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Storage, management, guarding

Welcome to the March issue of Hi-Tech Security Solutions. In this issue we run our annual DVR/NVR review (a little earlier in the year than usual) and it seems there is still a lot of competition out there for these storage devices.

One of the interesting things about NVRs and DVRs is that they are by no means the only storage mechanisms for surveillance. As you will see in the introduction article ‘DAS, NAS, SAN,RAID, - who cares?’, the storage market is far broader than traditional video recorders. We plan to introduce new categories next year to better reflect the changes. Of course, these SAN/NAS/DAS solutions are better suited for larger installations, so the DVR/NVR manufacturers are not hanging up their spurs just yet.

Management complexities

We also dip our toe into the massive pool that is security management platforms. We wanted to produce an overview of this market and look at some of the products available. Needless to say, we soon realised that we could only scratch the surface. Management platforms are a complex topic to tackle so I guess we will have to keep scratching. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy reading our first scratch.

Guarding

If you listen to some people in the security technology sector, you would be forgiven for thinking they expect guards to become relics of the past by next week. As the second largest industry in South Africa, I am pretty sure that will not happen and we take a look into what is happening in the guarding world as well.

Guards are not going anywhere, but it is surprising how technology is taking its place in the guarding market, sometimes replacing guards, but more often enhancing and supporting the human function to deliver a better service to the customer. It is an interesting combination, but one that delivers far better results when integrated effectively.

E-mail news

For those of you that subscribe to our Hi-Tech Security Solutions e-zines, you will have noticed that we have redesigned them to be easier to read and with fewer articles in each e-zine. We have also increased the frequency to two per week to ensure you keep up to date with the latest happenings in the security world.

If you have any suggestions on what we can do to better serve you with our e-zines, please e-mail me at andrew@technews.co.za and let me know. Also, if you are not a subscriber, send me an e-mail and we will put you on the list. (It is easy to unsubscribe so do not worry about being spammed.)

Also, please join our group on LinkedIn, unsurprisingly it is called the Hi-Tech Security Solutions group. And please get involved in the discussions. Other than that, enjoy the March issue and if you have any ideas on what we need to include in our CCTV Handbook 2012, drop me an e-mail.

Andrew Seldon, editor

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