At the edge or system embedded?

The evolution of video surveillance has had a great impact on video analytics. In the transition from analog to IP, and then from low to high resolution, data has grown at an overwhelming rate. This in turn has created the need for video analytics to be able to most effectively use and analyze all this unfiltered information. As video standards continue to become more robust, the need for more intelligent analytics also increases.

One of the key issues has become how to use video analytics not just as an effective, forensic tool to analyze relevant data related to a crime that has already taken place, but as a prevention tool as well. Truly intelligent video analytics involves a decision and reaction support system that uses and analyzes data from various processes, applications, sensors and imaging devices. In a bottom line way, this means that a criminal or a terrorist may leave certain clues before an incident, such as a car parked too long in a prohibited area, unattended objects or stolen license plates. Systems that relay information to authorities in real-time can possibly help stop a crime in progress or even before it takes place.

However, as the demand for video analytics increases, so too do questions about specific applications and how best to implement this technology. One of the recurring questions is: 'where is the best place for video analytics: at the edge in the camera, or as software embedded in the servers?' There are also questions about what qualifies as truly intelligent video analytics and open architecture and what makes the most sense in the adoption process-to purchase a system with analytics built in, or to have it added later on as the need arises.

At the edge and embedded in the system

In regards to whether the system should have the analytics at the edge or embedded, integrators need to look at the purpose of the application. For instance, in a situation in which the user needs video analytics to know if a person has trespassed onto the rooftop of a high-security building, it will generally suffice to have a system that can distinguish between a human form and something else, like a bird. If the only need is to know whether it's a person or a bird (or some other kind of animal) on the roof, then having the analytics built in at the edge, right into the cameras, will suffice because there is not a need to cross reference a database to make any sort of identification.

However, extending this same situation a bit, what if security spots a person in the parking garage at an unusually late hour and wants to try to identify the individual via facial recognition? To do so, security personnel may have to cross reference various databases, in which case having a system where the analytics are built into the software of the system will be most beneficial. Other situations where that also makes sense involve container recognition, traffic monitoring and license plate recognition (LPR). In all these applications, the need to share and cross reference information is crucial, so that merely having the analytics at the edge is not sufficient.

The adoption process

There are often questions as well about the adoption process related to video analytics. In some cases, a user may not have a pressing need for video analytics and simply deals with their immediate security requirements, with the idea that down the line if they need analytics they can always bring in another vendor who specializes in that. The problem that many end-users have found out from hard experience is that analytics is not a simple add on and that dealing with a different vendor for that can be hugely disruptive to their whole video surveillance system.

Security professionals are all too familiar with the sort of Murphy's Law that comes into play when adding new software programs to a system; if something can go wrong, it does often enough. As a point of comparison, changing to a new video management system is as challenging in its own way as changing one's whole system from Windows to Mac or Linux. The learning curve for the operators and administrators, including intensive, costly trainings and system downtime can quickly become overwhelming. The decision for the video management and analytics platform has to be carefully evaluated. Users should consider systems that utilize intelligence at the edge but also have the built-in capabilities of all other analytics. That way, modules can be switched on as they are needed while the staff has the convenience of the same well-known management platform.
True intelligence and true open architecture

Regarding the issue of intelligent video analytics, integrators need to look at some key criteria, namely that a truly intelligent system will be able to analyze an event in-depth and make or propose a decision regarding that. For instance, the ability to detect motion does not by itself make a system truly intelligent. As with our earlier example, the ability to distinguish between a human form and a bird, or to send an alert if a car is broken down on the highway, or to spot a package that has been left on a subway platform and notify relevant personnel, are characteristic of a system with real intelligence. To that extent, end-users need to question security professionals about the criteria they use to define truly intelligent video analytics.

In regards to architecture, it is not enough that a system provides video analytics, but interfaces need to be in place so that it communicates with other security applications like fire and burglar alarms and access control. This makes it possible to cross-verify information or provide video information for each system where an alert has been triggered. For example, in the event that a back door alarm sounds, security personnel should be able to not only view who triggered the alarm but know if it is someone who has a history of such activity. To that end, the alarm must interface with a facial recognition or face capture system that can provide the information. An access control system that employs card swipe should have that same capability. If, for instance, an employee is swiping in after hours, the system should be able to provide video immediately so that the system can verify that it is the employee in question using the card (and not someone else or perhaps a case of forced entry). Such interfaces ensure making optimal use of video analytics in relation to the whole security system.

Both the public and private sector have an increasing need for video analytics solutions. This includes banks, retail, property and building management firms, government agencies, law enforcement and counterterrorism units. However, it is only with the smart combination of all involved security processes, including non-video related information sources (such as access control and asset management) that the user can reap optimal benefits. Video analytics supports the decision process, but only the cross verification of events with other devices and databases creates a truly smart system.

For cash-strapped law enforcement agencies, such a system can reduce the need for more personnel as well as be an important crime fighting partner and an aid in traffic safety and generating revenue by spotting more offenders (whether it be running red lights, illegal turns, etc.). Counterterrorism units simply demand the latest technical innovations available, including video analytics, to more effectively spot and reduce potential threats. As the role of video analytics increases, security sales forces and integration specialists must be knowledgeable experts prepared to custom fit solutions for their customers. This is one area in which one size definitely does not fit all.

DIGIOP Deploys Its ObjectVideo-enabled Counting Solution for Leading Fashion Retailer, The Limited

Indianapolis, Indiana and Reston, Virginia, USA (September 17, 2009) - DIGIOP Technologies, with technology provider ObjectVideo, has successfully completed a nationwide deployment of its video management systems for Limited Stores, LLC, (dba The Limited) an affiliate of Sun Capital and a retailer of upscale women’s apparel with 220 stores.

The project consisted of the installation of DIGIOP’s digital video recorders with intelligent analytics capabilities from ObjectVideo® and cameras in stores across the United States.

Although primarily known as a leading manufacturer of video management systems for physical security and surveillance applications, DIGIOP was approached by The Limited with a need for a more accurate customer counting option than what was then being used in stores.

