| January 25, 2017
As we head into a new year at Security News Desk, Tim Compston talks to security vendors and industry experts who have been spotlighting what they expect to be making waves security-wise over the next 12 months – as well as the lessons learnt from 2016.
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A wider view
Physical security, access control and surveillance moving into 2017On the subject of camera innovations which are making their mark, Jeff Whitney, VP Marketing at Arecont Vision, explains how the US-based business was very much an industry trailblazer when it introduced the first multi-sensor panoramic cameras back in 2006, featuring four fixed megapixel sensors in 180 or 360 degree configurations. Whitney is keen to extoll the virtues of a adopting a wider view: “A multi-sensor panoramic camera provides video from its entire field of view non-stop and is able to be digitally zoomed in without impacting recording of the entire scene. This ensures superior situational awareness and outstanding image quality over a PTZ, and reduces cost by requiring fewer cameras be used.”
In terms of the direction of travel of the market, Whitney acknowledges that the competition is heating up as other vendors seek to secure their own slice of the multi-sensor camera pie: “Until about a year ago, Arecont Vision was virtually alone in the multi-sensor megapixel camera market. We now see multiple copies and clones of SurroundVideo G5 (180 and 360 degree) and Omni G2 (omnidirectional) from a range of vendors. We believe that other vendors have finally awakened to the potential of multi-sensor cameras to reduce cost and improve video, and that 2017 will see further use of this technology that Arecont Vision continues to lead.”
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Physical security trends
On the physical security side of things, innovative solutions are continuing to be developed to clip the wings of the soaring number of drones in our skies if they pose a threat to security, safety, or even engage in industrial espionage. The DroneTracker from Dedrone is one potential answer to this drone dilemma with a system of interacting sensors to reliably detect all types of drones based on multiple parameters such as noise, shape, and movement patterns.
Physical security, access control and surveillance moving into 2017
Speaking to Jörg Lamprecht, CEO and Co-Founder at Dedrone, about the threat dynamics at play here he says at the start it was really around the sites with obvious security needs like stadiums or prisons: “That has brought a lot of business and enquiries, whereas in the recent two quarters it has been more datacentres, headquarters, and design centres once the news came out about the threat from ‘flying hacker laptops’.” Lamprecht characterises these as basically drones equipped with networking gear that can be used to hack into networks and capture data: “I think that the underlying thing we are seeing is the merger of physical and cyber security.”
Hostile vehicle threats
Considering what is likely to be driving the buoyant hostile vehicle mitigation market in 2017, Gavin Hepburn, Sales and Marketing Director at ATG Access, points to the smaller, non-coordinated attacks that seem to be gaining momentum: “These generally involve vehicles targeting crowded places with the aim of maiming or killing large numbers of people.” Hepburn believes that many temporary events will have to review and increase their security following the recent, and tragic, targeted attacks in both Germany and France: “Events which should be reviewed include crowded places within music festivals, city festivals, popular events, parades and political rallies for example.”
Hepburn goes on to acknowledge that vehicle barrier suppliers, like ATG Access, must continue to adapt to the changing face of this terrorist threat and provide innovations which best protect the areas of risk, and the general public, while, crucially, ensuring that sites remain operational and, in his words, ‘not a fortress’.
The right vision
Physical security, access control and surveillance moving into 2017Speaking to Mark Patrick, Group CTO at Digital Barriers, following a recent contract win with the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to enhance the capability of the Group’s ThruVis solution – and its Terahertz cameras – for the standoff detection of objects, such as weapons and explosives concealed under clothing, he believes that there will be a push in 2017 to extend a security presence further out from the central asset being protected: “If you think of an onion of security around critical infrastructure, like an airport, I think that we are going to see more and more of the security checks being performed in the outer layer of that onion so everything from the approach-ways to the parking garage to potentially further out when vehicles are stopped and people are checked.”
