Category: National

Bharat Diamond Bourse (BDB) is one of the largest and most sophisticated diamond centres in the world. With over 4,000 members engaged in import and export, trade, and marketing of rough and polished diamonds, BDB has created a business framework to conduct their transactions in maximum convenience and security. The bourse was set up for the primary objective of establishing necessary infrastructural facilities for promotion of export of diamonds including diamond jewellery from India and to provide for these purposes all support and service facilities to eventually make India an international trading centre for diamonds and gems and jewellery. Challenge: Complex infrastructure BDB is housed in a sprawling complex covering 20 acres with a constructed area of two million square feet. It includes two basements of additional one million square feet for car parking and utility services with 24×7 state-of-the-art security and surveillance system and has a dedicated, well-equipped quick response team for tackling crisis. Such a multi-purpose and safety-critical premise fundamentally requires a state-of-the-art security and surveillance infrastructure. The bourse has a daily footfall of over 70,000+ people coming from all over for diamond trading and it houses critical plant operation. To address this scale of activities efficiently round the clock, it was crucial for BDB to maintain utmost security and safety for people and property. “We were looking for something that is more than security cameras and analog monitoring. The diamond industry requires the highest standards of security and safety and with a more advanced and open VMS surveillance system, we are raising the bar for security standards. Milestone was what we were looking for to help control the security of the entire premises,” commented Samir Jha, Head Security & Fire Safety, BDB. “The platform proved to be very user-friendly, not only in terms of installation and configuration, but also in terms of operation” The Milestone Systems solution: Openness and scalability To close all loops in security measures, BDB chose Milestone Systems, entrusting the open VMS platform with the high security and advanced surveillance BDB needed. On top of that, BDB also found that they were working with very user-friendly platform applications that suited every compliance requirement. “The best part of Milestone was the openness and scalability by which one can select any camera model or any other system on Milestone. The platform proved to be very user-friendly, not only in terms of installation and configuration, but also in terms of operation. It fulfilled all our requirements locally and onsite with high availability in terms of video data.” To their surprise, they also found that they were able to access the surveillance system on-the-go using smartphones and tablets. “The XProtect Mobile app has aided immediate access to the surveillance system on-the-go via smartphones and tablets. Through the app, our security team who goes out patrolling every day can now view, play-back and export videos, listen to audio clips and speak through the camera, as well as respond to access control requests and receive push notifications regarding events that can be triggered as alarms directly to a mobile device. Certain other features like MAPs, Smart Wall, Carousel View, and Matrix etc. are also very helpful in proactive monitoring,” said Walter Crasto, Head IT, BDB. With a huge area to cover, it took BDB around two years to install 3,500 Plus Cameras. They are looking forward to doubling these installations and have them integrated with the access control system (ACS) and video analytics (VA) system. Result: Improved recovery rate The recovery of stolen diamonds is notable in an industry where the overall recovery rate for stolen diamonds is low. In 2020, BDB had a 100% recovery rate of precious stones and other properties, thanks largely to Milestone’s assisted video technology. There will always be people who are looking to take our diamonds. But now with Milestone System’s open VMS, they are going to find it a lot more challenging. Even our lost diamonds are eventually returned. “BDB is also glad to contribute to the community, by assisting the Mumbai city police to monitor road safety of surrounding areas with the assistance of the Milestone’s open VMS platforms. We are raising the bar for security standards. Milestone was what we were looking for to help control the security of the entire premises,” said Samir Jha.  

