Security Electronics & Networks Magazine

Security Managers ◆ Integrators ◆ IT Managers ◆ Installers APRIL 2021 ISSUE 430

l Hills Announces VMS Partnership With Milestone

VMS: CREATING A MASTERPIECE

l Gallagher SMB Secures Kawhia Primary School l Interview: Developing Inner Range Inception l Special Report: Teknocorp Security Steps Up l Review: Bosch Dinion IP 3000i Turret IR l Alarm Monitoring: Sequential Sensors l Q&A: AI – An Operational Perspective l Case Study: Guarding The Guardians

PP 100001158

SEN421_1cover.indd 1

31/3/21 9:33 am

Amadeus 8

Next Generation Security Software Platform

SEN421_2.indd 1

31/3/21 9:35 am

editorial S E CU RI TY E L ECTR O NI C S & NETWO R KS A PR I L 2 021 ISSUE 4 30

By John Adams

BRISBANE OUTBREAK AMPLIFIES IMPORTANCE OF 2021 COVID STRATEGIES N outbreak of the UK of COVID-19 in A strain Brisbane, which includes rapid community spread necessitating a city-wide lockdown, highlights just how important it is that security people stay on top of thoughtful COVID strategies, including management of vaccination status.

In this recent outbreak, the virus appears to have emerged twice from Princess Alexandra Hospital and developed into 2 separate clusters, with multiple venues in Brisbane and Byron Bay impacted. The latter has been exposed just prior to BluesFest, a week-long event usually attended by tens of thousands of music lovers that has now banned Queenslanders from attending. How successful this strategy will be is uncertain, especially given several infectious people visited Byron Bay before being diagnosed.

Regardless of how this latest outbreak unfolds, it’s a stark reminder of just how quickly the COVID-19 virus can get away in an open community and just how big an impact it can have on the management of an entire city. For security people it’s been tempting since the beginning of the year to imagine COVID-19 has been defeated and its elimination is mere formality, but that’s simply not the case. The challenging nature of the epidemic, the vagaries of human nature – around 35 per cent of Australians now say they will refuse to be vaccinated against the virus – as well as the slow roll-out of vaccines in Australia due to supply issues, mean 2021 will be another year of more or less COVID. When it comes to security applications, the ongoing challenges will mean ensuring customer COVID strategies like proximity detection, people counting, visitor management, overarching reporting functions, and remote functionality are not only maintained but enhanced. Other aspects of a

For security managers and security integrators the time to get around management and reporting strategies is now.

COVID safe environment that still bear consideration revolve around low touch access control solutions, including touchless exit buttons, touchless biometrics, in particular the development of face recognition solutions able to handle access, time and attendance, and contact tracing.

In many cases, the greatest functionalities may be delivered by integration of systems that allow analytics to deliver specific information without the need for searches. This sort of information may include a video record of who came into contact with a particular team member and for how long at every camera point across a site, as well as showing the locations a particular team member visited.

Some solutions are highly adept at delivering this sort of information and security managers should be open to their use. The ability to enhance an existing CCTV solution to deliver cast iron evidence of contact adds real value, while the lateral ability to check on security patrols and cleaners adds more value still.

Something COVID-19 has highlighted is the importance to the future of certain fundamental things, including communications, networking, more open platforms and integration partnerships. Video analytics along with everything these entail - cyber security, concrete operational goals, ethical oversight, etc – are increasingly important in layers. Meanwhile, cloud has gone from an optional extra to a central plank of business operations and this trend will continue to flow through to electronic security solutions.

Automation and remote management have become increasingly prevalent thanks to a combination of remote work, a quest

for efficiency and a need for speed.

Flexible automation functionalities continue to appeal to end users and the functionalities users like to automate revolve around electronic security solutions – this applies to commercial and domestic applications.

Something already touched on here is underlying network services.

One thing COVID has done is drive up bandwidth usage and introduce greater network contention as huge numbers of businesses and homes rely on cloud-based and streaming services. The upshot of peak period latency is preparedness to pay extra for high performance connections – NBN250 is one of the fastest. This service delivers a claimed 250Mbps download speed in the evenings (how late in the evening they don’t say) at a cost of not much more than $A100 a month. There’s also a 1000Mbps down/50Mbps up plan on the market, though performance up seems lacklustre for professional applications needing surety. This sort of performance at these prices was impossible to imagine pre-COVID. Something else that’s certain to impact on access control applications and visitor management systems post this Brisbane outbreak is procedures around vaccination management. How staggered vaccination will be handled as part of access policy and procedure is going to be a matter for each organisation, but it’s certain that many organisations will make COVID vaccination a health and safety requirement, even before international travel reboots. For security managers and security integrators the time to get around the required management and reporting strategies is now. n se&n 03

SEN421_3ed.indd 3

31/3/21 12:13 pm

co O be mpa ver ex nie 30 hi b s itin wil g l

7TH A N N UA L

SECURITY AND GOVERNMENT EXPO SECURITY

& GOVERNMENT EXPO

W W W. S E C U R I T YA N D G O V E R N M E N T E X P O . C O M . A U

SAGE DPS AD_Mar21.indd 4

30/3/21 10:41 am

THURSDAY 18TH NOVEMBER 2021

DON’T MISS IT! The Realm Hotel, Canberra Bringing the latest security products and technologies to government and commercial end users, installers and consultants in the nation’s capital.

See www.securityandgovernmentexpo.com.au for program and speaker details

PRINCIPAL SPONSOR

INDUSTRY SPONSOR

L A N YA R D S P O N S O R

MEDIA SPONSOR

TM

ACT Chapter

F O R F U R T H E R I N F O R M AT I O N C O N TA C T M O N I Q U E K E AT I N G E O N 0 2 9 2 8 0 4 4 2 5

SAGE DPS AD_Mar21.indd 5

30/3/21 10:41 am

32

42

28

18: DEVELOPING INCEPTION Steve Mitchell of Inner Range explains the early and future development of the company’s Inception intruder, access control and automation panel.

22: VMS: CREATING A MASTERPIECE

APR 21 8: HILLS ANNOUNCES VMS PARTNERSHIP WITH MILESTONE SYSTEMS Hills has announced a distribution partnership with Milestone Systems, which the company said was a great opportunity for Hills and Milestone to bring superior video solutions to customers by combining their expertise and commitment to the channel.

10: GALLAGHER SMB SECURES KAWHIA PRIMARY SCHOOL Leanne Apiti knows the Kawhia community like the back of her hand and as principal of the small seaside town’s primary school since 2009, she and her staff have taught generations of local children and formed strong relationships with their families.

SEN421_6cont.indd 6

There’s nothing easy about selecting the best VMS platform, with plenty of different solutions to choose from, each built around a different philosophy and with different network and operational requirements.

28: TEKNOCORP STEPS UP Melbourne-based electronic security integrator Teknocorp has built a new office, incorporating meeting, technical, project and training facilities, as the company takes its evolution to a new level.

32: BOSCH DINION IP 3000I TURRET IR Bosch Dinion IP 3000i Turret IR is a compact day/ night PoE turret camera and the NTV-3503-F02L version we are testing has a 2.3mm F1.6 aperture fixed lenses and strong resolution of 3072 x 1728 pixels for a total of sensor area of 5.3MP. This camera offers 120dB WDR, low light performance of 0.1 lux in colour and 0.02 lux in monochrome, H.264 and H.265 compression, 15 metre IR and all Bosch’s clever firmware functionalities.

31/3/21 12:12 pm

44 40 8

regulars

48

40: AI – AN OPERATIONAL PERSPECTIVE In this Q&A, John Adams speaks with Ken Francis of Eagle Eye Networks about operational perspectives of artificial intelligence, touching on key functionalities, planning, integration and the importance of the API economy to analytics solutions of the future.

42: GUARDING THE GUARDIANS At China’s most-visited cultural heritage sites like the famous Terracotta Warrior Museum and Summer Palace, tourists from across the world come face-to-face with history. Behind the scenes, intrusion detectors from Bosch protect the irreplaceable statues, weapons, and ornaments against theft and damage.

8: NEWS Latest business, product and technical news from Australia and around the world.

38: MONITORING Is it possible to design a wired alarm installation that reduces false alarms? The most obvious way is by rigging up the system so that 2 separate sensors in nearby areas can be activated sequentially over a short period of time. The sensors need not both be PIRs - a glassbreak and a dual technology sensor could be combined, or a PIR and a dual technology sensor.

44: EDITOR’S CHOICE What’s new from our electronic security manufacturers.

48: HELPDESK Our team of electronic security experts answers your tough technical questions.

Security Managers ◆ Integrators ◆ IT Managers ◆ Installers APRIL 2021 ISSUE 430

VMS: CREATING A MASTERPIECE

PP 100001158

l Hills Announces VMS Partnership With Milestone l Gallagher SMB Secures Kawhia Primary School l Interview: Developing Inner Range Inception l Special Report: Teknocorp Security Steps Up l Review: Bosch Dinion IP 3000i Turret IR l Alarm Monitoring: Sequential Sensors l Q&A: AI – An Operational Perspective l Case Study: Guarding The Guardians

Publisher Bridge Publishing Aust. Pty Ltd ABN 11 083 704 858 PO Box 237 Darlinghurst NSW 1300 tel 61 2 9280 4425 fax 61 2 9280 4428 email info@bridge publishing.com.au

Editor John Adams Advertising Manager Monique Keatinge Customer Service Annette Mathews tel 61 2 9280 4425 annette@bridge publishing.com.au

Design Tania Simanowsky e: tania@ taniasdesign.com.au

22 months A$195.00 (incl GST)

Subscriptions 11 issues per annum One year (11 issues)

Overseas 11 months A$220.00 22 months A$440.00

Australia 11 months A$110.00 (incl GST)

WEBSITE www.securityelectronics andnetworks.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form in whole or part without prior written permission of Bridge Publishing.

SEN421_6cont.indd 7

31/3/21 12:12 pm

LOBAL T THE G IN W WE EWLY ING

NEWS IN BRIEF APRIL 2021

HILLS ANNOUNCES VMS PARTNERSHIP WITH MILESTONE SYSTEMS n HILLS has announced a distribution partnership with Milestone Systems, which the company said was a great opportunity for Hills and Milestone to bring superior video solutions to customers by combining their expertise and commitment to the channel.

According to Hills CEO, David Lenz, it was refreshing to work with a global company that understands the importance of channel partnership and technology distribution.

“Milestone brings not only

a world-class product set, but also a desire to grow the market in concert with a distribution partner, which is something that has been missing for some time in this segment,” Lenz said.

According to Lenz, the Milestone team prides itself on development and a philosophy of ensuring that its platform never stops evolving.

“As a community-based organisation, Milestone is committed to innovation, and achieves this through a robust open platform and SDK, which is designed to

facilitate easy integration with market-leading technology partners,” Lenz said.

Hills’ James Layton said Hills and Milestone have a shared vision of concentrating on what they do well.

“We’re very pleased to be partnering with Milestone, which we see as a true toptier software vendor with best-in-class products,” said Hills’ James Layton.

“The synergy between both Milestone’s products and team, and our own team and reseller network, promises exciting times

ahead.

“Milestone maintains its class-leading VMS platform by ensuring that all necessary resources are directed towards its giant development team, which is perpetually working on upgrades and increased functionality.

“Milestone leaves distribution to the experts like Hills, ensuring that resources which would otherwise be spent on distribution are instead concentrated on further improving their product and service.”

Milestone can be

David Lenz, Hills

integrated with most video systems and has top tier integration with camera products such as Axis and IDIS.

FREDON WINS SOUTHERN QUEENSLAND CORRECTIONAL PRECINCT STAGE 2 n FREDON Security has won a tender for supply and installation of temporary site electrical and communications infrastructure, including solar lighting and CCTV, at Southern Queensland Correctional Precinct.

The Stage 2 contract includes 3-phase high voltage aerials and pole mounted transformers, the design and construct for the supply and

installation of temporary electrical distribution boards, power, lighting and communications services and associated cables and cable management system, Also included in the Stage 2 contract are supply and delivery of 11kV 1500kVA transformers, supply and delivery of portable pole mounted solar power flood lights and supply and installation of CCTV cameras.

NEXTDC DATA CENTRES INSTALL 13 GUNNEBO SECURITY ENTRIES n NEXTDC has installed Gunnebo HiSec security booth entries at 4 of its Australian data centres, delivering access control for data protection and customer security.

NEXTDC required a high security solution incorporating a sophisticated reader to enable automated verification and entry for employees and visitors, while maintaining high levels of safety and defence against breaches of security. The solution also needed to be energy efficient.

NEXTDC installed a total

of 13 HiSec security booths at the 4 locations in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney. HiSec is a motorised high security booth in an elegant, transparent design offering single person detection, anti-hostage threshold, bullet resistant safety glass and high accuracy verification available via an inbuilt reader.

NEXTDC opted for a dual verification system with biometric and scanned verification on the outside of the door. The HiSec solution features 2 sets of doors, where the second

only opens once the first door closes and verifies that a single person is inside the security booth inner chamber at a time.

NEXTDC is a leading independent data centre operator. Its partner ecosystem comprises Australia’s largest specialised ICT community of more than 640 clouds, networks and IT service providers. With a focus on sustainability and renewable energy, NEXTDC delivers solutions that champion the best energy efficiency ratings in the country, as well as NABERS 5-star certification.

08 se&n

SEN421_8news.indd 8

31/3/21 12:09 pm

Alarm.Com Reports 23 Per Cent Growth Through 2020 p.10 Hackers Breach 150,000 Verkada CCTV Cameras p.12 SAFR Inside Integrated Into Axis Dome Camera p.13 MIC 7100i First Bosch Inteox Camera p.14 G5G Network Could Power IoT Devices By Wireless p.16 Dataline Visual Links Wins Perth CCTV Camera Contract p.17

COMPILED BY JOHN ADAMS

GALLAGHER SMB SECURES KAWHIA PRIMARY SCHOOL n LEANNE Apiti knows the Kawhia community like the back of her hand and as principal of the small seaside town’s primary school since 2009, she and her staff have taught generations of local children and formed strong relationships with their families.

Kawhia Primary School is a precious resource for this community on Waikato’s

west coast of New Zealand.

It is a place for learning, and for passing on local knowledge, histories, traditions, and language.

The original school block was built in 1922 and is now used as a classroom. Today, the school has an office block, 2 classrooms, a Māori medium class, and an Early Childhood Centre filling the grounds, alongside a generous field complete

Leanne Apiti at Kawhia Primary School

with sunflowers and an impressive potato patch.

In 2020 Apiti jumped at the opportunity to upgrade the school’s security system when some Ministry of Education funding became available. Frustrations with the legacy alarm system came to a head after repeated alarm faults, service fees, and false guard callouts racked up huge bills for the school.

“We were having real problems with our security system, getting charged a lot,” Apiti says. “If there was a power cut, we had to replace the battery and pay for someone to come and fix it. We knew the system was getting old and we didn’t want to upgrade it because it was going to create more of a headache.”

If a community group wanted to use the school

grounds Leanne had to come down to the school herself and unlock it for them, or hand over the keys. An email from Gallagher security about its new cloud-based security system, Gallagher SMB*, arrived at the perfect time.

“I didn’t have to go far to find a solution. Gallagher is local and understands our community,” says Apiti.

The app-based system means that Apiti can now control Kawhia School’s security from anywhere, at any time. Using her smartphone, she can arm and disarm the security system, manage alarms, and add or remove users.

“The teachers love it,” she says. “I wanted to make it as easy as possible for people to use the school. I liked the option that you can choose to add people and

grant them access to the security system and then you can take them off whenever you want to.”

This approach means no more retrieving keys from past staff members, and if a community group or adult learning class need to use the school, Apiti can grant temporary door access via the Gallagher SMB app.

