safety and security requirements and aligned them with existing threats/ risks inclusive of risks associated with COVID-19, and at the same time ensuring compliance with mandatory requirements. The designed system clearly communicates the safety and security levels of a hotel which enables decision making for the traveler. It also acts as a marketing tool for the hotels, both starred and non-starred, whilst ensuring safety and security for the traveler, considering various safety and security scenarios that exist…

  Open video management systems (VMS) is the preferred choice today for video surveillance as they are independent of proprietorship and closed solutions. This has led to VMS platforms integrating feature-rich software that provides a high level of control and functionality designed to make end users’ lives easier. IP-based cameras record the footages and share it with a network that is connected via the internet. IP cameras are the outputs of the Internet of Things (IoT) revolution. Understanding IP-cameras IP is internet protocol and hence IP-devices can be connected to any network of the IoT. Any electronic device that is connected to the IoT network, which can connect with a server and exchange information in an internet network, has its own IP address. IP-cameras are fundamentally a digital video camera that can receive and send data via the Internet. IP-based cameras are not dependable on local recordings but require a LAN-connection to transmit and process data. Advantages of IP-based cameras I P-based surveillance comes with scalability, flexibility and cost-effectiveness. These qualities are crucial for its application in a wide range of industries. With an IP-based video surveillance setup, users can monitor and record video remotely using an IP network as the system’s backbone. IP video installations can then be deployed in any environment, and offer many benefits previously unavailable with analog CCTV systems. Remote monitoring An IP surveillance system makes it possible for security monitoring teams to remotely view live camera feeds from any computer, mobile or handheld device with internet access. Additionally, the recorded surveillance footage can be stored at remote locations. Scalability IP-based cameras do not require cables as it is not connected to any physical computer device to function. Hence, it is easier to expand the network of surveillance in any location or even multi-locations, together in the same network. Storage capabilities Since network cameras capture digital video images, large amounts of footage can be stored on servers, where archived video can be quickly accessed and searched. In comparison to analog systems where video was stored on VHS cassette tapes, this is much more efficient. Application and features of IP-based surveillance I P-based surveillance cameras are a part of the VMS that serves the purpose of live viewing, recording, and retrieving of video footage. IP cameras support advanced motion detection, audio recording, and integration with other security systems – alarms, automated licence plate reading, facial recognition technologies etc, can auto-generate alerts itself and can also be used as a video analytics device for edge computing. For instance, IP-based camera can fire an alarm, if an individual is seen to leave a package or luggage in a public place like in a busy lobby, in the bus stop or inside the metro. With its sophisticated features, IP-based cameras have been helpful in solving several issues that are crucial in certain industries. For example, in the retail industry, there have been several concerns about mischievous employees indulging in widespread fraudulent money transactions that has led to the leakage of large amount of revenue annually. IP-based video surveillance system here has been successful in solving this, by electronically linking all transactions together with video recordings of the actions. All the information is stored in a local database so the retailer can see all the events of any given transaction and conduct a search on different parameters. Integration with other surveillance technology The open platform VMS can integrate with other security systems such as automated license plate recognition (ALPR) and facial recognition systems, and a host of many others. The integrated systems provide real-time notifications and add a searchable database. It can be easily integrated with an IP video surveillance security system. Automated license plate recognition Analytics embedded into IP cameras can capture the image of a licence plate and convert the image to digitized computer data that can be compared to a database. This system can be broken down into four major components – image collection, image analysis, image and data storage and data transmission. These aides in enhancing security, enforce toll collection, compare license plates to a list, provide parking revenue management, and provide access control, and more. IP-based door access control I P camera system can be connected to doors at the entrance of commercial buildings and workplaces, where access to individuals can be controlled via VMS. IP-based door access systems provide better security and ease of management at a much lower cost than earlier technologies as unlike, traditional door access systems. IP access nullifies the need for expensive control panels, hardware connections, and separate administrative maintenance. These devices use Power-over-Ethernet (PoE), meaning it is powered by the network switch via the Ethernet cable, instead of the building power, providing a more flexible and scalable security system installation that does not depend on expensive hardware fittings and elaborate wiring connection. IP-based door access can use facial recognition tools and help in maximizing the safety and security in different security-crucial locations such as hospitals, schools, government, military, and other organizations. The camera will be able to read the face of the individual and after matching the data with the server, it will allow entry only to authorised individuals. IP cameras can also be connected to audio or video intercoms that are network-attached providing a completely integrated solution for the manual unlock of doors. Long-range and night vision cameras Dual sensor IP cameras with long-range cameras with PTZ functions can work at any lighting condition and can also function as thermal imaging and night-vision cameras. These cameras can detect, make visible objects that are miles away and in total darkness. There are also PTZ cameras with built-in infrared (IR) illumination that can be used to see about 600ft away. These IP cameras are used by the military to view borders, military operations, and rocket launches. Conclusion As IP-based surveillance is getting a lot smarter, the video surveillance as a service (VSaaS) market is also growing by USD 6.16 billion during the period of 2020- 2024. This will undeniably see…