Page 26 - Security Today, May/June 2021

It is Already Here An App store for your video surveillance needs
BTy Aaron Saks
oday’s video surveillance systems can do so much more than capture footage of a given location. With new AI-based analytics, cameras can identify license plates, help manage occupancy and provide operational and retail intelligence. It might be more
accurate to characterize this next generation of cameras as smart IoT sensors that collect and analyze data.
Unfortunately, leveraging these powerful data collecting capa- bilities often requires end users to make difficult choices between camera features, sensor and lens quality, and the analytics capa- bilities available from different manufacturers. Additionally, users can become vendor-locked if the data collection and sharing car- ried out by their purpose-driven cameras are done via a propri- etary solution. But there is another option. And, it has plenty in common with your smartphone.
USING APPS TO CUSTOMIZE SMARTPHONES
Whether you have an Android or iPhone, you have spent time customizing features that meet your specific needs. While we all have the same basic technology, it is safe to say that our phones perform different functions. Yours could edit film, someone else’s could organize events and another’s could monitor camera feeds.
This ability to customize the functionality of our phones is dependent on the fact that developers can create apps for a com- mon, open platform. Developing for this platform gives them ac- cess to a wide range of potential users and ensures that their apps will work on the greatest number of smartphones.
App developers are able to market their work through a hand- ful of common places, specifically app stores that allow you to search, download and purchase apps that suit your individual needs. They also ensure that apps can work together within the larger software ecosystem and provide users with a way to report and share performance issues with the community.
THE MOVE TO STANDARDIZATION
IN THE SECURITY INDUSTRY
Creating an open platform between manufacturing partners was a multi-phased project that required collaboration between sev- eral important groups. After a year of discussions with more than 50 companies active in video surveillance, access control, intru- sion and building automation, five founding companies (Bosch, Hanwha Techwin, Milestone Systems, Pelco and VIVOTEK) established the Open Security & Safety Alliance (OSSA). The OSSA emerged from and complements the open standards previ- ously established by the Open Network Video Interface Forum (ONVIF). The OSSA is focused on addressing challenges in the physical security market connected to data security and privacy, especially as they relate to video surveillance.
With a focus on solving interoperability challenges posed by proprietary systems, the OSSA framework provides standards and specifications for many common security system compo- nents, including operating systems and IoT infrastructures. It also outlines a collective approach to data security and privacy that simplifies and standardizes the aggregation and practical use of data within security systems. Significantly, it is this framework
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MAY/JUNE 2021 | SECURITY TODAY
“The result is a secure camera OS and App Store that allow users to deploy multiple apps across multiple cameras from multiple vendors.”
that has been used to build an open development platform, and an App Store, for security cameras.
CREATING AN OPEN ECOSYSTEM
FOR VIDEO SURVEILLANCE
The App Store itself was developed by Security & Safety Things (S&ST), an independent BOSCH startup that was founded in 2018. Partnering with security industry leaders as an OSSA mem- ber, the company has been working for the past three years to improve the pace of innovation and create new business oppor- tunities in the security industry. S&ST is doing this by developing an open ecosystem for security cameras and their applications. The result is a secure camera OS and App Store that allow users to deploy multiple apps across multiple cameras from multiple vendors.
Creating an open and secure camera OS was a key step in the development of the first standardized ecosystem for video sur- veillance. S&ST provides camera manufacturers with free access to its OS to allow them to design hardware that is compatible with the innovative software applications available in the App Store. As a result, camera manufacturers are better able to focus on their core business, designing security cameras with exception- al performance and image quality, while leveling the playing field for edge-based analytics.
To ensure efficient software development and publication, S&ST has also created a software development environment that includes documentation and tools. Through standardization, S&ST has made it possible for developers to tailor their solutions to specific business cases and then sell their solutions to a global marketplace.
AN APP STORE FOR SECURITY CAMERAS
Users can now download, try, and purchase apps that suit their specific requirements and business cases, essentially transforming their surveillance cameras into flexible and customizable multi-
MOBILE APPS
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