“I can give access to anyone because I can actually see who has accessed the school from home,” she explains.

Cloud-based technology means the security system will always perform at its best with regular software updates, including new features and security updates. * Note, Gallagher SMB is currently only available in NZ.

“Our high-quality customisable product and local in-service support are clearly resonating with our customers, resulting in a growing portfolio of corrections facilities and other large-scale, critical infrastructure projects choosing OneView.”

OneView is already installed at the Barwon and Marngoneet facilities adjacent to the new prison.

“To deliver this latest contract, Saab will use local suppliers and contractors, supporting Victorian industry as it recovers from the economic impacts of COVID-19, and create a number of new jobs within Saab’s national security solutions team,” Keogh said.

In addition to the scope of work related to OneView product customisation, integration and deployment, as head

security contractor on the project, Saab will undertake overall project management, procurement of security equipment, supervision of installation works and site wide set to work and commissioning of the full security system.

According to Keogh, OneView solution is a highly customisable system that simplifies the security picture for control room operators.

“The easy-to-manage human interface delivers and prioritises critical information from sensors installed throughout a facility and uses customer defined workflows to manage incidents,” Keogh said. “The solution provides an open system, facilitating the use of subsystem solutions and allowing greater choice in initial design and flexibility for future upgrades and support.”

SAAB AUSTRALIA WINS CHISHOLM RD PRISON CONTRACT n SAAB Australia has signed a significant contract to supply the facility-wide security system for the Victorian Government’s newest 1248bed maximum security prison at Chisholm Road, Lara.

Saab Australia’s locally designed, developed and supported OneView

security integration platform will be the centrepiece of the new prison’s electronic security solution.

“Our OneView system will seamlessly integrate a multitude of security subsystems, including electronic access control, video surveillance, biometric scanners,

intruder detection and mobile duress,” said Andy Keough, Saab Australia managing director.

“This latest contract for the Chisholm Road facility further builds on Saab’s strong reputation as the leading security systems integrator for Australia’s correctional facilities sector.

se&n 09

SEN421_8news.indd 9

31/3/21 12:09 pm

NEWS APRIL 2021

AXIS REINVENTS OCEANIA REGION, EMPHASISES CUSTOMERS n Axis Communications has announced major changes in the management of the organisation’s Asia-Pacific territory, with regional management now based in Melbourne.

Previously responsible to the major hub in Singapore, the entire Asia region has now been re-imagined and divided into 4 separate entities, with Oceania becoming a region in its own right. This will result in increased staff numbers across diverse roles, expanded headquarters in Melbourne and several major promotions within the company.

Current key changes to the local structure see Wai King Wong, previously regional sales director,

assuming the new role of regional director for Oceania. Trevor Westhead will lead the customer segment team, Oshana Jouna will head up the sales engineering and training team, and Clint Morris steps into the newly-created role of sales manager for New Zealand.

Axis Communications will be hiring a human resources manager in coming weeks, to oversee recruitment and workforce management of the expanded team. The organisation’s regional marketing team will be expanded, and more staffing resources allocated to pre-sales and technical engineering.

“The whole purpose of this major shift is to move all of

ALARM.COM REPORTS 23 PER CENT GROWTH THROUGH 2020 n ALARM.COM said Q4 net income was $US16 million, while total quarterly revenue rose 18 per cent to $165.6 million, up 17 per cent year on year, with total revenue of 165.6 million for the fourth quarter, up 17.9 per cent from Q4 2019, while total 2020 revenue grew 23 per cent to $618 million.

Q4 SaaS and license revenue increased 17 per cent to $105.5 million, compared to $90.1 million.

Gross revenue increased 18 per cent to $165.6 million, compared to $140.5 million in the prior year.

For the 2020 year, SaaS and licensed revenue of $393.3 million grew 16.6 per cent over 2019. Hardware and other revenue in the fourth quarter was $60.1 million, up 19.2 per cent over Q4 2019. The increase in hardware revenue was

primarily attributed to an increase in sales over video cameras.

New functionalities introduced in 2020 included the Smart Water Valve + Meter, Connected Car, Flex IO, the Alarm.com Touchless Video Doorbell and OpenEye’s SaaS. Alarm.com is projecting SaaS and license revenue to be between $440.5 million to $441.5 million for 2021.

Alarm.com has more than 10,000 service provider partners which sell and service the company’s technology in more than 7.6 million customer properties in over 40 countries. The company’s security-oriented IoT platform is sold into 4 market segments: residential, multifamily, small business and enterprise commercial.

our operations closer to the customer,” said Wai King Wong. “We will have more resources in the region, allowing us to offer more support to our customers, and provide faster response times right across the board.”

Axis Communications will also be offering increased opportunities for training, with a greater volume of courses and certification options available to integrators and end users.

Specific courses will now be offered free of charge, some of which were previously invoiced.

“We are democratising our education offerings, making them more available to those who want to learn more about the Axis Communications

ecosystem of products.

Increased resources in the region allows us to devote more time and energy to training, which in turn offers better value and rewards for those who stand to gain the most, our valued customers,” Wong said.

Axis Communications’ Oceania base will remain in Melbourne, with the company headquarters to be expanded soon. Larger, more fit-for-purpose offices will provide better facilities in general, and more opportunities for customer and integrator relations.

“Again, everything comes back to the customer,” said Wong. “If we have more people working on our solutions, with better facilities, we can ultimately

provide better services.

“This is an exciting time for the company, and the fact that we are expanding like this, despite challenging business conditions, provides testimony to the company’s overall vision and the importance of the Oceania region.”

Wai King Wong, Axis Communications.

HILLS APPOINTS NEW CFO, CONTINUES BOARD RENEWAL n Hills has announced the appointment of experienced finance executive Natalie Scott as chief financial officer, effective March 22, 2021, and the appointment of Peter Steel as a nonexecutive director, effective March 31, 2021.

Scott, a qualified chartered accountant, brings significant experience in senior finance roles at ASXlisted companies including Village Roadshow Limited and Event Hospitality and Entertainment Ltd. Scott was also CFO and Chief Operating Officer at the Scalabrini Village residential aged care group

between 2016 and 2020.

“We’re delighted to welcome someone of Natalie’s calibre to the Hills team,” Hills’ chair, Jennifer Hill-Ling, said.

Meanwhile, Steel will replace Fiona Bennett, who will retire after 11 years as an independent nonexecutive director and chair of the board’s audit, risk and compliance committee. Steel has worked in senior financial roles for more than 20 years, including serving as general manager, finance and IT, at Toll Priority and as general manager, planning and strategy, at Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd.

“On behalf of the Board, I would like to extend our sincere thanks to Fiona for her insights and tireless commitment to Hills over more than a decade and to welcome Peter to the board after 7 months as the company’s interim chief financial officer,” Hill-Ling said.

“Peter has guided the company through its half-year accounts and undertaken a comprehensive review of its financial processes and controls. We are continuing our board renewal process to drive Hills’ growth and improve shareholder returns.”

10 se&n

SEN421_8news.indd 10

31/3/21 12:09 pm

isis now now Still Still the the same same quality quality products products

SAVE SAVE MONEY MONEY WITH WITH IDIS IDIS AND AND

OF OFTHE THE

US US PL PL UP ERSSUP NNER RU RUNN 00 0000 $1, 44xx$1, EL FUEL BP BPFU RS HERS UCHE VO VOUC

ON ONAA

SAVIC SAVIC MOTORCYCLE MOTORCYCLE

For Formore moreinformation informationabout aboutincreasing increasingyour yourchances chancesof ofwinning, winning, ask askyour yourlocal localbranch branchor orHills Hillsrepresentative, representative,or orgo goto to

www.hills.com.au/win-a-savic-experience-with-idis www.hills.com.au/win-a-savic-experience-with-idis

For Formore moreinformation informationon onthese theseand andother otherbest-in-class best-in-classsolutions solutions 1300 1300HILLS1 HILLS1(445 (445571) 571)or or hills.com.au hills.com.au Follow Followus uson on| |

Hills HillsLimited Limited

YO YOUU CCAANN RREELY LY OONN HHIILLLLSS Terms Terms & Conditions: & Conditions: Every Every customer customer who who spends spends AUD$2,000 AUD$2,000 excluding excluding GST GST onon IDIS IDIS products products in in a single a single invoice invoice from from Hills Hills Limited Limited Australia Australia between between 1st1st March March and and 30th 30th November November 2021 2021 inclusive inclusive will will receive receive one one (1)(1) “entry” “entry” in in prize prize draw. draw.

Additional Additional “entries” “entries” will will bebe available available toto customers customers for; for; attending attending advertised advertised events events (ie(ie – training, – training, briefings, briefings, etc); etc); and and forfor purchases purchases ofof specific specific advertised advertised products products during during the the promotion promotion period. period.

Five Five entries entries will will bebe drawn drawn atat Hills Hills Head Head Office Office in in Lidcombe Lidcombe onon Wednesday, Wednesday, 8th 8th December December 2021 2021 with with the the following following asas prizes: prizes: AA custom custom designed designed Savic Savic Delta Delta Electric Electric Motorcycle Motorcycle valued valued atat $16,900 $16,900 including including onon road road costs costs and and 4 x4 runner-up x runner-up prizes prizes ofof a $1,000 a $1,000 BPBP Fuel Fuel Gift Gift Card.

Card.

ACT: ACT: TP/21/00294.1, TP/21/00294.1, NSW: NSW: TP/00784, TP/00784, SA:T21/182.

SA:T21/182.

The The promotion promotion is is only only open open toto Hills Hills Limited Limited Australia Australia account account holders. holders.

For For fullfull terms terms and and conditions conditions please please visit visit www.hills.com.au/win-a-savic-experience-with-idis www.hills.com.au/win-a-savic-experience-with-idis

210118 210118Savic SavicCycle CyclePromo PromoA4A4v2.indd v2.indd 1 1 SEN421_11.indd 1

22/3/21 22/3/21 3:31 3:31pm pm 31/3/21 9:35 am

NEWS APRIL 2021

AUCKLAND UNI, AOTEA & GALLAGHER SIGN AGREEMENT n Auckland University of Technology (AUT), Aotea Security and Gallagher have signed a 3-way early adopter site partnership to ensure that AUT stays at the forefront of the latest technology, features and optimisation from the Gallagher engineering team.

The 3-way partnership agreement will enable AUT

the opportunity to deploy new security features and rigorously test functional updates across their site before general availability, directly supported by the Aotea Security team and Gallagher technical representatives and engineers. The programme allows AUT to push forward with digitisation and streamlining of the student

journey with security and smart credentials and identification.

More than 29,000 students from 137 countries study at AUT across the 3 campuses in Auckland’s central business district, on the North Shore and in Manukau, making them the second largest university in New Zealand.

In the 20 years since

AUT was established as a university, they have undergone remarkable change and development, making AUT leaders in their fields.

William Taylor, director of security, and emergency management at AUT has been working closely with Aotea’s national client services manager Mike McKim to drive forward the AUT Insider Programme through engagement with stakeholders and departments across AUT. According to Aotea, this has not been a spur-ofthe-moment addition but 12 months of planning and alignment to the AUT security and technology strategy.

“Gallagher offers flexible, integrated access control solutions that meet the needs of AUT to efficiently and reliably manage multiple access points to control risk, improve business efficiency, ensure

business continuity and integrate its security ecosystem,” said McKim. “This 3-way partnership defines the benchmark for matured collaboration at a high level as AUT strives to be bold, confident and lead the way forward for innovation and technology.”

A free educational Security Risk Management Seminar is being held at AUT on the 25th of March hosted

by Aotea Security, and all customers, end users and consultants are invited to come along.

THE PROGRAMME ALLOWS AUT TO PUSH FORWARD WITH DIGITISATION AND STREAMLINING OF THE STUDENT JOURNEY WITH SECURITY AND SMART CREDENTIALS AND IDENTIFICATION.

VSP SAYS GLOBAL SEMICONDUCTOR SHORTAGE IS CHALLENGING ANZ SECURITY SUPPLIERS n VSP’S Zaki Wazir says the electronic security industry faces a global shortage of semiconductors thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“COVID-19 has been a challenge for us all, and now we are faced with yet another fallout of the pandemic, that being a global shortage of semiconductors,” Wazir

Zaki Wazir

said. “There are 2 main causes of the shortage – an increase demand in consumer electronics as people were forced into home lockdowns and semiconductor factories not being able to run at full capacity.”

This week, Qualcomm Inc.’s Cristiano Amon, head of the world’s largest mobile chipmaker, flagged

shortages across the board, citing the industry’s reliance on just a handful of players in Asia.

“To make matters even worse, there are also shipping delays,” Wazir explained. “To put it simply, there just isn’t sufficient sea freight containers to carry freight around the globe, particularly when airfreight capacity is at an all-time low due to the scarcity of international passenger flights.

“At VSP we are proactive in our approach to these problems. We have increased our level of stock holding and have reverted to air freight as much as possible. We are also taking the approach of notifying customers there may be stock shortages and the best approach would be to talk to our sales team and place orders early so these issues don’t hold up your projects.”

HACKERS BREACH 150,000 VERKADA CCTV CAMERAS n A GROUP of hackers say they have breached Verkada’s CCTV data storage.

The hackers also claimed they gained access to live feeds of 150,000 surveillance cameras inside hospitals, companies, police departments, prisons and schools, as well as Verkada

customers.

According to the report, Tesla and Cloudflare were on the list. Some of the cameras use facialrecognition technology to identify people captured on the footage. Verkada offers a cloud-based CCTV service deploying high resolution 4K cameras that are virtually plug and play.

12 se&n

SEN421_8news.indd 12

31/3/21 12:09 pm

SAFR INSIDE INTEGRATED INTO AXIS DOME CAMERA n SAFR from RealNetworks says its SAFR Inside technology has been embedded directly on the AXIS P3255-LVE dome camera.

Utilizing onboard compute functionality to process video and perform face detection eliminates the need for servers dedicated to processing video streams. By eliminating server hardware, SAFR Inside provides a significant reduction in total cost of ownership.

“We are very pleased to bring SAFR Inside to the AXIS Camera Application Platform,” said Reza Rassool, CTO of RealNetworks, “Their worldwide leadership and quality products are a perfect fit for our highly accurate, high performance facial recognition platform.

We look forward to expanding our relationship into the future.”

SAFR Inside enables network cameras like the AXIS P3255-LVE to reduce video processing server

overhead and achieve new lows in total cost of ownership. By installing cameras with SAFR Inside and pairing them with SAFR’s Cloud Platform, SAFR grocery chain eliminates the need for onpremise servers entirely.

A 4-camera per location installation would have required a $2,000 server at each store. Without it, the chain saves at least $500 in up-front costs per camera, not including system configuration costs or on-going support requirements.

Large-scale on-premise deployments such as at a casino or stadium would experience similar up-front cost savings. By choosing cameras with SAFR Inside instead of traditional IP camera, a 100-camera installation can now be run on a single on-premise SAFR recognition server — achieving an estimated savings of $500,000 or $500 per camera.

“Our customers are always looking for ways

to reduce the total cost of ownership when deploying SAFR,” says Kaitlyn Shin, ANZ head of sales and business development at RealNetworks. “By bringing our world-leading AI into the camera, we are delivering lower costs and more flexible deployment options for our end users.”

SAFR Inside performs face detection and tracking in real time on live video streams, rapidly detecting and cropping face images in the field of view. These key image processing tasks are performed directly on the camera running SAFR Inside.

Individual face images are then encrypted and sent for analysis and optional recognition to the SAFR Server, which can be deployed in the Cloud or on premises in a corporate data center.

The SAFR Inside app supports some of the SAFR Platform’s most requested features for fighting Covid-19, including capacity to:

• Improve public health safety by automatically playing an audio reminder when someone is, or is not, wearing a protective face mask.

