IFSEC 2012 exhibition review

Over for another year!

IFSEC 2012 shut its doors after yet another excellently attended show.

But how excellent was it really?

Well, we visited each day, dodging the rain showers wherever possible!

On arriving at the superbly located Birmingham NEC, it seemed that each day, despite the arrival time, East car park 4 was our destination!

Excellent and frequent shuttle buses (saved getting wet!) swept us to the entrance in under 10mins – on the one occasion where the queue was more than 2 shuttle buses long, the entrepreneurial local Taxi drivers pulled up and offered rides for £1 per person !!

On arriving at the Halls, swift entrance was gained using the pre-registration number allocated if you were efficient in booking ahead – scan the bar code or enter the number and one of the lovely ladies called out your name and handed the printed pass – valid for the 4 days of the show.

Entrance was only a zap away and then into the huge and almost intimidating Halls – we started each day in Hall 5.

First job, fire up the IFSEC 2012 iPhone APP to get at the list of exhibitors that we had made beforehand

And there was problem number 1 !

We had seen the App before do it’s usual (and time wasting) thing of updating this and that, downloading this and that etc, but we were in the confines of office wifi – standby on a severely stretched 3G signal that was being shared by half the population of the world and the app took a good 20-30 seconds to get to the stage of being useable ! bearing in mind that this process was the same EVERY time the app was needed, even if already running!!

Note to IFSEC App developers – ensure that the APP only updates ONCE and only perhaps on wifi ???? PLUS……use the Push feature of iOS devices instead of pulling everytime the app runs!!!

Once passed the splendour of HUGE stands such as Tyco and Norbain (and a BIG shout out to Samsung for the hugest video wall ever!) the usual Asian section provided an in sight into this years talked about Tech……..namely HD-SDI / HDcctv recorders, cameras and transmission widgets.

Nearly all stands (compared to VERY FEW last year) were extolling the virtues of HD-SDI / HDcctv as the new method for High Def CCTV images………. many interesting conversations took place on compatibility – all centring on the Genum chipset that seems to ensure compatibility amongst various manufacturers – SEEMS ??? well, at one point, we asked a camera supplier to borrow a camera to take next door to his Korean neighbour making DVRs…….sure enough, it worked, we could not however advise this will always be the case so HDcctv compatible seems to be the way forward here.

But, HD-SDI is definitely now more prominent – we expect to see major UK distributors push this retro-fittable tech out to their customers during 2012-2013

Another area of concern was meeting areas – ok, I guess if you are a big corporate exhibitor, hiring a meeting room is de facto, but if you are looking for a quick conversation with a new supplier, where do you go? We were planning a discussion with a leading Korean manufacturer……we thought combining with some refreshment would be relaxing……no seats in the heavily busy internal cafe/rest areas so headed out to the lobby area. EVERY cafe/eating area packed………. options included sitting side by side around the outside walls !!!

Surely some meeting areas with refreshments makes sense?

So, Hall 5 was where the main action was but to be honest, we were strangely warming to the exhibitors in Hall 4 !! Seemed to be more of the IP based guys (Axis, Milestone, IndigoVision) were up there and somehow, it kind of felt more ‘techy’ up there, like a club that announced “downstairs for cable, upstairs for IP!’

Milestone and Axis were showing various new technology – Axis with a HUGE PTZ camera and their Thermal offerings……..Thermal seemed to feature very well throughout the show, mainly because of its superb analytical capabilities. We saw several companies such as Flir and 360 Vision demonstrating their products on various partner stands to good reception.

Milestone had an interesting ‘wall’ of affiliated partners – companies such as IFSEC award winners Ipsotek showed their excellent analytics and Milestone integration to good effect!

The usual bevy of beauties lined the stands – obviously employed for their amazing product knowledge. So, what was the thought on this years IFSEC?

Well, apart from the troublesome app and the lack of meeting areas, really rather good – the new tech appearing is refreshing, the layout over 2 Halls was spot on and the show had enough to fill 4 days of interest easily.

Roll on IFSEC 2013!

Cobra Alpha HD SDI DVR

CCTV direct has announced that it is is launching a new range of  HD SDI CCTV equipment at IFSEC 2012. The HD-SDI CCTV range is priced to be almost as cheap as analogue CCTV equipment bring HD to many rather than the few.

The range will include a world first, an HD SDI PTZ dome camera. This will be complimented by a smart IR bullet camera and two HD SDI dome cameras and of course as the Cobra Alpha HD SDI DVR.

