As we ease into the New Year, there are several technology trends to watch. The Internet of Things has been on the radar for some time now, and more and more devices are becoming connected.
In terms of security, network IP cameras are nothing new. However, the influence of IoT and other technologies is having an interesting impact on security and surveillance. Here’s what we can expect, or hope for, in 2016.
IoT
As mentioned, the IoT devices remain in the spotlight. In terms of security, IoT-based systems will need to provide easy installation and maintenance, while catering to the specific needs of the user.
With an IoT-based security system, you may be able to incorporate other unrelated devices for an all-encompassing system. Combine your video surveillance with things like smoke detectors, gas sensors, or access control panels to monitor your home or property. Also, the IoT will enable video surveillance to expand its applications far beyond loss prevention. For example, your network IP cameras can be used to analyze traffic patterns and crowd behaviors in real-time.
However, as we continue to connect and share video and data over our networks, we must also think about reinforcing our network and cyber security.
Security as a Service
The Cloud is making its mark and will begin to play a more important role in security and surveillance. Not only can businesses utilize Security as a Service, where systems are managed remotely, but the Cloud offers more secure and cost-effective data storage. Archived video and data can be stored longer while being easily accessible as necessary.
Big Data
Thanks to security cameras and surveillance, video is becoming the fastest growing type of data. Aside from security purposes, surveillance video can be used for business intelligence. We can expect to see improvements for video management systems (VMS) to search and filter big data for relevant footage or information.
Wireless
Going wireless has played a significant role in our everyday lives already (ex. mobile phones and Wi-Fi). The same convenience has been applied to security systems, as whole security networks can be managed remotely through mobile phone and devices. Complicated software on stationary PCs is no longer necessary, making it easier for businesses to employ a more affordable and convenient security solution.
Details
We want everything to look sharp and clear, which is why technology continues to improve megapixel resolutions and technology. Some existing trends include the 4K ultra HD, which offers four times the resolution of HDTV 1080p. While analog CCTV cameras may work for some, most others will be attracted to the new and improved technologies and devices.
Analytics
In the coming year, we will also see an increased use of video analytics, for both security and business use. Video surveillance will expand its repertoire, becoming useful for more industries such as advertising and marketing.
Do you have any technology or surveillance predictions for 2016? Share your thoughts with us on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest.
For great prices on quality security cameras, CCTV surveillance equipment, and more, visit us online or call 1-888-203-6294 to speak with us directly.
Going away for the holidays? Be sure your home is safe and secure while you’re away. Follow these home security tips to minimize your chances of being targeted by thieves.
Another way to secure your home is to install surveillance cameras. You can keep an eye on your property in real time with a high quality security camera system from SecurityCamExpert.com. Browse our selection of security cameras and surveillance equipment online, or call 1-888-203-6294 to speak with a representative directly. Don’t forget to ask about our installation services, too!
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New technologies are always emerging, and consequently, businesses can benefit in many ways. One of the benefits comes in the form of improved video surveillance. New imaging technologies help to enhance our monitoring capabilities. Discover the different ways that these new technologies can impact business surveillance for the better.
Situational Awareness
In order to cover a large area, businesses may opt to install multiple cameras. However, the implementation of numerous cameras can become costly. Using PTZ (Pan/Tilt/Zoom) cameras can be helpful, but over time, coordinates may become inaccurate and, thus, ineffective.
However, things like panoramic cameras, increased megapixel resolution, and digital PTZ help to improve image quality and viewing range for more comprehensive monitoring. Surveillance video becomes more effective with the use of video analytics and smart motion detection. As a business, you are able to extract useful customer information and be alerted of unusual activity.
Applications
These new technologies improve both indoor and outdoor surveillance. In the case of varying backlight conditions (ex. near entrances or windows), there is wide dynamic range (WDR) and super dynamic range (SSDR) to enable better images. With optical zoom, digital image stabilization, and even fisheye cameras, security cameras are able to capture more. The fisheye cameras are especially helpful in transportation as they can oversee passengers or watch the road ahead. The distorted images can be adjusted for different views and angles.
