22 de abril de 2007
MAKING THE RIGHT PARTNERSHIPS
Awareness of IP surveillance (IPS) is growing, but penetration is very low, according to Thomas Leistiko, European sales manager for specialist IP camera management software firm, Milestone Systems. The reason, he claims, is that there is a shortage of people who can talk with any real knowledge about IPS.
"There is an enormous market to be had," he says. "But very few people can go out and talk about IPS and its business benefits, which is what you need to do. You don't talk surveillance and you don't talk technology, you talk business."
The need to acquire knowledge is the biggest challenge facing resellers, says Robert Veenis, business development manager at wireless networking vendor, Proxim.
"Security VARs have traditionally talked to security people or to the IT manager," he says. "Now we are saying that they have to deal with business people, and this is a different challenge."
CNL, according to James Condron, sales and marketing manager at the IPS integrator, was one of the first IT integrators that started to offer service, support and expertise to the security market. It seems to have been a good move: Condron says that the company's business has grown by more than 60 per cent in the past year. It has also been an education that did not happen overnight.
"Our business has enjoyed some significant growth over the past year," he says. "We have worked with partners to sell products and services, but we did not have the security background. We've recruited people who are capable of managing that dialogue. What we've done over the past five years is develop the currency of language to engage with security, the business and with IT. When you put these three elements together, it significantly supports the preparation of an intelligent response.
"We are also able to manage the risks of the business and support the security manager with their operational goals. It is a learning curve and VARs need to understand that it is significant. People don't employ security managers because they just need them to be there, they also have an active role in the organisation."
Terry Beale, director of channels at storage specialist EMC, says that requests for proposals that cover IPS are being increasingly drawn up jointly by security and IT staff.
"The tender is written by both parties," he says. "What's interesting is that some of those request-for-proposals have not come out of large, forward-thinking organisations. Instead, some of them are coming out of local authorities.
"If you are going to focus on a space as a reseller, pick one that is not too big and not too complex. Choose an area in which security and IT would probably know each other. Then you can start to drive security and IT together. If you see tenders coming out, it is starting to happen."
This is beginning to happen in the public sector, in retail and now in some commercial sectors, according to Condron.
"Where there is a good working environment and strong communication between security and IT, you can see some very significant advantages being delivered to the business through that dialogue," he says.
Tom Kneis, UK sales director of security solutions at distributor Anixter, claims that it boils down to convergence.
"If you go to a security manager, they talk the security language," he says. "If you go to the IT manager, they talk IT. Nine times out of 10 you've got to sit them both down and talk to them together. The issue for the end-user is about who they are confronted with. The end-user may hear about IPS, but if they go to a traditional analogue CCTV supplier who does not know about networking and the implications on the network, they are going to shy away from IPS."
Resellers may understand this and know how to get through to end-users. Kneis says the situation with IPS is very similar to voice and data convergence. Just as the telephony and IT people will need to be brought together, so will security and IT.
Dominic Bruning, marketing director EMEA for camera vendor Axis Communications, which has been in the market for 10 years, says that resellers must also recognise that they need to have an in-depth understanding of both security and IT. What has happened in the voice market seems to be happening in IPS: resellers from the data market are taking to IPS more readily, while many traditional CCTV suppliers are keeping their heads buried firmly in the sand.
"I have seen it many times where I have gone to a security installer and got a negative response," he says. "Why? It's the fear, uncertainty and doubt. It's because nothing has happened in their industry for 20 years. The technology is fundamentally the same and they are saying to themselves: 'Why should I have to learn all these new techniques? I don't see any opportunities. There's the door.'"
Bruning says that data networking integrators have a different attitude because they see an opportunity for incremental sales.
"When you sit with a salesperson who gets paid on storage and says, 'this is IPS, it creates bandwidth and you are going to need to store it', they respond to that," he says. "They see an incremental business opportunity. Although they may not take that step today, they are going to look and listen and keep their ear to the ground."
IT resellers are much more used to constant technological and market changes. In security, the only major transition in the past two decades has been the migration from VHS to digital video recorders.