FSAI conducted the 5th edition of FIST Awards on 27th August 2021 in a very unique and innovative style. FIST is a part of FSAI Mahayatra. It was the first time when all 21 Chapters of FSAI hosted the ceremony physically, following COVID protocol. The ceremony was conducted simultaneously across all the chapters and attended by more than 2000 people. FSAI leaders and eminent personalities from every chapter graced the event with their benign presence. The convener of FIST Awards 2021, Ankur Gupta, spoke to us in detail and shared the list of winners. He expressed his gratitude towards the Jury of the Awards and praised the effort of the entire FSAI team for making this show a success. He also acknowledged the mammoth support extended by all the sponsors to make this show happen. FIST Awards 2021 witnessed the highest number of entries compared to its previous editions, which clearly represents the increasing popularity of the Awards in the Fire & Security Industry. This year FIST had 31 awardees among 24 categories, including Special Recognition to Frontline Warriors. The evening started with Sanjeev Tiwari from PwC explaining the process adhered to judge the winners. He also introduced esteemed Jury members and shared how tuff it was for them to arrive at the winners because of the high quality of nominations. Thereafter the winners in every category were announced.  

A Fortinet 2021 Cloud Security Report survey conducted by Cybersecurity Insiders found that cloud security concerns among cybersecurity professionals remains high as the adoption of public cloud computing continues to surge in the wake of the pandemic and the resulting massive shift to remote work. Organizations continue to rapidly migrate workloads from data centres to the cloud, and the trend has been accelerating during the recent Covid pandemic. The report indicates that 33% of organizations are running more than half of their workloads in the cloud today, and that number is set to rise to 56% in the next 12-18 months. Multi-cloud adoption is very much the norm as organizations were found to be operating in an expanded and diverse digital landscape. 71% of organizations are pursuing a hybrid or multi-cloud strategy as cloud is the preferred choice for integration of multiple services, scalability, or business continuity reasons. 76% of organizations are using two or more cloud providers and hybrid still accounts for more than one-third of the deployments. Rajesh Maurya Regional Vice President, India & SAARC at Fortinet “Organizations are grappling with a diverse set of tools that deliver disparate controls and highly variable security posture, specific to each cloud platform. Deeply integrated, cloud-native solutions can bridge this complexity by providing visibility, protection and control through consistent policies that span the diverse array of multi-cloud and hybrid cloud environments. A common security framework not only delivers uniform security posture, it also simplifies cyber defense, compliance reporting and data sharing. With this approach organizations can freely adopt whichever cloud platform that suits their particular needs, confident that their data and applications will be safe, resilient and secure” Among the key barriers to faster cloud adoption, survey participants mentioned lack of visibility (53%), lack of control (46%), lack of staff resources or expertise (39%), and high cost (35%) as the most significant negative factors. Misconfiguration of cloud security remains the biggest security risk according to 67% of cybersecurity professionals in the survey. This is followed by exfiltration of sensitive data (59%) and tying at 49% are unauthorized access and insecure interfaces/ APIs. Multi-cloud environments add complexity and security challenges as organizations are most concerned with data protection (58%) followed by a lack of security skills (57%) and understanding how different solutions fit together (52%). Seventy-eight percent of surveyed cybersecurity professionals would find it very helpful to extremely helpful to have a single cloud security platform offering a single dashboard while allowing for configuration of policies to protect data consistently and comprehensively across the cloud. When asked how organizations source their cloud security, the vast majority said they prefer cloud native security (74%). This is followed by third-party cloud security solutions (48%) and managed service providers delivering security services (34%).  

