UK's infrastructure 'vulnerable'

Large parts of the UK's infrastructure including energy and transport networks are vulnerable to terrorism or bad weather, a report has warned.

The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) said not enough was being done to ensure such systems could keep going in adverse circumstances.
The ICE said efforts had been made to counter terrorism threats.
But the potential effects of climate change and system failures were not being taken seriously enough, it added.
The ICE took evidence from more than 70 sources, including regulators, agencies and service providers, and concluded that work to improve utility networks was "piecemeal".

taken from BBC News site

Transec World Expo - Amsterdam (3-4 June 2009)

CCTV Media were pleased to attend recently the Transec World Expo conference and exhibition in Amsterdam (3-4 June 2009).

With a world-class conference programme and some of the leading suppliers of aviation and maritime exhibiting, the show was an opportunity for visitors to learn about developments in these critical areas of national infrastructure.

Our Transec video report gives you a flavour of the issues under discussion at the show.

In aviation security, the key message that came out of the show for me was developments in the area of 3-1-1 Liquid and Gels scanning. Anyone who has flown will be aware that since the aborted attempt to bomb an airplane flying from the UK in August 2006, passengers have been limited in the amount of liquids and gels they can take on board a flight to prevent terrorists from smuggling enough explosives on board to cause serious damage.

A major focus of airlines and airport operators since then has been to find a way of relaxing those restrictions while maintaining the highest levels of security. Using modern scanning technology, it may be possible to achieve this. To find out more, watch the video and see our interviews with the head of security at KLM Airlines, a leading aviation security consultant and a manufacturer which claims to have cracked the problem with a new specialist 3-1-1 scanner.

The workshops were a major success at Transec this year, with several hundred people taking advantage of presentations including the video surveillance workshop on the last day which was hosted and chaired by CCTV Media.

TRANSEC 2009 - Amsterdam from CCTV Media on Vimeo.

To learn more, have a look at the Transec video report. If you have any comments, please free to drop me a line at tom.reeve@cctvmedia.co.uk

Is H.264 all it’s cracked up to be?

Walking around IFSEC this year, one couldn’t help notice the number of CCTV manufacturers who had H.264 stamped on their kit. However, we bumped into a few people at the show – who might be described as old curmudgeons – who weren’t enamoured with it at all.

So what is it and what’s all the controversy about?
H.264 is the latest motion-compensation-based codec developed by the ITU-T Video Coding Experts Group (VCEG) together with the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) in a partnership known as the Joint Video Team (JVT).

H.264 is also known as MPEG-4 part 10 (not to be confused with MPEG-4 Part 2) and MPEG-4 AVC (advance video coding).

Designed as an all-purpose video standard to be used across a range of applications - including low and high resolution video, broadcast, DVD storage, IP packet networks and multimedia telephone systems - H.264 is a motion-compensation-based codec which means, in short, that it performs some clever tricks to predict where moving objects in a scene will travel, thus reducing the amount of video data that has to be retransmitted with every frame of video.

It has a menu of tools which can be implemented or not, depending on the application. Each tool brings with it a set of benefits and costs so each implementation of H.264 can achieve different results. Implement more of the H.264 “toolbox” and you get smaller bitstreams (lower bandwidth required) but at the cost of more processing power or increased latency as the bitstream undergoes more intensive processing by higher power algorithms.

Proponents of H.264 claim it delivers :
- Improvements in video quality and compression over MPEG-4 and MPEG-2.
- Low latency times
- Up to 300:1 video compression
Detractors variously claim it is:
- Too complex for the task, requiring too much computational power
- Too slow, leading to higher latency times, especially at the higher compression levels
- Not much of an advance on MPEG-4 (part 2)
- Expensive to implement
- A bunch of hype as manufacturers implement the very simplest profiles of H.264 and fail to realise the true value of this wonderful new compression standard.
Have you bought or specified H.264 products? Does your company manufacture H.264 compliant products? Do you think it represents a significant step forward from MPEG-4 part 2?

Or is H.264 just the latest “must-have” badge on manufacturer’s products? Is it too costly for the benefits it delivers?

Write to us, call us, let us know what you think about this hot topic.

Contact me at: editor@cctvimage.com or Tel. 020-8255 5007
We’ll publish a selection of responses in CCTV Image magazine and online.
Best regards,
Tom Reeve
Editorial Director
CCTV Media
www.cctvmedia.co.uk

Day 3 @ IFSEC and beyond

The big questions have started to be answered, anybody who knows IFSEC will be aware. That given, the climate, this show could have gone either way. From what appeared to be a slow start on Monday, we've returned to the days that we all enjoy. Good quality people, with real projects and learning about quality products.
Proving to be a focused event, IFSEC is once again the showcase for best-of-breed products.
Having now been round the floor (for a 3rd time!) I am starting to see companies that appear to be offering a product or software that counts. Take a look at ORSUS | MAXXESS | SAMSUNG | MAYFLEX | MERCER | FUJINON | BASLER | FLIR.