Cost
Budgets are always a concern, so when it comes to security systems, users look at the total cost of ownership (TCO) and return on investment (ROI). With so many options available, and more emerging frequently, it’s hard to determine which is best for your business. When deciding between upgrading to a full IP system or a hybrid system, it may be wise to go with the latter. Hybrid systems enable you to utilize your existing equipment while trying out new equipment. The new 1280H analog security cameras boast CMOS megapixel sensors and may be reason enough to choose a hybrid surveillance system.
Integration
With advanced technology comes compatibility with a number of third-party apps to enhance your system. There’s an app for nearly anything you can think of, and if there isn’t, it won’t be long. With that said, if your surveillance system is missing features and functions that you wish you had, you can find apps that enable these functions and are compatible with your system. Aside from adding to your system, apps can help with analytics, alerts, and business strategies.
Have you taken advantage of these new technologies yet? How has your business benefited from it? Share your experiences with us on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, or Pinterest.
For a great selection of CCTV system packages, security cameras, and more, visit us online or give us a call at 1-888-203-6294.
Hospitals work hard to ensure that they provide a clean and safe environment for patients, visitors, and staff alike. From emergency room visits to hospital admissions, safety precautions are in place to protect everyone involved in the process. While these safety measures are valuable and mostly effective, the addition of security camera technologies can have a positive, lasting impact.
Introducing closed-circuit televisions (CCTV) in hospital and health care settings helps to enhance the safety of patients and workers. One obvious benefit is that being monitored often influences behavior for the better. Workers will be more conscious of their job, helping to eliminate potentially life-threatening mistakes. Unfortunately, unintended retention of foreign objects (URFOs) and hospital acquired infections (HAIs) occur more than they should. However, with video surveillance, these instances can be greatly minimized.
Another useful tool is third-party remote video auditing (RVA). Real-time RVA can help to ensure that hand hygiene and surgical safety checklists are being properly performed and executed. The cleaning techniques of medical devices must be done thoroughly and correctly to minimize the transmission of germs. For example, improperly cleaned duodenoscopes helped fuel the outbreak of carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae (CRE) infections earlier this year. With real-time RVA, cleaning and sanitation techniques can be monitored to ensure that another outbreak does not occur.
RVA technology introduced into the ER can increase patient flow to intensive care units (ICU), labor and delivery/C-section areas, and endoscopy. The ability to monitor protocols, address issues, and improve patient services will eventually lead to happier, healthier patients and more lives saved.
What are your thoughts on video surveillance technologies being used in hospitals or other health care settings? Share with us on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest!
If you’re looking for security cameras for your home or business, visit us online to browse our stock. If you have any questions or would like to make a phone order, please call 1-888-203-6294.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-aronson/video-surveillance-can-sa_b_8371392.html
As you’ve probably noticed, biometric technology is slowly but surely making its way into our lives. More commonly used for authentication purposes, biometrics measure and analyze a variety of body characteristics. From automatic face-tagging on social media to thumbprint passwords on our smart devices, it’s likely that these technologies will continue to advance and afford us new and exciting experiences.
Of these biometric technologies, facial recognition seems to be the most promising. Facial recognition has come a long way and, in conjunction with information we already possess, will continue to refine its capabilities. Google has algorithms that can already match a child photo to the adult photo, while Facebook’s algorithms can recognize a person by hair style and body shape, sometimes without the presence of a face. The archives of driver’s license photos not only provide a focused, face forward picture with adequate lighting, but also identification information such as name and date of birth. The combination of these photos, plus photos from social media, which provide different angles and light conditions, allow for facial recognition technology to improve.
The proliferation of facial recognition technologies is fascinating, but you may wonder what exactly it may be used for. For business analytics, facial recognition can be a great asset. With customer information and behavior at the business’ fingertips, you, as the consumer, may get a more personalized experience. For example, based on your shopping history, they can determine which items you may prefer over others. And while ads can be bothersome, they are less so when they actually pertain to a product or service you are interested in.
Aside from retail, facial recognition can increase safety and security in public places such as amusement parks, sporting events, music festivals, or even in churches. Facial recognition allows authorities to identify and monitor attendees to these events and places. The goal is to spot any suspicious behaviors or possible threats before anything can happen.