Hikvision India has introduced a product introduction and training series called ‘Tech-Knowledge Talk’ on PRAMA India App platform. The recently concluded introductory part of ‘Tech-Knowledge Talk’ was focused on newly launched Hikvision Webcam product introduction and training. This event got very good response from the regional distributor (RDs) and sub regional distributors (SRDs) from the Gujarat region. This was the premiere of Hikvision’s ‘Tech-Knowledge Talk’ LIVE session series. In this live session, Hikvision’s product experts discussed about the latest range of Hikvision Webcam. They presented the market potential of webcam, features and applications of Hikvision Webcam range. This session was for Gujarat’s SRDs and RDs. It was an insightful and engaging session where viewers participated in the live quiz competition and won prizes as well. “We are happy to premiere the Hikvision’s ‘Tech-Knowledge Talk’ LIVE online session series. These online sessions are helpful to evangelize new products and technologies, they develop the product knowledge and technology awareness among regional distributor (RD) and sub regional distributors (SRDs) community. We hope these sessions are helpful to enhance the skills and knowhow of installers, system integrators and security professionals,” said Ashish P. Dhakan, MD & CEO, Prama Hikvision India Pvt. Ltd. Tech-Knowledge Talk Series Part 01 “To provide immersive video conferencing and streaming experiences, users need webcams that deliver high-resolution imaging and excellent-quality sound in a range of scenarios. Hikvision has designed and developed its new webcam range to meet this need. It is applicable in remote education, video conferencing and live broadcasting scenarios,” said Bhavin Chauhan, Assistant Vice President (AVP) Sales- IT Products, Prama Hikvision India Pvt. Ltd. He further added, “The Hikvision value series have a compact design, making them perfect for online education applications that connect school teachers and students. The webcam comes with a built-in microphone, which incorporates advanced algorithms to reduce noise and improve sound quality. Its wide-angle lens provides maximum coverage, with no image distortion. This is particularly useful for teachers giving lessons in a classroom, where both the teacher and the blackboard, or wall-mounted screen, can be viewed clearly in a single frame.” “Hikvision webcams are driver-free, offering ‘plug and-play’ installation via a standard USB interface. This allows users to begin conferencing or streaming in seconds. Hikvision webcams can also be flexibly mounted on users’ equipment, on tables, laptops, monitors, or tripods. Importantly, Hikvision webcams are equipped with a dedicated PC-based client software, called HIKIN. Users can use this software for video previews, and to configure image and sound parameters,” said Vinit Narvekar, Manager- Customer Trainings, Prama Hikvision India Pvt. Ltd. The product introduction and training series ‘Tech-Knowledge Talk’ on PRAMA India App platform was jointly conducted by Bhavin Chauhan, and Vinit Narvekar. The next session of ‘Tech-Knowledge Talk’ on PRAMA India App platform will be announced shortly.  

Bosch Building Technologies, a global player in the security market, recently announced a global partnership with Idemia, a provider of augmented identity, adding a reliable biometric layer to access control. Due to a growing security awareness in companies, they no longer want to rely on ID badges only for their access control systems. After all, ID badges could be stolen. Biometrics, based on personal, physiological, unforgeable characteristics, provide the highest degree of certainty that the person passing the door is a genuine authorized employee.  A strong offering for high level security solutions Bosch Building Technologies offers a robust and reliable software solution that manages different Bosch security subsystems like access control, video surveillance, fire alarm, public address and intrusion systems on one single platform, the Bosch Building Integration System (BIS). In order to add a biometric layer, Bosch has integrated Idemia’s range of biometric devices into the Bosch Building Integration System (BIS). In addition to the integration with BIS, Bosch included Idemia’s flagship contactless biometric terminals to their access control offering: MorphoWave™ is a terminal capable of scanning and verifying 4 fingerprints in less than 1 second through a quick and touchless wave movement of the hand. VisionPass is an advanced facial recognition terminal combining 2D, 3D and infrared cameras with facial algorithms. Sigma Lite Series is a range of entry-level, touchless fingerprint terminals. These terminals combine high biometric accuracy, speed and convenience with a fully touchless user experience. They operate efficiently with sanitary masks, and are therefore well adapted for Covid-prevention policies. The terminals are integrated with most gates and turnstile vendors. This will greatly facilitate deployments in Bosch specific markets with a focus on commercial buildings, industrial and logistics sites, government premises and airports/ seaports. “Bosch stands for quality and reliability. We want to offer innovative and fascinating solutions, as our slogan ‘invented for life’ states. When our customers are going to deploy biometric terminals for their security, they will be installed for years so we want to offer them the best option,” explained Gregor Schlechtriem, Senior Vice President Bosch Building Technologies Business Unit Access & Intrusion, “Idemia is therefore for us the right partner because of their technology expertise and field-proven quality and performances.” “We are delighted to start this global partnership with Bosch,” commented Yves Portalier, EVP Biometric Devices and Automotive at Idemia, “The combination of our biometric devices with the BIS platform will be a strong offering for companies looking for a high level of security and user convenience.”  

