Blogs

Is it OLED displays for the smaller 11 - 26" sizes?

From CEA: "Samsung SDI will introduce superthin OLED monitors next year...[they] will be able to pump out 3 million panels in 2009."

Is it the 1TB Hard Disk Drive [and beyond]?

From xbitlabs.com: "Western Digital, a leading maker of hard disk drives, has announced that it had achieve[d] record areal density... The achievement will allow the company to product 3TB hard disk drives in about three years time."

Is it PoE High Power?

We know that we can power today's not-so-power-hungry IP Cameras and VOIP Terminals with IEEE 802.3af compliant Power Sourcing Equipment, up to 12.9W. What about outdoor cameras that we're used to connecting almost 70W @ 24VAC to? Some say the PoE High Power standard will be limited to 24W; some say its capable of far more than that.

From a recent Microsemi release: "...high power midspans and splitters provide immediate, simple and safe PoE solutions, prior to ratification of the next generation standard..."

Is it Carbon Fiber?

Just about every bicycle manufacturer has a line of CF frames that can often yield a fully equipped bike at half the weight of its steel and aluminum cousins. How about making bike cops faster?

[sorry, I had to put in a transportation alternative plug]

I was very lucky to have "a friend in the business" as they say, and to have attended the Pope's Youth Rally at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, NY. Besides being very close to where I live, it was a great opportunity to see the untiring professionals that protect the President, the Pope and other dignitaries that decide to tour the US.

We arrived fairly early at 10AM and were treated to some nice acts like Tobymac and Kelly Clarkson (who even did an amazing Ave Maria for the Pope later). His Holiness arrived around 5PM. I have to say that this was the best example of Federal, State and Local Police working together for as seamless an event as possible. The US Secret Service followed and carefully guided the Pope through event after event in and around New York City, north to Yonkers, back to New York City, onto Yankee Stadium, back to NYC and then home.

Transporting the approximate 20,000 people expected to attend the event had to have been a challenge, but the Law Enforcement team handled it with ease. Multiple perimeters were set up and high volume checkpoints not unlike Airport Screening got people in and out of the event safely.

The Pope travels around in quite nice style and safety, and this year was no different, except for a new "popemobile."

From the Newsweek article:

"Suffice it to say that Benedict's ride between public appearances is not quite your father's Mercedes. The popemobile is a custom-built two-door Mercedes ML 430 that was donated to the Vatican in 2002. The car has no markings, except for the Mercedes logo on the front, the Vatican coat of arms on each door and a specialized license plate that reads "SCV 1," an acronym for the Vatican's name in Italian and the number of the Holy Father's place in the church hierarchy. It's by far the fanciest and sleekest papal car ever built, and although it has been used around the Vatican for a few years, Benedict's most souped-up car is set to make its public debut in America this [last] week."

The original article is below:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/132074

Hi Steve, and welcome to Security Director News' new blog. I'm very excited about giving everyone in the security market a place to contribute and share ideas and issues, and maybe, just complain in general. And in case you didn't read the intro above, anyone who is interested in adding their two cents to the mix or posting a topic we haven't talked about yet, e-mail me at editor@securitydirectornews.com. The more the merrier.

Steve, in one of your posts yesterday you mentioned that everyone, but your cat and your bicycle shop, was developing security standards. It certainly seems that way — if they are not developing, they are talking about it.

Obviously, manufacturers and integrators are heavily involved in standards development, but what about all of you end users? Are technology standards an issue you are concerned with?

A new report released yesterday from MultiMedia Intelligence (I've never heard of them before, have you?) reported that sales of IP/networked surveillance cameras grew by 48 percent in 2007, bringing the market to $500 million in the United States.

That percentage is nearly four times the growth rate of the video surveillance equipment market as a whole, which includes CCTV cameras, digital video recorders and network video recorders and IP encoder/streamers.

Still, the report said that IP/networked video surveillance camera units represent a small percentage of the overall surveillance market at less than 10 percent.

That's no surprise to me — IP, IP, IP is all over the trade show floor and in educational sessions. And I talk to some end users who are implementing it, but it is definitely a small percentage. Why? You all know the answer — prices are still prohibitive and existing investments are still working just fine.

I believe in IP (I, along with Sam, develop the educational program for our IP event TechSec Solutions) but I think the vendors make a lot of noise and little is given to the concerns of the end user.

Looks like this guy agrees with me:
“The transition from traditional CCTV surveillance to networked digital surveillance is revolutionary for the physical security industry,” said Mark Kirstein, president of MultiMedia Intelligence. “Yet this transition is also seen as over-hyped and under-performing compared to many expectations. Both are true.”