Dominic Tee, business development leader in access control and IPS at distributor ADI-Gardiner Security, is not sure that traditional security businesses are going to be as slow to adapt, but he acknowledges that many remain unconvinced.
"Where we are seeing success stories is where networking and structured cabling providers are partnering with good security companies," he says.
However, Bruning believes that resellers with an IT background also have the edge.
"Partnerships are something that the security world has not done," he says. "In the IT world, everyone understands that you do what you do, we do what we do, and together we can solve a problem. You have open standards and ecosystems. Security is built around proprietary technologies. One box talking to another box, one manufacturer delivering end-to-end solutions. In the IT world it is about one company delivering one part but the total installation comes from many different suppliers."
Leistiko says that history is repeating itself. He agrees that data resellers are taking to the IP market much faster than security VARs. He also claims that there is a particular issue with luddite attitudes from the established UK CCTV community.
"You have an analogue mafia in the UK," he says. "Adoption to the new technologies here has been slightly slower than in mainland Europe, purely because the market is much more developed. There is nowhere in the world that has more cameras per person than the UK, where there is an enormous installed base."
To some extent, some inertia should be expected from the established players because they have been supplying proprietary CCTV systems to a willing market at margins of between 30 and 50 per cent. They are unlikely to try and drive the market towards IP too quickly.
According to Bruning, there are about four million CCTV cameras installed in the UK. This may make it harder to move the current user base, but it also shows that the UK market - more than any other - is already very convinced about the benefits of video surveillance. The opportunities should be significant over the next few years.
Simon Harris, research director for security at IMS Research, says that while the UK is very analogue-oriented at the moment, it is bound to move towards IP.
"When you think about it, that is a tremendous opportunity for codec sales," he says.
However, it is also important to understand that this installed base is not going to suddenly switch to IPS overnight, Condron adds.
"It is not necessarily going to be IPS at the expense of analogue," he says. "It is about sweating the existing analogue architecture, using it and protecting the client's return on investment by using the encoding and decoding technology that exists today from firms such as Axis. A lot of the tools are there that allow you to use analogue cameras and the network for the transport. I think we all agree that is the way forward."
This is key to end-users, Kneis says, but end-users also need to be made to understand that there is going to be a migration path, and that their investment can be protected while they adopt technology.
"It's about how end-users get their analogue cameras onto the network," he says. "That's what they need to understand because a lot of the time they are going to look at it and think: if I switch to IP, I am going to have to throw what I currently have away. This is not the case."
Bruning says there will be many hybrid IP solutions in its initial phase of adoption. This in itself will create opportunities to sell additional value in the form of video management software and storage at the back-end.
"Many projects will be able to handle both [analogue and digital]," he says. "Most of the large installations we have use encoders and blade servers to convert the video from existing cameras."
End-users need plenty of processing power and performance is needed for efficient decoding and encoding of video. The IPS and management applications need good and stable server platforms, he said.
In addition, the whole surveillance system is going to need protection from mains failure and from viruses. Where the footage is critical, backup and even contingency planning and disaster recovery will also be needed.
There is some evidence to suggest that the lines between security of IT assets and the security of physical locations are starting to blur in the minds of some users. This is causing more VARs with both IT and CCTV backgrounds to investigate IPS, according to John Turner, head of multimedia networking at specialist IT security products distributor Computerlinks (formerly Unipalm).
"We have had VARs contact us that are asked to go into organisations and perform security audits involving not just the physical surveillance and security, but also the general IT side," he says. "So I think there is some convergence happening."
It is quite common for the IP-adoption process to start when existing users of analogue systems want to add extra cameras and find that they have reached capacity on their current system. Moving from 16 to 17 cameras will mean buying an additional system capable of supporting another 16 cameras. IP is much more flexible and cost effective and it is very easy to add cameras at a later date. This is very appealing to existing CCTV users.
Harris believes the codec will play a key role in the move towards IP. Cameras are already very low cost and the price is likely to come down further. This will make hybrid solutions very attractive to users that already have analogue CCTV installed.
