Technologies

Advances in Camera Technology for Vending Machines and ATMs

Video and camera technology is used in a wide range of vending machines from food and beverage-type dispensers to ticketing kiosks and ATMs. Applications range from video security to prevent damage and theft, to uses of cameras as an intrinsic part of the transaction, such as reading barcodes or QR codes for access control.

Newer applications or in development include using video for marketing and to boost sales and biometrics for enhanced security. Facial recognition has an important role to play in both current and future applications.

ONVIF Hosts First Virtual Annual Membership Meeting

ONVIF, the leading global standardization initiative for IP-based physical security products, hosted its annual membership meeting late last month. Attendees heard presentations on ONVIF successes from 2014, including the release of two new profiles, as well as an outline of new initiatives for 2015, such as the planned release of Profile Q and a new client test tool.

Surveying Trends in the Security Integration Market

It’s evident that the majority of security installations are becoming more and more complex. No longer content to monitor and manage separate access control, fire alarm, video surveillance, intrusion, and HVAC control systems, corporate security and technology managers want to consolidate and integrate various disconnected security and facility management systems. At a dramatically increasing pace, the Information Technology department is leading the initiative, particularly given the trend toward convergence of physical and logical security systems.

Sharp Develops Night-Vision Camera That Captures Color Video in Total Darkness

Sharp Corporation has developed the industry’s first infrared color night-vision camera capable of capturing color video in pitch-dark (zero lux) environments. The new infrared color night-vision camera will be marketed to corporate customers such as security camera system manufacturers. It uses near-infrared light for illumination to enable color images to be captured in total darkness (zero lux) – a first for the industry.

LiveOak Leads $3.5M Investment Round in Razberi Technologies

Razberi Technologies ? a leading developer of network video solutions for professional video surveillance and security applications ? has raised $3.5 million in capital led by Texas-based LiveOak Venture Partners and has appointed security industry veteran Ken Boyda as non-executive Chairman of the Razberi Technologies Board of Directors. The $3.5 million in Series A funding […]

Stretch Announces Availability of World?s First HD DVR Add-in Card for Video Surveillance OEMs

Stretch Inc., the pioneer and leader in software configurable processors, announced availability of its VRC6404HD, the world’s first high definition PCIe DVR add-in card. The new card is capable of high definition capture and compression of up to four channels of high definition video at full frame rate using multiple CODEC options.

Wristband Uses Encryption to Grant Access to Other Devices

A Kickstarter project aims to give you a Bluetooth Low Energy-enabled wristband that replaces keys and passwords. Everykey from the Cleveland, Ohio-based company of the same name, Everykey, is a fashionable band that can be instantly disabled if your Everykey ever gets lost or stolen. The Wristband uses encryption to grant access to other devices. When the Everykey wristband is within range of a user’s device, the wristband will allow the user to bypass that device’s password or physically unlock it automatically.

The CPU Power Paradox

A couple of years ago HauteSpot Networks introduced the microNVR which was and remains a valuable tool for video security. The premise of the microNVR is to be a small (as in “micro”), power efficient, computing device that has all sorts of connectivity and the ability to store and process video at the edge. In this case the edge means on a pole, in a car, along a fence, on a roof, out in the woods – anywhere you just cannot place a big computer.

Website Views Over 70,000 Unsecured Security Cameras via Default Passwords

One of the major vulnerabilities of these network IP-cameras is that unless the purchaser of said network IP-caemra changes the default username and password of the camera, it can be viewed by anyone in the world. SecurityHive.com has come across a website that streams video from unsecured video cameras that employ default usernames and passwords.

The HauteSpot MOBiLE Wireless Router

When most people think of a wireless mobile router, they think ?MiFi? which is a term coined by Verizon for their version of an 802.11 Access Point with Internet backhaul connectivity over a cellular data network like LTE, EVDO, or UMTS. This is fine if the objective of your router is to only do one thing: connect to the Internet and let others share that connection using 802.11 WiFi. This is only one narrow application.

ONVIF Connects With International Audiences at Security Industry’s Largest Trade Shows

ONVIF, the leading global standardization initiative for IP-based physical security products, hosted its 11th Developers? Plugfest September 29-October 1 in Dusseldorf, Germany. With record numbers of interoperability implementations and multiple testings of ONVIF conformant video, access control and edge devices, this year?s Developers? Plugfest was the most fruitful in ONVIF?s history.

Security Industry Must Meet Growing Demand for Integration

In the run up to Intersec 2015 we’ll be assessing key issues affecting a variety of sectors of the security industry with the show’s exhibitors, starting with a look at the growing importance of integration. The security industry is changing. There are increasing calls for the way we are using technology in our daily lives to be reflected in our security solutions, and it’s obvious that expectations are changing.

Southwest Microwave?s Remote Polling Module II SDK Simplifies INTREPID High Level Interface

Southwest Microwave has expanded the Software Development Kit (SDK) options for its INTREPID™ Series II perimeter intrusion detection systems (PIDS) with the addition of the Remote Polling Module II (RPM II) SDK. The RPM II package, consisting of an IP-based application layer protocol and accompanying system control hardware module, provides simplified high-level interface between third-party physical security information management (PSIM) or surveillance systems and INTREPID detection technologies.

Icon Labs Announces Anti-Tamper Support for Embedded Devices

Icon Labs, a leading provider of embedded networking and security technology, announced the availability of Floodgate Anti-Tamper, an application and data protection solution that protects real-time operating systems (RTOS) and embedded Linux devices from malicious or accidental changes to firmware, configuration information, and static data.

Smart Devices, Smart Homes and the Problem With Multiple Automation Systems?

I am still enjoying the recent Gartner publication on the future of smart devices in the home. The article says there will be 500 smart devices in the home by 2022. This makes the reality of home automation that much more critical. The number of interesting home automation projects has gone up on the two sites I monitor (Indiegogo and Kickstarter) roughly 10 fold.

NYPD Equips Officers With Biometric Smartphones

New York Police Department officers and vehicles are to be outfitted with new technology as part of a $160 million program that will lead to fewer arrests and more summonses after being fully implemented next year, Mayor Bill de Blasio told reporters on Oct. 23. All 35,000 NYPD officers will be equipped with smartphones that allow officers to search databases, view wanted posters, and scan suspects’ fingerprints.

Video Surveillance Becomes Architectural Cornerstone

Hikvision is now presenting a new line of BIM security cameras that can be integrated seamlessly with specifiers’ and engineers’ Autodesk Revit models.

This content is available via Autodesk Seek, a leading web service that allows users to find, preview, and download BIM components from a library of over 66,000 items.

SeeTec VMS and BCDVideo NVR Integration

SeeTec AG and BCDVideo, a global manufacturer of high-performance IP recording systems for the video surveillance market, announced their Technology Partnership for SeeTec Cayuga and the BCDVideo product family. As both companies are leading in their segment the cooperation provides high standard for video surveillance projects of any size.

Google Launches Security Key, World?s First Deployment of Fast Identity Online Universal Second Factor (FIDO U2F) Authentication

Google Chrome became the first web browser to implement support for FIDO Alliance authentication standards, opening the door for any website to deploy simpler, stronger FIDO U2F authentication to users of the world?s most popular web browser.