• Reduce opportunities for viral transmission by introducing touchless access control systems using SAFR’s world-leading facial recognition on live video.

SAFR can both ensure employees are wearing masks and recognize them with the mask on.

“SAFR Inside is the first Axis Application Development Partner (ADP) application to

take full advantage of the new AI capabilities of our AXIS Camera Application Platform,” said Robert Muehlbauer, senior manager, business development, at Axis Communications.

“With advanced computer vision technology like SAFR combined with the AI enabled AXIS P3255LVE, we see many use cases, including integrated solutions that utilize our IP audio and IP intercom technologies. We look forward to SAFR Inside running on more Axis cameras and intercoms in the future.”

GALLAGHER’S HIGH SECURITY SOLUTION ACHIEVES UK CYBER SECURITY STANDARDS n Global security manufacturer, Gallagher, has released its latest certified high security solution.

The Gallagher UK CPNI CAPSS High Security System features compliances to the Cyber Assurance for Physical Security Systems (CAPSS) standard, and the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) Readers and Tokens standards. This latest approval demonstrates Gallagher’s significant investment in delivering high security solutions for governments in the Five Eyes alliance.

Passing the CAPSS evaluation provides UK critical national infrastructure sites confidence that Gallagher’s software and hardware meets the toughest cyber

security requirements. The CPNI Readers and Tokens standards ensure physical access control readers and credentials are robust against both cyber and physical attacks.

“With cyber threats growing in sophistication, cyber protection has never been more vital,” said Richard Huison, regional manager UK and Europe, for Gallagher.

“Cyber security is an integral part of Gallagher’s physical security solutions. We’re pleased with the result from our CAPSS evaluation – it demonstrates our commitment to providing security solutions which offer the highest level of protection.”

CPNI protects national security in the United Kingdom by helping reduce vulnerability to

terrorism and other threats in national infrastructure.

Gallagher’s range of compliant solutions can be found under the CPNI Catalogue of Security Equipment (cpni.gov.uk/

cse-categories).

Gallagher’s UK CPNI CAPSS High Security System is now available.

Visit security.gallagher. com/UK-High-Security for additional information.

WITH CYBER THREATS GROWING IN SOPHISTICATION, CYBER PROTECTION HAS NEVER BEEN MORE VITAL.

se&n 13

SEN421_8news.indd 13

31/3/21 12:09 pm

NEWS APRIL 2021

MIC 7100I FIRST BOSCH INTEOX CAMERA n MIC 7100i is the first camera to be released with the fully open Bosch Inteox platform, giving end users, system integrators and application developers freedom for innovation and customization.

Inteox cameras can be classified as ‘Driven by OSSA’. This distinction signifies that the cameras follow the Open Security & Safety Alliance (OSSA) Technology Stack for video security devices, ensuring seamless connectivity with the Security & Safety Things (S&ST) application store.

MIC Inteox 7100i cameras support predictive solutions with built-in artificial intelligence (AI). It includes intelligent video analytics, Camera Trainer based on machine learning and

video analytics based on deep neural networks (DNN). These built-in AI capabilities enable Inteox cameras to understand what they see and add sense and structure to captured video data with metadata. This process is an important first step in converting video data into actionable insights and building predictive solutions, helping users anticipate unforeseen events and prevent them from happening, according to the company.

In city surveillance applications, the MIC Inteox 7100i cameras can detect abnormalities in behaviors, provide density data and alert traffic operators with insights they can act on to prevent unwanted situations. By adding third-

party software apps to Inteox cameras, integrators can customize security systems, enabling them to go beyond their basic functionality.

In turn, app developers can leverage the camera’s metadata, neural networkbased video analytics and machine learning to introduce innovative software to the market.

The MIC Inteox 7100i object classification (OC) models are made specifically for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) applications.

Powered by the edge computation capabilities of the Inteox platform, Bosch says the introductory OC models present a novelty in the field of AI. They offer a traffic detector, an additional video analytics feature based on

DNN that helps distinguish and classify automobiles in congested scenes with precise detail. Possible disturbances caused by vehicle headlights or shadows are ignored, uncovering new ways to improve mobility, safety and efficient use of roadways.

The actionable insights delivered by the cameras’

traffic detector help detect the presence and volume of vehicles to intelligently control traffic lights to keep traffic flowing when monitoring intersections.

Bosch says these insights can also enhance automatic incident detection (AID) solutions to improve the safety of people and vehicles in tunnels and on highways.

Mosiac TV Wall Solution For video, audio and metadata centralization

■ Mosaic TV Wall ■ Multi-Level eMap ■ Events Management

■ Database Centralization ■ Advanced User Management ■ ONVIF compatible

With our fully scalable TV Wall solution you manage 2x2, 2x3 up to 12x12 monitors and 65,000 devices

LILIN Australia

sales@lilin.com.au

Sydney (02) 9646 4878

www.lilin.com.au

ABN 64 107 084 008

Melbourne Unit 25/4A Bachell Avenue Lidcombe, NSW 2141

(03) 9540 9756

3 Avondale Street, Springcale, VIC 3171

14 se&n

SEN421_8news.indd 14

31/3/21 12:09 pm

Professional end to end video management solution with AI INTEGRATES TO

Powerful AI at the edge Push notiications Cloud based server health check Human, vehicle, clothing colour, gender, age, glasses, mask detection Connects directly to Hanwha NVRs Free ‘Fail Over’ for redundancy

SEN421_15.indd 1

31/3/21 9:34 am

NEWS APRIL 2021

5G NETWORK COULD POWER IOT DEVICES BY WIRELESS n RESEARCHERS have uncovered an innovative way to tap into the overcapacity of 5G networks, turning them into a wireless power grid for powering Internet of Things (IoT) devices.

Georgia Tech inventors have developed a flexible Rotman lens-based rectifying antenna (rectenna) system capable, for the first time, of millimetre-wave harvesting in the 28-GHz band. The Rotman lens is key for beamforming networks and is frequently used in radar surveillance systems to see targets in multiple directions without physically moving the

antenna system.

To harvest enough power to supply low-power devices at long ranges, large aperture antennas are required. The problem with large antennas is they have a narrowing field of view. This limitation prevents their operation if the antenna is widely dispersed from a 5G base station.

Operating just like an optical lens, the Rotman lens provides 6 fields of view simultaneously in a pattern shaped like a spider. Tuning the shape of the lens results in a structure with one angle of curvature on the beamport side and another on

the antenna side. This enables the structure to map a set of selected radiation directions to an associated set of beamports. The lens is then used as an intermediate component between the receiving antennas and the rectifiers for 5G energy harvesting.

This novel approach addresses the tradeoff between rectenna angular coverage and turn-on sensitivity with a structure that merges unique radio frequency (RF) and direct current (DC) combination techniques, thereby enabling a system with both high gain and large beamwidth. In

INFORM TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS APPOINTED SOLE ANZ LRAD RESELLER

demonstrations, Georgia Tech’s technology achieved a 21-fold increase in harvested power compared with a referenced counterpart, while maintaining identical angular coverage.

This robust system may open the door for new passive, long-range, mmwave 5G-powered RFID for wearable and ubiquitous IoT applications. The researchers used inhouse additive manufacturing to print the palm-sized mm-wave harvesters on a multitude of everyday flexible and rigid substrates. Providing 3D and inkjet printing options will make the system more affordable and accessible to a broad range of users, platforms, frequencies, and applications.

“We’ve solved the problem of only being able to look from one direction with a system that has a wide angle of coverage,” said senior researcher Aline Eid in the ATHENA lab, established in Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering to advance and develop novel technologies for electromagnetic, wireless, RF, millimetre-wave, and sub-terahertz applications.

The FCC has authorized

5G to focalize power much more densely compared with previous generations of cellular networks.

While today’s 5G was built for high-bandwidth communication, the high-frequency network holds rich opportunity to harvest unused power that would otherwise be wasted.

“With this innovation, we can have a large antenna, which works at higher frequencies and can receive power from any direction,” said Jimmy Hester, senior lab advisor and the CTO and co-founder of Atheraxon, a Georgia Tech spinoff developing 5G radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology.

With the Georgia Tech solution, all the electromagnetic energy collected by the antenna arrays from one direction is combined and fed into a single rectifier, which maximizes its efficiency.

“People have attempted to do energy harvesting at high frequencies like 24 or 35 Gigahertz before,” Eid said, but such antennas only worked if they had line of sight to the 5G base station; there was no way to increase their angle of coverage until now.”

G4S SHAREHOLDERS CREATE WORLD’S LARGEST PRIVATE SECURITY COMPANY n G4S shareholders have approved Allied Universal’s takeover bid, creating the world’s largest private security firm with more than 750,000 security officers, after around 80 per cent of the London-based company’s shareholders approved the $US5.28 billion transaction.

“The combination of G4S and Allied Universal creates the global leader in security with revenues of over $18 billion, industry leading talent and expertise and unmatched market

coverage,” G4S CEO Ashley Almanza said.

“This unique combination will offer customers exceptional service and provides employees with an exciting future.”

Allied Universal is a security and facilities manager with more than 200,000 staff and $US8.5 billion in revenue.

It operates across North America, with a presence in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. It also has an international base in the United Kingdom, where it employs more than 700 people.

16 se&n

SEN421_8news.indd 16

31/3/21 12:09 pm

DATALINE VISUAL LINKS WINS PERTH CCTV CAMERA CONTRACT n DATALINE Visual Link has been awarded a contract by Perth City Council to supply and install CCTV cameras at City of Perth carparks and on street locations.

There are currently over 600 cameras in the City of Perth CCTV system, which is monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with footage held on the hard drive for 30 days. The CCTV system operates under strict guidelines of a code of practice, containing a confidentially clause, operational information,

THERE ARE CURRENTLY OVER 600 CAMERAS IN THE CITY OF PERTH CCTV SYSTEM, WHICH IS MONITORED 24 HOURS A DAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK.

principles and standards, which are adhered to by all surveillance officers operating the system.

The City of Perth CCTV surveillance system aims to reduce crime levels by deterring potential offenders, ensure higher levels of community safety, shorten response times to emergency situations, assist in the detection and prosecution of offenders, help secure a safer environment for the people who live or work in, and visit the city, and monitor city assets and local government property.

Perth’s Citywatch Surveillance Centre works closely with WA Police to help ensure a fast and effective response to emergency situations and to assist in the detection and prosecution

of offenders. Citywatch operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year monitoring cameras across the city centre, Northbridge, East Perth and key public spaces.

DVL is an Australian-

owned technology integrator with more than 20 years’ experience offering a range of CCTV technologies, including IP CCTV solutions and management systems, DVR and NVR-based

solutions, long range laser cameras, electronic multiplying starlight cameras, thermal imaging cameras, smoke and flame detection cameras, cameras for harsh environments, and more.

DAHUA TECHNOLOGY REPORTS STEADY SALES, INCREASED PROFIT FOR 2020

VLADO LAUNCHES ONLINE CCTV TRAINING COURSES

n DAHUA Technology reports steady growth over 2020; achieving operating revenue of RMB 26.466 billion ($US4.06 billion), representing a year-onyear increase of 1.21 per cent; while net profit was RMB 3.903 billion ($US599 million), growing 22.42 per cent year-on-year.

According to Dahua, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a wide-ranging and profound impact on the development of the

n VLADO Damjanovski, the Australian security industry’s foremost CCTV expert, has launched 2 new online training courses, which include 15 hours of training conducted over a 5-day period via Zoom.

The syllabus of each of the courses, Complete CCTV and Practical CCTV, is comprehensive to say the least, covering key areas like light, resolution, colour, transmission, compression, system design, tendering, installation and implementation of IP CCTV systems, choosing VMS, commissioning systems, implementing

international community in 2020, including the global economy (agricultural, industrial or digital) and the smart IoT industry.

Dahua Technology, by expanding the in-depth application of the IoT technology in the citylevel and enterprise-level markets, enables the digital transformation of cities, enterprises and homes with one-stop smart IoT services and solutions.

Precise Investment in R & D

To Build Core Technological Competitiveness Focused on AI, cloud storage, big data platform and IoT technology, Dahua Technology’s R & D investment in 2020 reached RMB 2.998 billion (USD 460 million) with year-on-year increase of 7.28%, accounting for 11.33% of operating revenue.

The company’s cumulative R&D investment has reached RMB14.117 billion (USD 2.17 billion) since its listing.

Having products and solutions applied in 180 countries in the world, Dahua Technology operates a global marketing and service network to provide customers with efficient and end-to-end services. The company has established 57 subsidiaries and representative offices and more than 100 aftersales service stations in the world, while nearly 100 image stores and over 3000 element stores have been set up in 2020.

THE SYLLABUS OF EACH OF THE COURSES, COMPLETE CCTV AND PRACTICAL CCTV, IS COMPREHENSIVE TO SAY THE LEAST

Vlado Damjanovski, Vidi Labs

GDPR, and plenty more.

“If you want to understand how cameras and optics work, demystify compression, get a crash course on IP networking, and learn how to design and test your system – we are here to help,” Damjanovski said.

You can find out more at the Vidi Labs website or call Vlado on 0438 832 282.

se&n 17

SEN421_8news.indd 17

31/3/21 12:09 pm

● Regulars

The Interview

Developing Inception Steve Mitchell* of Inner Range explains the early and future development of the company’s Inception intruder, access control and automation panel.

Q: Who had the idea to build the Inception intruder and access control panel?

SM: There was definitely a shift in the SME market away from the complexity of on-premises software, so we felt the time was right for a browser-based access control product.

Q: When you started the Inception project, what was your goal?

SM: The Inception project aimed to create a new integrated intruder and access control platform with a focus on simplicity and ease of use. We wanted a product that was easy for everyone, easy

for integrators to install and maintain, easy for customers to use day-to-day, easy for support to assist with, easy for sales to sell and easy for non-Inner Range integrators to learn.

Q: What UX design techniques did you use?

SM: From the very beginning it was my intention to create a product which was easy for both integrators and end users. The aim was to have a responsive interface. There are only so many ways to unlock a door or detect an intruder, so I placed more emphasis on the usability of the product.

Integrators desire faster and easier installs, an intuitive user interface for both themselves and the end-user, a reliable product without a large maintenance burden, but still enough flexibility to tailor the solution to the customer’s needs.

We chose to use bootstrap, so that the user interface would work on a computer, on a laptop, on a tablet, on a phone. It would work well on any interface. Bootstrap had only been recently released when development for Inception begun and at that stage was a very innovate framework to base the user interface on.

Q: What are some user friendly features that are unique to Inception?

SM: About 7 years ago development of Inception began with the attempt to condense the company’s decades of industry experience into one product.

Staff from all departments were involved, especially the customer-facing staff in tech support and sales, to work out not only what a feature was used for in traditional intruder and access control, but why it was used.

This helped ensure Inception lined up with how our customers actually used our products, not just how R&D thinks they are used. Feedback, suggestions, and annoyances that had been received over the years were incorporated and addressed where possible.

The result was a tailor-made solution for the small to medium commercial market space. A product requiring no software to install and configure, only a web browser on a computer or phone. An industry-first Commissioning Checklist was included to streamline the installation process and help ensure nothing was missed.

A suite of configuration options focused on everything needed for intruder and access control in the SME market, and a powerful automated action engine for flexibility. SkyTunnel connectivity for easy yet secure remote access to the web interface for the integrator and end-user, whether walking around site, at home, or on the side of the road.

18 se&n

SEN421_18interview.indd 18

31/3/21 12:17 pm

STEVE MITCHELL WITH JOHN ADAMS

Q: Tell us about the commissioning checklist?

SM: I wanted the checklist to make it easier and quicker for somebody to programme the system. First impressions count, so the first time someone picked it up I wanted them to have the best experience possible.

