Tag: IP monitoring

Emizon, Adpro, and IP

EMIZON ADPRO AND IP

Back in March we talked about upgrading Adpro to IP. This gives a
quicker more reliable path to the monitoring station with all the
benefits of reduced ISDN phone bills. What we did not address was what
would happen if the IP path to the central station went faulty. Most
central stations have connections that are not backed up by a
secondary signalling path. They rely on running an audit approximately
every 7 days to ensure they can connect . Surely this entirely
unsatisfactory. How can such an important thing as CCTV monitoring be
compromised by either a deliberate line cut or a simple line fault.
Emizon have an IP communicator that solves these problems. For a
reasonable annual monitoring fee the CCTV broadband line can be
monitored 24/7 for faults or line cuts. If the line fails for any reason
either accidental or malicious, then an alarm is transmitted to the central
station via GPRS. The customer is then notified that their line is faulty
and they can then take  immediate action rather than having to wait 7 days
for the audit report.

Adpro have many thousands of transmitters out in the field that still
work on ISDN and although the Adpro itself  will continue to work well
being the resilient product that it is, the ISDN network is gradually
being dismantled. So upgrading to IP makes perfect sense. Back this up
with IP monitoring from Emizon and you have a secure and reliable
package.

CCTV and Emizon

Dual path broadband monitoring for CCTV.

CCTV monitoring using a DVR as the main recording device and transmitting medium is becoming ever more popular. It seems like the ideal solution and it is in many ways but one thing is often omitted from the spec and installers neglect the most important security feature . This is the broadband connection to the central station.

Emizon , the broadband monitoring solution.

Emizon have found a niche that caters for this weakness. Monitoring a CCTV communication path is part of BS8148 but many installers steer away from these regs and leave the line unmonitored. Often the customer will only find out about the weakness if his broadband line fails and they suffer a break in. That is why an IP CCTV communicator for monitoring the line is so crucial.

Other features.

In addition Emizon can also talk back to the unit to carry out resets on the DVR remotely, a great facility to help installers reduce site visits. Broadband lines are now pretty much standard across the UK  and we will not be moving onto any other technology any time soon. Most other companies who provide monitoring solutions are modifying their products to suit broadband unlike Emizon which has been specifically designed FOR broadband and so has an obvious edge.

Software.

Because the Emizon has been designed around a software platform rather than hardware it is easily adaptable to any subtle changes in communications of the future. Firmware upgrades are easily uploaded to the TCD at the touch of a button.

Dual path broadband monitoring investment.

Emizon expect as their customer base grows to be able to increase investment  in order to remain at no 1 in the IP monitoring market place. This means improvements get passed back to the end user. Keeping more competitive enables Emizon to invest in the latest technology and keeps the product totally in line with the latest changes that effect an ever expanding broadband market.

Legacy equipment.

One thing that we all take for granted but have failed to mention is that Broadband is a very fast transmission medium it means pictures reach the central station faster. There is a great deal of equipment out there that currently uses old ISDN technology the upgrades to broadband will be thick and fast but these lines must be monitored . With this in mind there is a large marketplace for Emizon to fill and based on the professionalism of the staff and the feature rich product they have. The future is looking very bright

IP CCTV. Who is to blame when it fails?

Who takes the wrap when the network goes down?

It seems a fairly simple question. A break -in has occurred, there is a very large loss and someone needs to pay up. Well of course it must be the installer who is to blame? Perhaps in the old days of analogue CCTV systems it generally was and often quite easy to prove that this was the case.

Integrated IP solutions means things are different now.

IP security solutions mean that by the very nature of the product there are lots of different technologies integrated into one holistic solution. We now have an installers cameras going onto to a customers network , linked to a router (sometimes wireless) connected to an unmonitored broadband connection. Then we send the data through countless different routes in the Internet cloud, to be finally viewed by a third party monitoring station. Lots to go awry i would suggest and no real way of finding out who is to blame when things go wrong.

Emizon IP monitoring.

The very first thing that installers should insist upon is that the broadband line is properly monitored and Emizon offers that solution. It gives the peace of mind to the installer and the customer that should the broadband line fail for any reason the key holders will be called . In addition it gives the installer the ability following an incident to check that the line was intact at the time.

Third party remote connection.

It is also crucial that the installer has the ability to remotely connect to the customers site at all times. Most DVR’s and VMS software gives a comprehensive log of how the customers network is responding and will also record if any cameras have failed and for what reason .

Logs at the central station.

Finally a central station should be used that offers both the customer and the installer complete transparency when it comes to viewing events stored at the monitoring centre. The best RVRC’s offer this service through a web browser and this can never be underestimated as a service when a dispute arises.

In summary.

With analytics becoming more popular in generating alarms and cameras becoming more powerful in the images they can provide, remote monitoring of  IP camera systems will be increasing. Failure however in picking up incidents will never go away but the best installers will ensure that with extensive testing during the commissioning process and service engineers who always fully test systems during routine maintenance will suffer far fewer incidents and far fewer cases of litigation against them.

Advice on choosing a CCTV installer

My advice to end users is choose your installer with care IT integrators may seem an attractive solution but there is no substitute for a professional CCTV installer.