iValue InfoSolutions, India’s premium technology aggregator, recently announced their teaming up with Parablu, Inc, an award-winning new-age cloud data protection solutions provider for enterprises. Their privacy-focused, scalable and cost-effective solutions include support for endpoint and SaaS backup, enterprise file collaboration and secure file transfer capabilities. “Cloud, data centers and with many other viable options to save the massively collected data, many organizations believe that they don’t have to worry much about the backup. But this is not the case, there is always a safety switch in any mechanism and backup solutions for endpoint, SaaS are some of the options provided by Parablu, Inc. iValue recognizes the need for having a strong backup solution that strengthens an organization’s capacity to function and come back, if in any case there has been a loss of data. While many may have moved towards cloud or DCs, affordability is also a parameter that needs to be considered, and for those small to midsize organizations, a strong backup is the key. Which is why we believe iValue’s customers will benefit from this alliance” Amarjeet Singh Manchanda Vice President, Data Centre and Cloud Business at iValue InfoSolutions iValue aims at optimizing, protecting and transforming digital assets of organizations. To bring in modernization, iValue helps organizations craft and develop infrastructure solutions, spanning the entire gamut of enterprise IT infrastructure needs. With iValue’s help, many organizations have reimaged their IT infrastructure smartly, efficiently and effectively. They help in managing, monitoring and analysing performance in data recovery and business continuity management. Now more than ever, organizations need assistance and guidance in getting upgraded securely for the operations to continue. iValue’s focused, pan-India partner network, has helped to target specific partners of relevance based on its top customers and top brands. Being a premier enabler, iValue has endured to consistently partner with the right mix of widespread and niche technology providers, to help customers in their transformational journey. “iValue’s expertise in security and storage offerings combined with Parablu’s capabilities for secure data management empowers enterprises to defend themselves against ransomware and insider threat attacks, while also achieving regulatory compliance. In this current climate of heightened awareness around data protection and security, this partnership is sure to change the current data management landscape. Joining hands with iValue is a key milestone in our strategy to offer worldclass data management solutions and I couldn’t be more excited about it” Subash Baliga  Vice-President, Sales at Parablu Parablu has served as a catalyst in several of their customers’ cloud migration strategies by providing secure data management solutions that help organizations use cloud storage with confidence. Parablu’s unique integration with end-user storage subscriptions like Microsoft OneDrive for Business and Google Drive also radically helps lower the total cost of ownership for data protection solutions.  

Videonetics, world’s leading AI & DL powered Unified Video Computing Platform (UVCP™) development company, announced that its AI powered Intelligent VMS 3.0 (IVMS) is now ONVIF Profile ‘Q’ compliant that allows easy set-up mechanism and basic configuration of IP cameras over the network, directly from the IVMS. It also supports transport layer security (TLS), secure communication protocol that allows ONVIF devices themselves to communicate with clients across a network in a way that protects against tampering and eavesdropping. Building on more than a decade of R&D in the domain of video computing, computer vision, artificial intelligence and machine learning based technologies, Videonetics Intelligent VMS 3.0 delivers next generation user interface, military-grade security, rugged with unprecedented levels of high availability and a future ready solution, for any size of deployment across various industry verticals such as smart & safe cities, critical infrastructure, industrial, mass transit, education, healthcare and retail to name a few. Tuhin Bose VP & CTO, Videonetics “Adding ONVIF ‘Q’ compliance to our existing S, G and T certifications is an achievement for us. By having new ONVIF standard in our Intelligent VMS 3.0, users can avail the benefit of secured communication between our VMS and ONVIF Q compliant devices. It also empowers users for quick discovery and basic configuration of profile Q conformant IP cameras or network devices using IVMS 3.0, hence streamlining set-up and deployment process without needing to access configuration settings of individual devices. Videonetics is committed to continue adopting open standards for better interoperability and openness“   It encompasses multiple video computing services in a unified, homogenous software architecture platform and goes beyond mere ‘capture-record-display’ generation of video management. Videonetics has been ranked #1 video management software provider in India, and among the top 5 in Asia (IHS/ Informa Tech Research). ONVIF® is a global and open industry forum that is committed to standardizing communication between IP-based physical security products to ensure their interoperability and to facilitate their integration. ONVIF was established in 2008 to develop a global open standard for IP-based physical security products. Membership is open to manufacturers, software developers, consultants, system integrators, end-users and other interest groups that wish to participate in the activities of ONVIF.  