As with any type of surveillance, privacy issues will arise. And as these technologies become more prevalent, regulations will need to be put into place. Those who may oppose this type of surveillance may solely be concerned with data collection, however, analysis of this data can afford us a great deal of information. Dangers will exist whether there is surveillance or not, but facial recognition and biometric technologies could give us the upper hand in capturing criminals or preventing crimes all together.
What are your thoughts on facial recognition or biometric technology in general? Do you think it will eventually be commonplace, or will it be met with heavy opposition? Share your thoughts with us on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Visit SecurityCamExpert.com for the best security and surveillance equipment and services. Want to learn more? Contact us at 1-888-203-6294.
The presence of security cameras often deters people from behaving badly and provides evidence if and when a crime occurs. Most businesses employ video surveillance for loss prevention purposes. However, as surveillance technologies get smarter, video surveillance can play a larger role.
Surveillance data can provide a wealth of information for different industries. For example, in retail, not only do security cameras help loss prevention, but surveillance footage can hold the key to increase sales and improve the shopping experience. Video surveillance data can replace “mystery shoppers” as a more effective avenue of collecting consumer data. For the transportation and shipping industry, surveillance analytics combined with RFID tags can help track cargo, lower operational costs and improve traffic flow.
To achieve such excellent benefits, businesses must seriously consider an effective storage solution. In order to get substantial results, studies must evaluate data over long periods of time, forcing business to get smarter about video surveillance data storage. When choosing the appropriate storage method, the main components to consider are performance, access, and cost.
Because high quality equipment can be costly, considering proper surveillance storage often goes by the wayside. This should not be the case if business analytics are your focus. For an effective system, your means for storage must be able to handle high traffic and high bandwidth without dropping data. If your cameras have high definition, the bandwidth load will only increase from there. For effective performance, your storage should be able to upload, process, and allow access as quickly as possible.
While you need a strong performing system, you must balance your cost. You can spend your entire budget on a storage system that can perform appropriately, but may lack functional organizational. On the other hand, you can cut costs by implementing more affordable means of storage, but again, organizing and accessing this data can become a nightmare.
Your best bet when it comes to storage would be to employ a high-performance, tiered-storage infrastructure that can be managed as a single system. A tiered structure allows data to be stored as a cost-effective medium. The files will be stored based on user defined policies, allowing you to be in total control of your data. Costs are lowered and data is analyzed more effectively.
Business analytics of surveillance data can afford your business with a multitude of benefits. But you can only capitalize on these benefits with an effective storage system. Pay close attention to your options and evaluate your needs before making a final decision.
Are you considering or currently implementing business analytics to your surveillance data? Share your experiences with us on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Want to estimate how much storage you will need for you system? Looking for affordable security cameras and equipment? Visit us online at SecurityCamExpert.com or give us a call at 1-888-203-6294.
Security cameras are great for monitoring areas and deterring crime. But how can video analytics take surveillance a step further?
In the beginning, the promise of video analytics and its capabilities caught the attention of many, but sadly, its performance fell short. But over time, these technologies have improved and video analytics are now offered more confidently. Features such as heat mapping and license plate recognition are delivering what they promise and consumers are pleased with the outcomes. Consequently, security cameras and video analytics are finding themselves more useful than ever in different environments.
For retailers, security cameras provide many benefits. Not only do they help to prevent shoplifting, but are also allowing business owners the ability to analyze customer behaviors in relation to traffic, shopping patterns, and more. Luckily, with these advancements comes a system that is easier to use and deploy.
Video analytics can also help businesses improve their customer service by introducing more checkout personnel when lines get too long, or providing low inventory alerts so that stock can be replenished and customers can get what they need. Because this type of data and marketing metrics is ever useful for business owners, we will likely see an increase in demand and implementation for these types of video analytics.
As with any major purchase, it is wise to do research and find which solution works best for you and your needs. For those who are employing these technologies, how is it helping your business? Are you interested in utilizing video analytics for your business? Share your thoughts and experiences with us on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest.
For your security and surveillance needs, choose SecurityCamExpert.com. Browse our selection online or give us a call 1-888-203-6294.
When residents voice concerns about safety, it’s important for authorities to listen and take action. In Rancho Cordova, that’s exactly what they did. Public surveillance has been put into place to help curb crime rates and keep residents safe.