Emizon IP communicator

IP communicator.

The Emizon 21 IP communicator is the latest player in the monitoring market. It’s a dual path signaling device and uses the broadband connection and GPRS  to connect to the central station. It comes in grade 2,3and 4, grade 4 being the equivalent of Redcare GSM.

Selling points.

Emizon is secure , simple future proofed and exceptional value for money. It is also 21CN compatible. Even if you have no alarm on site it can monitor your broadband connection to ensure your business maintains a 24/7 broadband connection if necessary. There are no call charges involved.

It saves money on two counts. It is cheaper to monitor than Redcare GSM and more importantly it means no dedicated line is required.

So how did it all start?

Emizon was conceived as far back as 2001 when the original patents were filed for.

The concept was proved in 2005 and touted to the industry in 2006. In 2007 the ARC’s started to accept the platform and a steady rise in popularity has meant it is now increasing its market share across the world.

Some control panels have Emizon integrated into them during manufacture so this product is undoubtedly here to stay and certainly looks like it could dominate the IP monitoring market for years to come.

10 reasons to use IP Monitoring

1) Emizon works with all broadband providers. Offers integrated security as it is able to integrate to CCTV and Access control.

2) 100% guarantee to work on the new BT 21CN platform.

3)  Firmware upgrades and pin changes can be made with the touch of a button.

4)  The grade 4 Emizon is equivalent to Redcare GSM and is accepted as totally secure within the insurance industry.

5)  No dedicated line is required so savings can be made on phone line costs when upgrading.

6) In terms of cost the Emizon can deliver two signalling paths for the same money as you would normally pay for single path.

7)  The TDC is easy to install and is not site specific , meaning it can be kept in stock for same day installation.

8)  Through broadband access via the Emizon you can remotely interrogate your alarm panel so you can do remote servicing on your alarm panel.

9)  Comes in grade 2,3,and 4 so can be used for any application.

10)  Gives the customer not only notice if their alarm panel has lost its monitoring path but also helps to monitor all broadband services so if the customer needs 24hour on line reliability to run their business it they will know of any  BROADBAND failure.

Monitored CCTV

What is monitored CCTV.

Monitored CCTV first started to come into its own in the late 90’s .This coincided with the advent of the ISDN telephone network that BT developed in order to transfer large amounts of data mainly for large corporate customers. The first ISDN lines were made up of two legs of 64k each giving a total of 128k. This was sufficient to allow CCTV images of reasonable quality to be compressed and transmitted using an ISDN modem.

CCTV monitoring station.

The early monitoring stations tended to use two formats for monitoring these pictures. As a rule they used either the Adpro or the DVST transceivers. It was a bit like the VHS/Beta Max battle when the VCR was first developed and the market for monitoring at that time was only ever going to be able to support one monitoring platform in the early days and as a consequence  the DVST solution lost and died a slow and expensive death.

What did the operator see?

It was quite simplistic really. The Adpro was able to transmit three separate snap shots each taken approximately one second apart. This was presented to the operator in the form of a quad image, the three snap shots and in the bottom right hand corner was the live streamed image. It had to be remembered that this was early days and the images were of questionable quality . Great skill was required on behalf of the operator to distinguish whether there was actually a break in occurring . Of course when the central station only had a few connections this was not a problem the operator had plenty of time to spend on each alarm ,but, this was soon to change.

The boom years.

The popularity of monitored systems took off as we entered the 21st century. Connections increased massively and central stations were only too keen to take these on. It did however mean that as these connections increased, the service to the end user started to decline ….dramatically.

False alarms.

False alarms were a considerable drawback to the industry, in the absence of regulation any CCTV installer could make a connection. Design of the systems seemed to take second place to the number of connections that could be made and as a result break ins were missed and litigation followed.

Re-think.

This made the central stations re-think their position and actually forced them to decline applications from installers who had a poor record of false alarms. Some sites were disconnected in an attempt to get false alarms and response times under control. It took a long time but with some heavy handed tactics from the central stations,  including isolating cameras that caused more than just a few activations in a 24hour period. Everyone started to appreciate the need to reduce dramatically the number of false alarms being signalled through.

IP solutions.

Of course as technology improved, Adpro was being challenged by some new players in the market place. Slowly but surely with the advent of IP monitoring it started to lose its grip as the main player. Broadband means better pictures and faster connections and also the ability for central stations to view pre- alarm events giving them far more information. There is still a school of thought however that IP monitoring is not always as secure as we would like to think. We have down time  at ISPs and certainly there is a percentage of information that is lost in the Internet cloud.

So where does CCTV monitoring go from here?

We need think hard about this one. IP camera systems mean that monitoring needs are changing and fast. Large organisations are beginning to realise that monitoring there own sites is a possibility and and that cost savings are possible. Hybrid CCTV systems will become the norm and it will only be a matter of time before ISDN is phased out completely so all the old legacy transmitting equipment will have to be upgraded. A great opportunity for installers and manufacturers alike. As for the monitoring stations they need to keep a very close eye on the market place .They must implement front end software that can integrate to as many legacy and new transmission products  as possible into its central station. Ineveitably they will have to reduce the cost of monitoring solutions in order to both maintain existing customers and generate new business