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The platform of choice

Today’s management platforms need to do more than surveillance, more even than security. In an Internet of Things (IoT) world, these platforms are going to be expected to monitor and manage almost anything electronic that is able to send and receive a signal.

So, whether it’s a camera, an air conditioner, the company parking lot, a PA system or the moisture levels in the corporate gardens, management platforms are going to be required to interact with, customise and control these electronic systems, and more.

The days of buying a VMS and creating a simple video management control room are over. Of course there are companies that will opt for a VMS-only approach for their immediate requirements, but they will soon find their operations split into silos where a unique product has to be installed for different functions, requiring unique skills and different service providers. But some would say this is acceptable if you get limited management capabilities for free, or at least for a lower cost.

If you want to get the most out of your equipment and operations, however, you do need a full-service management platform able to integrate different aspects of your security and other operational functions into a single interface. Choosing the one suited to your company and its unique needs is not a simple task.

Hi-Tech Security Solutions asked a number of management platform providers what they were doing to better serve their customers continually changing and growing needs. How have and will their platforms change to accommodate the new realities of an integrated and IoT world?

More than video streams

Gus Brecher, MD of Cathexis Africa, developers of the CathexisVision platform, explains that while Cathexis comes from a video surveillance background, if one considers the situational awareness requirements from a control room perspective, you realise that we need to look beyond just viewing cameras. “One needs the system to make decisions to assist the operators and increase the effectiveness of the control room environment. These decisions need to be made on inputs from many different systems, like access control, fire and alarm panels, perimeter detection systems, video analytics and many others.”

InfinIT is another local company which has developed a management platform, initially for the security market, but which has expanded into an IoT framework it calls Synapse. InfinIT’s Gerhard Furter explains Synapse has been engineered to completely address all PSIM requirements, and as such lends itself easily to device and system integration. Third-party technologies are typically integrated via industry-standard protocols, APIs or formats such as ONVIF, OPC or HELO, which streamlines the integration process.

“As an example,” he says, “we recently integrated the Billion energy management system (from PBD) into Synapse in less than four hours, and we integrated the Uniview camera system (from Naxian) in less than an hour.”

Milestone has long touted the open standards approach to accomplish full integration, whether security related or not. “Our software developer kit (SDK) and application programming interface (API) provides anyone wanting to integrate with the necessary tools and information to achieve this,” explains Milestone’s Armand Steffens.

The case for open standards

Open standards and standards-based platforms get a lot of attention these days. The idea is that openness means integration will be simple, providing the end-user with a better solution and fewer coding hassles. However, there are products which are open, and those which are ‘open’. Some claim to be compliant to international standards, but only do so in a limited fashion. When you try to do a full integration there are suddenly problems and incompatibilities that require the services of skilled programmers.

The question is, how can users be sure the platform they choose really uses open standards and does not also include proprietary software or codecs that favour a specific vendor’s products? This is a case where you only realise your mistake after the bill is paid and you’re stuck with a particular brand – which is good for the vendor in the short term, but not for the user.

Brecher says this is something the industry has been grappling with for some time. “Apart from the building management systems protocols like OPC or BacNet, which are fairly dated and limited, there are no real standards. This means that most third-party system integrations are proprietary in nature. ONVIF is gaining momentum for integration beyond just cameras, but it still has some way to go.”

The reality is that a client can only depend on known and trusted manufacturers with reputations for honesty and transparency, comments Furter. “During the assessment process, the client should always be mindful of the complexity of the platform and the documented ease of implementation and use. As a rule of thumb, a good platform with open interfaces will also be very easy to install and configure, with no stated limitations on the brand or classification of devices that it can manage.

“The after-sales agreement should also reflect this malleability – you should not have to call a technician to come and connect your new camera to the platform. A little research will reveal all, and should safeguard the client from lock-in platforms.”

“This [open standards] is truly something most users neglect to investigate when looking into platforms,” adds Steffens. “Standards are there mainly to ensure interoperability, but to also provide you with the peace of mind that the investment in your infrastructure will be secured through the freedom of choice. Being locked into a single vendor platform binds you to their views of the future and it restricts your growth, therefore, I believe that end-to-end solutions are dead-end solutions.”

Milestone advocates this open standards focus by focusing its efforts on its open platform community of partners in various fields, both hardware and software. Steffens suggests users investigate and reference competing products against one another and analyse a potential solution from all angles.

Making the platform decision

Of course, all this does not make it any less difficult to decide which management platform you should select for your specific needs. It would be great if there was a checklist from which one could select a few answers and then know what system to buy. Sadly, that doesn’t happen.

