We won the bid to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup, but that does not mean that Danny Jordaan and his band of merry negotiators can relax - now the heavy duty stuff and implementation of all their proposals really starts and among that list is security. Security arrangements for, among others, the airports, hotels and stadia, are predicted to be 10 times bigger than those for the 2003 Cricket World Cup. A figure of R244 million is being bandied about as the budget for improvement of safety and security in the country before the staging of the event, part of which will go towards 200 000 police officers and state-of-the-art technology.
The technology will include surveillance cameras, biometrics and smartcards and the CCTV camera systems will be used in conjunction with biometric software and a database of international soccer hooligans and terrorists. No doubt all of this technology will be far more advanced in six years' time, but we will be keeping an eye on the arrangements.
On the subject of changing technology, street surveillance is commonplace in the UK with, reportedly, one CCTV camera for every 14 people. In fact, if you are in London, it is estimated that you are likely to be caught on camera up to 300 times in a day! The cameras are expensive and the fact that they are wired and fixed limits their mobility. Enter the wireless camera, five of which have been installed by Westminster City Council in London as part of a pilot scheme, broadcasting pictures back to the base using the council's wireless LAN. Security, invasion of privacy and levels of interference with other systems using the same frequencies are issues that will have to be ironed out, but the benefits of wireless are enormous and worth the trouble of managing the security of the network at all costs.
A new inclusion in Hi-Tech Security Solutions, 'Smartcard Briefs' covers the latest in the smartcard world. We are hoping to make this a regular page in the news section, and from next month we will also be covering news on the Electronic Security Distributors Association (ESDA and its members).
IFSEC has come and gone and was a huge success by all accounts. Dr Craig Donald, our regular contributor, was there and reports back in 'Insights into IFSEC 2004'. And on the subject of exhibitions, the Security Link Road Show also got underway earlier this year and we give you some feedback from exhibitors in 'Security Link Road Show gets underway'.
In this issue Maurice McDowell speaks to Phillip Hulatt, the recently appointed Risk Manager at Intercontinental Sandton Sun & Towers in 'Operational risk management', BT Dudley takes a look at the use of 'Biometric face identification' in marketing applications and Dr Bennie Coetzer explains how 'Image analysis takes hold as the evolutionary CCTV trend'.
In addition, we bring you the usual cocktail of communications, access control, fire, security management, building management, data recovery, various opinion pieces and loads of product news.
Till July.
Lynne Larsen
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