Hikvision, the supplier of video surveillance products and solutions, has launched Blazer Express, an easy-to-use and highly efficient intelligent video management software (iVMS) station, designed specifically to meet the needs of small-to medium-sized retail surveillance applications.

Catering for up to 16 or 32 network surveillance cameras, Blazer Express (supplied with preinstalled operating system), offers individual shops, multi-site stores, and gas stations, centralized video management and easy operation, along with quick and easy installation via its set-up wizard, and automatic device discovery to recognize any connected Hikvision devices.

User-friendly Functionality
Helping SMB retail operations to manage and secure their businesses in a more effective manner, Blazer Express is packed with a host of powerful features, supporting retail users to increase their business efficiency. On-board functionality allows users to select a target or event for a number of uses, such as to retrieve video footage to review employee performance for training or sales evaluation, as well as to protect assets and staff.

Blazer Express supplies live, playback and alarm camera viewing functionality via its user-friendly interface, enabling easy location of relevant video footage via multiple video search options: including tag, lock, interval and segment. Displaying a complete visual overview of all camera locations, an on-screen E-map permits per camera related live video, playback and alarm activated events to be directly accessed for quick identification, alerting the retail operator to manage situations with an appropriate response.

Seamless Integration
Designed for small-to medium-sized retail application, Blazer Express supports seamless integration with existing POS system, associating POS transaction data with the relevant CCTV footage, further helps to identify and review suspicious transactions, as well as to provide evidence for any customer disputes.

Suitable for gas stations, car parks and vehicle entrance/exit management, Blazer Express also comes as standard with automatic license plate recognition (ANPR). While a People Counting function can provide valuable data for retail operators to gain an understanding of people flow across different periods of time.

The product is further engineered with pluggable mSATA design for convenient system maintenance. A helpful system health-check function monitors service, storage, and camera running status, to provide assurance for system operators.

Advanced & Scalable Operation
Blazer Express iVMS stations can be installed at multiple remote sites, with cascade mode used to deploy centralized video management. In multi-site mode, Blazer Express allows operators to access video and alarm information from remote retail branches. Allowing easy system expansion, if and when a new store needs to be accommodated, it’s simply a case of connecting a new Blazer Express to the system, and multi-site systems can be configured to enable a Blazer Express client to manage all stores’ video footage and alarm information centrally, maximising human resource and response efficiency. Further enhancing remote management, Blazer Express based iVMS systems can be accessed at any time and from anywhere in the world using multiple free clients.

Supporting installation flexibility and saving valuable budget, Blazer Express supports third-party ONVIF compliant cameras or private protocols, with Hikvision providing a SDK for seamless third-party systems integration.