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From the editor's desk: The last CCTV Handbook

Welcome to the CCTV Handbook 2022, I hope the headline caught your eye. This really is the last CCTV Handbook Hi-Tech Security Solutions will ever produce, but it is not the last handbook about surveillance we will be doing.

Andrew Seldon, Editor.

After nearly two decades of following the surveillance market’s evolution, we have decided it is time to send the CCTV Handbook brand into retirement. As noted in the round table article (www.securitysa.com/16608r), “If we had to highlight a single trend about surveillance … it would be all of the above. Today’s customers who want to do more than simply fill in a list of checkboxes to cover any compliance demands from executive management; they are looking at integrated solutions that integrate some or all of the above into a solution that delivers value.”

That’s a bit of a mouthful, but it reflects what’s happening out there in the real world. It’s all about adding real, measurable value. This is one of the reasons for us deciding to change the branding of the handbook. It is a sad change as the CCTV Handbook has been part of my job since I became editor of Hi-Tech Security Solutions.

Going over a few past issues, especially the first ones I was involved in, is a trip down memory lane. We had articles and round table discussions about the move from analogue to IP, questions about how effective video analytics really is (or was way back then) and other topics that would seem so out of place in today’s world. VSaaS wasn’t even a consideration back then, I don’t think it was even an acronym.

And then there are the people. So many people have been quoted or have written articles for the handbook over time, some of whom are no longer with us.

So, while this is goodbye, it is also hello and a new start to a new brand that will follow the surveillance market into its many and very integrated futures consisting of everything from left-over analogue installations to cybersecurity, to pure cloud solutions and the vast Wild West of IoT (or AIoT as we explain inside).

I have purposely not mentioned the new name, it will be something along the lines of ‘Smart Surveillance’, much like our Smart Cybersecurity Handbook, but we will reveal more over the next few months. Truthfully, we are still debating (some would say arguing) about exactly what it should be and what it should look like .

But that is all in the future, right now I hope you enjoy the latest and last CCTV Handbook. As always, please feel free to send your comments and criticisms to andrew@technews.co.za.

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