DIGIOP’s digital video recorders, which include industry-leading video analytics capabilities from ObjectVideo®, enable store managers and executives of The Limited to more accurately track the number of customers who visit their stores. ObjectVideo technology delivers full functionality for the detection, classification and tracking of objects, and the outputting of relevant events for a growing number of security, safety and business intelligence applications.

Roger Coville, Chief Information Officer for The Limited said, “DIGIOP’s retail solution has provided us a reliable way to measure and monitor the traffic in our stores. We are now able to use this tool to improve our service levels to our customers, reward our associates for their store’s success, and appropriately staff to accommodate our peak shopping times. These enhancements enable The Limited to be more effective, more competitive and ultimately, more profitable.”

In the initial pilot test prior to deployment, The Limited compared the performance of thermal imaging customer counting capability with DIGIOP’s ObjectVideo-based video analytics option. DIGIOP’s solution provided substantially more accurate counts when compared to the thermal imaging counts.

This more accurate customer counting method enables decision makers at The Limited to:

• Track individual store occupancy data remotely
• Measure conversions rates to determine if store associates are effectively assisting customers
• Improve customer service by tailoring staffing levels for hours when customer traffic is greatest
• Evaluate effectiveness of advertising and marketing programs that are intended to drive traffics to stores

Because the DIGIOP digital video management systems provide both traditional surveillance features of loss prevention and physical security as well as powerful video analytics capabilities from ObjectVideo, The Limited benefits from a more cost-effective solution and a quicker return on their investment.

“With the DIGIOP solution, The Limited now has a powerful set of visual tools to enhance their ability to serve customers, refine merchandising effectiveness, and improve the security and safety of their stores,” said Rich Mellott, President of DIGIOP Technologies.

DIGIOP Retail Solutions are also able to integrate with a wide array of point of sale systems to provide video enhanced business intelligence and can generate queue management data that can alert managers when customer service parameters are exceeded.

About The Limited

The Limited is a retailer of upscale women’s apparel with 220 stores in 40 states. Its stores are located in regional shopping centers or malls in the United States. The company was founded in 1963 and is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. The Limited is a former subsidiary of Limited Brands, Inc. For more details, please visit the company website at: www.thelimited.com.

About Sun Capital Partners, Inc.

Sun Capital Partners, Inc. is a leading private investment firm focused on leveraged buyouts, equity, debt, and other investments in market-leading companies that can benefit from its in-house operating professionals and experience. Sun Capital affiliates have invested in and managed 205 companies worldwide with combined sales in excess of $40.0 billion since Sun Capital's inception in 1995. Sun Capital has offices in Boca Raton, Los Angeles, and New York, as well as affiliates with offices in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Shanghai and Shenzhen. For more information, please visit: www.SunCapPart.com.

About DIGIOP Technologies

DIGIOP Technologies is an agile software company that provides intelligent visual integration to your business systems by focusing on new ways to utilize video as data. A Microsoft Certified Partner, DIGIOP is a privately held company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana.

By combining the power of video with information from back-office systems, DIGIOP extends the value of video beyond traditional surveillance benefits of loss prevention, risk management, and security. DIGIOP solutions provide real-time and recorded, video-enhanced business intelligence for operations, marketing, merchandising, and information technology groups.

With successes in the retail and financial industries, DIGIOP continues to expand its portfolio of solutions that can provide greater operational efficiencies, improved customer service, increased profitability, and quicker return on investment in other industries including healthcare, education, government, transportation, ports, commercial real estate, and gaming.

For additional information, contact: Andrew Weixler aweixler@digiop.com 317-324-8004 direct

About ObjectVideo

With more than 800,000 channels of video analytics sold worldwide, ObjectVideo® is the leading provider of intelligent video software. The company's innovative products convert video to data in real-time through the detection, classification and tracking of relevant activities. ObjectVideo intelligent analytics are available to the market through original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that embed ObjectVideo® OnBoard® processor-based technology into a wide variety of devices throughout the surveillance system. ObjectVideo's partner network includes more than 60 manufacturers and technology providers. For more information, please visit www.objectvideo.com

MATE Intelligent Video partners with Tubular Intelligent Solutions to provide video content analysis in South Africa

MATE-Intelligent Video, the technology leader in intelligent video surveillance systems and video analytics announces a new partnership with Tubular Intelligent Solutions - a major security, IT and network systems integrator in South Africa to market, sell and deploy MATE's intelligent video products for pro active video surveillance, behaviour recognition, people and vehicle counting.

"There is a real need for intelligent video technology in South Africa. We were impressed with MATE's product offerings and are confident that their solutions will help respond to the security challenges we face," says Dieter Venter, sales director at Tubular Intelligent Solutions. "Here the situation is different from the US or Israel. In South Africa, we fight crime rather than terror."

A recent study from the South African Police Service reported the country to have the sixth highest murder rate in the world. Because of increasing crimes, many middle-class South Africans have moved into gated communities abandoning the central business districts.

Security companies with armed guards are becoming very popular for businesses and many households who seek security from the private sector.

MATE's intelligent video solutions provide powerful real-time video content analysis that can detect suspicious events such as: loitering, perimeter intrusion or stolen objects. By automating video monitoring with different behavior recognition rules, MATE's solutions help prevent crime and help officials achieve faster response times in case of an incident.

"We are thrilled to partner and support a well renowned integrator and are looking into new creative ways to deploy our technology to secure cities, schools and businesses," says Aviram Segal, VP of Sales & Marketing at MATE

Video analytics technology improves efficiency and reduces response time to major events

CCTV monitoring systems are manually monitored, with typical CCTV control rooms having many screens monitored visually by a team of operators typically working around the clock.

Events can often be missed due to operator fatigue and sheer volume of visual information. BT research is studying how video analytics technology can be deployed as part of an information network to provide automated monitoring and decisions to dramatically improve the efficiency and reduce response time to major events.

A key development so far is pioneering new software that leaves the era of IP-CCTV infrastructure behind and moves towards intelligent IP-based video monitoring and surveillance. The new solution enables incident/events detection and intelligence extraction from a distributed network of cameras in real-time.

