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All about efficiency

Cathexis used its sponsorship of iLegal 2016 to highlight the enhancements it made to its locally developed CatVision video management software. The company’s stand had numerous videos on display demonstrating the capabilities of the VMS, whether it was collecting number plates and the speed of cars on a highway or tracking people entering restricted areas.

The latest enhancements to CatVision are not ground breaking innovations, according to MD Gus Brecher, but part of a focused effort from Cathexis to make the system easier to use and to ensure optimal efficiency, which will save customers money on the hardware they require.

The role of management software has become more important over the years as the resolution of surveillance cameras has increased. Better quality images mean better analytics can be performed on the video, but it also means companies require more network bandwidth and more storage space to transmit and hold the higher-resolution video, and they need more CPU cycles to deal with enhanced analytics processing requirements.

To cater for the increased demands video places on storage and client servers, Cathexis has focused on improving its software to take better advantage of the server hardware used by the customer. As an example, Brecher notes that many VMS vendors say they are able to handle 300 Mbps of video per recording server. The latest version of CatVision has been optimised to support up to 1500 Mbps. This means companies can handle up to 1 000 cameras on a single recording server, which dramatically reduces hardware spend. Cathexis has also improved the efficiency of client or viewing servers by using ‘intelligent video stream switching’ to ensure that the processing requirements are effectively reduced

In order to help to make control rooms more efficient, Cathexis has introduced SmartSearch. This technology makes searching for and finding specific video footage easier and faster by enabling very fast searching via snapshots or thumbnails (SnapSearch) and also the ability to search recorded footage by looking for motion in selected areas (MotionSearch).

Another boost for operators is ‘Neighbouring Camera Mapper’, a new feature that makes it easier for operators to track suspicious people and vehicles. A common problem operators encounter is the difficulty in tracking people as they move around. All too often the operator wastes time trying to switch from one camera to the next because they don’t know which cameras are placed where.

Neighbouring Camera Mapper solves this by automatically bringing up the next camera as the operator is following someone. In this way it becomes easier to follow a suspicious person or package as it moves around, without wasting time or relying on guards to assist.

Brecher also notes that the value of partnerships and alliances is becoming more important as customers demand integrated solutions that are easy to use. Cathexis has recently confirmed alliances with numerous third parties in the surveillance and other security areas, such as access control.

“As budgets get tighter, it’s up to Cathexis to innovate and find ways to allow our customers to do more with their video without demanding they upgrade their hardware,” says Brecher.

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