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All-pervasive at this year's IFSEC Exhibition, the technology itself is still new, with digital video recorder (DVR) devices introduced to the marketplace seemingly on a daily basis.

As a result, the focus has been on "the box". End user interest should instead be directed towards what digital video might contribute to your firm's total security environment.

Stand-alone DVRs
There are three market segments in which digital video technology functions as part of a business solution: DVRs, non-integrated digital video management systems and those same digital systems operating as a seamlessly integrated part of a total security solution.

The most rudimentary of these three market segments is the stand-alone DVR. These devices are typically used as a low cost replacement for analogue VCRs.

Due to high demand, DVRs have truly become price-based commodity items. In the cold light of day, however, they have limited functionality and operate independently of other systems, rendering them somewhat ineffective when it comes to serving the complex and ever-changing security needs of today's businesses.

Although a non-integrated digital video management system offers substantial improvements over a simple DVR device, it's still pretty limited in scope. It will typically boast a user interface that enables the system operator to control recording and playback, and to display video in one or more monitoring windows. However, this represents only a partial solution because it cannot link video to related alarms and event information from other systems that's often critical to a company's security requirements.

The system doesn't recognise that the different events are related, so they can't be monitored as a single occurrence in a typical central station monitoring environment.

Centralised administration and management of non-integrated systems is impossible. Information is stored in multiple databases, and due to the fact that management requires multiple security administrators, such systems are cost-ineffective. The fundamental problem remains in that there are multiple unrelated systems trying to behave 'as one'.

Total knowledge management
Digital video's true value to the security function is realised when it's integrated into a total security knowledge management solution. With seamless integration there's a single system based on a scaleable distributed architecture in which various components may be plugged through well-defined open interfaces, and subsequently behave as an integral part of that system.

Open architecture allows a company to create a security management environment that includes non-proprietary, off-the-shelf devices and applications, standard operating systems and databases within the existing corporate network infrastructure

At the heart of this is open architecture. An open system is one that's designed in accordance with accepted standards already in use within the computer industry, and characterised by its ability to integrate very easily with other applications and devices. Only a system that's both device and data exchange independent may be considered truly open.

For digital video solutions, open architecture provides support for multiple video compression algorithms, video servers and off-the-shelf, hard disk-based and tape library archival devices. In such an environment, when technology migrates – as it inevitably will – the customer is not tied down to one particular manufacturer's products.

In a seamlessly integrated system, video can be linked to alarms or events generated by any third party field devices in the enterprise, including intrusion detection, fire, HVAC, access control, asset monitoring and any other controllers. A seamlessly integrated system offers centralised management, administration, monitoring and reporting. Its single, centralised database contains all the information that, in a non-integrated environment, would be distributed among multiple databases.

Alarms and video in real time
In essence, the open architecture design enables a system operator to view alarms and related video simultaneously on the same screen and in real time. These features provide a complete picture of what happens, where, to whom and when within the entire enterprise.

One example might be the theft of an employee 'credential' (ie an access badge). When the credential is reported stolen, the system's centralised database is updated to reflect the new credential status. A subsequent attempt to access the facility using the stolen credential generates an alarm which then denies the thief access and initiates the capture of digital video of the access attempt.

A security officer located in another building, or even on the other side of the world, views both the alarm information and the live video footage simultaneously on the same screen, and can respond immediately. The video clip will be archived for later retrieval.

In another example, an employee carries a notebook computer from Area A to Area B within a building. As the person moves through the doorway, portal readers register the employee's credential information as well as the notebook's radio frequency (RF) asset tag number. The system checks the integrated database to verify whether that employee has permission to enter Area B at the time, and whether or not that employee has the authority to move that notebook from Area A to Area B.

If the person does indeed have such authority, access is duly granted to Area B. Otherwise, the system will generate an alarm, access is denied and video footage recorded of the individual attempting to remove the computer. The video clip may also be exported and forwarded via e-mail to management and other security personnel.