DALLAS--A video analytics system that saved $7.5 million in 2007 for a national recycling and waste management company is keeping more than just the security director happy; it's helping out the accounting and operations folks as well.

And, the system is working so well, that Doug Crawford, director of the Life Safety Control Center at Waste Management, wants to offer similar services to others.

Crawford and Carolyn Ramsey, director of program management for Honeywell Systems Group led a lively and well attended panel discussion here on Feb. 27, the second day of TechSec Solutions, a conference dedicated to IP-ready security solutions.

"Video analytics is changing the game," said Ramsey.

Waste Management, with its 2,200 locations across the country is like many multi-location and critical infrastructure facilities across the country, Ramsey said.

"It has a number of sites, some in remote locations," she said. "It has high-value assets that are vulnerable to intrusion."

Waste Management, based in Houston, collects, transfers, disposes and recycles waste in its facilities. It is also involved in creating renewable energy. "We like to think of ourselves as an environmental organization," Crawford said.

Before installing the video analytics component to its security systems from Honeywell, Crawford said the company had many cameras, but "just did standard recording." Consequently, they were only able to be reactive.

Waste Management decided to build its own central station to administer the system, and it is now seeking "select integrators" to provide alarm, data and video monitoring, Crawford said.

The current system alerts the central station when people or vehicles have crossed certain behavioral thresholds. If there is a problem in one facility that he wants to guard against at other facilities, he can "upgrade or add a feature from a central location in one afternoon," Ramsey said. This means that he does not have to physically send managers out to a location to fuss with the security system. Less travel, equipment, faster response and the need for fewer employees accounted for the $7.5-million savings, he said.

Crawford is using analytics in 1,100 of its facilities. The remainder will be installed in the next year.

The company's accounting and operations departments use the video for "business optimization." Crawford can give them reports and associated video on high traffic patterns, for example.

"The system goes way beyond physical security," he said.

Non-security related departments are discovering the benefits of video analytics, Ramsey said. At the Smithsonian Museum, for example, a new camera system with analytics is being used by the operations department to "track patterns to figure out how to get people into the museum store ... Security is thrilled. They can use the cameras, but they didn't have to campaign for the [purchase of the system]," Ramsey said.