“Bid-related projects turn off integrators. Those that get it have a huge advantage. On average school districts receive funding every five years [for upgrade cycles],” he said. “They have to be patient. They don’t understand the process [and are under the assumption] it takes too long to get paid.”

Among the vast array of video surveillance wares at the Panasonic booth, this week the company is spreading the word about its newly released 6 Series i-PRO camera line-up. The four dome network cameras are available in HD 1080p or HD 720p models and are geared for a wide variety of indoor environments, such as casinos, airports, banks and retail stores.

The series features Panasonic’s next-generation UniPhier LSI processors, producing HD resolution at 60 frames per second with the ability to encode up to four simultaneous H.264 streams. Other features include Enhanced Super Dynamic and Adaptive Black Stretch (ABS) technologies to provide up to 133dB of dynamic range compared to conventional cameras. All cameras in the new 6 Series line-up deliver detailed video images in low light at less than 0.01lx illumination. For zero lux situations, all 6 Series cameras include advanced IR illumination capability. Dual SDXC memory card slots support H.264/JPEG edge-recording with record modes including alarm-recording and backup-recording upon network failure.

Panasonic is also highlighting a unique project win in its booth this week. It has partnered with the Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD) Transit Police Division to deploy an integrated transit security solution built on a foundation of i-PRO network cameras and NICE Systems’ IP video management software. The solution will replace RTD’s legacy analog system and enable staff to efficiently access full HD video. The inspiration for the project was to not only enhance the safety of riders and drivers, but also improve the ability to investigate criminal activity, accidents and liability claims. Consider that RTD operates about 11,000 buses and upward of 7,000 cameras. A significant benefit of the new solution will be for RTD staff to wirelessly offload flagged video files associated with specific incidents from the buses’ in-vehicle recorders.

“We are involved in 6,000 investigations annually,” Bob Grado, RTD Transit Police Commander and Manager of Integrated Security Operations, told me at the Panasonic booth. He said oftentimes criminals will concoct a bogus alibi to assert their whereabouts and vindication from being tagged a suspect at a crime scene. Yet many times they will use the transit system to flee the area. Enhanced video will provide a better chance of catching more of these offenders, Grado said.

“We have them the bus. We remove their alibi.”

You can include Bosch among the handful of manufacturers that are introducing 4K Ultra HD camera models at ISC West this week. In Bosch’s case, the DINION IP ultra 8000 MP is pretty powerful stuff to see demonstrated. The 4K format is already ubiquitous in the cinema world and soon will be in television. It’s only a matter of time before the trickle down into security becomes a deluge.

Elsewhere at Bosch, Product Marketing Manager Tom Mechler gave me an overview of the company’s efforts to provide products and technologies that help installing security contractors create more recurring revenue opportunities. A piece of that includes the integration of intrusion systems and IP video. The B Series control panels have built-in IP communication and a free app for mobile operation. They are compatible with both IPv4 and IPv6 protocols and feature DNS support for remote access and central station communications. IP camera integration for the B Series intrusion panels is a new feature for Bosch. This provides video verifi
cation capability when motion is detected as triggered cameras will send video clips via E-mail. The integration also ensures that a separate server or cloud-based service is not required, eliminating failure points, improving data security and privacy, and reducing overall system cost, Mechler explained.

The company is also jumping into the smart home market with a new home automation interface for its control panels. Now security systems can be extended to include controls for lighting, door locks, plus heating and cooling. Four new motion detectors are also being introduced, including PIR and TriTech PIR/microwave detectors with ZigBee and Z-Wave wireless connectivity.

For a past issue of Security Sales & Integration, I interviewed Per Bjorkdahl of Axis Communications in his role as Chairman of the Steering Committee for the Open Network Video Interface Forum (ONVIF). I caught up with Bjorkdahl again on the show floor at ONVIF’s first-ever ISC West booth to chat a bit more about the organization’s recently released Profile C. The standard enables interoperability between clients and devices of physical access control systems (PACS) and network-based video systems. Bjorkdahl explained Profile C is intended to provide basic door control functionality for small systems although there is no limitation to how many doors it could actually handle. While there are no formal deployments that utilize Profile C as yet, the inspiration for the standard is “about breaking out of a proprietary model,” he said.

One integrator deeply involved in Profile C is Siemens. Philippe Huysman, a global portfolio manager for Siemen’s access control business, was in the booth talking up the potential of the standard to make a huge impact in the industry. He described a scenario of a large end user with multiple panels from differing manufacturers. Instead of a rip and replace to standardize on a single platform, Profile C and its future iterations would allow communications between the disparate panels. The potential cost-savings for end users is potentially enormous, and integrators have a compelling sales message for a broad base of clients.

“This changes the dynamics in the industry,” Huysman said.

For much more ISC West show news, click here.

 

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