With markets converging in this way, the need for skills that bridge the gap between security and IT networking will be in demand. Probably the only way to deliver that combination will be to form partnerships. It's something CNL and other firms active in the market are already doing.
"We use the skill-sets of some very significant players in the IT industry that own the data network, the storage and the computing infrastructure," Condron says. "We partner with them, use our skills and disciplines to perform the risk assessment, deploy cameras and access control systems, then we hand the feeds over to the traditional installers.
"We are talking about significant storage infrastructures of perhaps 100 terabytes. These need to be managed by people that have that skill-set and can provide all the levels of support that are required to deploy it. That's where opportunities for partnerships potentially exist in this space."
As well as resellers with networking skills, partnerships with companies that have security expertise may also be useful for VARs that have IPS and security skills. For many IT resellers, such alliances may be the easiest way to break into this market.
Bruning says that VARs certainly can't do everything themselves. But he believes that many IT resellers may be wary of forming partnerships because they may be concerned about security or surveillance experts poaching their customers. Axis has first-hand experience of this. It put an IT reseller with an IPS opportunity in touch with a security expert who could do a site survey. Axis was told a few days later by the shocked IT VAR that the security expert had sold an analogue system to the customer.
Bruning says this is a perennial problem and one that is not exclusive to the IPS market. A number of vendors and resellers in the surveillance arena remain stubbornly focused on analogue solutions. They continue to market and sell them with little or no acknowledgment of the IP alternative.
Another familiar issue is the requirement for expert companies to come in and pick up the pieces of a poor implementation that has been performed by opportunist resellers.
Martin Parry, director at G1, which has a traditional CCTV background, says that his company has picked up a number of such maintenance contracts in recent months.
"You have to feel sorry for the end-user," he says. "They are getting conflicting advice and they must get completely confused."
The sudden arrival and widespread popularity of digital technologies in the IPS world has taken parts of the market by surprise. No matter how and when it is viewed - much is watched live for crime prevention - most footage taken by analogue cameras is converted using codecs and stored on hard disks. But many of the companies implementing this do not understand the technology well enough.
"It is scary because you are talking about serious pieces of IT equipment being installed by people who think they know what they are doing with it," Parry says.
While this kind of situation is always going to develop with new technologies, it illustrates that there is a need for well-trained organisations with skills in both IT and surveillance, or for good partnership arrangements in the market.
However, Tee says that not all CCTV installers are cowboys.
"There is still a place for the good traditional security installer," he says.
Condron agrees. "Traditional security installers do have a significant amount of value and we look to partner with both IT VARs and some of the UK's largest installers," he says. "Ultimately, these people have enormous service organisations and have a capability to service a significant amount of the customer requirement. But having the integration piece can make the difference to bids."
Veenis agrees and points out that, whatever their background, VARs have to show that they are competent. This is especially true now that video surveillance and other applications are being integrated right across the network. A problem with one system can affect everything else and a breakdown of the network means all applications will be down.
"It's the entire solution that makes it work," Veenis says. "All the applications can be working, but if the server is below specification the customer will not be happy."
Leistiko says that it is very important that resellers go through proper training and accreditation to demonstrate their capabilities.
This is perhaps better understood in the IT sector than it is by the resellers that have been selling analogue CCTV systems, Bruning says. Indeed, he adds that it is becoming increasingly important to understand all the security needs of customers, both physical and digital.
"These two are coming together," he says. "It does not really matter whether someone is coming over the firewall or through the front door; ultimately corporate assets are vulnerable. Security needs to be seen from a holistic perspective."
There is a growing trend in the US, he adds, for the chief security officer to have responsibility for physical and digital security.
Harris claims this creates further challenges for the VAR. "Typically, the IT budget is significantly larger than the budget for physical security," he says. "So as the two come together, IT is going to have a much greater say in terms of the systems and suppliers that are used. IT resellers may pick up business purely as a consequence of that convergence."
That may be so, but VARs that make a real bet on it will have a much better chance of real success, says Beale.