Whilst the potential applications are endless, it is particularly useful for analysing crowd movement, behaviour information and accurate counting of moving objects in mixed traffic. For example, when dealing with large crowds, the real-time analytics software can provide a continuous measurement of congestion within a defined area, such as a town centre or railway platform.

Railway platform deployment

The analytics software can be deployed on almost any camera with a view of the platform, irrespective of whether the chosen view results in occlusion between individuals. The presence of trains can be accurately detected, and the system can compensate for perspective distortions and variable lighting conditions induced by train headlights or traffic signal lights, for example. The software has been proven in a live trial in underground platforms during which it operated continuously for over 6 months.

Town centre/Open space deployment

The analytics software has an advanced counting application that can classify moving vehicles, pedestrians and bicycles and provide a real-time count of multiple flows within a pre-defined area. Several unique approaches have been perfected (such as multi-tripwire and semi-appearance modelling) to enable accurate counting from sub-optimal camera positions, as might be expected where analytics are required to use images from legacy CCTV equipment.

The particular advantages lie in the ability to deal with streams of loose pedestrian clusters and slow moving and waiting vehicle queues. The current testbed only requires a standard PC for real-time counting of three inward and three outward traffic flows with a very low error rate. It is also robust to an external environment, including changes in lighting levels, shadows, reflections and moving background objects such as trees and has been proven in a live trial at two busy industrial site entrances throughout four seasons.

ioimage Video Analytics Protects $200M South African Eco-Park Residential Estate

Herzliya, Israel December 16th, 2008 – ioimage, the pioneer of intelligent video appliances designed for simplicity, announced that its video analytics solution was successfully implemented to protect South Africa’s Xanadu Eco-Park from intruders and theft.

Located outside Pretoria at the foot of the Magaliesberg Mountains, Xanadu is a $200M Eco-Park with a perimeter of eight kilometers. Its previous security system, which included electric fencing and CCD speed dome cameras, had proven inadequate, failing to detect perimeter breaches. The estate was looking for an impenetrable and robust perimeter security system that would function equally well day and night without disturbing the estate’s ecological balance.

The security solution adopted by Xanadu was a combination of thermal imaging cameras and ioimage intelligent video devices. The system enables instant visual verification of every alarm, even in pitch darkness, and requires no floodlights, thus maintaining the estate’s eco-friendly nature.

“The ioimage solution has proven itself time and again and we’ve already seen a significant return on investment,” said Nick Grange of C3 Shared Services, who installed the system. “Now when an alarm sounds, control room operators can quickly dispatch a response team to the area where the intrusion was detected. False alarms have been drastically reduced since ioimage intelligent video filters out extraneous activity caused by small animals, swaying branches and flying debris.”

“The estate’s security has been vastly improved and we are now confident regarding the safety of our residents and their belongings,” said Thys de Wet of Clarence De Wet Incorporated, Project Manager for Xanadu. “With numerous thefts already prevented, the ioimage system has more than paid for itself. We are currently extending the solution to a second phase of perimeter protection.”

“This is a great example of how residential properties can be seamlessly retrofitted with ioimage video analytics to increase security and safety, as well as prevent theft,” said Dvir Doron, Vice President of Marketing for ioimage. “Its extreme reliability and rapid return on investment make it the solution of choice to protect estates of all sizes.”

About ioimage

ioimage, the pioneer of intelligent video appliances, provides high-performance video encoders and cameras with built-in self-sustained video analytics, designed and packaged for simplicity. ioimage offers a new approach to video security by transforming surveillance into a proactive, event-driven process. Founded in 2000, ioimage uses edge and centralized DSP-based devices for real-time detection, alert and tracking of intruders, vehicles and other threats, leading to enhanced safety and security for government, public and commercial organizations. Recognized as the world’s market leader for intelligent cameras and encoders since 2005 with over 37 percent of the market, ioimage operates in 35 countries through a network of more than 100 partners.

For further information, visit www.ioimage.com.

About C3 Shared Services (Pty) Ltd

C3 Shared Services (Pty) Ltd is the only applied business partner for ioimage in Sub Saharan Africa and specializes in the design and implementation of high-end perimeter security solutions and military grade intrusion detection systems. C3 Shared Services' directors have been involved in providing integrated electronic solutions for more than a decade; and as a result bring both a comprehensive and extensive wealth of knowledge in providing effective and working perimeter security solutions for high risk and high value areas. To date, C3 Shared Services (Pty) Ltd has had enormous success with numerous installations of ioimage’s intelligent video analytics on various sites in South Africa such as residential estates, refineries, correctional facilities and car showrooms.

For further information visit http://www.c3ss.com

City gets 'crime-detecting' CCTV

By Dan Whitworth Newsbeat technology reporter

Anti-social behaviour has become a familiar site in some towns and cities across the country.
Now there's a new weapon in the fight against it called Smart CCTV.

Portsmouth City Council is the first, and so far only, local authority in the UK to try out the new system.

It's a computer programme that has been integrated into the city's existing network of 152 cameras and has been programmed to spot unusual behaviour in places and at times when it's not expected.

For example, a speeding car being driven around an empty car park could be a joy rider or someone running through a deserted shopping precinct late at night might be a vandal.
When those and similar scenarios are 'spotted' by the software, using special parameters from programmers, an alarm is sounded which alerts CCTV operators to that particular camera.

Ray says Smart CCTV takes some of the strain off human operatorsThey then make a decision about whether or not to call the police.

Ray Stead runs the CCTV operation for Portsmouth City Council.

He said: "With the total number of CCTV cameras that we have, 152, the operators cannot see all of those cameras or monitor them live.

So this software programme will actually help the operators become more effective."

It's already been used in parts of seven cities across America, in places like New York and Washington DC, where the feedback has been positive.

Nick Hewitson helped design the version Portsmouth City Council is using.

He said: "It filters out all the rubbish video that you don't want and lets you see the stuff that you do want.

"So you're using human beings for doing what they do well, making subjective decisions on incomplete data.

"And using computers to do what they do well, process tonnes and tonnes of boring data."
But not everyone in Portsmouth is as convinced by the new system as Ray Stead and Nick Hewitson.