Interestingly I notice that BOSCH have no working product on their stand. Bringing a whole new meaning to exhibiting. Working on a logic that you can't judge a product in 10 minutes. Judging by the stand, what could be concieved as a dangerous tactic - appears to be working.

As we move into the last day, the memories of an evening of fine entertainment at yet another quality PELCO event is fresh in my mind. Bumping into faces old and new, to the sound of sweet soul music is just what I needed to give me the boost of energy required to complete the event.

If you havnt seen someone from the CCTV Media team and you would like to please call me on 07841-693979 or e-mail peter@cctvmedia.co.uk

IFSEC NEWS - Day 2

Day two of the show at Birmingham NEC

double click video to enlarge

and there is a clear feeling of optomism on the floor. Clearly, there's a number of slightly cloudy security professionals walking the aisles, and, I understand how that feels? There is so much business done at the various functions outside of the halls and last night I'm sure was no exception. With cocktails on the Milestone booth, the scene for my evening was set. It was a pleasure to be so well entertained in such good company and to hear only positives from the many partner companies in attendance. Milestone continue to deliver a business model others have tried to replicate but they do it so well, with a co-ordinated approach to technology and partnerships they really are a business that demonstrates joined up thinking. Bumping in to industry faces is always a pleasure and I particually enjoyed hearing from Martijn Kolenbrander of www.pivot3.com worth a click if you enjoy something new and different. Moving on to part two of the evening and like many others my interest in Cisco got the better of me, and it was with pleasure I was able to learn of the approach to market from Kent Breaux kbreaux@cisco.com. For those in the know, Cisco are already in the frame, for those that don't know, take a look at www.cisco.com. To name check just a couple of business I got to learn of over a hot wing and a glass of red two companies stood out www.sightlogix.com and www.axxonsoft.com.
Dallmeier have announced a new range of H.264 cameras coming out in October. Full HD offering 25-50 fps. with a fixed camera range and PTZ dome camera range. Keep an eye on www.dallmeier-electronic.com. Commenting on the show, James Walker MD. explained "the halls feel comfortable. The traffic level at the stand has been good, with quality people new and old, it's given us the confidence to book space for 2010 without hesitation."
Luis Coello of Axxon was delighted to discuss what has to be one of the largest BMS systems known / over 80,000 cameras! If you can beat than do let me know me know, it would make an interesting Editorial piece! So off to the floor for another day of meeting and greeting and reviewing the many technological developments on offer / if you have something you consider special, let me know and we'll do our best to take a look simply mail peter@cctvmedia.co.uk with a booth number and we'll do the rest! Have a great day and enjoy what looks like another busy day!,
Kind Regards
from the CCTV Media Team

IFSEC News

Video Diary : Filmed at IFSEC09, Birmingham NEC . 11th May 09.

CCTV Media bring you some of the latest news, views and thinking from the floor of IFSEC 09.

If you hear anything or you want to comment on anything broadcasted, we welcome your opinion @ info@cctvmedia.co.uk

Best regards

CCTV Media team

Mike Newton, Dedicated Micros

MIKE NEWTON : DEDICATED MICROS.

Mike Newton, the chief executive officer of Dedicated micros is rubbishing claims that IP network video recorders represent good value for money. He claims the ROI on these systems is far too low. What do you think? Watch the video interview online and let us know.



Best Regards
from the CCTV Media team.

IFSEC 09 | CCTV Media | CCTViNFO :: Show Special ::

CCTV Media in partnership with CCTViNFO.com are offering all IFSEC 09 attendees a unique opportunity to get the latest press releases, product specifications or industry specific data out quickly to our large and ever growing, opt-in database of security professionals.

This show special offer brings our e-newsletter, pay-per-click banner advertising and the e-directory into everyone’s grasp, At £350.00.

Scheduled release on the e-newsletter – sent to over 29,000 opt-in subscriber’s.: Geo-Stats available on CCTViNFO.com

Pay-Per-Click inclusion – Banner adverts throughout CCTViNFO.com: 100 click-thru’s

Permanent directory image, animated if required. Linking to page or site, including complete contact details.

CCTViNFO.com receives over 1.3 million page hits per month from over 50,000 visitors. 24,000 of these visitors (typically) are uniques.

There are over 27,000 pages for you to browse with constantly updated news and product reviews: Making CCTViNFO the place to pick up all the latest industry news and views.

On a final note. The average visitor spends 19 minutes within CCTViNFO. When was the last time YOU spent 19 minutes in a website?

Look forward to seeing you all at the show. Hopefully filling an order book to get YOUR news out, straight after IFSEC.

Best Regards
The CCTV Media Team