"There is no right or wrong answer but VARs should make a bet in this space," he says. "Resellers are going to need skills to do it and if they work with the distributors to get the support, they could win. I would not label it as IPS, but rather as security because then they bridge that gap between the IT and physical." C
MAKING THE RIGHT PARTNERSHIPS
Fecha: 17-Jul-2006
Computer Reseller News UK, July 17, 2006, Pg. 25
21 de abril de 2007
THE 7 ADVANTAGES of IP-based Video
Factores como un manejo sencillo en red, mejor calidad y costo-eficiencia hacen el uso de tecnología IP atractivo para ser usados en los sistemas de vigilancia.
Siete ventajas de colocar la seguridad en base a las tecnologías IP son:
1. Reducir el costo total del equipo necesario.
2. Flexibilidad
3. Escalabilidad
4. Compresión de información.
5. Calidad en la imagen.
6. Integrar los sistemas de información.
7. Codificación (envío seguro de la información)
Estos 7 factores son ventajas con las que cuenta un sistema de vigilancia por IP
THE 7 ADVANTAGES of IP-based Video Gareth McClean. . Troy: .Vol.42, Iss. 6; pg. 30H
19 de abril de 2007
Les habits neufs de la cybersurveillance
Après les pirates en herbe et les indiscrets en tout genre, ce sont les entreprises et les administrations qui nous suivent, clic après clic.
Domotique, Architecture : la maison de Bill Gates
À ce titre, la maison individuelle constitue un modèle d'étude et d'expérimentation privilégié pour l'analyse, dans la conjoncture actuelle, des notions de gestion des échanges dans l'espace quotidien, d'interven¼tion des technologies de l'information et de l'expression architecturale de ces dernières. S'il faut en choisir un exemple emblématique, la maison de BilI Gates à Seattle, qui condense les dernières avancées commerciales en matière de NTIC (nouvelles technologies de l'information et de la communication) s'impose : il y est question d'interactivité, de dialogue entre l'individu et son environnement, mais aussi de valeurs, de formes symboliques, de matériaux et de partage de l'intelligence
Jones, Partners : Architecture
la fin du millénaire, célébré également comme la fin du modernisme, la forme semble à nouveau revenir au goût du jour–masquée, encore une fois, derrière la virtuosité, l'expertise. (…) L'expertise, indéniablement technologique, affichée dans toute forme "nouvelle", est dirigée pour la majeure partie vers une production aveugle de différence, laissant inexploitée sa pertinence architecturale. La référence technologique dans l'architecture n'est certes pas nouvelle. Bien que les avions et les paquebots ne fassent plus office de modèles, la même envie d'une expertise exotique, qui auparavant avait cherché à ouvrir les "yeux qui ne voient pas", conduit MAYA à l'architecture aujourd'hui. Dans les deux cas, la technologie est abordée comme thème, soumise aux pièges d'un expressionnisme exagéré, d'un sentiment de condescendance ou d'un exhibitionnisme formel. Le processus médiatisé de l'attente transforme la technologie en symbole ou en métaphore. Si le thème est critique, l'architecture devient acérée et pointue, bavarde et "difficile"; s'il est affirmatif elle devient chromée et bariolée ou, plus récemment, virtuelle et amorphe. Dans les deux cas, la technologie fait l'objet d'une excitante "exposition" : révélée comme un secret inavouable ou libérée comme si elle retenait une volupté jusque-là cachée. Pourtant la réponse à cette question ne devrait pas nécessairement se limiter à une célébration ou à une critique acide ; dès que l'on conçoit l'architecture, elle-même, comme un objet technologique, une autre possibilité s'annonce : on peut se demander quelle forme vernaculaire elle inspire/inspirerait ? La réponse n'est pas aussi claire qu'une apologie ou une critique car il n'est pas facile ni souhaitable pour l'architecture d'aborder un thème autrement qu'avec véhémence. Le prosaïsme ou la simplicité ne sont pas des attitudes que l'on associe aujourd'hui à l'architecture comme œuvre signée. La différence entre le fait d'utiliser la technologie comme symbole et d'être la technologie soi-même, à travers une expression issue de la technologie plutôt qu'une expression qui se contente d'emprunter une forme technologique pour