The new  Cobra Alpha HD SDI recorder offers HD clarity over coax and is targeted at installers who want to give HD to their end users without some of the complication involved in IP HD systems.

The Cobra Alpha  HD SDI CCTV range is priced to sell against analogue rather than IP and is looking to take a market share of camera systems that are in need of upgrade here in the UK and primarily run over coax.

The Cobra Alpha range offers crystal clear 1080P images and exceptional recording quality. HD SDI CCTV is simple to install and can use both new and existing coax. It is not an IP system so no expert IP training is required. It is an HD definition system for CCTV installers and is quite simply plug and play. This is what CCTV installers have been waiting for, a simple HD CCTV solution without the complication that can come with IP CCTV installations and what’s more at an affordable price.

So the Cobra Alpha HD SDI DVR will prove a big hit with installers looking for a simple solution but with 3 times the definition of analogue.


 

Who is looking beyond IP surveillance?

PSI magazine, a very well respected monthly security publication has recently ran an excellent article with the very clever headline “Know IP or no IP” . Essentially the article centred on how the security industry is embracing (or in many cases not embracing) IP technology in order to drive sales and move the industry forward to another level. Several commentators take a view on whether the CCTV industry as whole has the technical knowledge to advise, sell, install and service IP CCTV in a way that will bring improvements, reliability and satisfaction to the end user.

What all the commentators seem to agree on is that IP is inevitable, analogue CCTV as a technology is finished and it is now just a matter of time before those who have invested in IP surveillance training, ICT staff and IP CCTV products will prevail. In market that before IP CCTV came along, was dominated by installers who generally operate with 5 or 6 hard working staff and have little or no time to invest in a discipline that is far more demanding than installing simple closed circuit analogue systems, this news is quite daunting!

Now it has to be noted that IP CCTV brings many benefits but the most obvious is HD quality. This is the driving force for IP CCTV to really take off and this is what will cause forward thinking end users to upgrade. It was noted that  in a later article on P40 there is a quote that suggests” if you want a high resolution system you have to go IP”, ironic then that the advert directly following the “Know IP or no IP” article is for the new HD SDI CCTV range from Videcon.

Now that is forward thinking!!!  HD SDI CCTV offers high definition images over coax. It is widely acknowledged that coax makes up over 70% of all CCTV systems here in the UK at present. Many of those systems consist of less than 16 cameras and many of those systems need upgrading. Many of those systems are installed and maintained by CCTV installers who have little desire to go over to IP CCTV technology.

It would therefore be fair to ask then who is looking beyond IP surveillance? Is HD SDI CCTV a technology that can allow smaller traditional CCTV companies to compete against the tide of IP CCTV products flooding the market place? We certainly think it is!

IFSEC 2012 HD CCTV and security Exhibition

IFSEC is now just around the corner. Over the next few days we will be reviewing who will be exhibiting, their product ranges and what  to look out for if you are attending the show this year. IFSEC 2012 will be introducing new technology zones  and some of the most interesting products to look out for this year will be HD CCTV solutions. HD IP , HD CCTV and HD-SDI CCTV and HD SDI camera products will be on display all emphasising the push towards HD CCTV as the preferred option of upgrade for end users. We have seen prices tumbling this year bringing all HD products into the realistic grasp of normal business out there. So this will be the year of the HD CCTV and  HD SDI cameras and recording solutions?

Any exhibitors who are at IFSEC 2012 and would like us to run a product review on this site are welcome to contact us. So the run up to the show begins and we will watch with interest to see who’s products and what technology comes out on top this year .

HD SDI CCTV, HD CCTV DVR, HD SDI DVR

Apollo HD SDI DVR

The new Apollo HD SDI DVR has now been officially launched. This 4 channel HD SDI CCTV package is capable of producing high quality images at 1080P using existing coax as its transmission medium. This keeps the installation simple and infrastructure costs low at the same time as providing HD images without the need to go down the IP route.

Apollo HD SDI DVRFor more information the unit can be viewed at IFSEC this year in Hall 5 stand 5B40, but simply put, it is the Dahua badged HD SDI DVR that has been expected to be released for some time.

Features include iPhone and iPad connectivity, while a duel core CPU presents excellent recoding playback and network performance. PTZ dome control, easy back up via USB or DVD-RW and network download.

Importantly the Apollo HD SDI DVR can support up to 12TB and comes with a built in webserver.