Partner perspective: Hanwha Techwin

Is your surveillance system "in the zone?"

Video surveillance as we know it has been disrupted. The image many still have of a security guard watching hundreds of black and white monitors at once no longer meets today’s security needs. With the low resolution images from that era, it was difficult to identify people and vehicles, or see the details of what happened during an incident.

Another issue is the impossibility of watching several monitors at once; this is difficult to the point that even consumers have rejected it. Think about the average football fan watching a game on Sunday afternoon. Viewers aren’t buying multiple TV sets or flipping back-and-forth between channels. Doing so would create the risk that they might miss a well-thrown touchdown pass or a well-defended goal-line stand. Instead, fans can catch every scoring drive on one channel with no disruption. Whenever there’s a possibility of a team scoring (also called being in the Red Zone), there is a trigger that automatically flips to that game.

As professionals who are as passionate about keeping people safe as we are about football, we believe that technology that doesn’t fly with football fans shouldn’t fly with those charged with protecting our citizens.

Good news: it doesn’t have to. Thanks to our partnership with Genetec, video surveillance professionals can seamlessly integrate our SRM-872 mobile NVR with the Genetec Security Center 5.5 SR1 security platform and catch every situation without missing a single detail. This is due to our seven onboard analytics that create automated situational awareness.

As public transit is under a consistent security threat, surveillance professionals need to pay attention to every potential problem the way a fan would watch every touchdown. Situational awareness allows cameras to analyze the entire scenery and flag the guard when a rule is broken.

For example, if a subway rider gets too close to the edge of the tracks, the virtual line within the analytics will alert the guard so they see it happening right away. The Genetec video management system ensures that no situation goes unnoticed by creating highlights customized based on the rules that are set within the system.

The build is made specifically for public transit; the cameras will not break down even with the vibration that comes from grinding against the rails, allowing for a more sustainable camera without sacrificing quality. Our Digital Image Stabilization technology helps keep steady images so there isn’t any jumpy video.

Our partnership with Genetec solves another problem surveillance professionals face: transferring high-resolution data wirelessly using low bandwidth. Unlike previous surveillance systems where users had to switch hard drives in order to retrieve footage, our NVR now has the ability to transfer data directly to the video management system. Through remote live viewing and the ability to transfer data into the Genetec archiver, it further streamlines the process and improves efficiency end-to-end.

When live viewing simply isn’t an option, you can record footage while in transit and offload video data by connecting to a station or depot with a wireless connection and our integration with the Genetec Video Archive transfer makes this possible. Paying for bandwidth for a 4G/LTE connection can be very pricey. Rather than relying on an expensive connection, users can download footage quickly and at cost-effectively.

With stakes higher than ever before, companies need the latest technology to future-proof themselves and avoid getting left behind. This is our mission in partnering with Genetec. We believe the surveillance industry is too important to settle for anything less than cutting edge premium.

Today’s security technology needs to meet consumer demanding needs. If the average American can watch exciting football highlights on a Sunday afternoon with pictures clear enough to see every grass stain on a player’s jersey, then surveillance professionals should certainly have the same capability when keeping public transit safe.

When assessing your surveillance needs, ask yourself if your system is “in the zone.” If it’s not, the time to get there is now.

Learn more about Genetec security solutions for mass transit.