If they start from the beginning of the checklist and follow it to the end, they can be confident that they have fully programmed the intruder and access control system without missing anything. At the same time, they have also done it efficiently, without backtracking or partially completing tasks.

Out of 2-and-a-half years of development, I spent a good 6 months of the development time in tech support learning all the issues that people were finding challenging with various access

control products. I spent a lot of time in tech support because they obviously speak to the technicians directly and know how the technicians use products.

I wanted to learn about the commissioning process and what a technician commonly does once cables have been run and devices wired in. The technical support team are also very focused on the training side of things, so they know how the technicians are taught to use our products. I took all of this experience and used it when creating the checklist so that the technicians could have the smoothest experience when programming Inception.

Q: How did you know that the market could accept a product which was very different to others on the market?

SM: There was a focus on usability

testing from the right from the beginning of development. I started the process by understanding what the pain points were for users and structuring the product to solve those pain points. The usability testing had a significant impact on the final product.

I put together scenarios with instructions on what a hypothetical customer was looking for. I included a floor plan and answers to some questions which a tech would commonly ask a customer. I got people from R&D, tech support, non-technical people from sales, production, and administration to program the system.

Based on their feedback I then refined the checklist.

I then took it to technicians outside of Inner Range and repeated the testing and then made further changes to ensure Inception was as easy as possible

se&n 19

SEN421_18interview.indd 19

31/3/21 8:20 pm

● Regulars

The Interview SM: It was all about simplicity. Many access control systems with an exposed PCB can be overwhelming – there are just components everywhere and it is hard for a technician to know what is relevant and what is not. There would be LEDs scattered around the board and connectors around the edge and on the board. You often need to scour the board to find what you are looking for.

To make it easy, a case is put over the top, so that all the noise is filtered out and you have got a clear instruction of the things which are relevant to a technician. USB, Ethernet, inputs all labelled, outputs all labelled, all the status LED’s in a row with clear naming. The product itself is a lot cleaner and easier to get going when compared to other products, which had a lot of information which was irrelevant for the technician.

FROM ITS INITIAL RELEASE 4 YEARS AGO, MARKET FEEDBACK AND PRODUCT SALES INDICATE THAT INCEPTION HIT THE MARK WITH WHAT IT SET OUT TO DO. for the people who would be using and installing it.

Q: The release of the product was delayed for 6 months, why did that happen?

SM: The product was perfectly functional for 6 months, but I did not release it as I wanted to ensure things like installation and user manuals were as good as they could be. This even included the help tips which are embedded into the user interface.

There are over 50,000 words worth of help text scattered throughout the pages.

If someone was taking the time to try Inception, I wanted the experience to be as good as possible. Technicians often stick with the product they know, and it is a large investment for a business to adopt a new hardware platform. So, the better that experience was, and the more benefits they could see compared to existing products, the more likely they would consider using Inception in future.

technician to understand the features and to reduce their need to call technical support for training related items. In the help text, I did not want to explain only what the option did.

I wanted to explain what the feature was, why it was there, how you could use it, when you would use it and any other related information like ‘use of this would affect this other option’.

I wanted to have all the information there.

If a tech did not know what the feature did, there would be a couple of paragraphs of text to explain the feature to them in detail. Ideally, they would not need to call tech support to find out how something works because they’d have taught themselves.

The help text makes Inception accessible to customers from any background, such as an access control technician learning what an entry and exit path is, or an intruder technician incorporating disarm on access or three-badge arming into their solution.

Q: When you were writing the help text what was your objective, 50,000 words of help text is significant in any product?

SM: A lot of the help text was to help the

Q: It’s common for access control and intruder systems to have an exposed PCB, however, Inception is encased in a plastic housing. Can you tell us why you did that?

Q: What is the future for Inception?

SM: From its initial release 4 years ago, market feedback and product sales indicate that Inception hit the mark with what it set out to do. Since then, Inception has enjoyed ongoing development as it is installed in more and more homes and businesses.

Countless features continue to be incorporated into the solution based on suggestions from the market, letting Inception mature and grow as a product while still maintaining its simplicity.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into the access control industry, Steve?

SM: During my early years I had an interest in computers and was good at math, so I decided to study a double degree at Swinburne Uni which consisted of a Bachelor of Engineering (Electronics and Computer Systems), and a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science and Software Engineering).

As part of my degree, I completed industry-based learning in the access control industry, and loved the combination of technologies, hardware, firmware and software, and have been in the industry ever since. n *Steve Mitchell is Inner Range’s product development manager.

20 se&n

SEN421_18interview.indd 20

31/3/21 12:17 pm

SEN421_21.indd 1

31/3/21 9:36 am

● Special Report

VMS

BEST OF THE BEST IN VMS There’s nothing easy about selecting the best VMS platform, with plenty of different solutions to choose from, each built around a different philosophy and with different network and operational requirements.

CCORDING to Mat Harrison of Network Optix, the key operational functionalities of the best VMS platform cover all areas of function, developer support, integration capability and ecosystem.

“A modern, well-designed VMS should be simple to install and require no prerequisite software (databases, .NET, etc), it should require no training to use at an advanced level (instantly usable), it should have a minimal set of required components

A

(desktop, mobile, server, cloud), it should be a snap to maintain, upgrade, and expand, and it should be useful at any scale - from 1 to 100,000 cameras,” Harrison says.

“The system should automatically discover compatible hardware (e.g. IP cameras, I/O devices), should have open, free development tools to enable integration with any 3rd party solution and should have an open, free integrations ecosystem that lists integrated hardware and software solutions that integrators and end-users can use to add value to their VMS.” When it comes to enterprise VMS, where recording, management and maintenance of the VMS are all vital, would Harrison agree things like centralised systems management, scalability, system health alerts, third party systems integration and a customisable user interface are increasingly important qualities?

“The ability to receive alerts, connect quickly

22 se&n

SEN421_22vms.indd 22

31/3/21 12:16 pm

BY J O H N A D A M S

to your VMS from anywhere, anytime, and have a central interface to connect to and manage all of your systems and/or sites is a no brainer and simply must exist in a modern VMS.” Harrison says.

“Health monitoring is also becoming a fundamental function of a modern VMS as it allows everyone in the chain to react quickly to any critical issues like hardware failure or software problems that may interrupt the normal flow of video and its related metadata.

“In terms of 3rd party systems integration – products that are proprietary are likely going to struggle. Interoperability and the ability to quickly integrate with a VMS should be a standard feature.

It allows systems integrators – the real heroes of the security industry – to rapidly solve their customers’ individual problems and to also create real value by doing things that are unique to every customer and system.

“A customizable interface does the same thing; it enables systems integrators to work with their customers to create a system that is customertailored. In Nx Witness VMS, for example, customers are able to combine IP cameras, I/Os, and web-based applications into a single layout to create situational awareness for any usage scenario.”

Something that can be important with a hybrid solution operating partly in the cloud is bandwidth management and/or the ability to record at the edge.

According to Harrison, there are a few things to consider when talking about hybrid vs directto-cloud IP video solutions – these include data, security, and reliability.

“In terms of data – high resolution, high frame rate IP cameras create huge amounts of data,” Harrison says.

“In fact, they create so much data that it’s impossible to use the latest IP camera technology with a directto-cloud solution and maintain the integrity of the information being captured without massaging it in some way – reducing the frame rates, reducing the resolution, transcoding and compression, etc.

“A hybrid solution allows a VMS to capture the full spectrum of data being generated, ensuring nothing is lost, while simultaneously allowing customers to back up key / critical event or metadata-driven video to the cloud.

“In terms of security – on-prem video can effectively be firewalled and protected both digitally and physically. Steps can also be taken to secure cloud-based video, but a cloud solution is always going to be a black-box for users where they depend on the company providing the solution (who also depends on another company or companies to provide their infrastructure) to protect video. While it’s possible to provide secure cloud-based storage a hybrid model reduces potential vulnerabilities.

“When it comes to reliability, a hybrid solution will keep the video, in most cases, closer to the operators who are using it via a LAN/WAN connection. Less ISP routing = less latency = more reliability. Also, if a cloud-based solution goes down, there’s no way an integrator or end-user can address the issue. With

HEALTH MONITORING IS ALSO BECOMING A FUNDAMENTAL FUNCTION OF A MODERN VMS AS IT ALLOWS EVERYONE IN THE CHAIN TO REACT QUICKLY TO ANY CRITICAL ISSUES.

a hybrid solution a system can be restarted on-site with some standard troubleshooting procedures.”

Harrison says the importance of some functionalities like graphics and mapping in a VMS depend on the application.

“It really depends on the customer and the use case,” he says. “More important would be the ability to generate custom experiences for customers based on their own needs. With Nx Witness, for example, customers can use our open REST HTTP API to create custom maps with mapping software like Google Maps, OpenStreetMaps, Mapbox, etc, and then open that in their interface with the embedded browser. A map is just another way of visualizing information. The key is a flexible desktop/interface and open developer tools.”

How important is integration when it comes to the latest VMS solutions, according to Harrison?

“Integration is extremely important,” he says.

“Systems integrators integrate. A VMS should be able to integrate using standard tools HTTP requests (in/out) and with UI components like soft triggers that allow integrators to create instant, low-code integrations in minutes. And for more advanced integrations - like computer vision-based video analytics that detect objects and behaviours, the VMS should provide a standard plugin-based approach that allows integrators to create video solutions that capture real-world metadata for use not only in security surveillance applications but also for business intelligence.”

Licensing is another key area of decision making when it comes to VMS. While there can be gripes about per-camera licensing costs, there are upsides, too, including ongoing upgrades as solutions evolve.

“VMS manufacturers and integrators are going to have to work together to adapt to the changing landscape of software licensing and the movement away from project-based pricing (CAPEX) to service-based (OPEX) models,” argues Harrison. “If you really think about what integrators do – solve problems for their customers with technology – a recurring monthly or annual service fee makes a lot of sense and would allow systems integrators to reduce the up-front costs of installing a new system for their customers and allow them to forge longerterm, service-based relationships with customers.

se&n 23

SEN421_22vms.indd 23

31/3/21 12:17 pm

● Special report

VMS they’ve already seen it before and are accustomed to the core mechanics.”

Over at Hills, Orlando Chiang says the key operational functionalities of the best VMS platforms include:

Video analytics is becoming an ever more central aspect of many specifications – how important is it that the best VMS offers functional video analytics modules with an operational focus, in Harrison’s opinion?

“A VMS should focus on those features which are universally desirable and useful,” he says.

“There are definitely some video analytics which are considered universally useful at this point, but many of those capabilities are being adopted by camera manufacturers, as edge-based intelligence makes a lot of sense from a technology perspective.

For instance, as streams are encoded, they are also analyzed. As a result, we don’t think baked-in analytics at the VMS level are a necessity and may, in fact, become detrimental to a VMS company’s ability to maintain a modern software package built on modern technologies.

“AI-driven analytics are also often dependent on specific computer hardware. At Nx, we felt it was a smart move to standardize how video analytics are integrated into our product. No matter what analytics package you are using, the base user experience is consistent. Our Plugin/Metadata SDKbased approach also gives systems integrators and end-users more flexibility when choosing analytics and allows them to change their analytics platform, if needed, with little to no pain and no need to learn a new software package.”

Anyone who has driven a modern VMS knows that there’s a huge amount of functionality in these systems and it can be difficult for interface designers to tuck it tidily away without it being hard to find. A key balancing act for decision makers as VMS becomes more complex is ensuring the user experience remains intuitive and seamless.

“The most important approach to keeping a VMS easy to use is to have a solid design foundation/ language and to maintain that language as the product evolves,” Harrison explains. “This will allow users to grow with the software. Another important thing a VMS manufacturer can do to remain easy to use is to follow the trends of the software market as a whole and to design UX / UI in a way that users don’t need to learn how to use their software because

• Ease of navigation, • User intuitive simple single click functions • The inherent ability to notify the operators of any relevant issues or alerts with simply escalation and acknowledgement actions • Provision of easy integration as an open platform without limiting functionality • Focus the attention of the operator to relevant potential issues, removing the noise of information overload and operator distraction • Provision of easy expandability with both forward and backward compatibility • Provision of the ability to manage user rights at both macro and micro level • The ability to take full advantage of AI to provide operators with more relevant information.

When it comes to hybrid solutions, Chiang says there are a number of issues to consider.

“With hybrid solutions becoming more popular, bandwidth requirements are an increasing concern, and have usually been mitigated by reducing the camera resolution up to the cloud,” he explains. “With uplinks and cloud storage costs becoming cheaper, eventually more systems will be hosted in the cloud, and at some point, with full resolution.

“With today’s cameras constantly increasing in resolution, bandwidth and storage requirements need to be taking into consideration when designing a cloud solution. As for edge recording, the issue has been the quality of the storage device, commonly an SD card. Most SD cards have a high read/write life these days but choosing the right one for constant duty is very important.”

Chiang agrees graphics and mapping are important to a quality VMS. “With some operators needing to monitor 100s or 1000s of cameras, needing a simple interactive map or graphic display is vital to visualise the location and orientation of all the cameras. This becomes essential with operators actively tracking suspects in either live or playback scenarios.”

For Chiang, the subtleties of VMS integration can demand partnerships.

“Everyone can’t be good at everything - the same applies to VMS,” he explains. “Sometimes it’s good to stick to your strengths and bring in the experts for specialised functions. This is where easy integration comes in play and having an open platform makes this a lot easier.”

When it comes to licensing, Chiang says it pays for integrators to have an holistic, long-term view.

“Gone are the days when you could purchase a system and not touch it for the next 10 years,” he says. “These days software is constantly evolving,

24 se&n

SEN421_22vms.indd 24

31/3/21 12:17 pm

even replacing an obsolete camera could force a VMS system to be upgraded due to compatibility issues. Keeping a VMS system up to date with the latest software is an ongoing struggle for most system integrators and end users, as technology keeps advancing while camera manufactures and VMS system developers struggle to keep up and take advantage of the latest and greatest.

“Although there are gripes about licenses and maintenance plans, and the need to pay for them, it’s important to remember that someone needs to write new software and to evolve VMS technology. It is these licence and maintenance plans that keep that technology evolution moving forward. Without them advancement would stagnate.”

How important is it that the best VMS offers functional video analytics modules with an operational focus that can meet operational needs, in Chiang’s opinion?

“Video analytics has been the buzz word for a few years now and after reading a lot of specifications for major projects, video analytics has always seemed to be written into the specification as an afterthought,” says Chiang. “I have seen many specifications where analytics has been written in as a single line entry, indicating that the person writing the specification has very little knowledge of the complexity and the different aspects that need to be taken into consideration when designing an analytic solution.

“There are very few video analytics solutions that will provide high accuracy when analysing video in the wild. Most analytic engines require specific camera angles and pixels on target. Specifications need to be writing around the analytics and the problem the analytics are intended to solve. As for VMS systems that offer analytic engines or integration to analytic engines, the operational focus needs to be paramount. The operator should not have to know where one system end and where the other begins, the operation of the platforms should be seamless.

“At the same time, it’s very important that the VMS client platform is intuitive. A new operator, first day on the job, should be able to start operating the VMS client with little or no training. Of the VMS clients that I have worked on, only a few have achieved an intuitive platform, and even then, some functions took a while to work out. Achieving an intuitive client platform is very hard, as the way a platform is laid out might be logical for a software developer, but not for an end user. Some software companies spend millions on deciding on how to change a single icon to help improve the end user experience, however.

VMS software developers don’t seem to be spending that much.

Milestone’s Brett Hansen believes the key functionalities people look for in a VMS are based around the effectiveness of producing outcomes that the user is looking to achieve.

