All-over-IP Expo 2015: One Day with top ICT managers
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6 October 2015
Tyco: New Illustra Flex Series Outdoor Mini-Domes
New Illustra Flex Series Outdoor Mini-Domes Improve Temperature Performance Tyco Security Products, part of Tyco, the world’s largest pure-play fire protection and security company, introduces a significant temperature performance improvement to the Illustra Flex Series of IP cameras. These cost-effective, high definition video cameras give end users a better IP video solution in demanding, colder environments. The new 1 and 3 megapixel Illustra Flex Outdoor Mini-Domes will operate in -40°C to 50°C (-40°F to 122°F) temperatures using standard PoE (Power over Ethernet). Using PoE instead of a 24vAC power supply lowers the overall power consumption and greatly simplifies the wiring infrastructure necessary for outdoor camera installations. The new Flex outdoor mini-domes make installation more cost effective since there is no longer a need for specialised PoE+ network switches or separate 24vAC power supplies and cabling, saving customers’ time and money. “The Illustra Flex Series Mini-Dome IP cameras provide our customers with an affordable, yet feature-rich solution,” said Peter Ainsworth, Director of Product Management, EMEA, Tyco Security Products. “The new low temperature performance enhancements enable the outdoor mini-dome cameras to operate in the most demanding conditions using PoE power which is the preferred installation standard used by most customers.” Beyond the new temperature performance enhancement, Illustra Flex outdoor mini-domes offer excellent low-light colour video quality with true day/night, integrated IR Illuminators and IK10 vandal rated performance. These affordable, high quality IP cameras also feature 3D dynamic noise reduction to provide clear, stable video whilst reducing storage requirements, varifocal lenses for maximum viewing area, and IP-66 rating to protect against water and dust damage. The Flex Outdoor Mini-Domes also offer a range of optional mount brackets and accessories making the cameras an attractive solution that can be tailored for almost any installation environment. [su_button url=”http://www.illustracameras.com” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#df2027″ color=”#ffffff” size=”10″ radius=”0″ icon=”icon: arrow-circle-right”]Click here for more information on the Illustra Flex Series of IP cameras[/su_button] , please visit
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Trackwise achieves AS9100C Certification
Trackwise achieves AS9100C Certification Trackwise, a UK-based specialist manufacturer of products using printed circuit technology, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded AS9100C quality certification. The certification is the highest of global standards for quality assurance in the Aerospace, Space and Defence industries. While similar to ISO 9001:2008, AS9100C has 100 additional requirements specific to meeting the stringent, complex and unique demands of these industries. It marks an important milestone in the Company’s growth plans into these markets and supports both the core manufacture of specialised radio frequency printed circuit boards as well as the introduction of its latest product development – Improved Harness Technology™. A patented process innovation (UK patent 2498994, International Patent application PCT/GB2013/050147) has further extended Trackwise’ capability to the unique manufacture of multilayer flexible PCBs of unlimited length. In aerospace and other high value, mass-critical applications, boards of such length can be used as an alternative to traditional wiring harnesses, offering significant benefits particularly in terms of reliability, space and weight – up to 75 percent weight saving. Trackwise Director of Quality, Colin Hallam commented: “We are delighted to have achieved this certification. The company has ambitious growth plans over the next 5 years and operating to the stringent requirements of AS79100C is going to be crucial to delivering on them. Importantly it also affirms Trackwise’ commitment to an ongoing programme of business improvement designed to ensure we continue to provide our customers with the highest levels of product quality and service delivery. This has included the attainment of the UK government’s Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation earlier in the year.” Michael Venner from the certification body, IMS International, noted: “Trackwise have performed exceptionally well. It is rare for a final audit to show no non-conformances in the manufacturing process, which is testament to the hard work of their team and the robust quality controls they have in place.” [su_button url=”http://www.trackwise.co.uk/” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#df2027″ color=”#ffffff” size=”10″ radius=”0″ icon=”icon: arrow-circle-right”]For more on Trackwise click here[/su_button]