illustrer tout autre intérêt non technologique, constitue la distinction entre l'oeuvre de Jones, Partners : Architecture et celle d'autres créateurs pouvant être perçus comme axés sur la technologie. Puisque la technologie n'admet d'autre auteur que la nature, l'architecte-auteur doit faire des ajustements non - ou anti - technologiques afin d'affirmer sa signature. En opérant de la sorte, l'auteur affirme son contrôle et oblige la technologie à servir ses intérêts plutôt que ceux du programme (l'idée de programme est en elle-même un "don" de la technologie). Ces questions sont abordées de façon explicite par Jones, Partners : Architecture dans les quatre projets d'habitation présentés ici. La maison constitue le degré zéro du problème architectural. Tous les projets architecturaux sont, à la base, des maisons-pour-quelque chose. De la même manière, ils sont des machines-pour-quelque chose. Le mot de Le Corbusier n'était pas machine-à-vivre mais celui plus actif de machine-à-habiter. C'est dans la différence entre ces deux mots que l'architecture de Jones trouve le sens de son implication dans ces projets de maisons et qu'elle découvre son héritage technologique.
Innovation architecturale et technologie informatique
Quand on nous demande de présenter notre travail en termes de technologie, on pourrait penser que cela implique un sens particulier. Pourtant, si l'on considère la technologie comme tout moyen utilisé par l'homme pour extérioriser une capacité intérieure (McLuhan) ou comme un processus perpétuel d' " encadrement " (Heidegger), elle prend alors l'aspect d'un tissu complexe dont les fils enchevêtrés traversent chaque strate du champ culturel. Une telle trame certainement peut se dissoudre, l'usage des technologie (comme langage, mécanique, électronique...) devenant une seconde nature, et l'opposition entre nature et culture a pâti, au cours de l'histoire, de cette défaillance de la mémoire a travers les habitudes techniques.
La prolifération rapide des techniques numériques dans le domaine de l'architecture met nettement la technologie à l'avant de la scène, car la maille culturelle se déforme au fur et mesure de l'imbrication des nouvelles technologies. Le plus souvent, ce débat se constitue en termes d'opposition, comme si les techniques numériques devaient éclipser plutôt qu'élargir la palette des techniques existantes dont disposent déjà les architectes. Mais l'architecte, en tant que vecteur du déploiement technologique dans un large champ culturel, ne cède à l'exclusivité d'une seule technologie (qu'il soit technophile ou technophobe) qu'au risque d'une restriction culturelle, et finalement d'une inhibition stylistique.
Video Surveillance Will Nearly Double By 2011
iSuppli Corp. forecasts that video surveillance camera global revenue will grow to more than $9 billion by 2011, maintaining a compound annual growth rate of 13.2 percent. The figures, announced Tuesday, are up from $4.9 billion in 2006. Surveillance unit shipments will more than double to 65.7 million units in 2011, with a CAGR of 17.1 percent from 29.8 million in 2006, according to iSuppli.
Themigrationto digital, fully networked systems, increasing security needs and innovation are driving the growth, iSuppli Vice President ofMultimediaContent and Services Mark Kirstein said.
"With the emergence of networked InternetProtocol(IP) video surveillance cameras andIPvideo servers -- along with the rising use of digital video recorders (DVRs) -- video surveillance is moving beyond traditional security and into new applications such as transportation, retail, government and even home networking," Kirstein said in a prepared statement. "This expansion is being helped considerably by the idea of networked video surveillance, which allows for greater flexibility, field upgradeability, increased automation and more intelligence to be incorporated into the overall system."
IP cameras will continue to displace existing ClosedCircuitTelevision (CCTV) cameras, even among consumers, while DVRs are increasingly evolving into networked devices, Kierstan said. Telecommunications companies will offer IP video surveillance throughbroadbandand IP cameras will overtake CCTV for surveillance by 2011, according to iSuppli.