Similia thinks the system is too much of an invasion of privacySamilia Narcho, 19, told Newsbeat: "They are lurking a bit too much into people's business. It's a bit unfair on people who aren't doing anything wrong.

"It's a bit too much invasion of privacy. Big Brother going a bit too far."

But 18-year-old Chris isn't worried about being watched. He said: "It doesn't really bother me because I'm not doing anything wrong, so I've got nothing to worry about."

Berry, who's 24, and 21-year-old Becky Pearson have different opinions on the new CCTV system.

Berry said: "I think it's pretty good because there are a lot of idiots in Portsmouth and they need to be kept under wraps."

Becky added: "I can see why people think it's a bit too much, with people being too watched."
The Smart CCTV technology is on trial in Portsmouth but if it proves successful, other UK cities could set up similar systems.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_7775000/7775188.stm

Portsmouth leads UK by installing video analytics for city centre security

A market-leading CCTV system, based on behaviour-recognition software and state-of-the-art intelligent cameras, has been installed by Portsmouth City Council, to increase the effectiveness of the camera monitoring.

Perceptrak™, supplied by Smart CCTV Ltd of Havant, has been set up to watch quiet areas such as car parks, stairwells or corridors in buildings and streets at nighttime. Perceptrak™ uses the latest software to analyse images using up to 18 pre-defined criteria such as ‘converging people’, ‘fast car’ and so on. When it sees something untoward happening, the system sends an alert to the control room. This allows the security officer to make a human decision on whether to monitor the scene and make an appropriate response. It also ensures that many more scenes are being watched than is normally possible, hence helping to make Portsmouth city a safer and more trouble-free zone.

Ray Stead, CCTV manager at Portsmouth City Council, who decided to install Perceptrak™ for the City, said: “Following a successful trial period in 2006, we decided to install the system on a more permanent basis to prove proof of concept after improvements had been made to the software and because of the quantifiable benefits to the control room outcomes.”

Nick Hewitson, managing director of Smart CCTV, added: "We believe that this is the first fully installed example of video analytics being used in a city centre control room in the UK. As a local company we are very pleased to be working with Portsmouth City by providing leading edge technology to make their CCTV control room one of the most effective in the UK."

In the area covered by the Portsmouth City Council control rooms, there are 142 cameras with live monitoring, and the CCTV operators watch over 24 monitors simultaneously. Perceptrak™ is run in the background looking at some of those cameras that are not displayed to the operators until an alarm sounds.

ioimage Video Analytics Installed to Protect the Vatican

HERZLIYA, Israel November 18th, 2008 – ioimage, the pioneer of intelligent video appliances designed for simplicity, announced today that it has been selected to protect sensitive areas of the Vatican.

ioimage intelligent video appliances, monitored by an ioiware Command Center, are being used to detect intruders along a 60-kilometer perimeter of sensitive areas, entry and exit gates and the wall surrounding the Vatican.

ioimage was selected from several other video analytics suppliers for this major contract. The first unit was installed in 2005 following a year of intensive testing which demonstrated the system’s superior ease of installation, stability and reliability. Since then, it has proven itself as an effective deterrent against intruders and has optimized the daily tasks of those responsible for surveillance.

Additional ioimage units are currently being installed. These units ─ composed of ioimage’s IP camera with built-in self-sustained video analytics, the ioicam wdc100dn and ioibox video encoders using autonomous PTZ (Pan Tilt Zoom) tracking ─ will be centrally monitored and managed by the “Corpo della Gendarmeria”, the Vatican’s security force from their control room.

Millions of people visit the Vatican’s public areas every year. Its library and museum collections, which belong to the extra territorial part of the Vatican state, are of the highest cultural significance, while buildings such as St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel house some of the world’s most famous art, including works by Bernini, Botticelli, Michelangelo and Raphael.

“As one of the world’s most important sites, the Vatican presented unique challenges,” said Boaz Harpaz, CEO of Picksec International Group, the system integrator. “The security system had to be extremely reliable 24/7 in very crowded, surroundings and under varying weather conditions. It also had to be capable of automatically adjusting to frequent changes in public access schedules while ensuring a low incidence of false alarms. Last but not least, it needed to be easy to install and maintain. After extensive testing of a number of different video analytics products, we found that ioimage offered the optimal solution for this critical site.”

“This project represents a milestone for ioimage and underscores our position as the pioneer and leader in the field of intelligent video,” said Zeev Farkash, VP Sales and Customer Support. “Our solution was rigorously tested by the Corpo della Gendarmeria’s technical personnel before being selected over those of several competitors to monitor this world-famous site.”

About ioimage
ioimage, the pioneer of intelligent video appliances, provides high-performance video encoders and cameras with built-in self sustained video analytics, designed and packaged for simplicity. ioimage offers a new approach to video security by transforming surveillance into a proactive, event-driven process. Founded in 2000, ioimage uses edge and centralized DSP-based devices for real-time detection, alert and tracking of intruders, vehicles and other threats, leading to enhanced safety and security for government, public and commercial organizations. Recognized as the world’s market leader for intelligent cameras and encoders since 2005 with over 37 percent of the market, ioimage operates in 35 countries through a network of more than 100 partners. For further information, visit www.ioimage.com.

To receive regular updates on ioimage, sign up for the ioimage newsletter at http://www.ioimage.com/newsletter.html

For international media inquiries:
Fiona Ungar
Marketing Communications Manager
Tel: +972-9-954-6003
fiona@ioimage.com

For US media inquiries:
Chelsie Woodsioimage
Public Relations
Tel: +1-207-510-0029
cwoods@eclipsemediagroup.net

Next Generation CCTV: Video analytics

By Anthony Hildebrand
http://www.info4security.com/story.asp?sectioncode=9&storycode=4120956&c=1

Video analytics is the most important breakthrough in the application of CCTV. This was the message from Patrick Meaney at last week’s Next Generation CCTV conference.

Meaney, founder of website www.videoanalytics.info, gave his presentation at the event in London, and said that CCTV had been initially installed as a crime prevention measure, but hadn’t delivered the goods in this respect – which is where video analytics comes in.

He said video analytics had the potential to become “the third forensic science, in addition to fingerprinting and DNA”.

