Those of you who attended IFSEC – the security industry exhibition – at Birmingham's NEC last May, could only concur. Big name players, including Baxall, Axis Communications and Philips CSI, are all getting in on the act, with market analyst Frost & Sullivan foreseeing a 90% growth per annum in the network camera and video server markets until 2006 at least.
What's all the fuss about though? What exactly is Ethernet cctv (also known as Internet protocol (IP) surveillance, video-over-IP and networked video)? How does it work? And is this going to be the boom sector for security installers and electrical contractors that everyone says it is?
Know your protocol
IP surveillance is actually shorthand for transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) – the catchy name thought up by the whizz-kids who invented Ethernet networking at Xerox Parc many years ago. It defines a standard way of formatting packages of data for transmission over an Ethernet network, and has become a standard for the Internet as well.
Arguably, the most significant difference between the new digital cctv systems and conventional analogue systems relates to the structure of each respective type.
A conventional analogue transmission system is a point-to-point system, with central points of control.
A digital network can have many cameras, whose images are transmitted independently to a host of central monitoring stations. A digital network removes the need for a traditional matrix system, as both the network and the cctv application can perform the matrix function.
The benefits of going digital are numerous. Flexibility is a byword, since the networked approach makes surveillance scalable ie it's both easier and faster to add or remove cameras and viewing stations to and from the system.
An analogue cctv set-up with more than one control system and/or multiple cameras is quite a complex and cumbersome arrangement to cable, manage and operate. Simplified cabling and quicker connectivity is the order of the day with digital networks.
In addition, a digital network is capable of routing data in different ways to ensure that it reaches its intended destination. Analogue systems, though, operate on the aforementioned point-to-point basis, whereby there's no fallback if they should fail. In reality, an analogue system can fail completely from a single point, for instance if a fuse were to blow on the matrix, whereas digital networks employ aptly-named hot back-ups, such that images are still available even if multiple failures occur.
The signal and the fibre
Even though integrated services digital network (ISDN) systems have been used for many years for remote, manned security operations, transmission over long distances is much easier using a digital video stream than it is with an analogue signal. A digital network enables a quicker initial connection and, as long as the bandwidth is available, the images will be of a far superior quality with a much higher update rate.
Traditional analogue systems can transmit cctv images around a large site using fibres or coaxial cable, but there are drawbacks over longer distances. The digital signal is easier to regenerate without errors, allowing it to transmit video over very long distances with no discernible difference in quality, which is of great value to many blue-chip companies that operate over multiple sites.
The amount of data that can be transmitted through cables is always growing, it seems. Currently, it's possible to transmit 10 Gbits/s data rates using the latest equipment. For the non-mathematicians out there, that means that you can fit 1600 camera feeds along a fibre pair using a digital signal. Paradoxically, analogue techniques support only four cameras on a single system.
Cost benefits here would be highly apparent in motorway applications or along rail networks, for instance, where available fibre is limited and distances are substantial. It becomes more cost-effective – not to mention quicker – to install a high data-rate network on an existing fibre infrastructure than to lay new fibres for a system expansion.
Most forward-thinking end- users are always looking to improve the performance of their existing security and data systems and infrastructures. cctv is just one of those systems and, rightly or wrongly, probably one of the lowest on the list of corporate requirements. The ability to create multi-service networks that can incorporate other systems (including cctv) is bound to create demand.
Keeping up with the pace
How, then, are contractors who offer cctv installation going to keep pace with all of this new technology, and maintain and develop their business as a result?
They'll need to learn new skills and expertise in networking technology, probably by buying-in (initially, at least) IT and network-literate staff. With a great many IT personnel out of work due to the telecoms downturn of recent times, that shouldn't be too hard a task.
One salient point must be borne in mind, though. With networked video, most installation projects are likely to be on the large side, taking longer to complete to everyone's satisfaction. Coupled with a more careful IT-based approach to project management that will necessarily come to the fore, cctv installation contractors will need to find the finances to bid for such projects. Their only alternative is to avoid them entirely.
An important point to remember is that networks can carry all forms of communications systems, while analogue cctv systems are dedicated. In addition, analogue systems will often require separate cables for the video to enable the transmission of data to control pan-tilt-and-zoom cameras. Digital networks go much further, having the ability to transmit almost every type of data for all types of systems, for example data for computer systems, printers, telephony, access control and public address systems, the Internet and cctv.
A large number of electrical contractors may struggle with this new technology and the cash flow problems that come with more complex projects and even longer lead-times for payment. Alongside fire alarms and the increasingly important biometric functions, though, the systems with which they work on a daily basis are clearly converging towards a common IP network that can provide truly integrated services.
Any contractor that can offer their client that sort of turnkey package will surely be listened to with interest.
ACPO 2000
Thanks to the Association of Chief Police Officers’ (ACPO) Security Systems Policy 2000, all new intruder alarm systems must provide confirmed activation to ensure that the police will attend the site when they sound. There are three basic levels of police intervention for security systems that have been breached. Level one needs an immediate response from police. At level two, police response is desirable but attendance may be delayed, for example, due to low resource availability. Level three signifies no police attendance whatsoever, with only a keyholder response required. The ACPO Policy states that police response to remote signalling (Type A) systems that terminate at BS 5979-recognised alarm receiving centres will be reduced after two false call-outs in any 12-month period. The response priority will subsequently be reduced to level two. If there are five false alarm calls in any 12-month period police response will be withdrawn altogether, with the service moving to level three. Following this withdrawal of response, police attendance on site will only be restored if there are no false call-outs for a three-month period, and the installed system is upgraded to provide confirmed activation. Intruder alarms continue to make up the bulk of security systems installation work in the UK. Given the increased awareness of security issues post-11 September 2001, and end-users’ heightened desire to retain police response, the installation of confirmed systems should provide long-term work for electrical contractors for some time to come.Source
Electrical and Mechanical Contractor
Postscript
Brian Sims is editor of Security Management Today.
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