“These outcomes revolve around situational awareness to allow them to make accurate, efficient decisions,” Hansen says. “These outcomes can cover

TO ALLOW ORGANISATIONS TO MOVE WITH CHANGE AND MEET MARKET DEMANDS, VMS NEEDS TO BE AGILE AND SCALABLE.

anything from typical surveillance requirements all the way up to beyond security approaches for business, health and safety as well as retail needs, to name a few.”

According to Hansen, recent events have highlighted how important VMS flexibility can be.

“We’ve seen how a year like 2020 can drastically change our environment,” he says. “To allow organisations to move with change and meet market demands, VMS needs to be agile and scalable. Allowance for adoption of new technology integrations is critical, as much as proactive system health and cyber protection.

“Hybrid VMS folds into scalability, particularly as it applies to operational effectiveness verses budget.

On premises storage that allows for cloud archive and even more effective metadata cloud storage allows organisations to apply on demand analytics on historical data.”

For Hansen, graphics and mapping are vital to a quality VMS. “Graphics and mapping speak to the effectiveness of situational awareness, allowing users and operators to make key decisions in a contextual method,” he explains. “You then allow for access and intrusion control into graphics and mapping as part of the integration requirement for VMS. I don’t believe the complexity of the VMS deployment needs to impact the user’s operational experience.

While there may be challenges as a site scales, it’s vital the operator can make quick, well informed decisions.

“Obviously with VMS, integration is very important, as it promotes decision making options, such as command and control for a user/operator, from a single pane of glass. This type of integration speaks to efficiencies and leads to better, faster decision-making abilities.”

For Hansen, licensing and development are interrelated.

“Development is key to being scalable and agile, as well as being at the forefront of cyber security,” he

se&n 25

SEN421_22vms.indd 25

31/3/21 12:17 pm

● Special report

VMS

says. “As previously mentioned with the importance of integration, 3rd party applications, devices and hardware constantly evolve, so maintaining a VMS application also ensures the ongoing functionality of the platform and the adoption of new features from these developing applications and devices.

“When it comes to video analytics, it’s important that the organisation’s outcomes are clearly understood so the analytic solution is applied effectively and is able to achieve the end user’s desired outcomes. If we keep this in mind, edgebased and/or server-based analytic solutions to key camera locations can deliver these outcomes and maintain budget.”

Andrew Cho of EOS says VMS needs to serve the main purpose of the software, which is managing video.

“The best VMS platform should make it easy to search, playback and retrieve the footage in the commonly available playable format,” Cho says.

“The VMS should allow the operators to perform search, and playback at its fingertips without over complicating the process.”

When it comes to centralised systems management, scalability, system health alerts, third party systems integration and a customisable user interface Chos agrees these are important.

“I strongly agree when it comes to features like system health, customisable user interface,” he says.

“Many organisations are now looking at centrally managing their video management platform at the head office level. They want to also keep an eye on security systems health to reduce the chance of the system failing or to minimise downtime during failures.”

Bandwidth management is the key success of the transition into cloud-based solutions, according to Cho. “As we are still in the pre-mature stage of implementing a fully cloud-based solution, hybrid solutions require smart bandwidth management by recording at the edge and utilising the metadata to

run smart searches,” he says. “Advancement of the accuracy of video analytics will also play a vital role, as it can reduce false alarms, which impact on use of bandwidth.”

When it comes to licensing gripes, Cho says a license-based solution is much more scalable in comparison to the non-licensed based system, such as an NVR or DVR, which are limited by hardware specifications.

“Instead, the CCTV solution evolves on a daily basis, and the end-user requirement needs to change along with it,” he explains. “If an organisation installed an appliance-based solution 2 years ago with a limitation of 5MP resolution, then the site cannot benefit from the latest multi-sensor or 4K fish-eye products to better manage the site. In contrast, the licensed-based VMS solution would have been the easy upgrade solution.”

How hard is it to ensure the user experience remains intuitive and seamless as VMS becomes more complex?

“As VMS technology develops, with an increasing greater demand for functionality, it is very difficult for systems to maintain the simplicity of the user interface,” Cho says. “It is important for the VMS developers to be mindful of the expansion. Also, sometimes updating the whole interface is required for some VMS solutions which have been adding features to the level they become nearly impossible to find.

“As part of VMS layout, graphics and mapping don’t always need to be overly impressive but must be simple and easy to use, and the features need to be neatly available. Because VMS is a video-centric platform that wants to achieve the outcome of proactive monitoring and better real-time response, integration is an integral part of this overall vision.

“Video analytics has become a vital part of managing video cleverly. The best VMS solution should offer video analytic modules to allows the end-users to utilise the available edge-based video analytic as well as server-based module, allowing the VMS to handle more complicated analytical tasks.”

How difficult is VMS to get right for integrators – why is training important – and how important is partnering with the right provider?

“Training on a VMS is essential for integrators,” Cho says. “However, before this training, selecting the right VMS and its distribution partner is also important. Offering a large selection of VMS options may sound good, but there are only a limited number of companies that can support them professionally.

“Once technicians do the training it’s important for them to maintain their knowledge by practising on a regular basis. This means the SI needs to have a sufficient number of projects using the VMS and the supplying partner must also have a wealth of knowledge and an assurance of continuity in support of the VMS.” n

26 se&n

SEN421_22vms.indd 26

31/3/21 12:17 pm

strobe

PIR detector camera

C

siren

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

AcuSense Live-Guard Solution Secure your property with a versatile and complete security system

Powered by

Distributed by Australia

www.csd.com.au

SEN421_27.indd 1

Hikvision Oceania

New Zealand

www.nesscorporation.com www.videosecurityproducts.com.au www.atlasgentech.co.nz

www.hikvision.com.au Hotline +61 1300 976 305 salesau@hikvision.com www.nfs.co.nz

Follow us on |

Hikvision Oceania

31/3/21 9:36 am

● Special Report

Teknocorp

TEKNOCORP STEPS UP Melbourne-based electronic security integrator Teknocorp has built a new office, incorporating meeting, technical, project and training facilities, as the company takes its evolution to a new level.

EKNOCORP has moved into new facilities at Altona North, a central location that gets the team closer to its customers and suppliers. The new facility is one of the neatest security integration setups we’ve seen, covering all the fundamental requirements of a busy security business, while creating an inspirational environment with plenty of flow.

As part of the move, the company has installed Inner Range Integriti access control and an Avigilon video surveillance solution, with a Gallagher system still to come. These cutting-edge solutions provide opportunities for demonstration, as well as showcasing the team’s integration skills. But for all the pleasing aspects of the new facility what struck SEN most when we visited recently was the passion of the team.

According to Teknocorp’s MD Rob Portelli, the new office, which is located near the hub of Melbourne with excellent access to roads in all directions, is a statement of intent, an inspiration, a reward, and a practical move, all rolled into one.

“The new office is closer to the city – that’s a big thing because it saves our techs time,” says Portelli. “We

T

have positioned ourselves in a really good spot, the facility is purpose built for us, our staff were involved in the design of the facility and I think what we have ended up with is excellent. The new building is ideal for our needs and it will be inspiring to our staff and our brand.”

Portelli says all Teknocorp’s suppliers have got on board and provided their latest solutions for the team to install as part of the new facility, including Inner Range Integriti, Avigilon, Gallagher and others.

“Our own team built much of the environment and integrated the security technology we have installed here,” Portelli says. “The building access control and alarm system is Integriti, with Sifer readers, but we will be adding other solutions – we want the building to be agnostic so as to highlight the possibilities of the latest security technologies. We will also incorporate solutions from Hikvision, as well as from Gallagher, including visitor management.

“On the CCTV side we are Victoria’s largest supplier of Avigilon solutions and to showcase these we have an Avigilon ACC system and Avigilon cameras. The Avigilon platform is a good story for us – we have some great applications of this solution, including an Avigilon, Indigovision and Gallagher solution that looks after a major water utility. We are also working on 37 floors for Victoria University using Integriti and Avigilon, so there’s plenty to talk about there.”

While the built environment, particularly the work triangle, is important, the network design is vital, too.

“From a network perspective, our internal IT team took on facility’s network as a project,” Portelli explains. “This was more complex than it sounds.

Before the move, we had 2 offices and 2 networks running side by side. Ultimately the cutover process was so seamless all people had to do was pick up their laptops, pack up their screens, and walk out. When they set their gear up in the new place, everything worked as it had before.”

Portelli explains that while some elements of the new facility were planned, others suggested themselves along the way.

“As an example, I need a desk that raises and lowers so I can work standing up and thought why not do that for the entire team?” Portelli says. “As a result, everybody has the same flexible desk that can be adjusted up or down as required – they can sit or stand, depending on the work being undertaken.

“We haven’t skimped on the design, the fit-out, or the sub systems – it’s been a serious investment – in a way we look at this as our contribution to supporting local businesses battling their way out of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

When we walk into the building immediately to the left is a wonderful meeting space. It’s based on a neat idea that takes advantage of the building’s layout.

28 se&n

SEN421_28teknocorp.indd 28

31/3/21 12:16 pm

BY J O H N A D A M S

Peter Kamarinos (left) with Robert Portelli

“The whole idea of having the meeting room here beside the foyer is so visitors don’t have to travel through the entire operation to have a meeting – the space has plenty of wow factor, too, and there’s all the technology you could ask for from the point of view of presentations,” explains Teknocorp’s GM, Peter Kamarinos.

“Also downstairs are admin and service workstations, as well as the service manager’s desk – there are also tech hot desks and lockers adjacent to the network racks and other infrastructure. Further in, there’s a breakout area and past that is the kitchen, with the warehouse situated behind. We wanted the techs to have hot desks in the heart of the space, rather than being pushed out, or isolated down the back somewhere, which is usually the case.”

Sticking my head in I can see the warehouse area is large – there’s plenty of room for stock storage prior to pre-commissioning, as well as space to undertake key aspects of pre-commissioning.

“Something the move has given us is the opportunity to get rid of a lot of accumulated gear that has been building up over 35 years – things no one could bring themselves to throw away in case they were needed for some legacy application,” Portelli chuckles. “We found some real museum pieces during the move, including Vidicon bank cameras and some documents from the 1980s.”

Next, we go upstairs – this is where the projects team is located. It’s a great space – open, with offices at either end, a decent amount of light, plenty of room

IT’S BEEN A SERIOUS INVESTMENT – IN A WAY WE LOOK AT THIS AS OUR CONTRIBUTION TO SUPPORTING LOCAL BUSINESSES BATTLING THEIR WAY OUT OF THE IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC.

for the dedicated project workstations, as well as a large table centre left.

“We brought our old board table over just to see how it worked in this space,” Portelli explains. “We were worried it would be too big when located alongside the project workstations but it’s actually the perfect size and allows for impromptu meetings which need more than a workstation without the team needing to run up and down the stairs or book the meeting room.”

Developing an empty space for a specific outcome during Melbourne’s on-off COVID lockdowns was not without challenges, according to Kamarinos.

“At the same time, the COVID pandemic provided opportunities in some ways,” he explains. “As a company we are highly engaged anyway, but the

se&n 29

SEN421_28teknocorp.indd 29

31/3/21 12:16 pm

● Special Report

Teknocorp ALL OUR ACCOUNTS AND FILES ARE NOW IN THE CLOUD, SO THE TEAM CAN ACCESS WHATEVER THEY NEED FROM WHEREVER THEY ARE AND WITH COVID THAT HAS MADE THINGS A LOT SIMPLER.

maintain the server, the UPS, the switch, the slow internet link – it became a boat anchor – we decided to take that service to cloud and once we were in the cloud, we took our accounting software there, too.

“With COVID there were people who wanted/ needed to work from home and we found our VPN performance was a bottleneck – to get around this, we have all our files in a secure location in the cloud and it’s backed up elsewhere, and everyone on the team has fast access to required data from anywhere. Some very large files are retained onsite because they are too large for seamless access when the team is working with them.”

Something else that’s important, according to Kamarinos, is the location of data stored offsite.

“An issue for some of our customers is they want their data to be sovereign,” he explains. “They don’t want their data sitting outside of Australia. This is part of the complexity – it works differently for every customer.

“All our accounts and files are now in the cloud, so the team can access whatever they need from wherever they are and with COVID that has made things a lot simpler.” challenges encouraged us to go full steam ahead and we were able to get our supplier partners to come along with us and we kept them busy, and they helped us get the results we wanted.”

There was plenty of work to be done turning a shell into a facility combining function and atmosphere.

“The company that built the fit-out really joined us on the journey – they built a 3-dimensional plan and walked us through what it would look like in software and that was part of their service – not an extra,” Kamarinos explains. “There were things we added as we went along that were not part of the plan and they were able to accommodate those changes with the least possible fuss - they knew what we wanted.”

As mentioned, the network was an important part of the upgrade – not only the local network, but connectivity to the internet delivering the team cloud access from any location. The demands of COVID had already required a change of network structure and the move cemented it.

“Here at the new building, we have commercial grade internet – 100Mbps up and down, as well as 4G backup,” Portelli explains. “When we started going cloud, we introduced a software management platform for service and we chose to have it on premise, not in the cloud. We went this way for security reasons, but we had to manage and

CONCLUSION Portelli explains that the move highlights the value Teknocorp puts on staff, suppliers and customers.

“As an example, we changed all our vehicles a few years ago as part of making sure the technicians and project people are looked after – the business is not a cash grab – you’ve got to look after people – it’s what we stand for,” he says. “Being answerable to myself I can make that decision to ensure the team feels supported, feels safe and appreciated.

“More recently, the team was rapt when we upgraded their cars again at the end of last year – at the same time we are providing new facilities for them. Through COVID we did not stand still and we did not lay anybody off. Looking back, the challenge of COVID brought the team closer together, which was a great outcome from a team building perspective.

“The team has also been involved in the process of developing the facility,” he says. “Now the place is completed, it’s a bit like moving into a new home – it’s inspiring, it’s a showcase, the team should feel proud of what we have achieved. Many people have heard what we are doing – we are going to be bringing our clients in to see it – the idea is to show customers what we can do and to show them the latest technologies our suppliers are offering – I can’t wait to get started.” n

30 se&n

SEN421_28teknocorp.indd 30

31/3/21 12:16 pm

SEEKING PROFESSIONAL SECURITY TECHNICIANS? Try SEN JobsMarket securityelectronicsandnetworks.com

SEN421_31.indd 1

31/3/21 9:36 am

● Product Review

Bosch

BOSCH DINION IP 3000I TURRET IR Bosch Dinion IP 3000i Turret IR is a compact day/night PoE turret camera and the NTV-3503-F02L version we are testing has a 2.3mm F1.6 aperture fixed lenses and strong resolution of 3072 x 1728 pixels for a total of sensor area of 5.3MP.

32 se&n

SEN421_32bosch.indd 32

31/3/21 12:14 pm

BY J O H N A D A M S

INION IP 3000i – our test camera is the NTV-3503-F02L - is a compact turret with a modest current draw offering solid all round performance, that’s best in good to low-ish light. The camera has serious resolution and a monster 120-degree angle of view, thanks to the squat 2.3mm focal length of its moderately fast fixed lens. The camera makes the most of these attributes to deliver good situational awareness, with court admissible faces to 10-15 metres and excellent recognition and observation qualities further still.

Thanks to its robust cast alloy construction, the camera is rated IK08 against vandals striking at 5 joules impact – the equivalent of the impact of a 1.7 kg mass dropped from 300mm above a surface.

There’s also IP42 rating for protection against tools and small wires greater than 1mm and from water sprays at less than 15 degrees from vertical.

Before we go further, let’s run through some specifications. This version of the 3000i turret features Intelligent Dynamic Noise Reduction with separate temporal and spatial adjustments, intelligent defog, video content analysis with rule-based alarms and tracking, line crossing, enter/leave field, follow route, loitering, idle/ removed object, people counting, crowd density estimation and 3D tracking. Additional functions include privacy masking via 8 independent areas, fully programmable display stamping of name, logo and time, as well as alarm messages and pixel counter of selectable areas.