Operator assistance
He quoted figures on control room operator fatigue and concentration loss, and said the review of recorded video could be equally as impaired.

Meaney said the advantage of video analytics for monitoring live video is in being able to automatically draw the operator’s attention to relevant events, while for recorded video it can automate the analysis of the footage, extracting only events or incidents of interest.

But, he said, the analytics industry had been damaged by the performance of the earliest systems to hit the market. These were oversold, and failed to deliver on exaggerated claims, Meaney said. He said he had seen one major control room where staff routinely switched off the analytics system due to the constant alarms it triggered.

“The technology is still being oversold,” Meaney said. “The customer has got to be absolutely clear about what they want, and not take things at face value.” He said the technology is till being oversold, and that customers need to be educated about “the art of the possible”.

For instance, he said: “To make it work to its ideal level you do really need real-time video.” He said that for the first time, “scene depth” can be considered when using real-time, high definition video.

Changing conditions
Meaney went into the differences between simple motion detection – which is still sometimes described as ‘analytics’ or ‘intelligent video’ – and the more discriminatory video analytics.

To cope with changing environmental conditions, he said you need a video analytics system with adaptive algorithms specifically designed to take these factors into account.

He said there were a number of factors to be considered when implementing a system: Does it do what you need it do? Is it configured for the application and environment?

Training criticism
He also had some criticism for the levels of education and training being provided to operators, both from suppliers and the end-user management.

“It staggers me,” he said. “Usually the operator training is pretty lamentable in terms of operators understanding and knowing what they’re working with.”

Meaney also stressed the cost benefits of using video analytics systems.

“In the current economic environment, technology is perceived to be adding real value into the mix,” he said. “For the first time we can talk about security in terms of a return on investment, and not a grudge purchase.”

This was able to be demonstrated through time savings in reviewing footage and in following up incidents.

ioimage video analytics secures shipments moving through DHL major European hubs

DHL Express is the leading global provider of international road, air and rail-based courier and express services. In a project spanning the past three years, the company has been upgrading its security systems in Europe in order to enhance the security of its facilities and comply with EU regulations.

A key component in the upgrade is the incorporation of video analytics, serving to detect intruders and perimeter breaches, protect against theft and identify suspicious activity around the aircraft and in the facilities. These applications are crucial to secure DHL’s ground operation and airport sorting hubs, where thousands of packages are delivered every hour. Furthermore, once the cargo has been screened, EU security regulations stipulate it must be constantly monitored until take-off.

All of the sites presented unique security challenges with regards to size and structural and operational complexity. For example, the new aviation hub at Leipzig/Halle Airport, DHL’s main distribution hub measuring 48,000 sqm, entails surveillance of up to 1,500 tons of freight and up to 60 aircraft daily.

ioimage's video analytics solution has been implemented at several DHL Express sites throughout Europe, including Heathrow Airport in the UK and Leipzig Airport in Germany, as well as ground hubs, terminals and other facilities in Bonn, Germany, Genk, Belgium, and Budapest, Hungary. DHL locations in Spain and Italy are also currently being equipped with ioimage intelligent video while similar projects are in the pipeline in a number of other European countries.

Pinpointing only relevant incidents out of thousands of activities monitored by immense CCTV array, ioimage's video analytics enables DHL to conduct practical and effective surveillance.

After rigorously testing head to head several analytics vendors and sensor products, DHL selected ioimage intelligent video to monitor these critical sites. ioimage’s solution proved to be the most effective and the most efficient in dealing with environmental challenges and overcoming the problem of multiple false alarms, significantly reducing the number of human guards required to perform security tasks. ioimage’s intelligent video appliances were also able to seamlessly integrate with existing DHL security system components.

DHL European security management works closely with ioimage in developing security solutions, expressed with uncompromising support from ioimage in finding pragmatic and cost effective solutions in demanding field conditions.

“ioimage is pleased to have been selected to help secure the shipments moving through some of DHL’s major European hubs,” said Zeev Farkash, ioimage VP Sales & Customer Services. “Our video analytics solutions are proving to deliver the highest measurable Return on Investment for complex installations such as these.”

ioimage Intelligent Video Appliances Protect $104.5 Million School Construction Site

ioimage, the pioneer of intelligent video appliances, announced its video analytics solution was recently installed at the construction site of a new, $104.5 million high school for the Poway Unified School District (PUSD) in Southern California to protect the site and construction materials from theft and vandalism.

Systems integrator HowTec Video Security Systems of Vista, California, incorporated ioimage’s video appliances into a Mobile Surveillance Trailer equipped with a DVR, Pelco Spectra IV camera system, cellular router, back-up battery and GPS system. With the addition of video analytics from ioimage, the unit provides around-the-clock intelligent video surveillance of the entire construction site with proactive video alerts monitored by a remote video monitoring station.

The system was purchased by Barnhart Inc., the fourth largest educational builder in the nation, when combined with their parent company, Heery International. Barnhart is the contractor for PUSD’s new high school in Northern San Diego County.

“I wanted to look at a different means of monitoring my site,” said Mike Derouin, Senior Project Manager for Barnhart. “We found that the security guards we used in the past were not effective because they were not always alert.”

Three Mobile Surveillance Trailers monitor the 64-acre site. Together, they are expected to save the construction company $100,000 in security guard expenses and will be deployed at other construction sites once this project is completed in the spring of 2009. The third unit, delivered in July, was upgraded with ioimage’s video analytics, replacing a sensor-based technology that caused a large number of false alarms.

Greg Howard, owner of HowTec Video Security Systems, decided to incorporate ioimage intelligent video appliances into the Mobile Surveillance Trailer because he recognized the advantages ioimage’s technology provided to his customer. “We are always looking for ways to improve our products and want an edge over our competitors with the technology we offer and at the right price,” said Howard. “We achieved all of these objectives by upgrading our Mobile Surveillance Trailers with video analytics from ioimage.”

“ioimage video analytics appliances are a viable alternative to sensor-based surveillance technology, providing a reliable and cost-effective security solution,” said John Whiteman, Vice President & General Manager of ioimage North America. “We’re excited to be part of the Poway Unified School District construction project and are looking forward to future collaboration with HowTec.”

