CCTV Archives - Page 4 of 63

Fixed fees for annual NSI membership?

Recently in the security headlines was the news that Stanley security solutions had been elevated to gold membership of the NSI. This is no mean achievment for an organization of the size of Stanley and very welcome news for the NSI itself. The reason the NSI will be rightly overjoyed is the new money that Stanley will bring to the organization. Being a gold NSI member means every aspect of installation work will need to be certificated. So a simple door access system will cost Stanley a small but by no means insignificant amount and the same goes for a CCTV system and an intruder alarm.

NSI gold approved security company

The NSI have been funded by charging member companies for certificates since its inception but the financial downturn has had quite an impact on the number of systems being installed and thus the number of certificates being issed. less certificates equals less revenue. This has led the NSI to have a re-think about how it can possibly fund its operation going forward and as result the idea of a fixed fee for membership has been mooted. This could have a huge impact on smaller installers who quite possibly would have to pay the same amount to issue 10 certificates per annum as some of the larger organizations who issue thousands per year.

Is this fair? Well its not been confirmed yet but it seems that by even thinking about this route forward the NSI is making every effort to ensure its own survival in very difficult times but at what cost to the overall security industry itself? We sense a potential rift and opportunity for other inspectorates to step into the breach, we will have to wait and see but we sense a shift of allegiance for many security companies could be just around the corner.

Essen 2012

The bi-annual Essen Security exhibition has now closed for another 2 years.

Boasting a huge array of Halls and technology to visit, surely Essen has now rightfully claimed its title as THE Security Exhibition to visit ahead of rivals such as IFSEC?

Essen security show

Spread over 11, yes that’s 11 Halls, Essen needed a transport system of its own inside just to get us from hall to hall !

Talking of transportation, the travel system, namely the hugely efficient DB Train system, delivered us on time every day – if the platform board showed 1 minute until the next train, 1 minute it was!

Anyway, back to the show.

Notable massive stands (or booths as our European friends referred to ) were Bosch, Honeywell, Siemans.

Bosch had their representation of an aircraft, complete with actual airline seats to sit and listen to the presentations! Rumour has it (and only rumour because we weren’t invited!) that all visitors to their stand (oops, booth) were taken out to the back of the Bosch area and treated to a full 3 course cooked lunch!!! Now that is customer care!

security shows

Interesting that their flagship new MIC 550 was represented by one, solitary lonely looking model on top of one of their product podiums…….

The British contingent were represented in the BSIA section by the likes of GJD with their HD CCTV lighting solutions, Elmdene and NVT. Also present for the first time at ESSEN was 360 Vision Technology, brave guys taking their range of Predators into the back garden of Bosch MICS!!!!

Talking of 360 Vision, they certainly flooded their stand with multiple-coloured Predators! Gold, orange, green and JCB Yellow ensured that sun glasses were needed for this UK manufacturer!

Into Hall 2 and the mighty Geutebrueck had an amazing stand – packed with staff and visitors it seemed for the full 4 days!

Some great video Analytics were observed over at the UDP Technology stand – fully expecting these guys to be taking the UK by storm real soon with their very clever technology!

MP was represented amply by the usual guys – Arecont and Avigilon had excellent displays.

We spotted Todd Rockoff at the show as well spreading the word about HDcctv . Keep watching this space for more news from Todd soon.

Visitors attending the show were from far flung regions – talking with some of the exhibitors, they had seen good quality leads from US, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Middle East and of course the main Euro regions – affirming Security Essen’s status as a truly International show.

It therefore must beg the question, with such a high quality show held only every 2 years, is there now room for a smaller, certainly less well presented IFSEC anymore in the UK? We paid fairly low airline fares to Dusseldorf, stayed in a clean, functional but inexpensive hotel (compared to London or Birmingham hotels) and travelled effortlessly, cheaply and efficiently on excellent transport to and from the halls.

Our opinion? Security Essen is the show that is worth visiting……and waiting for!

CCTV service agreements. Are they value for money?

Like all service agreements, a CCTV service contract is often a grudge purchase. Most companies decide to bite the bullet because they tend to put security quite high up the pecking order of importance within their organization and the thought of leaving a premises unprotected is a big fear.

CCTV service

When a CCTV system is sold, service tends to be the last thing to be negotiated, an after thought almost. What however should a customer expect in terms of cover? Well most will get the first 12months free manufacturers warranty with the installation. Almost without exclusion manufacturers will back their products from anywhere from 12 months to 5 years and its it worth asking this as a customer at the point of sale. If you know how long the manufacturer backs his kit then you can a) be confident you are buying well and b) ensure you benefit from the warranty in the event that the product fails.

During the first 12 months you will need to cover yourself in the event of a failure. Just because the manufacturer will replace your goods does not mean the installer is obliged to supply their labour in order to change over this faulty part. The solution is to go for a fully comprehensive agreement this will cover all call out and labour meaning you wont get any nasty bills. One word of caution though, A service agreement will not cover accidental damage or vandalism, electrical surges also tend to be excluded. So you must also insure your camera system as well.