The camera’s internal RAM can store up to 5 seconds of pre-alarm recording, while a microSDHC/microSDXC SD card slot supports 1TB cards for more complex automatic network replenishment (ANR) edge recording requirements. The camera has a built-in microphone to allow operators to listen in on the monitored area. Audio detection can be used to generate an alarm if needed. Full duplex audio streaming options includes standard G.711 with an 8 kHz sampling rate through to AAC-LC running at 80 kbps and a 16 kHz sampling rate. Signal-tonoise ratio is less than 50dB. Adjustable picture settings include contrast, saturation, brightness, white balance (2500 to 10000K), 4 automatic modes (basic, standard, sodium lamp, dominant colour), manual and hold mode, the video functions include ALC, there’s automatic electronic shutter (AES); fixed shutter from (1/30 to 1/15000) selectable and default. You can select day/night auto (adjustable switch points), colour, monochrome, video functions – enhance, there’s selectable sharpness enhancement, backlight compensation and contrast enhancement.

There’s also fully configurable H.265 multistreaming. According to Bosch, the camera is designed on the most efficient and powerful H.264 and H.265/HEVC encoding platform and

D

Faces are easy.

Depth of field decent, too.

Afternoon softness.

se&n 33

SEN421_32bosch.indd 33

31/3/21 12:14 pm

● Product Review

Colour performance.

There’s some tone mapping.

Bosch can deliver quality images stream at low bitrates.

The 3000i supports ONVIF Profile S, ONVIF Profile G and ONVIF Profile T, as well as GB/T 28181.

Data security is a Bosch priority, and the company says measures have been put in place to ensure the highest level of security for device access and data transport. The 3-level password protection with security recommendations allows users to customize device access. Web browser access can be protected using HTTPS and firmware updates can also be protected with authenticated secure uploads. Bosch says the on-board Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) support guarantee superior protection from malicious attacks. The 802.1x network authentication with EAP/TLS, supports TLS 1.2 with updated cipher suites including AES 256 encryption.

This camera is 122 x 129mm in size, weighs 576g and runs on POE IEEE 802.3af/802.3 at Type 1, Class 3 on a voltage of 12V DC with a 30 per cent variation either way. Maximum draw is 10.5W, with a standard draw of around 3.5W. The camera head features 3-axis adjustment through pan/tilt and rotation (pan is to 350 degrees, while tilt is from 0-78 degrees), while the operating temperature range is -20 to 50C. Assisting installations are mirror image function, image rotation options from 0-270 degrees, and camera LED disable. A wide range of configuration options is available for alarm activations signalling camera tampering and a built-in algorithm for detecting movement in the video stream can also be used to signal tamper alarms.

Bosch quotes DORI figures for the 5MP turret with 2.3mm lens – detection at 37 metres (25px/m), observation at 15 metres (63px/m) recognition at 7 metres at (125px/m) and identification at 4 metres (250 px/m). These are stringent numbers – I think the camera pushes court admissible identity out past 10 metres, though this margin shrinks as light levels drop.

TEST DRIVING 3000I With high IR.

Bosch Dinion IP 3000i Turret camera surprised right from the start with its sure-footed performance in more than slightly horrible variable lighting conditions that moved between deep shadow and glaring backlight. Initial settings are close to default for the test – sharpening is elevated, and backlight compensation is on, while intelligent dynamic noise reduction and dynamic sharpness and noise filtering are both activated. With these settings, the camera shows off excellent all-round performance during daylight hours in good light.

This should come as no surprise – we were very impressed with the Bosch 3000i Bullet recently and there’s some technical crossover in the family.

The turret form factor tends to make you think performance will be a compromise. Instead what

Here’s low IR.

34 se&n

SEN421_32bosch.indd 34

31/3/21 12:14 pm

you get with the Bosch Dinion IP 3000i Turret is a very wide angle of view arm-in-arm with excellent resolution delivering solid performance in good and failing light.

There’s a distance – it’s around 15-20 metres – where subjects move out of the lens’ optimum focal plane, as well as moving into the area of pixel spread - where softness becomes apparent. But within that distance through a monster 120-degree angle of view, Bosch’s Dinion IP 3000i Turret delivers strong sharpness, contrast and colour, and low blur.

It’s a combination that makes this camera a real powerhouse for mid-range applications where you need to see everything all the time.

Our test starts in the morning and it’s immediately apparent the 3000i turret does solid work against backlight. I have court admissible faces on my side of the street, though I never feel I have them over on the bright side of the road – about 12-plus metres from the lens. Performance with snaring plates is pretty good, too, considering the angle of view and the pixel spread it engenders. During the middle period of the day, as the light swings wildly from glaring 70,000 lux to gloomy 14,000, I remain sure that with a bit of fiddling I could dredge plates out of the middle of my scene.

Considering the enormity of the angle of view – it really is huge, stretching from the line of terraces on the left all the way around to a point past 90 degrees over the road – performance is excellent.

Colour tones are natural, perhaps a little muted as light levels fall and WDR performance is solid. I note a little veiling flare from the turret face, which is mounted on the Magic Arm at right angles to the ground, but that’s is not a typical application for a turret.

Something I do like for a street application like this, is that I am getting faces and similarly high levels of detail all the way in from 10 metres through the full angle of view. I grab a couple of shots to highlight this capacity – it’s worth having. The view is not only wide, it’s taller than you’d see with a longer focal length – that brings in more detail still. You don’t think about it until you’re noticing people’s shoes and socks within 8m – even within 4m – usually this close to the lens where detail is highest, those details would have moved out of your horizontal or vertical angles of view.

The image stays solid all afternoon – it’s moving into autumn here in Sydney, so the sun is a bit lower in the northern sky. This and the partial, thick cloud cover, start to have an impact later in the day. I begin getting some softness in the image. I notice it first in vehicles and then in faces. Because of the variable light – by this time I have an intense bright patch to the right of the scene, with shade through the rest of the angle of view – I spend a bit of time trying to wrap camera settings around the application. After turning backlight on and off a few times, I feel I am getting more amplification noise without it and put

WHAT YOU GET WITH THE BOSCH DINION IP 3000I TURRET IS A VERY WIDE ANGLE OF VIEW ARM-IN-ARM WITH EXCELLENT RESOLUTION DELIVERING SOLID PERFORMANCE IN GOOD AND FAILING LIGHT. up with a slightly darker scene.

Fast moving plates are gone by 430pm but I still have court admissible faces at 6.20pm when the light has evened out and I hang onto them till around 7pm, when light fades faster. You’d expect a comparatively compact camera sensor with 5.3MP resolution and a very wide angle of view to tend to be softer in low light thanks to pixel spread and smaller photo sites, and that’s how it proves to be.

Something I do notice is that the camera refuses to shunt over into monochrome in sub 4 lux on the street. By this time there’s fore and aft tone mapping of fast-moving cars, and tone mapping is evident around pedestrians, too. It’s not about frame rate – it’s the way the camera manages areas of activity while ensuring slender bitrates.

Static details are high at 8pm in full dark. There’s slight yellow colour casting at the bottom of the street. In this light level, identifying pedestrians and vehicle plates is not possible – there’s blur and amplification noise – but the static parts of the scene are tidy – sharper close to the lens. Light balance across the frame is good, too, as is colour rendition.

There are no dark holes in this scene at all, and I find I’m able to get vehicle makes, models, colours, modifications without any trouble and depth of field is good – I have detection of people and vehicles very deep into the scene.

I have to push the camera into night mode to get

se&n 35

SEN421_32bosch.indd 35

31/3/21 12:14 pm

● Product Review

Bosch THE CAMERAS OBSERVATION CAPABILITIES ARE ALSO ENHANCED WITH IR ON – I CAN SEE PEOPLE WALKING ON THE ROAD AT 20 METRES.

CONCLUSIONS

WDR performance is a strength.

Bosch Dinion IP 3000i Turret is a solid camera, well built and with plenty of smart functions, including onboard analytics and clever event reporting. The camera’s resolution and enormous angle of view – wide and tall – means that within 15 metres of the lens in good light it gives levels of detail you’d never get with longer lens. During the day and within 10 metres, court admissible face recognition is standard fare and moving plates can be recognised fully or partly using digital zoom. WDR performance is a particular strength.

In lower light levels the camera doesn’t give moving plates or faces, but general monitoring characteristics for detection or observation are good. The camera does best with the IR array eased off and responds well to the presence of ambient light. If you have a very wide view and your depth of field is from 10-15 metres, this Bosch Dinion 3000i turret is well worth a look. n

Here’s WDR at the very edge.

a look at IR performance in monochrome. The IR array offers 15 metres of reach – that’s conservative – I can see IR flare from plates up to 25 metres away.

Something else I notice immediately is that the IR array’s spread is relatively narrow compared with the large optical angle of view – it’s also relatively strong. I’m happier with IR performance inside 8 metres with the IR array backed right off, especially if there’s a touch of ambient light from adjacent flood lights or from carried smart devices.

Assisted night performance does a good job with pedestrians outside of face recognition – I have gait, attire, head shape, hair tone and style, footwear design, carried items. With IR activated I have recognition of a person by those who knew them or from photographs. The camera’s observation capabilities are also enhanced with IR on – I can see people walking on the road at 20 metres and again, these images would allow recognition by friends or family.

I spend a lot of time playing with camera settings in support of IR, particularly shutter speed, and find the best street performance with movement at close range is using a shutter speed of around 100th of a second and keeping IR on its lower settings.

For general detection or observation of complex scenes, colour at default was preferable.

FEATURES OF THE BOSCH DINION IP 3000I TURRET INCLUDE: l

5MP resolutions, 2.3mm lens, big 120-degree angle of view

l

Robust IK08 build with IP42 protection against water sprays

l

Built-in Essential Video Analytics to trigger relevant alerts and quickly retrieve data

l

Fully configurable H.265 multi-streaming

l

Wide Dynamic Range (120 dB) for challenging bright and dark scenes

l

Built-in IR illuminator with 15 m (49 ft) viewing distance.

36 se&n

SEN421_32bosch.indd 36

31/3/21 12:14 pm

There are easier ways to stay in the loop

SEN EDM NEWS I REVIEWS I TENDERS

Subscribe at securityelectronicsandnetworks.com SEN421_37.indd 1

31/3/21 9:36 am

Proudly brought to you by

● Regulars

Monitoring

Your Monitoring Specialists

1300 130 515

www.bensecurity.com.au

Sequential Sensors Is it possible to design a wired alarm installation that reduces false alarms? The most obvious way is by rigging up the system so that 2 separate sensors in nearby areas can be activated sequentially over a short period of time. The sensors need not both be PIRs - a glassbreak and a dual technology sensor could be combined, or a PIR and a dual technology sensor.

HE principles we’re talking T about here conform to the UK’s DD243 standard which is designed specifically to eliminate false alarms. The sequential combinations of sensors allowed under DD243 include: l 2 detectors of different technologies i.e. break glass & movement l 2 detectors, same technology with minimal or non-overlapping areas l 2 dual technology movement detectors or 1 passive infra-red and 1 dual technology movement detector; coverage may overlap but detectors must be located some distance apart l 1 alarm and 1 tamper l 1 communications line fault and 1 alarm or tamper l faults on 2 separate communications paths.

The sequential combinations not allowed under DD243 include: l 2 single technology movement detectors overlapping l 1 double knock combination i.e. 2 activations from 1 detector l 2 vibration or break glass detectors overlapping l 2 foil on glass on same door/window l 2 switches on same door

2 atmospheric detectors 2 audio detectors or video motion detectors.

l l

The audible and visual verification techniques are designed into systems and managed by the user’s monitoring station using microphones or cameras incorporated into sensing devices at the monitored premises.

Controlled verification to a standard is a great idea. As all monitoring station operators know, opening times and close of business generate a flood of false alarms from alarm systems that are designed or configured in ways that make it possible for users to trip over their own feet on exit.

Systems that require users to negotiate half the building after activating the alarm are not a great idea. Users will find innumerable ways to get side-tracked on their way out, whether it’s picking up one last phone call near the exit door or making a quick bathroom stop that extends longer than they’d planned.

And none of this considers the fact that lengthy delays on activation tend to encourage users to adopt a more relaxed attitude to getting out of the building – as well as making users more likely to return for some forgotten item. In order to get around these sorts of problems, you can

set up alarm systems to conform to DD243 standards using the following methods: 1) Key operated shunt lock on final exit door 2) Push button outside the premises 3) Door contact on the final exit door 4) Electronic token 5) In conjunction with the alarm receiving centre 6) For systems installed to the new European Standards, EN 50131, other means.

You might also install disarm methods that include: 1) System disarm by unlocking the initial entry door

38 se&n

SEN421_38monitor.indd 38

31/3/21 8:21 pm

Proudly brought to you by

Your Monitoring Specialists

1300 130 515

www.bensecurity.com.au

AS ALL MONITORING STATION OPERATORS KNOW, OPENING TIMES AND CLOSE OF BUSINESS GENERATE A FLOOD OF FALSE ALARMS.

2) Unlocking the entry door disables all confirmation then system un-set internally (as present) 3) Opening the initial entry door disables all confirmation (not acceptable to most insurers) 4) System is unset using an electronic token for example a proximity fob, smart key or infra-red/radio fob 5) Un-setting carried out in conjunction with the Alarm Receiving Centre.

Along with these changes there are rules that can make it tenable for patrols not to attend false alarms without compromising the inherent security of alarmed premises.

If a remote keypad is to set and unset your

alarm, entering by the designated entry/ exit door must disable all confirmation in the building. This means that a burglar who enters by that door will not cause more than one signal to be transmitted to the Alarm receiving centre (ARC) if straying off the designated entry route.

To overcome the above, the system will need to have a different means of setting and un-setting. The options are: 1) By means of unlocking the entry door with the use of a combined lock and keyswitch.

2)In conjunction with the ARC 3)Portable ancillary control equipment (radio key fobs, proximity tokens, etc.)

4)Access control equipment.

As part of this process, resetting of the alarm system after an activation can now be done by the user, unless patrols are called, in which case the ARC can perform the reset remotely, or the alarm company must be called, whichever is appropriate. And finally, after an activation of the alarm from a single detector, the system will re-arm within a set time. If a door sensor caused the alarm, and the door consequently remains open, or any other detection device is indicating an alarm state when the system tries to re-arm, that door/ device will be omitted from the alarm, therefore leaving a gap in the security of the building. n

se&n 39

SEN421_38monitor.indd 39

31/3/21 12:13 pm

● Q&A

Video Analytics

AI – AN OPERATIONAL PERSPECTIVE In this Q&A, John Adams speaks with Ken Francis of Eagle Eye Networks about operational perspectives of artificial intelligence, touching on key functionalities, planning, integration and the importance of the API economy to analytics solutions of the future.

JA: How important is it when planning for artificial intelligence to ensure you maintain an operational perspective and don’t get too swayed by the ‘cool’ factor?

KF. It’s extremely important for end users to maintain an operational perspective and share this with their system integrator and video surveillance vendor. This collaboration will enable the integrator and vendor to provide the expertise and appropriate technology to meet the end user’s specific operational needs. Then, looking purposely at ‘cool’ and how it can be applied to today’s and tomorrow’s challenges, ensures the right balance of operational success and future-proofing a system to grow and last.

JA: There’s an understandable tendency for consultants to cover off AI in specifications in a general way – do you think it would be more helpful if required AI functionality was outlined specifically from the start?

KF: Absolutely. When there are too many cooks in the kitchen, the dish may end up overly spicy, or otherwise negatively affected. Similarly, without clearly specifying the desired AI from the beginning, you could end up with a kludgy fusion that, in many cases, is difficult to use. The specification of AI at the front end enables all tech companies in the stack to effectively contribute around a consistent AI selection and help the end user achieve a fully integrated system that meets its specific needs.