About ioimage
ioimage, the pioneer of intelligent video appliances, provides high-performance video encoders and cameras with built-in self sustained video analytics, designed and packaged for simplicity. ioimage offers a new approach to video security by transforming surveillance into a proactive, event-driven process. Founded in 2000, ioimage uses edge and centralized DSP-based devices for real-time detection, alert and tracking of intruders, vehicles and other threats, leading to enhanced safety and security for government, public and commercial organizations. Recognized as the world’s market leader for intelligent cameras and encoders since 2005 with over 37 percent of the market, ioimage operates in 35 countries through a network of more than 100 partners. For further information, visit www.ioimage.com.

To receive regular updates on ioimage, sign up for the ioimage newsletter at http://www.ioimage.com/newsletter.html

About HowTec Video Security Systems
HowTec Video Security Systems is a systems integrator that serves the Southern California market. Founded in 2001 and based in Vista, Calif., HowTec Video Security Systems specializes in providing surveillance solutions to the construction, government and education markets. The company's motto is "We offer the best value for the money." For more information on HowTec Video Security Systems, visit www.howtec.net.

For international media inquiries:

Fiona Ungar

Marketing Communications Manager

Tel: +972-9-954-6003
fiona@ioimage.com

For US media inquiries:
Chelsie Woods
ioimage Public Relations
Tel: +1-207-510-0029
cwoods@eclipsemediagroup.net

Milestone Selects Cernium as Solutions Partner of the Year 2008

Cernium recognized for seamless integration of Perceptrak® with Milestone™ XProtect™ Enterprise

Reston, VA – October 14, 2008 – Cernium Corporation, the leading developer of video analytics-enabled products, has been selected Milestone Solutions Partner of the Year 2008. The Milestone Partner Awards are presented each year to distinguished leaders in IP video, and Cernium is recognized for its seamless integration of Perceptrak advanced video analytics software with Milestone’s video management platform.

"We are honored to be recognized by Milestone,” said Melissa Blake, Perceptrak Product Manager. “The complete solution brings exceptional value to IP video surveillance installations, and we are excited to continue extending this award-winning solution to partners and end users alike."

“Cernium has distinguished itself as a Milestone Partner of the Year 2008 because the company has fully embraced our Milestone Solutions Partner concept by performing a tight integration using the Milestone Software Development Kit (SDK) and its Application Program Interfaces (APIs) with the Perceptrak application. Such cohesive solutions based on the true open platform for best-of-breed IP video add real value in our eco-system and the surveillance market worldwide,” said Martin Kaufmann, MSP Program Manager for Milestone Systems.

Perceptrak by Cernium is an open standards software add-in to the Milestone IP video management platform that offers powerful analytics capabilities to help achieve safety and security objectives. Perceptrak analyzes video in real time and adds meta data about the content so administrators and operators can apply an information-based decision making approach to better manage, distribute, monitor, store and query video.

The integrated solution is simple to use and operates on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware to provide maximum design flexibility. Perceptrak also easily scales with Milestone XProtect Enterprise to accommodate system growth and changing security requirements. For more information, please visit http://www.cernium.com/.

Milestone Integration Platform Symposium Sharpens Focus On IP video surveillance leader

Milestone Systems held its bi-annual 'MIPS' event last week: the Milestone Integration Platform Symposium. Several hundred international security industry professionals gathered to learn the latest in digital surveillance solutions, and one of the first presentations from IMS Research announced that Milestone is the number one 'software only' supplier of IP video management software, according to their 2008 report due out soon.

Twice a year the Milestone Integration Platform Symposium (MIPS) gathers the IP elite to hear industry speakers, interact in workshops, participate in training and certifications, see exhibitions from manufacturers and solution partners, and network with some of the most successful IP video systems integrators, resellers, distributors and hardware producers. These conferences have become important focal points for the ever-growing Milestone eco-system to ramp up expertise, share knowledge, brainstorm for new innovations, and learn about the latest solutions in IP video technology.

Almost 300 people attended the conference held in Copenhagen over several days, including training sessions for many systems integration partners. Thirty countries were represented. Exhibitors included such Milestone alliance hardware and solution partners as ACTi, Agent VI, Axis, Cernium, CNL, IQinVision, JVC, Keeneo, Mate, Mobotix, OPAX, Panasonic, Samsung Electronics, Sanyo, Sony, Technology Associates, UDP Technology, Via:sys, and Vidient.

IP video surveillance market trends and forecasts James McManus from IMS Research revealed advance highlights from their upcoming 2007 market analysis of the video surveillance industry, including the announcement that Milestone proved to be number one for open platform IP video management in the 'software only' category worldwide (for vendors of pure IP video software solutions independent of hardware). Other market analyses were presented by Thomas Kalling, PhD at Lund University, and Jeff Kessler, Managing Director of Imperial Capital.

John Honovich, consultant and founder of the internet site www.ipvideomarket.info gave his insights on video analytics and how open platform IP video is the way to win. Keven Marier, founder of IPVS, described the importance of training to move the convergence of IP forward in the security industry through greater education and expertise.

Martin Gren, Co-Founder of Axis Communications, discussed the future of network cameras with new compression standards, de-centralized storage, analytics at the edge, and the Open Network Video Interface Forum (OnVIF) for global industry hardware standards - an initiative spearheaded by Axis, Bosch and Sony that can help expand the IP surveillance market.

Arnaud Ganaye, Head of the NeXt Surveillance project at Orange Technocenter (a division of France Telecom) proposed hosted video surveillance solutions through telecommunications providers as a new business opportunity.

Customer presentations illustrate IP technology in practice James Milton, Founder of Milton Technologies, detailed the use of thermal imaging and analytics to manage challenges in metals recycling, and Sherman Hall from the Atherton, California, police showed how Milestone IP video improves community safety and response to alerts. The University of East Anglia in the UK also illustrated how large and complex campus environments benefit from Milestone IP video surveillance software.