Tata Teleservices, country’s leading digital services provider has teamed up with Zoom Video Communications, Inc., the world’s leading frictionless video-first communications platform to offer an intuitive, scalable, and secure communications solution to enterprises and individuals alike. Tata Teleservices will leverage Zoom’s robust and secure platform to address the growing collaboration requirements of enterprises for seamless unified communications. Fragmented communication and the resultant loss of productivity are problems most enterprises are facing with extended periods of remote working and time away from the office. Work-from-anywhere and flexible working are going to become more commonplace moving forward and simple yet powerful, video conferencing solutions will be an integral part of making the transition into the post-pandemic workplace a success. Video communications is shaping the future of the workplace and Zoom is leading the way with its innovative, simple to use, scalable and intuitive communications platform. As a progressive digital enabler, Tata Teleservices has deep understanding of customer needs in the enterprise segment and this partnership will bring Zoom’s world-class communications platform services such as Zoom meetings, Zoom webinars among others to enterprises of all sizes enabling them to collaborate effectively within their teams and partners in India and globally. Tata Teleservices and Zoom will address the unified communications needs of enterprise customers, especially SMEs across the country. The partnership will endeavor to provide solutions which will help drive customer agility, efficiency, and most importantly, happiness. Organizations across industry segments such as banking and financial services, healthcare, IT-enabled businesses, and education will now have access to one-stop unified communications solutions backed by Tata Teleservices highly acclaimed 24/7 managed service support capabilities and trust. Elaborating on the partnership, Vishal Rally, Senior Vice President – Product & Marketing, Tata Teleservices said, “At Tata Teleservices, we encourage businesses to have a ‘digital first’ mindset and take to them solutions that accelerate and improve their customer experience. We are happy to collaborate with Zoom to offer enterprises a seamless and superior unified video communications experience on our state-of the-art, high-capacity digital connectivity network. We are delighted to be Zoom’s preferred partner in India and look forward to introducing more of their innovative collaboration solutions to the Indian market.” Sameer Raje, General Manager & Head of India, Zoom, added, “We are excited to partner with Tata Teleservices and offer their growing customer base our highly intuitive, secure and all-inclusive video-first communications platform that enables them to have cross-functional meetings spanning continents in real time. Zoom is invested in and committed to India, and we are very proud to help many Indian businesses, hospitals, academia, and other organizations stay connected. Together with Tata Teleservices’ robust network and reach, we plan to provide a world-class video communications experience and extend our footprint in India, while meeting the new and constantly changing needs of the local market.” Tata Teleservices and Zoom’s Video Communications platform offers a host of unique features like live video, streaming of video webinars for up to 50,000 viewers, include one click access, video, voice, content sharing, recording, virtual backgrounds, company branding, multi-layer security, and meeting participation of up to 1000 people on video from locations across the globe. Tata Teleservices has leveraged its deep customer expertise and has taken several initiatives in the recent times to empower enterprises with innovative and reliable solutions that significantly boost their competitiveness. The company has strengthened its portfolio of enterprise grade solutions such as Smartflo, SmartOffice, Ultra-Lola, smart internet leased line, collaboration solutions, IoT, data management, and cyber security solutions across industries. These solutions appropriately ad[1]dress the needs arising out of a distributed and remote working environment and enable customers to maintain business continuity in a flexible, scalable, and secure manner.  

