Page 46 - Security Today, March 2017

Adopting Tomorrow Part of the IP revolution is moving from the horse and buggy
“W
By Keith Drummond
as it this hard to convince people to move to an automobile from the horse and buggy?”
try with no cogent answer for the “why change what works?” argu- ment saw real limits to the reach and potential of the IP video revolu- tion, consequently limiting related potential for every link in video surveillance lifecycle, including manufacturers, consultants, systems integrators, installers and end-users alike.
The era of across-the-board wariness and limitations is over, and the full potential of IP video technologies is being realized like never before in all corners of the industry. The power and functionality enabled by IP networked surveillance solutions is in full force, as never before, driving down total costs, and enabling the evolution of traditional surveillance and security at a rapid pace. Even traditional security spaces, such as mobile surveillance and guarding, are see- ing commensurate evolutionary leaps, thanks to IP technologies, and end-users are seeing results. How far we’ve come from those early days of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Surveillance requirements grow more complex each day, in terms of size, scale, and the demands placed on increasingly high quality video (including video analysis and the rise in business intelligence applications for high quality surveillance). Further, changes in real world security and safety consideration—including increased needs for effective monitoring of geographically disparate sites, large and chaotic environments, and ever more rapid incident response (par- ticularly by law enforcement or in homeland security situations) all reflect the maturation and increased complication of demands placed
It’s not hard to imagine any number of players in the security industry ask- ing a similar question over the past decade or so, as they contem- plated the challenges inherent in realizing the full benefit of IP net- worked technologies in the surveillance industry. For many years, the potential of IP video surveillance played second fiddle to a far more fundamental question from end-users: “Why should I adopt IP video
surveillance in the first place?”
Today, with that question firmly put to rest, the early IP video
revolution has become an early renaissance, with the near-unlimited potential of the technology enabling truly great things for the surveil- lance industry and the customers we serve.
Certainly, there’s no denying the past. Where many manufactur- ers and industry insiders saw the real potential in then-burgeoning IP technologies, initially slow adoption rates and lingering questions re- flected a general wariness amidst the so-called “IP video revolution” of higher upfront costs and seemingly more complicated technical underpinnings.
Put simply, end users were comfortable with the hardware, tech- nologies, and cost-structure they already knew, and oft-unfocused messages about the cost and benefits of IP proved wanting. An indus-
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0317 | SECURITY TODAY
IP VIDEO SURVEILLANCE