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Academic Contributions to Border Security
An Interview with Dr Hugo Rosemont, Centre for Defence Studies, King’s College London Q: Hugo, can you start by telling us something about your role and your background? A: My current role is Assistant Director of the Centre for Defence Studies (CDS) which is a research centre within the Department of War Studies at King’s College, London. I’m involved in national security policy research and analysis as well as supporting the development of students at King’s. I joined the Department in a formal capacity in January having completed a PhD with the Department on the role of the private sector in UK counter-terrorism strategy since 9/11. Prior to that, I was a policy adviser to the ADS Group between 2008 and 2012, and before that I worked as a security executive for London’s 2012 Olympic bid. The emphasis of my work now is on looking at national security in the round. So in addition to considering the defence aspects of security, I’m also looking at non-military security issues such as transport security, border security, intelligence and counter-radicalisation. By adopting a very broad perspective of what national security is about, we find that CDS is able to provide additional ideas to Government on some of the challenges they face. Q: And what’s the nature of your involvement with Transport Security Expo? A: My involvement is with the Future Border Briefing Theatre which Transport Security Expo is establishing for the first time this year. I’ll be delivering a presentation entitled Academic Contributions to Border Security which will focus on how academia can work with both Government and industry in assessing and implementing border security in the UK and overseas. Two key headline points I’ll be making are firstly that academia has a great deal to offer from a technological perspective. Industry obviously has its own R&D facilities but it’s important not to underplay the contribution that academia’s scientific and technical experts can make. Secondly, there is a valuable contribution to be made by the social sciences. Academics have a role to play as an independent voice able to scrutinise and offer lessons learnt from previous border security programmes that have either worked well or not so well. In the latter case, the aim is not to point the finger of blame but to engage in a constructive way in order to help develop the most effective border security approaches. Q: What do you think are the key issues for UK border security at the moment? A: I think there are a couple of important points to take into account, starting with the geo-political aspects of the challenge arising from the way the world is at present and also the integration of the global economy. It’s a fact that many migrants wanting to move to the EU are taking extreme measures to do so. In other words, efforts to control the borders are taking place within a difficult context. We also need to think about the EU’s approach to this issue. The UK is currently a member of the EU and the Government is now contributing to European efforts to address the crisis in the Mediterranean. Although we’re not part of the Schengen area, we are obviously still affected by a Europe-wide issue that highlights the fact that we are not immune to what happens beyond our immediate borders. It’s important to remember that responding to the challenge is not just about the technical aspects or about individual solutions; we need to take account of the wider strategic issues. What are the drivers making people want to come to Europe? These are not easy issues to resolve. Q: How do you think Transport Security Expo can highlight what the UK has to offer in relation to border security? A: One of the things the UK has to offer in this area is the fact that it has a systems approach to border security. The UK’s counter-terrorism strategy, CONTEST, has many border security aspects within it but it also incorporates a full range of integrated solutions. The UK has a good reputation for co-ordinating across Government – from military approaches such as maintaining the integrity of UK airspace to the systems used at a civilian level, including screening technologies found at ports. The UK also has expertise in biometric techniques, e-passport gates and other more discreet capabilities such as the detection of radiological material at the borders. But on top of all the individual technologies, the UK has the expertise, the doctrine, of pulling them all together in a comprehensive