JA: What’s the low hanging fruit when it comes to AI – what AI functionalities offer security teams the most for the

least, in your opinion?

KF: The most effective AI is functionality that extends over the greatest group of users. The security analytics of line crossing, advanced motion, and people counting, are proven and widely applicable today. The next generation of widely applicable analytics will come from recognition of people, things, and events.

This next wave of AI is becoming more commonplace, due to high demand from end users and greater supply from companies now offering it. Specifically, the need for recognition-oriented AI is growing in critical infrastructure, citywide surveillance, and large campuses (both corporate or university), primarily to reduce manpower requirements and accelerate incident resolution.

JA: Which are the AI areas with the greatest potential in the future – what functionalities should installers and integrators definitely be covering off?

KF: Our recent study showing the most often-used analytics in cloud video surveillance clearly indicates that physical security remains the priority, but we’re starting to see analytics and AI for more than just security. People are rapidly adopting it to help run the business. Customer service and support appear to be the leading areas of interest, but anywhere a business can glean information to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness, reduce maintenance costs, and lower risk are all areas to cover off.

JA: An issue with planning for AI is

breadth of lateral application – it very quickly stops being about security when skipping between functions – for instance, AI that allows CCTV cameras to establish recent contacts, check security patrol schedules, identify problem gamblers, etc. How important is it that these sorts of lateral applications are considered in advance by security integrators and their technology partners, and how can security integrators best promote lateral applications that diverge so widely from the security function?

KF: It’s absolutely critical that real problem-solving solutions be designed in advance of installation. The value-added security integrator is key to the design process. He/she brings the know-how to the table to help create a long-term strategy for connecting and managing the various security components, in the most cost-effective way, to achieve optimal system functionality.

JA: A quirk of AI is that it is making its appearance at multiple points in the product stack – with optical and thermal CCTV cameras and their viewers, in touchless disarm alarm panels, in access control reader modules of multiple types, within NVRs, within apps and within management solutions. Is it possible to integrate all these disparate versions of AI, or do end users need to decide well in advance how they want AI to apply to their overall solutions in order to avoid creating networks of high touch points?

KF: This is a great question. Early selection of AI in the video system enables the video system tech company to provide an application programming interface (API) for the select AI, enabling all tech stack participants to share in the AI-generated events. The sharing of a common API is the best method for long-term stability and support. The API should be thought of as the central component within an economy.

JA: How important is it that AI solutions can integrate with security

40 se&n

SEN421_40analytics.indd 40

31/3/21 12:23 pm

and related subsystems at one level, and with management systems at another level?

KF: AI has moved from being about technology to becoming a critical part of business strategy. Securely connecting mission-critical business applications brings the ability for a business to collect and distil data to applicable business intelligence. The businesses that lead the way are those that can bring distributed and fragmented systems and subsystems together to cross-reference and quickly find information across a multitude of mediums that can lead to better decision making, services, products, etc. In video surveillance, this is happening most successfully in open, true cloud platforms that have the ability to bring partners and technology together to make the world safer and businesses more efficient and effective.

JA: In your experience, how eager are end users to apply AI and what sorts

of AI functions are of most interest to them?

KF: Over the past few years we’ve been impressed with the way large businesses and enterprise customers have quickly understood the value of AI and its application to security and business challenges. The small- to medium-sized business owner might have understood the potential of AI, but for many it seemed out of reach because of the infrastructure costs and challenges of legacy security systems. That is changing.

The ubiquity and scalability of our true cloud platform democratizes and makes AI more affordable and accessible for virtually every type and size of business.

The conversation has changed from ‘can we do that?’ to ‘what is possible?’ Initially the discussion is typically centred around improving security, but as more people understand what’s possible, it becomes about business insight and optimisation.

AI HAS MOVED FROM BEING ABOUT TECHNOLOGY TO BECOMING A CRITICAL PART OF BUSINESS STRATEGY.

JA: If there was one vital attitude to bring to the AI-empowered future, what would it be?

KF: Open architecture/open platforms are terms commonly used across tech industries. API Economy is the next generation of this terminology, and a well-known movement in tech. The API Economy will enable organisations to find innovative new ways to extend and complement their services and create value for customers. In the big scheme of things, the API Economy will help the video surveillance industry make businesses smarter and the world a safer place. n

se&n 41

SEN421_40analytics.indd 41

31/3/21 12:23 pm

● Case Study

Terracotta Warrior Museum

GUARDING THE GUARDIANS At China’s most-visited cultural heritage sites, like the famous Terracotta Warrior Museum and Summer Palace, tourists from across the world come face-toface with history. Behind the scenes, intrusion detectors from Bosch protect the irreplaceable statues, weapons, and ornaments against theft and damage.

OR operators of museums, galleries, and historic sites, showcasing public exhibits is a double-edged sword. On one hand, they want to provide visitors with a rich experience of history, unobstructed by barriers and obvious limitations. But on the other hand, they also need to ensure the safety and integrity of the rich cultural treasures on display. Achieving this balance is especially important at UNESCO World Heritage Sites like Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s Mausoleum in Xi’an, China. Discovered in 1974, the site is home to a 2,000-year-old army of clay statues, the Terracotta Warriors, guarding the tomb of China’s first emperor.

When the outdated intrusion detection system at the Terracotta Warriors Museum required upgrading, several key security challenges emerged. First, the sheer volume of thousands of

F

visitors per day called for fast and fail-safe alarms when exhibits are at risk. Aside from the constant risk of criminals looking to steal exhibits, the biggest threat comes from tourists dropping their phones or cameras into the pits, then overstepping the threshold and potentially causing damage.

Second, the installed solution needed to function under extreme conditions, as the pits holding the several thousand clay warrior statues collect large amounts of dust that can deter detectors.

And third, the security system was to remain discrete without interfering with the experience of the life-sized warrior and horse figures. Keeping these factors in mind, Bosch experts deployed a combination of several hundred intrusion detectors across the 16,300-square-metre museum area. For rapid detection of security breaches, the team installed wall-mounted detectors in the

42 se&n

SEN421_42warriors.indd 42

31/3/21 12:23 pm

THE COOPERATION WITH BOSCH IS AN EXCELLENT SHOWCASE OF MODERN HIGH-TECH PROTECTION OF HISTORIC BUILDINGS. BOSCH INTRUSION ALARM SYSTEMS HELP TO UPGRADE THE SECURITY LEVEL OF THESE UNIQUE HISTORIC SITES.

pits alongside the clay warriors, supplemented by ceiling-mounted detectors above visitor walkways and open areas.

Intrusion panels G-Series detectors in the pits use PIR and microwave noise adaptive processing technology. Integrated on G Series control panels, the detectors rely on microwave Doppler RADAR and infrared technologies – enhanced by first step processing (FSP) algorithms – to detect changes in infrared energy and radar signals when a person oversteps a pre-defined security boundary inside the museum and along the perimeter.

Eliminating false alarms from dust and other environmental interference, the detectors in the pits use passive infrared (PIR) sensors and microwave Doppler RADAR. As a special feature, ceiling mounted motion detectors deliver accurate intrusion detection although mounted high on the

Terracotta Army Museum’s vaulted, 4.8-meter-tall ceilings; exceeding the limits of standard ceiling detectors by more than 2 meters.

In case of an actual intrusion attempt, the Bosch G Series control panels trigger an alarm to the museum’s control room within only 2 seconds. Aside from the exact location of the triggered detector, the security team also receives surveillance camera images from the scene in realtime, made possible by integration with a thirdparty video security platform. This situational intelligence allows personnel to respond in a rapid and efficient manner.

Outside the public view, the integrated security system also answers another key requirement for museum operators: As a large part of exhibit pieces are stored away at any time – but still need protection from theft – Bosch detectors safeguard the storage facilities that can therefore remain unmanned, saving significant personnel cost. The result is a win-win situation: Museum operators enjoy the peace of mind that comes from knowing that historic exhibits are safe from theft, damage, and intrusion. And visitors receive an up-closeand-personal experience of ancient artefacts without any fences and barriers limiting the experience.

“The cooperation with Bosch is an excellent showcase of modern high-tech protection of historic buildings,” said Ren Xuxin, project manager of Xi’an Terracotta Warriors and Horses Pit Security Upgrade Project. “Bosch intrusion alarm systems help to upgrade the security level of these unique historic sites.” n

se&n 43

SEN421_42warriors.indd 43

31/3/21 12:23 pm

● Regulars

Products

Editor’s choice INVIXIUM INTEGRATES WITH GALLAGHER FOR CONTACTLESS BIOMETRIC TEMPERATURE & MASK DETECTION l GALLAGHER Security and touchless biometric solutions maker,

Invixium, have announced a next-level integration between Gallagher Command Centre and Invixium’s IXM WEB software to develop an integrated, user-friendly solution to address the global market’s immediate, health-oriented needs.

IXM TITAN with Enhancement Kit is Invixium’s flagship biometric reader and hallmark of its COVID-19 solution, which delivers simultaneous face recognition and elevated body temperature detection* at the medial canthus (tear duct). Through this integrated solution, TITAN will now communicate health events such as temperature screening and mask detection to Gallagher’s security management platform, Command Centre. Alarm notification events – such as elevated body temperature or the absence of a face mask – will be captured in Command Centre’s Alarm Viewer.

Distributor: Gallagher Contact: +61 2 9412 4477

What’s new in the industry.

NIROVISION VISUAL CONTACT TRACING REPORT l VISUAL Contact Tracing is a Nirovision feature that lets workplaces generate a detailed report with just a few clicks.

Using Nirovision apps, customers select a time range to see who an individual was seen with, what cameras they were seen on, and which other people were seen within a similar window of time.

Operationally, you open the Nirovision web app and choose an identity from your database, then click on it to access their full profile. Next, select the Contact Tracing report button. Choose your target date and time frame, and run the report.

The report is made of 3 lists: a list of cameras that person was seen on (sorted from most seen to last seen), a list of close contacts (those seen together on camera) and a list of people seen within a similar window of time.

Click any camera or close contact in the list to access its event carousel. Click on any event for playback to and learn more (such as finding out if the event triggered an alert).

Distributor: Nirovision Contact: 1800 339 027

NEW SMARTAIR I-MAX ESCUTCHEON FROM ASSA ABLOY

QX INFINITY SERIES – WIDE ANGLE OUTDOOR DETECTOR

l New SMARTair i-max Escutcheon from ASSA ABLOY ensures only authorised users pass through doors, via a range of credentials including virtual keys stored on a smartphone. Fast, wire-free installation makes it easy to implement or extend a SMARTair access control system in any building.

This new wireless escutcheon with an inbuilt RFID reader and Bluetooth compatibility handles the punishment of high-traffic, frequent-use doors. It meets standard EN 1906 Category of use: Grade 4 for robustness — the highest level, recommended for doors which are subject to frequent violent use.

The new escutcheon is battery-powered and works with all standard proximity credential technologies, including MIFARE, DESFire, and iCLASS. An optional integrated PINpad provides the opportunity to add another layer of security with multi-factor authentication. One can specify individual doors to open with PIN verification or credential verification — or to require both.

The i-max escutcheon comes in a variety of contemporary finishes and handle options, with up to 16 different combinations.

l OPTEX QX Infinity series is a family of compact outdoor PIR and dual-technology sensors providing 12m detection area, up to 120-degrees in width, with mounting heights of up to 2.7m.

New Quad technology features a pyro element that has been redefined by OPTEX and supports a greater performance with a double layered detection in a compact design. The QXI series features improved Super Multi-Dimensional Analysis (SMDA) logic and Double Conductive Shielding for more reliable sensing capabilities and greater tolerance against light and RFI. It allows for greater immunity against pets and can also be installed as a low mount PIR detector to create a ‘pet alley’ and further reduce the likelihood of nuisance alarms.

Installing the sensor has been made simple with an easy to open/close front cover. Other features include an automatic walk test mode, which automatically starts when the cover is closed and returns to normal mode after 3 minutes.

Distributor: Hills Contact: 1800 685 487

Distributor: ASSA ABLOY Contact: +61 3 8574 3888

44 se&n

SEN421_44prods.indd 44

31/3/21 12:22 pm

HIKVISION DS-2XS6A25GO SOLAR BULLET CAMERA l HIKVISION has released the new EXIR 4G solar bullet featuring 2MP resolution, 120dB WDR technology and a battery pack that allows the unit to operate for 7 rainy or cloudy days if the 20Ah lithium battery is fully charged by the 40W photovoltaic panel.

There’s support battery management, battery display, battery high-low temperature protection, charge-discharge protection, low-battery sleep protection and remote wakeup LTE-TDD/LTEFDD/WCDMA/GSM 4G wireless network transmission, support Micro SIM card Camera: Water and dust resistant (IP67).

The camera has a ½.8-inch progressive scan CMOS sensor with minimum scene illumination of 0.004 in colour at F1.4 with AGC on, or 0.002 Lux @ (F1.4, AGC ON), 0 Lux with IR on in monochrome. The bullet camera is available with the option of a fixed 2.8, 4, or 8mm fixed lens, giving 41 to 107-degree angles of view.

Contact: Hikvision Distributors

EOS AUSTRALIA OFFERING NEW WISENET AI NVRS l Eos says Hanwha’s new Wisenet AI NVRs are now available and offer “superb quality images of up to 8K with precise and efficient monitoring through integration with AI cameras”.

“They give users an amazing capacity to digitally zoom into large coverage areas without loss of detail,” said Andrew Cho of Eos Australia. “Users can also mouse over the video for a preview, making video and event search from multiple channels easier than ever. A new bookmark management function allows for easy retrieval and protection of video clips during an investigation.

“Artificial intelligence is integrated with Wisenet P series AI cameras, the new NVRs are able to read AI metadata generated by the edge device from deep learning algorithms, enabling operators to quickly search for objects (person, face, vehicle and license plate) and attributes associated with them. Support for dynamic events allows the system to receive alarm event triggers based on current licensefree analytics as well as new analytics released in the future without requiring a firmware upgrade.”

Distributor: EOS Australia Pty Ltd Contact: +61 2 9749 5888

ARITECH ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF NEW CHALLENGER 4-DOOR ACCESS CONTROLLER

PELCO OCCUPANCY COUNTING SOLUTION FOR VIDEOXPERT

l ARITECH says the launch of the new 4-door Network Access Controller (TS1066-4) will provide customers with enhanced security solutions, strengthened on-premise protection and intrusion detection.

The TS1066-4 strengthens the Challenger family of control panels by providing a new 4-door variant of the Network Access Controller. Utilising the same advanced technology found in the Network Access Controller, this 4-door model provides a costeffective access control solution for Tecom systems without compromising on features and functionality.

Key Features: • On-board Ethernet and USB connectivity for connection directly into supported software • Smaller form factor than existing intelligent controllers • 8 inputs and 4 relay outputs on board • Utilises Dual Wiegand Interface (TS1061) for additional relays and inputs • Up to 4 doors per controller • Dual RS-485 busses individually configurable

l PELCO Occupancy Counting Solution allows you to automate the counting of people entering and exiting your facility within VideoXpert by leveraging the AI-powered Pelco Advanced Analytics Suite embedded in Sarix Enhanced 3 and Spectra Enhanced 7 cameras.

The solution utilizes the existing People Counting Analytics feature in the Advanced Analytics Suite to provide a real-time occupancy count against user-defined occupancy limits. Plugin features include: • Dashboards to display occupancy counts in real-time • Ability to set different occupancy limits for each area being monitored • Alerts in VideoXpert when you reach or exceed occupancy limits • Real-time counters to display on web-enabled devices in lobbies and other areas to notify employees and visitors if they can enter or if they must wait • Reports on historical occupancy data for insights into high traffic areas and peak occupancy times.