Brecher says there is no simple answer to the question of how to determine which platform is right for you. He advises users to analyse what they want to achieve, for example, whether the system is used for live monitoring or just recording, whether they need black-screen monitoring or real time (or a combination of both). From this, they can ascertain how they want their control room to operate.

“One cannot expect an operator to sit and watch hundreds of cameras and make informed decisions on something he sees, it is just not practical, so a good understanding of the objectives is required,” Brecher states.

Steffens has found that when people have a list of requirements, the list is sometimes created based on a desire to avoid past mistakes. “The list is not necessarily always complete or comprehensive, but one thing is for certain, they do not want to be caught unprepared again,” he explains. “End customers rely on their partners/integrators to provide them with information because they sometimes are not up-to-date with the latest trends or technology.

“Full integration of all business support systems appeals to most companies. The ability to add on the fly, pay as you grow and protect your people and investments should be at the top of the list when it comes to deciding factors.”

One the other hand, Furter believes clients don’t need the vendor or installer as sole source of opinion or guidance. Client awareness has now reached a point where knowledge of connectivity, collaboration and application is common, and the client can often make informed decisions with very little guidance from an outside source. “As a matter of fact, we often find ourselves challenged by the ingenuity of our clients’ new ideas, and their inventive use of basic IoT concepts.”

In the real world

Providing an example, Furter says the engineers at Synapse recently integrated the Billion energy management system into the Synapse IoT platform. The integration required not just the monitoring of the various energy variables offered by the Billion product range, but also the intelligent control of the power network into which the hardware had been installed.

“Synapse’s dynamic business rule framework was applied, and allowed the real-time maintaining of power and consumption levels inside client constructed parameters. The hardware was also installed into a solar energy array, and Synapse was used to balance the energy input/load output ration of the circuit, ensuring optimal use of the supplied energy. This was achieved without any customised coding or scripting.”

As for Cathexis, Brecher says his management platform is currently “counting cement bags at Lafarge cement in Zambia. We are using video analytics to warn store managers that their queues are getting too long in retail stores, we are using licence plate recognition to inform institutions that VIP vehicles are arriving at their premises so they can provide better service, and we have integrated with weighing scales in gold mines to provide a video/transaction database.”

Not lacking in real-world examples, Steffens points to an Australian group of programmers who loved to surf and spent a lot of time waiting for the right waves. They decided to code an application that integrated with Milestone. The nature of this application was to send an alert when the waves exceeded a certain level. This soon grabbed the attention of shipping companies who wanted to see when the waves were at a lower level so their ships could safely dock.

In the final analysis, there are many management platforms available today, from free systems with limited capabilities and integrations, to more costly ones that can do almost anything. The responsibility is on the buyers to understand what they require and then to look for something that meets their needs and is able to scale and adapt to their changing needs over the next few years. And it’s worth remembering, we are living in a digital age and simply watching your cameras on a screen is unlikely to deliver much value over the long term. Buying cheap is always a temptation, but living with cheap is often a nightmare.

What is CathexisVision?

The CathexisVision management platform is driven around the enhancement of efficiency and accuracy of decision making in the control room environment. The platform uses stimulus and information from multiple systems (e.g. access control, fire panels, alarm panels, weighbridges, perimeter detection systems, money counters and many more) and can take unique actions depending on the information received. These actions then give the operator the information required to run the site effectively.

What is Synapse?

Synapse is an Internet of Things platform with real-time collaboration abilities. Synapse can not only integrate and control a vast array of technologies, but also offer the ability to allow these technologies to co-operate (collaborate) in an autonomous, productive fashion. The addition of powerful business rule frameworks, and real-time analytical algorithms, have created a management platform that assimilates less complex devices into a coherent global solution that offers abilities that exceeds that of any of the constituent systems.

A simple ceiling fan, a basic thermostat and a little clever wiring creates a complex environmental management system capable of not only maintaining the optimal temperature in an environment, but, with the help of Synapse’s analytics and business rule features, also a climate control system capable of maintaining said environment optimally based on time of day, season or weather conditions.

The system’s polymorphic nature allows the creation of endless collaborations, and allows the use of Synapse in more traditional industries such as PSIM, building management and process control. This concept is further enhanced through the inclusion of powerful mobility interfaces (such as complete IoT control from any authorised mobile device), a complete asset management module spanning asset registers, maintenance and repair all the way to total cost of ownership control, a complete cost control backbone and powerful cloud-based management reporting mechanisms. Synapse is the definition of IoT taken to the next level.

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