On the anniversary of the install the installer will usually offer you two options. A continuation of the fully comp deal or a preventative agreement. Preventative agreements normally will mean 2 visits per year to clean and test the system throughout, all other calls to the system and parts replacement will be chargeable. It is therefore important to know what the maintaining company charges per hour and there may be call out and travel charges to think of to.

Finally when you buy your CCTV system you must ensure you buy a brand of cameras that can be looked after by the mainstream of security companies. Many times consumers have been caught out buying closed protocol equipment with protected software and passwords that only the current installer has access to. When you are buying they may sell this to you cheaply knowing that year on year they will be the only ones who can maintain your CCTV. Be assured your service costs and equipment replacement prices will be astronomical but sadly with no other way to maintain your cameras you will be left with a choice of stick with the camera equipment you have bought or rip the lot out and start again. Don’t get caught out with this one.

So are you better off without a CCTV service agreement at all and just pay as you go? Probably 5 years ago yes, this is because the big brands like Samsung, Pelco and Panasonic ruled the market and their products were second to none. They were in fact so reliable the failure rate was negligible. However over the 5 years things have changed. The recession has encouraged end users to buy cheaply. This unfortunately has meant despite warranties on the goods themselves, rarely will a £60 camera actually last much longer than 2-3 years, it really is a case of buy cheap buy twice , oh and also you will spend a fortune on service calls along the way. Short sited buyers and those out to install cheap equipment in order to undermine the real installers have destroyed confidence the industry. Yes as the recovery comes round these failing cameras will give way to HD CCTV solutions that will revolutionise the industry in the long term, so plenty of optimism for the future.

However the question was are CCTV service contracts value for money? Well all said and done, yes. Ensure however you get the right guys to do the job. There are lots of unqualified installers, full of good intentions that may unfortunately let you down. The clever consumer will pay a little more for a better service and at the end of the day a CCTV system that works when you really need it.

Barry Shakespeare leaves Norbain

News that Barry Shakespeare the managing director of Norbain SD Ltd, has left the company broke this morning and this has now been officially confirmed by Nigel Palmer who is chief executive of Newbury investments (UK) LTD who bought the assets of Norbain in a highly controversial prepack agreement earlier this year. The current company, Norbain SD Ltd, was bought out of financial administration by Newbury Investments.

Also leaving the company is Huw Edwards, who held the role of marketing communications director, and Victoria Bori, human resources director.

In a statement released earlier Palmer said that the three directors left the company on Friday 14 September 2012 with immediate effect. He continued that “For sound commercial reasons, it has been necessary to restructure some functions and roles currently carried out centrally at Winnersh,” he stated. Winnersh refers to the company headquarters in Wokingham, Berkshire. Palmer refused to comment further, but this move comes as no real surprise to those in the industry.

When Norbain effectively put all their eggs in one basket by committing to IP technology to the exclusion of all other alternatives it left them with nowhere to go when IP ultimately failed to take off in the way that some in the industry had predicted ,not least Shakespeare himself. With norbain weakened and effectively trading when some perhaps believe they should not have been, the writing was on the wall. The rescue package gave some respite for Barry Shakespeare but inevitably this was short lived.

So where does this leave “new Norbain”? Well restructuring is going on and this must leave some doubts as to the future of what was once seen as the most powerful company in the CCTV industry.

Watch this space for more news and potential revalations as to the goings on in the lead up to the end of Norbain as we knew it.

video analytics. Do they work?

Video analytics were originally hailed as the answer to just about everything in the world of CCTV when it first came to the fore some years ago . The concept that an intelligent camera that was able to look at a scene , interpret the difference between human activity and and other forms of movement such as foliage or wildlife was both appealing and very exciting news for the CCTV industry. In essence video analytics spelt the end of the use of PIR sensors and fixed beam technology , manned guarding would be made redundant and the biggest issue of all false alarms would be eliminated.

As installers of course there is always a learning curve and entering into video analytics at an early stage would be risky but potentially very rewarding. So how did the early pioneers fair ? Well not so good really, Analytics promised much more than it was actually able to achieve . Demonstrations were always impressive but when it came to the real thing, an installation out in the field, false alarms plagued the early external systems.

Internally it was a different storey a more sterile environment coupled with smaller areas of coverage meant that video analytics proved both accurate and rewarding. People counting, intrusions into secure areas and missing objects were easy to both alarm and action so all in all we would highly recommend using video analytics for this purpose i.e internally .

Externally though the technology is still blighted to the point where it becomes unusable for unmanned systems . Spiders, rain,snow, moving side curtains on lorries and foliage still seem to be insurmountable issues for the manufacturers although if the system is manned this minor interference is nothing but a nuisance factor for an operator .

So in summary, internally brilliant. Used in conjunction with manned security then it is satisfactory . Unmanned for remote monitoring we are afraid to say video analytics still have a long way to go , in fact there has to be doubt whether it will ever be reliable enough at all .