Issue link: https://securitytechnologyexecutive.epubxp.com/i/431828
10 SECURITY TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE • November/December 2014 www.SecurityInfoWatch.com TECH TRENDS B y Ray C o ulo m b e T he recent annual ASIS security conference is usu- ally a good place to find technology nuggets and surprises scattered among the more than 1,500 vendor displays. This year was no different. Here are some things that caught my attention. I was not surprised to see the early stages of 4K Ultra HD video being displayed by several manufacturers. Axis Communi- cations showed off its P1428-E series, an 8.3 MP camera supporting High, Main and Baseline H.264 profiles. Reflecting a trend towards more powerful edge analyt- ics in the industry, the camera boasts an impressive analytic feature termed Digital Autotracking, capable of locking on several moving objects in a scene. Another vendor that displayed 4K Ultra was DVTel, whose H.264-based 4K solution uses approximately 2 Mbps bandwidth at high resolu- tion. DVTel claims the use of an advanced video processing chip that makes expanded use of motion vectors to increase efficiency and reduce bandwidth.They have proposed a measure of performance comparison, not unlike automo- bile miles per gallon (mpg), termed pixels per bit (ppb). Pixels per bit is calculated by dividing pix- els per second by bits per second to derive a com- parative measure of efficiency. Samsung Techwin, a leader in 4K Ultra dis- play technology, is still evaluating its options and plans for 4K cameras, according to Samsung Techwin President, Soon Hong An. It was interesting that none of the vendors I saw employ next-gen H.265 compression. It is the basis for future 4K and 8K products and reduces bandwidth consumption by 50 percent compared to H.264. Samsung continues to take advantage of its in-house advanced processor technology to implement features such as electronic image sta- bilization, advanced analytics on the edge, and overall imaging processing. My guess is that we are a couple years away from seeing H.265 secu- rity cameras displayed and working. A few other innovations from the show are of note. Hikvision displayed a low-light capable color network camera with an impressive 120 dB of Wide Dynamic Range (WDR). Several Hikvision products have 3D digital noise reduction, smart face, and smart audio detection. Digital Watchdog, whose technology has been amped up with the acquisition of Ian Johnston's Innovative Security Designs, displayed a 32 MP panoramic camera. Using four independent and configurable 4K sensors, four independent data streams are generated from the camera platform. In a related area, Pivot3 explained its virtual security server allowing simultaneous display of up to 40 high-definition video streams for 4-10 viewing stations. These devices can include PCs, thin clients, mobile devices, and video walls, who have no download access to the video feed. The virtual server handles VMS and storage, also. Exacq has made identification and network configuration of IP cameras connected to its exacqVision network video recorders a great deal simpler with the introduction of EasyConnect in the latest exacqVision 6.4 release. For supported cameras (the current list is limited, including Axis and American Dynamics), the feature performs auto-discovery of devices, eliminating the need to use the camera manufacturer's separate util- ity. The exacqVision client scans the network to find new IP cameras, and selected cameras can be assigned IP addresses and connected to a server. This makes the camera-recorder integration vir- tually seamless and is a welcome feature. The trend towards performance monitoring of power supplies continues with the Altronix LINQ2 communications module. Working with selected Altronix products, the unit monitors AC fault input, voltage and current outputs and relay and device properties. It also allows remote con- trol of DC power outputs and two network con- trolled relays. Altronix and LifeSafety Power are the most visible companies driving power supply monitoring capabilities. The major security shows always seem to have something new in biometrics. I was impressed with MorphoTrak's "Finger on the Fly", a con- tactless system that registers up to four finger- prints in less than a second. Simply pass your hand in a swiping motion over the detector and the system enrolls the fingerprints and, later, the same action is used for verification and correla- tion with its database.. Teradon Inc.'s Raptor V Audio Communica- tions Management System is primarily targeted at the Education market. The software-based system has the functionality of a Voice over IP (VoIP) system, managing nearly 1000 IP phones with traditional features such as voice messaging, conferencing, etc. ❚ What's New and Trending? Video still leading the hot products parade Ray Coulombe is Founder and Managing Direc- tor of Security- Specifiers.com and RepsForSecurity. com. Ray can be reached at ray@ SecuritySpeci- fiers.com, through LinkedIn at www. linkedin.com/in/ raycoulombe or fol- lowed on Twitter @ RayCoulombe.