The surveillance camera semiconductor market will reach $1.25 billion in 2011, up from $525 million in 2006, iSuppli announced. Sales of videoprocessorchips andinterfacechips will also grow, according to iSuppli.
However, the video surveillance market still faces challenges. Customer awareness and expertise with networked surveillance should increase, according toiSuppli. The company identified other barriers. They include: Security customers are traditionally conservative; security distributors and sellers lack expertise in IT and networking; IT competitors lack security expertise; decision-making and buying will become more complex because ofcoordinationand conflicts between IT and security organizations.
IP Video Surveillance Will Nearly Double By 2011
Fecha: 20-Mar-2007
TECHWEB, March 20, 2007 Tuesday 5:40 PM GMT
Moving Up the IP Video Ladder: Five Steps to Success
Security dealer integrators and end users alike need to start planning for the transition to IP video. In its latest report on the video surveillance market, JP Freeman expects the production of IP cameras to exceed analog cameras by the third quarter of 2(108. With manufacturers growing their line of IP equipment and investing in new features the time has come to ask these questions below so that you can make the process of stepping up to IP video a success.
1) Why IP video? This is a key question, and one that not enough people think through. When it comes to IP video, there seem to be two consistent answers: Total cost of ownership (TCO) or quality.
Yes, an IP-based system can have a lower TCO. The reason stems from using the existing IT infrastructure and knowledge that most companies have already purchased. The IT industry, for example, uses standardized low cost cabling.
People are tired of video looking like the unrecognizable faces in a convenience store tape on the 6 o'clock news. "My vision is that (high resolution) will be the driving factor for IP video adoption," says Ed Chandler, Chairman of Security By Design. "There is a consistent complaint that security video isn't good enough."
There are other benefits as well. Most digital video recorders (DVR) today have the ability to sit on the corporate network and allow remote video viewing from any computer. They often run afoul of the IT folks, however, since many are built using a Windows operating system without the ability to use the standard management tools IT demands for virus and patch control.
"Large corporate customers don't want to have any devices on the network that they can not secure," says Fredric Nilsson, GM Americas for AXIS Communications.
Building a true IP-based system using the IT group's preferred choice of servers, or network appliances that are not virus prone, solves this problem. When designed in this fashion, much of the task of maintaining the system can be picked up by the IT group as a part of their normal administration activities. "Moving to IP-based systems gives you, for the h'rst time, systems that can be maintained by the IT staff," says Paul Smith, COO of DVTel.
Integration with other security systems is another area where IP video systems excel. Not that it is impossible to integrate analog CCTV systems, but as a practical matter, IP systems have been designed in the last few years and are more suitable to the task. "IP systems tend to have a very rich API (application programming interface) which makes integration easier. This is a key driver in many markets," says Smith.
So, while there are a number of reasons to jump on the IP video bandwagon, you need to take the time to get it clear what your goals and perceived benefits are. Combining those goals with an understanding of the current system will make it easy to explain to management the current situation and why the upgrade makes sense.
2) Is IT our partner? It is hard to imagine how a security department or its vendors could be planning a network video installation without talking to the IT group.
3) Has a network assessment been performed? Key to the planning of any IP video system is an assessment of the state of your corporate network.
4) Is the transition based on the benefits that are needed? The transition plan from the old system to the new depends on two key factors: the state of the system now and the goals you have for the new project.
5) Have you planned for success? In this brave new converged world, it seems like these projects get more complex.
Moving Up the IP Video Ladder: Five Steps to Success . . Melville: .Vol.28, Iss. 11; pg. S8, 3 pgs
Tecnología y vigilancia
En 2002, el negocio de Cámaras en Red fue de $100 millones de dólares sólo para menos del 10% de todas las cámaras de Seguridad vendidas. Para el 2007, las Cámaras en Red se espera que represente más del 50% de todas las cámaras de seguridad vendidas, con ventas de más de un billón de dólares.