Authorities have implemented a public surveillance system which seems to be working and well liked by most residents. There are warning signs and surveillance cameras that are clearly visible in public areas, with more to come. Being so transparent with the surveillance allows these measures to positively influence people’s behavior. Knowing you are being watched often persuades people to be on their best behavior, abiding by rules and regulations to avoid any negative consequences.
But the key to the success of this public surveillance program is keeping a close watch on live feeds in real time. This allows authorities to become proactive, possibly preventing incidents from occurring, rather than reacting after the crime has occurred. In Rancho Cordova, the live feed is available to the police stations as well as officers in their vehicles. Live monitoring also allows for better reaction times, as officers can gauge the severity of situations and prioritize accordingly.
While some residents have raised privacy concerns, authorities assure them that these cameras are installed in public arenas, not in areas where there’s an expectation of privacy.
Does your neighborhood or city implement a similar system? Have you noticed a difference in your safety and crime rates? Share your experiences and opinions with us. Find us on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest.
For your own security and surveillance needs, visit SecurityCamExpert.com or give us a call at 1-888-203-6294. We carry a wide selection of security cameras, CCTV camera packages, surveillance equipment, and provide services such as installation, site surveys, technical support and more.
We are all too familiar with that panicked feeling you get when your mobile phone battery is in the red zone with no charger in sight, when our car batteries die at the most inopportune times and places, or when there is an unexpected power outage or blackout. We rely heavily on power sources for many things. But why not get our power and energy from what we already have and allow our devices to power themselves?
A team led by computer science professor Shree K. Nayar at Columbia University realized that an image sensor of a camera is capable of more. With lots of time, thought, and careful execution came the first self-powered camera. Running on its own power, this camera can produce an image each second, indefinitely.
Basically, how this works is that the image sensor not only works to capture the image, but at the same time generates power with the available light source. More technically, the photodiode measures the incidence light level to capture the picture and then converts that into electrical energy to continually power the camera.
Albeit, the image sensor produces a mere 30×40 pixels, but the amazing part is that as long as there is a light source, this camera can continue recording forever (ideally). When the camera is not in use, it can power other devices, like a watch or a phone. It can even take advantage of rechargeable batteries’ harvesting ability.
It is still in the early stages, but as this technology develops, it can change the way we power our security cameras and other devices. What are your thoughts on this topic? Share with us on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest.
For the best security cameras, CCTV camera packages, and equipment at affordable prices, visit SecurityCamExpert.com or call us at 1-888-203-6294. We’re always happy to help.
April is Distracted Driving Awareness Month, and as many of us know, texting and driving is extremely dangerous and against the law. Still, if you look around at other drivers, it’s likely you’ll find at least one person fumbling with their phone. Tickets have been issued, preventable accidents have occurred, but it doesn’t seem to be enough.
It is well known that security cameras and surveillance systems can help to keep your property safe, whether it is your business, home, or even public areas. But it seems surveillance is now being used to keep drivers and the roads safe, too.
We’ve all heard of car insurance companies offering “good driver” discounts. Definitions vary from company to company, but generally mean that your driving record stays relatively clean with no accidents. Now, thanks to advanced technology, car insurance companies are taking it a step further by employing voluntary driver-monitoring programs, also known as telematics or usage-based insurance surveillance. For example, Progressive is rolling out their Snapshot Program.
With this Snapshot program, customers voluntarily install a small box onto their steering wheel that collects data, which is then sent back to the company. This device tracks things like how many miles you drive, how often you drive during different times of the day, your braking patterns, and so on.
With their Snapshot telematics, they will analyze your driving habits and your rates will be determined as they see fit. But it seems this program isn’t only targeted toward “good drivers”. Those they deem “good drivers” will still be offered a discount, however, those who they deem as “bad” or aggressive drivers will be issued a surcharge, which is estimated to be no more than 10% of their current rate. Will this monetary punishment encourage drivers to be more cautious?
Share your thoughts on Progressive’s Snapshot program and overall driver surveillance with us. You can find us on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and Pinterest.
For security cameras, CCTV camera systems, and equipment, visit us online at www.SecurityCamExpert.com or give us a call at 1-888-203-6294. We’re always happy to help.