EN- Industry Focuses

Security conversations with Shawn Enides, Business Development Manager Trains and Transit at Genetec "The agencies are asking, 'how do we securely and easily share video and information, so that first responders can understand what's happening before arriving at the scene?' All of these factors are accelerating the shift to IP in the mass transit market." Regardless, there are quite a few transit agencies that are struggling with the fact that they bought a proprietary analog system a few years ago, and they don't have the budget for another upgrade. The question becomes— 'Can we re-use as much as we can and keep costs down?' The answer is yes. Assuming the cameras are good, the process essentially involves adding video encoders to convert analog video to digital streams and then swapping out an old Linux-based unit for a Windows- based platform. Even if the mass transit organization doesn't have the full budget to rip out all the old analog technology and replace their system completely, these transit agencies need to understand that there's an easy and cost-effective migration path to IP available to them. Q: Why are transit authorities starting to make the move from analog to IP now? What are their current motivations? A: There are a few market trends that are inspiring action. One of them is system unification. A lot of mass transit agencies are working with many disparate systems at stations and onboard buses and trains, and their teams are tired of juggling all these moving pieces. They want to become more pro-active and efficient at their jobs, and to do this they need to bring all their security and business information to one platform. Unified security systems lessen the headaches, so it's a big reason why many agencies are looking to upgrade to IP. The move from analog to IP also circles back to having greater flexibility and being able to accommodate changes in the future. For instance, in the United States, there was a train derailment that the pushed the Federal Railroad Administration to make it a requirement that all trains have cameras onboard. Mass transit agencies need to be open to changes like this. Therefore, as they adapt to new laws and grow their systems, they need a platform that can evolve. The ability for transit agencies to share information with police departments is very important. Usually, it's the police department who responds to major incidents on buses, trains, or their stations. The agencies are asking, 'how do we securely and easily share video and information, so that first responders can understand what's happening before arriving at the scene?' All of these factors are accelerating the shift to IP in the mass transit market. Q: What opportunities does IP bring to transit authorities? A: Apart from what we just discussed, an open IP security platform lets mass transit agencies add the latest technologies. They can choose their own cameras or integrate other applications such automatic license plate recognition (ALPR). In fact, we're starting to see a lot of ALPR cameras on buses now. So, as a bus drives a certain route, front-mounted ALPR cameras can notify a parking enforcement unit of vehicles in violation. These ALPR cameras can also send notifications to law enforcement if the system detects a vehicle of interest. Almost 75% of transit agencies that we speak to want various forms of video analytics. With a digital platform, agencies can unify third-party video analytics solutions. These can include analytics such as object-left-behind; so, if someone leaves a bag onboard on a bus or train, they want to know about it. Mass transit agencies are also interested in people counting analytics. This allows them to see how people are entering a train station at any point during the day, or how many people are boarding their buses. In the bus environment, these numbers give them valuable routing information. For example, if they notice that certain buses are filling up beyond capacity, they can schedule another bus to take on the extra demand and make the journey more enjoyable for passengers.

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