Milestone Partner Awards distinguish leaders in IP video Milestone Partner of the Year 2008 awards were given out with much fanfare. For outstanding distribution, project sales and system integrator installations, these partners were honored: CAMSECURE of South Africa, Com-Scan of Norway, Digitalcom Limited of Thailand, Elmat SPA of Italy, Infosec Communications of Dubai, John Lay Electronics of Switzerland, RUSLAN Communications of Russia, Secured by Web of the Netherlands, SmartGuard of Denmark, SMTechnology of the UK, and Solytron of Bulgaria.

Milestone Manufacturer Alliance Partner of the Year 2008 was announced to be JVC Professional, whose close collaboration covers both support of their network cameras and JVC VR-N1600U Network Video Recorders embedded with Milestone XProtect video management software.

The Milestone Solution Partner of the Year 2008 is Cernium, a Frost & Sullivan 'Emerging Company of the Year in Video Surveillance' for intelligent analytics. Their Perceptrak(r) solutions for incident detection and greater operational flexibility lower the cost and add value to integrated Milestone IP video management implementations.

The next Milestone Integration Platform Symposium will be held the second week in February 2009 at the Red Rock Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada.

About Milestone: Milestone Systems is a global thought leader and developer of open platform IP video management software. The XProtect(tm) platform is easy to use, robust and proven in more than 35,000 customer installations around the world. With support for the industry's widest choice in network hardware and seamless integration with other systems, XProtect provides best-of-breed solutions to "video enable" businesses, organizations and institutions - reducing costs, optimizing processes, and protecting assets. Milestone software is sold through authorized partners in 90 countries.

Full-Featured Video Analytics Platform Available in Smart Camera Format

Apollo Imaging Technologies releases AIT100 as a ready-to-run Video Analytics on the Edge platformRAMONA, Calif., Oct. 1 -- Meeting the needs of Video Analytics developers for a standalone video acquisition and processing system, Apollo Imaging Technologies releases the AIT100 Intelligent Image Processing system. A fully featured open Video Analytics on the Edge (VAE) development platform, the AIT100 is suitable both for prototype development and production.

The AIT100 is based on the Texas Instruments TMS320DM642 720mHz DSP with a full complement of resources -- 256M SDRAM, 32M flash, 10/100 Ethernet, RS232/485, analog video out, audio in/out, and general purpose I/O and IEEE 802.3af compliant Power over Ethernet. Image acquisition is either built-in megapixel sensors or external NTSC/PAL video.

To speed development of VAE applications, the AIT100 is available with an SDK that includes an IP Camera demo application with a Windows client, a complete Board Support Package (BSP), and a JPEG encoder. The IP Camera demo application is DSP/BIOS(TM) based and requires Texas Instruments' Code Composer Studio(TM) and a compatible emulator. The windows client application is a Microsoft .Net(TM) application and will require Microsoft Visual Studio(TM) if any modifications are required. Image processing algorithms written in C have proven to be readily ported to the platform.

"Video Analytics on the Edge (in the camera) offers a variety of advantages: full frame rate raw video is available to the image processing algorithm; information sparse video need not tie up the network bandwidth -- only video of interest need be transmitted. Additionally, system expansion and management is much simplified -- each camera comes with its own resources. Not only is the camera smaller, less complex and much more power-efficient than a conventional PC-based system, the VAE system enables high response rate/low latency solutions simply not possible in a networked environment," said Richard P. McClellan, CEO of Apollo Imaging Technologies.

Subset configurations or custom designs are available, based on quantity.

About Apollo Imaging Technologies, Inc.:

Apollo Imaging Technologies was founded in 2002 by a group of veterans in DSP video processing applications. Apollo Imaging Technologies provides products and design services for security, biometric and industrial vision applications requiring video processing in the camera. For more information, see http://www.apollo-image.com/

ACIC and its partner Comtec System have won two major projects

ACIC and its partner Comtec System have won two major projects for the installation of videosurveillance systems in Kuwait City. The first project addresses perimiter security of the Shuaiba Industrial Area, which includes the oil refineries of Mina Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah (150+ cameras).

ACIC will apply its MvActivityDetection solution for Intrusion Detection.
The second project is based on a brand new technology developed by ACIC for coastal surveillance (more than 10km). This combines MvActivityDetection and sweeping thermal cameras acting like RADAR and is called MvPanoramaDetection. This project is conducted in collaboration with Videotec, the European Leader in Camera Housing, PTZ Head and Accessories.

http://www.acic.eu

MATE Intelligent Video Announced Milestone Solution Partnership

Integrated offering is a comprehensive security analytics solution.

Copenhagen, Denmark and Yehud, Israel, 30 September 2008 - MATE Intelligent Video, the technology leader in video analytics and intelligent video surveillance systems, and Milestone Systems, a global developer of open platform IP video management software, announced today a partnership agreement to deliver a comprehensive security solution.MATE’s advanced security solutions, Behavior WatchTM analytic video server and TriggerTM analytic video encoder, are now integrated with Milestone XProtectTM IP Video Management software to provide end users with a seamless solution for real-time proactive surveillance.

"The integration of a leading management system such as Milestone XProtect with MATE’s advanced video analytics not only enhances both parties offerings and opens new channels, but also provides the market with a greatly enhanced security surveillance solution that will benefit the end-user,” said Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Dr. Uri Engelhard, President & CEO for MATE.

MATE’s advanced solutions for behavior detection leverage powerful video analysis algorithms that transform any analog or IP surveillance camera into an intelligent detection sensor: Trigger is a compact, low-power intelligent video detection encoder providing video stream with detection overlay for one, two or four video inputs analyzed concurrently. Behavior Watch is a hybrid video analysis server-based system that can analyze up to eight video feeds, including advanced human/object classification, and Scene Switch for tracking up to four different scenes from a single video feed.

The Milestone XProtect platform is a robust IP video management solution designed for any size enterprise. It optimizes bandwidth usage and scales to handle any number of cameras. Reliable and easy to use, XProtect allows operators to centrally, locally or remotely view live or recorded video to manage thousands of surveillance cameras from multiple locations simultaneously.