way that is going to be attractive to some of the international delegations that will be attending Transport Security Expo and looking to address some very difficult issues. Q: How does that relate to the specific sectors covered by Transport Security Expo, such as aviation? In the recent history of international terrorism, the aviation system has been a high profile target because of its symbolic value and because it’s at the heart of our globalised economy. Within the UK, we have a long record of responding to a range of ever evolving threats. Aviation security is events-driven, so the authorities and others are always trying to get ahead of the next potential risk. It’s also important to stress the significance of the interface between the different actors responsible for realising aviation security. So, the police, the intelligence agencies and the Government itself all have a clear role in setting and implementing the policy for aviation security. But the airlines and the airports themselves are all private companies that are responsible for implementing certain measures in different countries. This puts a high premium on a strong working relationship between the public and private sectors, which is very different to traditional defence. Q: What about our sea ports? A: My doctoral research covered the UK’s electronic borders programme (‘e-Borders’) which is relevant here because it is utilised at the point at which individuals are entering the country. There is a complex interplay between the physical
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New IP video surveillance system for Domodedovo Moscow International Airport
Over 400 Samsung IP network video surveillance cameras have been installed to monitor activity at the border crossing point of Russia’s largest airport. Domodedovo International Airport, which is located 42 kilometres from Moscow, is used by over 30 million passengers every year. In 2013 it was recognised as the best airport in Eastern Europe by Skytrax World Airport Awards for the fourth consecutive year. The prestigious award reflects the significant investment the airport has made to create comfortable conditions for travellers. All passengers have to pass though the customs area of the airport to ensure that import duties are paid and to provide employees of the State control bodies with the opportunity to detect smuggling of restricted or forbidden goods. In order to provide employees of the State control bodies with the best possible tools to allow them to deter and detect any criminal activity, the Management of construction and operations of the State Border Facilities of the Russian Federation” (Rosgranstroy) decided that an existing CCTV system should be replaced with an IP network based video surveillance solution that could take advantage of the latest generation of high definition cameras. TELROS Integration, one of Russia’s leading systems integrators, was awarded the contract to install the new video surveillance system following a highly competitive tender process conducted by the Rosgranstroy. “We are very pleased to have been entrusted to fulfil this important and prestigious contract,” said Mr. Alexey Savin, CTO of TELROS Integration. “In partnership with Samsung Techwin Europe we were able to design a system that was competitively priced, but was able to completely meet the demanding tender specifications. The price/performance ratio of the Samsung cameras are such that we were able to demonstrate to the client that there was no need to compromise on quality, whilst offering a highly affordable solution.” The images from all the cameras are monitored live 24/7 by officers from a control room situated within the border crossing point area and are recorded in real-time onto a server based system supplied by video recording specialists, ITV. “The video surveillance system has been integrated with access control and other alarms systems so that the client can gain maximum benefit from the evidence grade images captured by the cameras,“ said Mr. Savin. “Using the video monitoring software supplied by ITV, officers are able to quickly retrieve recorded video to allow them to verify who may have entered a restricted area.” Among the Samsung cameras installed in the customs area are, SNP-5300H 1.3 Megapixel IP network PTZ domes which have a 30x optical zoom capability that provide operators with the opportunity to observe close up detail of far away people or objects without pixilation occurring. Other models installed, include the SND-7061 3 megapixel Full HD network dome cameras, the SND-5061 1.3 megapixel network internal dome camera and the SNV-6084 WiseNetIII 2MP Full HD network vandal-resistant dome camera, which is designed to be resistant to physical attack.