Grene Robotics has designed and developed India’s first 100% indigenous unified, distributed and wide-area autonomous drone defence dome called Indrajaal. Indrajaal will protect a large area of 1000-2000sq.km. per system against threats such as UAV’s, Incoming Weapons, Loitering Munitions, Low RCS targets autonomously. Grene Robotics has developed extensive AC6ISRT capabilities in the form of Defence OS over an 8 year of R&D journey backed by decades of system development experience for the armed forces. Grene Robotics advisory board consists of Retired Defence Scientific Advisor, Deputy Chief of Army Staff, BEL Director and Air Force veteran who was instrumental for designing India’s most comprehensive command and control system for the Indian Air Force called IACCS. Why is this critical?  India must stop adopting reactive measures and embark on responsive and autonomous systems to be prepared for modern warfare. Manual weapons and point based defence systems cannot fight modern warfare driven by AI and robotics. For the first time in India and many times globally rogue forces have adopted cutting-edge technologies such as UAV’s, Smart Swarms etc. Jammu Air Base on June 27th was attacked by such technologies to drop explosives next to Mi-17 hangar. PLA is already toying with advanced weaponry in Western Theatre Command (WTC) tasked with military operations against India along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). Drones are being used to train the infantry to conduct beyond visual line of sight targeting. The PLA also developed a high-altitude and high-speed armed drone, the WJ-700, in 2021. In 2020, it introduced armed robots, and in 2021, reconnaissance robots, in its military exercises. Limitation of current deployments Point defence Anti-UAV systems will not be able to counter and protect large defence bases, NCR and linear infrastructure like international borders and such sensitive areas against afore mentioned threats. A minimum of 300 systems are required to be deployed to protect the entire western border and this is financially not a viable option. On the contrary 6-7 sectorally deployed Indrajaal systems with their seamless connectivity can protect the entire western border. How does Indrajaal work  Autonomous defence/ weapon systems is the 3rd revolution of the warfare and Indrajaal’s design principles are based on delivering such autonomy to the defence forces leveraging a combination of 9-10 modern technologies powered by artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and robotics that is capable of identifying, assessing, deciding, acting and evolving autonomously in real-time. Whether the threat is single or multiple or a combination of UAVs, Low-RCS, loitering munitions and such, Indrajaal is capable of countering all such threats. Real-time situational awareness. Distributed, decentralised and mobile. Integrated and intelligent meshed network. Ability to integrate with all current weapons suite and infrastructure. Honeycombed cell structure seamlessly built over a combination of 9-10 technologies . 24x7x365 persistent and autonomous monitoring, tracking and action. Wg Cdr MVN Sai (Retd), CEO Defence, Grene Robotics said, “I urge the defence leadership to take an integrated and comprehensive approach against all the UAVs, loiter ammunition swarm drones and low RCS threats with indigenously developed autonomous defence systems. Conventional defences will be overwhelmed in a swarm attack scenario and an AI enabled autonomous dome with its own ecosystem of sensors and processing is the way forward. The process of establishing a fully functional system is an evolutionary process and needs technology vision and user involvement.” Earlier this year Grene Robotics announced their partnership with (BEL) to jointly develop first-of-its-kind autonomous air defence technology, bringing India on par with the best autonomous defence systems of the world. They believe that technology augments human capability, not replace it. The answer to some of the greatest challenges faced by humanity can be found in nature. What is stopping from learning from them is the lack of tools to transfer knowledge from nature to human design. At Grene Robotics they are leveraging artificial intelligence, machine learning and cognitive computing to building future autonomous technologies that can self-learn and self-adapt to foster mankind’s vision towards a better planet. They believe autonomy is the future and they are delivering it NOW. They put in over 12 years of R&D to build Grene Robotics. Today, they are an innovation-led, robust, cutting-edge technology organisation that delivers autonomy as a service, augmenting human capabilities. Their solutions are helping Governments and organisations across the globe to run efficiently.