Distributor: Hills Contact: 1800 685 487

Distributor: BGWT Contact: +61 2 9674 4255

se&n 45

SEN421_44prods.indd 45

31/3/21 12:22 pm

● Regulars

Products

Editor’s choice LILIN RELEASES MINI PTZ PZD6422EX3 l LILIN’s new mini PZD6422EX3 mini PTZ dome can be controlled

with a PTZ keyboard (when used with compatible NVR), through a web browser, Navigator software, LILINHome app or via a home automation system.

LILIN’s range of PTZ cameras includes both non-IR and IR optionswith IR distances reaching up to 200 metres, and features including configurable pre-set positions, programmable tours and auto-tracking (available on selected models).

The Mini PTZ PZD6422EX3 is 1080P HD IP66 rated dome camera featuring 3x optical zoom capability and the ability to capture highlights and shadows simultaneously, eliminating pixilation and smear. It also has an auto tracking function, is 360-degree controllable from major home systems and can easily integrate into any video control system via the free SDK. All LILIN PTZ cameras can be controlled through the free LILINViewer and LILINHome apps.

Distributor: Merit Li-Lin Contact: +61 2 9646 4878

What’s new in the industry.

HONEYWELL ACCESS CONTROL & INTRUSION VIA MAXPRO CLOUD AVAILABLE NOW FROM CSM l HONEYWELL has expanded the capabilities of its MAXPRO Cloud portfolio with the launch of MAXPRO Intrusion, a new cloud integrated intrusion and access platform that delivers a unique single and multisite experience and is available locally from CSM. MAXPRO Intrusion control panel delivers a fully integrated intrusion and access control solution, which using MAXPRO Cloud technology can seamlessly integrate with video. It also provides cabling flexibility, simplified wiring and an easy configuration experience.

According to CSM’s Yossi Harel, installers and integrators can purchase the latest MAXPRO Intrusion from CSM. “Consolidated Security Merchants is authorised distributor for the Integrated MAXPRO Cloud Solutions portfolio,” Harel said. “In cooperation with Honeywell, CSM will provide specialised training and high-level back-up support, to deliver a single and multisite experience with the MAXPRO all-in-one solution.”

Distributor: Consolidated Security Merchants Contact: 1300663904

HANWHA ADDS EXTREME WDR TO MULTISENSOR CAMERAS

INNER RANGE INTEGRATES MITSUBISHI ELEVATORS WITH INTEGRITI

l HANWHA Techwin has expanded and updated its lineup of multisensor cameras featuring its Wisenet 7 chipset with Hanwha Techwin’s proprietary extreme wide dynamic range (WDR), technology which utilizes advanced local contrast enhancement and scene analysis technology.

This enables the cameras to capture images from scenes containing a challenging mix of bright and dark areas, according to the company. Wisenet 7’s enhanced noise reduction technology is said to minimize motion blur and image artifacts while increasing object sharpness and definition.

Hanwha says Wisenet 7 offers the highest level of cybersecurity possible by embedding unique certificates and encryption keys into every camera during manufacturing. The new multisensor cameras are fully NDAA-compliant and UL CAP certified and consume only a single license in a VSM. They also include a suite of built-in video analytics such as motion and directional detection, enter/exit, line crossing and tampering detection.

All cameras include H.265 and WiseStream II compression technology and a suite of built-in Wisenet 7 analytics.

l INNER Range has released a new integration which allows the Inner Range Integriti platform to communicate directly with Mitsubishi Elevators. The bidirectional communication makes it possible for facilities with Mitsubishi Elevators to significantly increase the security while enhancing convenience. Some features included are free or secure floors, card badging, floor feedback and home floor calling.

The integration operates over an IP network directly from the Integriti hardware to the Mitsubishi elevator controllers which provides major benefits such as not having to install additional cabling for the integration as well as providing robust and reliable communication as there are no servers or software sitting in the middle.

The ability to easily manage, through Integriti, which floors are open to the public can instantly increase security in the building as both visitors and tenants are restricted from entering any unauthorised floors. In the case that a floor needs to be temporarily opened or closed to the public, this can be easily managed by the Integriti operator on an ad-hoc basis.

Distributor: Hanwha Distributors

Distributor: Inner Range Contact: +61 3 9780 4300

46 se&n

SEN421_44prods.indd 46

31/3/21 12:22 pm

NEW AVIGILON H5A DUAL HEAD CAMERA RELEASED l AVIGILON’S new H5A Dual Head Camera is a low-profile dual sensor indoor camera that brings enhanced security for hard to secure indoor areas, such as hallways, stairwells, and corner intersections, or any application that requires the coverage of 2 cameras installed in close proximity.

Built with small spaces in mind, the indoor H5A Dual Head allows end-users to gain the security coverage of 2 cameras (2 x 3MP or 2 x 5MP) with 1 installation. Features include increased area coverage, new analytics, including support for people counting, mask detection and expanded object classifications and greater accuracy for faster responses in crowded scenes.

There’s native ONVIF Profile S, T and G1 compliance allows easy integration with existing ONVIF infrastructures, and FIPS 140-2 compliance with FIPS-compliant cryptography enabled on cameras.

There’s a 1/2.7-inch progressive scan CMOS, sensor with 5184 x 1944-pixel maximum resolution, up to 120dB of WDR protection, 3.35-7.0 mm remote varifocal lens with F/1.93 aperture, high power 850nm IR LEDs, and minimum Illumination of 0.1 lux .

Distributor: Avigilon - Central Security Distribution Contact: 1300 319 499

FLIR LAUNCHES QUASAR PREMIUM MINIDOME AND QUASAR PREMIUM BULLET l DESIGNED for use in demanding indoor and outdoor environments, the new FLIR Quasar Premium Mini-dome and Quasar Premium bullet deliver forensic image quality, tight integration, and advanced cybersecurity features required for critical infrastructure sites, remote facilities, or large areas requiring close monitoring, according to FLIR. The FLIR Quasar Premium Mini-dome is available with 5MP HD or 4K Ultra-HD resolutions, while the FLIR Quasar Premium bullet series is available with 4MP Quad HD and 4K Ultra-HD resolutions, with a variety of lens options for extended range performance for perimeter security. Both cameras have an SD-card for onedge recording and redundancy, while also meeting the H.265 video compression standard to minimise network bandwidth and storage space. The FLIR Quasar Premium Mini-dome series is IP66 rated for dust and waterproof protection and can be ceiling- or wall-mounted in minutes. In no-light conditions, the unit can also provide up to 40 metres of visibility via on-board nearinfrared illumination.

Distributor: Sektor Contact: +61 2 9947 1555

NEW MILESTONE HUSKY VIDEO SURVEILLANCE APPLIANCE

PAXTON RELEASES EXTERNALLY-RATED SMART WIRELESS DOOR HANDLE

l MILESTONE’S new Husky video surveillance appliance brings together Intel processing power and Milestone XProtect video management software in a range of 6 video management appliances.

With its reliability, ease of use and optimal XProtect integration, the new Husky series enables partners and customers to achieve much more with their Milestone XProtect video management solution, powered by Dell Technologies OEM Solutions. Partners and customers will also get extensive service and support with a single point of contact for both hardware and software, along with the possibility to access onsite support through a global support network.

“The new Husky series represents a significant evolution of Milestone’s hardware offerings to the market, enabling our partners to be geared for the future,” said Milestone’s Bjørn Skou Eilertsen.

“This new portfolio brings together ease of use, performance, reliability, and optimal integration with XProtect and importantly, a comprehensive service offering and the flexibility that Dell Technologies will bring.

l PAXTON has announced the launch of the latest addition to its line of wireless access control solutions, the PaxLock Pro – Mortise.

The smart lockset is designed for quick and easy installation to conveniently secure external facing doors. Available in black or white fascia with an Eclipse or Galaxy handle, the PaxLock Pro – Mortise is discrete and has a UL 10C fire rating, and is UL 294 rated for reliability of construction, performance and operation.

The PaxLock Pro line can be installed on a network or standalone as part of a Paxton10 or Net2 system. The smart lockset goes into sleep mode when not in use to preserve battery life and allows users to monitor events and battery status online, with alerts via email and SMS. “When compared to a hard-wired solution, wireless door handles are a quick and cost-effective way to secure a door in a wide variety of building types,” said Samantha Cronin, Paxton product specialist.

Distributor: Security Distributors Australia Contact: 1300 882 101

Distributor: Hills Contact: 1800 685 487

se&n 47

SEN421_44prods.indd 47

31/3/21 12:22 pm

● Regulars

Help desk

Our panel of experts answers your questions.

impact on a wireless systems reliability, as well as its range. In some cases, the replacement of a sensor with a longrange device might resolve issues. In external applications, it may be possible to reimagine the system layout in a way that improves performance without compromising detection coverage.

Q: We have issues with a wireless alarm system that had been working perfectly but is now losing contact with devices and giving us trouble notifications – what does SEN think could be going on?

A: Sudden problems in RF alarm systems that have already been successfully commissioned are often the result of changes in the environment. Look for things recently brought into the area like metal framed pictures, metallic insulation or wallpaper, metal shelving, air conditioning, cabling and cars parked under the main roof. If you can’t discover any obvious environmental change, try moving the transmitter – shifting it a few centimetres may be all that’s required. You can turn the unit upside down taking up the same space as before yet moving the antenna a significant distance.

Another option is to insert a non-metallic spacer behind the transmitter. Try swapping sensors in system around and see if there’s any improvement in reporting. A last-ditch solution is to move the receiver, but this should be a final resort. You might be able to get away with moving the receiver just a metre or 2 allowing you to keep the same power and comms links but there’s a chance you’ll have to move the receiver to another location.

The introduction of noise, or passive shielding into an environment can

Q: When thinking about deterrent factor on any site would you agree effective and well-planned external lighting systems are among the most important and least considered aspects of the overall security plan?

A: We’d agree. Lighting’s multipurpose function means it can be used as an economical form of security. But it’s important that when initially installed, lighting system plans consider security as part of their function. Every site requires some degree of external lighting.

In its simplest form, this lighting may only illuminate the main entry and exit point, and the car park of a building.

Lighting should not only work to allow safe passage to and from a building after dark. It should also be designed to allow passers-by, police and security patrols to view each potential exit and entry point, including doors and windows.

Lighting should allow a complete patrol circuit of a site without leaving areas of

darkness in which intruders might hide.

CCTV systems should also be considered here. When the lighting system is designed, illumination should be positioned to allow quality video images without dark holes or blooming in a scene. You’ll be plagued by blooming when poorly placed security lights blind a surveillance camera.

Another important function of light is its use as an aggressive barrier that confronts and blinds potential intruders.

Part of the strength of aggressive lighting is the feeling of being under surveillance it engenders in humans. No one likes being confronted with strong light that can’t be seen through. When used by onsite security patrols, strong light denies potential intruders the ability to view details of a site while at the same time, it allows patrol teams a clear view of approaches and dead ground around a facility.

Obviously, lighting systems can’t call the police, hinder a determined intruder or make an arrest. Light can only be effective if installed as part of a complete security system. But should lighting be installed properly in combination with effective fencing, CCTV and electronic detection systems, it offers economy, low maintenance, and capable support of protection systems over many years.

48 se&n

SEN421_48help.indd 48

31/3/21 12:21 pm

There are 5 security lighting techniques which together make up the effective security lighting system. First, there’s perimeter lighting, which entails illuminating a fence line, wall, boundary or approaches with lamps facing outwards to increase the blinding effect on intruders. Next is checkpoint lighting, which allows vehicles or pedestrians to be checked in full light. It can also be designed to allow security officers in a guard post to see out, while remaining hidden to the intruder.

The 3rd security lighting technique is defensive area lighting, which illuminates open spaces around buildings with lamps positioned on towers or placed high on building structures. Technique number 4 is defensive building floodlighting and involves floodlighting buildings so intruders can be seen clearly or in silhouette. The 5th lighting technique is topping up – single luminaries positioned in dark spots, like alleyways or dark entrances.

Q: Is a nitrogen-filled camera more reliable over the long term than a standard PTZ or bullet camera?

A: Yes, definitely, and particularly with PTZs with motors, gears and belts.

One of the advantages of pressurised nitrogen is that it excludes air from the housing and that means it excludes moisture, dust and airborne solvents and chemicals, too.

No air means no condensation. Nitrogen is inert thanks to its simple molecular structure – it only has 2 atoms – this simplicity means it doesn’t break down as part of chemical chain reactions. What this means is that there’s no rust and no corrosion possible in an atmosphere of nitrogen – it’s also environmentally friendly – Earth’s atmosphere is about 80 per cent nitrogen.

While nitrogen-filled cameras are robust, you need to ensure that seals are maintained – a stainless V-band with latching helps with pressure sealing. A nitrogen-filled camera should incorporate a pressure sensor that reports low nitrogen levels and mechanically, there needs to be a pressure relief valve and a purging valve incorporated into the camera housing.

Q: SEN has written recently about geophone solutions being buried as an optimum solution. Given anything trenched is very expensive, would you say geophones can be applied on fences?

A: Geophones can be mounted in perimeter fences where they’ll detect anything that causes vibration of the fence including climbing, lifting, ramming and cutting. But applied this way geophones should not be used as the sole line of defence and depending on the security needs of the facility would need to be supplemented by CCTV and a response team or another perimeter detection technology.

Fence mounted geophones are noticeable to the professional intruder and can be circumvented, so they shouldn’t be used in high security applications. It’s also recommended that they not be used on common walls in shared offices or in retail outlets where the knocking of pipes or structural elements of the building will lead to false alarms. It’s also important not to use geophones anywhere near fence mounted gates whose openings and closings will flex the sensor. Avoid loose and poorly installed fences and trees located near fences.

The best use of geophones is to have them trenched and buried where they provide high security protection with low false alarm rates.

rare earth magnets are permanently embedded in a coded pattern into a shaped blank made of a very tough nylon material. The readers use Hall effect devices to read the bit pattern (position of the magnets) in the key. Magnetic keys are an Australian design used by both Mil and DKS since 1972 and 1974, respectively.

Comparatively, magnetic slugs or metal pieces are embedded or layered in a card and are read by magnetic sensing devices. Also known as a shim card these are generally limited to single code standalone applications. The reader required no power, and the output was a microswitch.

These were very primitive, and it would be most unlikely that there are many still in service. Corkey was one brand sold in Australia in the late 70s*.

There are magnetic key readers still in operation, though they are becoming quite rare now, and in certain applications they remain functional. The monitoring and reporting functions of legacy systems like these fall very far behind the latest solutions. n * Thanks to Roger Pearce for these technical descriptions.

Q: Do magnetic control keys still function and have value in access control systems – are they the same as magnetic slugs?

A: Magnetic keys aren’t the same as magnetic slugs. With magnetic keys, se&n 49

SEN421_48help.indd 49

31/3/21 12:21 pm

AMPLIFY YOUR MESSAGE

sen

P R I N T l D I G I TA L l E V E N T S Security Electronics & Networks Magazine securityelectronicsandnetworks.com Weekly Enewsletter Weekly AAA Enewsletter securityandgovernmentexpo.com.au sectechroadshow.com.au

SEN421_50.indd 58

31/3/21 9:35 am

Tiandy's New Wi-Fi Bullet and Dome Kits are Now Available

WiFi

KITS

无线传输，一键链接 双天线信号稳定 支持512G存储存储 自带mic语音输入 自带一体化支架

Support Wi-Fi

SEN421_51.indd 1

Dual Antennas Stable Signal

Built-in Mic

MicroSD Card Up to 512G

29/3/21 12:37 pm

Biometric Touchless Access Control

Fully integrated to

Now manage

biometric user database Suprema now available at

SEN421_52.indd 1

31/3/21 9:37 am