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Securing the summer – a capital solution for public security
Securing the summer – a capital solution for public security Tim Compston, of SecurityNewsDesk, finds out more about the efforts of the private security sector and the police to keep public events across the nation’s capital running smoothly over the summer months. However you look at it, managing event security remains a challenge at the best of times given the number of attendees and the sheer logistics involved. Here we get an insider’s view on what is being done this summer to keep some of London’s most well-known events safe and secure, whether they are concentrated in one venue such as Wimbledon – the world’s oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament; range over a much wider public area like Hyde Park, or represent a moveable feast, with the Notting Hill Carnival being a good example of an energetic street-based festival. Catching up with Eric Alexander, managing director, events, at G4S, he confirms that G4S has already kicked-off the summer with several large-scale efforts, ranging from hundreds of personnel at Wimbledon to the Barclaycard British Summer Time concerts that featured headline acts such as Taylor Swift and The Who. Serving solutions In Alexander’s words Wimbledon really stands out from the crowd as ‘one of the most significant events that G4S does in the summer’ and has handled for some 26 years now: “I struggle to think of a sporting event which is as big as Wimbledon, even just for longevity,” says Alexander. To give some idea of the footprint of Wimbledon he reports that there are somewhere in the region of 38,000 spectators per day inside the perimeter, which equates to around 490,000 tennis fans across the whole event. Not surprisingly, a whole spectrum of expertise is required for Wimbledon including: crowd management, security, putting the brakes on counterfeit tickets, player escort and even protecting the trophies themselves. Thankfully, the fact that Wimbledon is held in the same place every year – compared to something like the Open Golf Championship which G4S also handles – means that Alexander’s team is able to draw on its considerable expertise from previous years and apply lessons learned along the way. According to Alexander planning was already in the works for 2016 pretty much once the last ball was served this time around: “We have already had the ‘hot’ debrief and will have the ‘cold’ debrief in the coming week [mid-August]. What went well? Is there anything that we can tighten up for next time?” For Alexander ‘continuous improvement’ is a key mantra here: “You can’t just sit back and say it went well last year and do the same thing again and again.” Alexander goes on to explain why the crowd dynamic at Wimbledon is such a different proposition to some of the other events in G4S’s customer portfolio, for example music festivals: “The good news is that by and large Wimbledon spectators are coming to sit down to watch tennis and they are real enthusiasts.” The key therefore for G4S at Wimbledon, reveals Alexander, is to move the spectators into the grounds of the All England Club in the most efficient manner possible: “We want to make sure from the minute they arrive that they feel welcome and, importantly, we are not seen as an obstruction without, at the same time, reducing security delivery.” For Alexander even for a relatively ‘compliant audience’ it is still vital to maintain 100 percent bag searches: “Those queuing for tickets overnight all go through airport style security with metal detectors and X-ray machines to the same level of training and standard.” He says that, thankfully, these days very few people attending Wimbledon tend to object to having their bags searched: “This is really just another part of life now.” So what happens when spectators are actually inside Wimbledon? Alexander says the focus for his personnel is then on helping people navigate their way around as well as managing the fact that there are certain areas where, without proper accreditation, they should not go into. G4S personnel are also tasked with providing an escort for some of the biggest stars in the game: “We move the players from the dressing room areas to and from court. These tennis players are freely walking through the general crowd – they are not completely shut down.” Beyond this G4S personnel are tasked with protecting the tennis courts when games are on to avoid unnecessary disruption: “We want to stop them [spectators] trying to get on to the courts. It could be down to people wanting ‘selfies’ with the players and things like that,” says Alexander. Throughout The Championship, for a ‘bigger picture’ view, the G4S team is able to co-ordinate its capabilities through a central command room – controlled by the All England Club – which allows the monitoring of queues, gate problems and popular crowd spots – like Henman Hill – while, at the same time, linking them into the emergency services. In tune for Hyde Park Focusing on another standout London-based event, according to Alexander, G4S personnel were centre-stage at the Barclaycard British Summer Time festival in Hyde Park which ran the fortnight before the Wimbledon Championships. “It was held over 14 days, and unlike Wimbledon, in what was essentially a public area with a rather eclectic mix of acts and, varying demographics, for those who came to spectate. You had 64,000 young people at Taylor Swift who were completely different to the people who ‘rocked up’ to see the Who the previous night,” reports Alexander Interestingly, in a sign of the way event security management has been transformed, Alexander spotlights the fact that inside the perimeter at the festival it was pretty much police free: “There were a lot of police outside the barrier but not inside. This reflected the level of expertise, and comfort, that we all collectively brought together for the safety advisory group to sign this off,” he concludes. Bespoke Training Regarding where technology can improve the handling of events, Alexander talks about efforts
