by Brian Baker

Okay, I admit, I put that in the headline because it is a headline. The name of this Iceland volcano is also a tongue twister of a word that no one with English as a first language could ever imagine being created from the letters of a Latin-based alphabet. It is, however, entrenched in my mind for a long time to come, even if I will never be able to pronounce it properly.

As I write this, I should be just getting back from Europe meetings with customers and my team that is based there.  I make this trip from Washington, DC about once every 6-8 weeks.  This time, however, the ash cloud that closed European air space also froze my travel plans.

At some point over the weekend of Apr 18-19, my common sense overcame my hopes that the flight ban would be lifted and I would get out on schedule with a Sunday departure. The more I read and followed the television news stories, the more I realized even if United could get me to London, there was no guarantee Lufthansa would be able to get me to the rest of my destinations. Ultimately both ended up cancelling my flights and I stayed home.

The skies have since reopened and, provided Eyjafjallajökull cooperates, I will be back to Europe beginning May 8th to attend the IFSEC global security trade show in Birmingham, UK. I am looking forward to this show. It is usually a pretty good one and worth attending – even if my wife gets left home alone every year with our kids on Mother’s day.

ObjectVideo will have at least six partners exhibiting at this show in either their own or shared stands. These partners include: Synectics, SeeTec, Canon, Genetec, Brickcom and SAE. Two of those partners, Europe-based Synectics and SeeTec, released their OV-enabled products in Q1 2010. It will be good to see them on display.

Additionally, I have been invited to participate on a panel: “Dataveillance – The New Breed of Surveillance” in the Hall 4 theatre from 13:45 – 14:15 on Tuesday, May 11th.

See you there.

by Bob Cutting

ISC West asked ObjectVideo to participate in a panel discussion on the topic of where video analytics will be in the next 10 years.  Past events hosting such a discussion have yielded a somewhat “same old, same old” outcome.  But I thought the discussion at ISC resulted in a much more productive outlook to where video analytics is heading with respect to analytics technology and real world solutions for end users. 

 My key takeaway was a very consistent message from the panel on the age-old question of “where analytics?”—referring to whether we will see more analytics on the edge or on a server.  We all answered in our own way, but as I was listening to all the responses, I realized we were all saying the same thing.  What finally came out is that the question is typically only answered half-way.  People focus more on real-time video processing for event generation.  But there’s a growing solution focus on using those events or underlying metadata in more advanced ways, either for forensic searching or for correlation to other sensor outputs and data streams (POS, ATM, access control…)

So while it’s hard to argue against using edge devices with embedded analytics for video analytic processing and real-time event and data generation, there is a growing solution based on leveraging that data across multiple cameras and locations for advanced business analysis and innovative detection scenarios using multiple data inputs that require back-end, server-based systems to manage the data correlation and detection/search policies.  We’re seeing this exact trend in the market, and these future solutions further justify the value that can be extracted from video analytic technology.

by David McGuinness

                    brave souls weather DC                                   FL: calm & balm

As I look out my window at the snow pack of Washington DC, I think longingly of balmy South Florida and the TechSec conference held earlier this month. For those of you who haven’t attended TechSec Solutions in the past, it is wholly dedicated to IP and network based security and it attracts manufacturers, integrators and consultants alike.  

There is a heavy focus on educational presentations and panels which is both necessary and important to help drive the transition to an IP world within the security and surveillance market.  Could 2010 be the year that IP solutions start to pick-up the pace of adoption?  Amongst a savvy group of attendees, the expectation is “yes” due to new (and imminent) product releases, lessons learned and standards initiatives.

So why is this important to ObjectVideo?  We understand that a technology shift to IP has been a gating factor to embracing new technology (i.e. video analytics) in the space.  That’s been the case dating back to 2003 when I started at ObjectVideo, and it’s still true.  But we’re starting to see a shift in technology adoption rates due to innovation, improvements and benefits afforded by IP offerings throughout the video ecosystem, and that’s laying the groundwork for an interesting 2010.

Improved performance + compelling new capabilities + lowered TCO = a persuasive argument for IP and advanced technology adoption.

Hello! It’s been since November that we’ve published on this site, but it’s a new year, and, holding true to our resolutions, ObjectVideo will be posting to this space much more regularly in the weeks and months to come. In fact, look for the latest from Bob Cutting tomorrow.

As always, we welcome your comments and contributions as we continue our quest to answer your questions, educate the market, and clarify the misconceptions some may still have about the real value of video analytics in business today.

Finally, sincerest thanks to those of you who continued to visit this site during our short hiatus. I promise we will come strong with information and commentary that you believe will have made the wait worthwhile.

- Ed Troha