Derek Rice

In the world of IP video and megapixel cameras, the less “sexy” product lines can often be overlooked. But in a control room setting, the furniture, cabinets and racks form the backbone of the design.

In video surveillance, the days of asking, “Is there an app for that?” are long gone. End users have grown so used to having apps on their smartphones and tablets that let them do just about anything, so not offering an app is not an option in 2014.

There’s a lot of talk about the cloud, both in the security industry and in general. In security, that discussion is almost always about cloud-based video, which goes by many names — managed video, hosted video and remote video, to name a few.

Nearly 225 years ago, Benjamin Franklin wrote, “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain but death and taxes.” Chances are, if Mr. Franklin were around today, he might add a third item to that list: the constant — and rapid — advancement of technology.

Whether analog or IP, high-definition or standard definition, video does no good if it can’t get from the camera to the head end. And when it comes from getting that video from point A to point B, the devil’s in the details.

Challenging lighting conditions may be the biggest obstacle video system designers and installers encounter. 

In the past, video surveillance was looked at as a reactive solution, as in “I’ll go look at the tape” in the case of any event that required further scrutiny. 

Without a doubt, video analytics manufacturers fell into the old “over-promise and under-deliver” trap several years ago.

Video analytics fall into two categories: business and security. If business is about people, then business-based video analytics and applications fit right in because they are for the most part all about people: how many come in, where they go, where they’ve been, how long they stay in what location, whether they buy, whether their intentions are less-than-honest and much more.