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B-Tech’s brand new System X range now available
B-Tech’s brand new System X range now available Following teaser showings throughout the year, including the recent Technology Exposed showcase, B-Tech International have pleasure in launching its full range of new System X mounting solutions. Available to order now, System X has been designed in the UK to meet the exacting requirements of today’s applications, with unique features that benefit both integrators and end-users alike. System X has been created to satisfy almost any screen configuration and selecting the right equipment has never been easier thanks to new B-Tech designed software. This new online configurator tool instantly calculates requirements from over 2,000 System X configurations, and can be found on B-Tech’s website – System X range at a glance Product Suitable for: BT8370 Any freestanding video wall BT8371 Any mobile video wall BT8330 Any menu board rail, in a single row – wall or ceiling mounted BT8340 Any video wall – wall or ceiling mounted – more than a single row (2, 3, 4, 5, 6,) Available either in ready-to-go kit form, or in modular components for custom requirements, the range is also compatible with B-Tech’s System 2 50mm pole and collar range – together providing one of the most versatile and comprehensive ranges on the market today. The lightweight yet incredibly strong design of the System X range allows for premium mounting solutions of video walls, digital signage and menu boards, as well as being ideal for broadcast and video conferencing applications. The high-end aesthetic quality of System X gives a premium finish and, when used for multi-screen applications, it provides almost limitless configuration combinations for any video wall. Mark Walker, global business development manager for B-Tech, said: “We have made considerable efforts listening and understanding our customers’ needs and believe that, in System X, we have a display mounting solution that is fitting for today’s, and tomorrow’s, market applications. “System X has been purposely designed by our British engineers to make video wall assembly as hassle free as possible. For example; the fixable sliders running along a solid rail remove the requirement for numerous uses of the spirit level as integrators only need to level the main bar.” He added: “This unique design also makes for easier menu board application, with any feasible screen configuration being possible. The proven B-Tech quality and workmanship is there to see and I’m both excited and proud to be able to bring System X to our customers.” As an ‘out-of-the-box’ video wall stand, the BT8370 is designed for the most common 2×2 and 3×3 video wall configurations, but, if needed, can easily be specified for screen permutations up to 6×4 displays. With its premium aluminium finish, 8-point tool-less micro adjustments, and in-built cable management, it provides a stylish and reliable mounting solution for video wall screens of 46 to 60-inches. Similarly, B-Tech’s new BT8371 mount offers all the style and features of the BT8370, but with the added benefit of being mobile, courtesy of its non-marking lockable castors. The growing trend for menu boards has been addressed with the BT8330 – a modular mounting system designed for menu board installations of any length. As part of the new System X range, the BT8330 can be used in thousands of different configurations and is available to users’ exact requirements by using the B-Tech online configuration tool. Designed to work seamlessly with B-Tech’s System 2 poles, the BT8330 provides a superb single row menu board solution wherever needed – whether that is suspended from airport ceilings or above counters of fast food restaurants. What’s more, B-Tech’s rail mounted System X technology allows for portrait or landscape screen orientation. Nick Spencer, Marketing Manager for B-Tech, said: “For me, the most exciting thing about System X is the opportunity for the range to develop further in the future. We are already working on additional off-the-shelf System X solutions for other markets, such as video conferencing, and we are confident that this is just the beginning of what will become an important mounting solution for a wide range of industries.” Mark Walker added: “Digital signage continues to develop in almost every vertical market, and we have designed a product that we believe meets and exceeds those needs. The versatility of System X means it can be used in almost any application of 2 screens or more. Initial feedback from the industry has been excellent, with interest and forward orders for System X having far exceeded our ambitious expectations.” System X is available to order now from distributors: Midwich (+44 1379 649200) Sahara (+44 20 8319 7777). [su_button url=”http://www.btechavmounts.com/” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#df2027″ color=”#ffffff” size=”10″ radius=”0″ icon=”icon: arrow-circle-right”]For more on B-Tech click here[/su_button]
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