“Both Milestone and MATE are designed with open platforms that allow integration of their capabilities, and our partnership is very fruitful, clearly demonstrating the potential of open platforms in this industry. By using the Milestone SDK, MATE has integrated several analytics solutions into the Milestone XProtect IP video management software in record time.” said Martin Kaufmann, MSP Program Manager at Milestone. “Incorporating MATE’s value-adding video analytics into the Milestone XProtect Analytics Framework provides customers with a powerful yet easy-to-manage system.”

About MATEMATE

Intelligent Video is a global provider of cutting-edge, real time video analytics solutions for proactive video and IP surveillance, people and car counting, and tailgating detection. MATE’s advanced video content analysis technology detects and analyzes potential threats and hazards, generating real-time alerts based on user’s pre-defined parameters.

Founded in 1997, MATE has gained extensive experience in the video analytics field, and has positioned itself as a market leader. Leveraging an open architecture, MATE’s flexible and field-proven solutions integrate easily into any network topology, and are sold, installed and supported by top tier systems integrators and distributors worldwide. www.mate.co.ilPress Contact:Lizy GedalyahuMarketing Communications Managerlizy@mate.co.il

About Milestone

Milestone Systems is a global thought leader and developer of open platform IP video management software. The XProtect™ platform is easy to use, robust and proven in more than 35,000 customer installations around the world. With support for the industry’s widest choice in network hardware and seamless integration with other systems, XProtect provides best-of-breed solutions to “video enable” businesses, organizations and institutions - reducing costs, optimizing processes, and protecting assets. Milestone software is sold through authorized partners in 90 countries.

Press Contact:
Courtney Dillon Pedersen
Media & Communications Manager
+45 88 300 330

Shenzhen Metro to Secure New Subway Lines with Intelligent Video Solution from ObjectVideo and TeraMage

Video Analytics to Help Ensure Rail Line and Facility Safety and SecurityShenzhen, China (September 23, 2008) - ObjectVideo, Inc., the leader in intelligent video, today announced that TeraMage, an ObjectVideo manufacturing partner based in Beijing, has won a contract with Shenzhen Metro to provide its ObjectVideo® OnBoard®-powered EagleMage™ intelligent video surveillance solution to help secure two of Shenzhen’s future rail lines. The implementation phase of the project has recently begun.

The Shenzhen Metro is the underground railway in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China. TeraMage will provide its EagleMage intelligent video surveillance solution to help secure two of Shenzhen Metro’s future lines, the Line 1 Airport Extension and Line 2, which are currently under construction. When completed, these two new lines will add 26 subway stations to the Shenzhen Metro system.

“Maintaining the safety and security of public transportation systems in cities is a worldwide imperative. For railway security teams who need to constantly monitor miles of rail system, intelligent video has proven to be an effective tool,” said Wang Weilei, president, TeraMage. “We worked very closely with Shenzhen Metro officials to design and deploy a system that extends the reach of human surveillance, significantly increasing the safety of the people of Shenzhen.”
EagleMage will help ensure passenger safety and security by leveraging ObjectVideo’s video analytics technology to immediately and automatically alert security personnel when suspicious behaviors are detected on any station platform. For instance, EagleMage can automatically alert security personnel if a relevant event takes place on a subway platform or anywhere within a camera’s view.

“As the exclusive partner of ObjectVideo in the Asia Pacific region, we are delighted to be collaborating with TeraMage to help Shenzhen Metro meet their high security objectives,” said Barry Lin, managing director, WPG International (SA). “We have significant experience working with OEMs like TeraMage and are committed to working with our partners to deliver intelligent video analytics technology that makes video surveillance devices smarter.”

Designed as an embedded video content analysis solution, ObjectVideo OnBoard intelligently discerns objects of interest; distinguishes between humans, vehicles, and other objects; continuously tracks positions for all moving and stationary targets; and recognizes if objects have been removed or left behind at designated site; among other potentially threatening behaviors. When significant changes are detected in the video, ObjectVideo OnBoard immediately logs the event and issues an alert—complete with still images or full-motion video—over the IP network to security personnel.

EagleMage™ is an ObjectVideo OnBoard-powered intelligent video surveillance solution designed in the small form factor of a stand-alone box supporting both IP and dry contact alarms. Its small size makes it an ideal solution for the confined infrastructure of subway tunnels and underground passenger platforms. EagleMage’s loop-through video connection and rack-mountable capabilities provide flexibility and easy configuration during on-site deployment. A fully featured software development kit (SDK) is also offered for quick system integration.

About ObjectVideo, Inc.

With more than 800,000 channels of video analytics sold worldwide, ObjectVideo® is the leading provider of intelligent video software. The company’s innovative products convert video to data in real-time through the detection, classification and tracking of activities. With this technology, end users are now able to obtain vision-based business intelligence, improve surveillance effectiveness, manage building systems more accurately and reduce loss in retail environments. ObjectVideo intelligent analytics are available to the market through original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that embed ObjectVideo® OnBoard® digital signal processor-based technology into a variety of devices throughout the entire video ecosystem. ObjectVideo’s network includes more than 50 manufacturing and technology partners. The company holds more than 55 patents and patents pending in the field of computer vision. For more information, please visit www.objectvideo.com.

Video analytics captures lake monster

Video analytics have helped capture moving images of a legendary creature said to be the Swedish equivalent of the ‘Loch Ness Monster’

The analytics software captured the presence of the legendary Great Lake Monster in Lake Storsjon.

It automatically alerted a film crew who had set up as a “monster tracking operation” searching for the creature that has been a Swedish legend for 400 years.

Now images of a snake-like creature have been broadcast on Swedish TV.

The analytics software was supplied by Aimetis Corp, based in Canada, who described the project as “not your typical application”.

The “monster tracking” crew have been using underwater and surface cameras from Acti, IQeye, Flir and VGA.

Equipped with Aimetis Symphony management and analytics software, the cameras have been on constant watch for the monster "Storsjoodjuret", first documented in 1635.
"with a cat-like head..."There have been 200 recorded sightings since then with some describing it as a “black, serpent like creature with a cat-like head” and up to 14 meters in length.
The “monster trackers” are made up of the Local Municipality of Bergs Community and the Company Association in Svenstavik.

Because monitoring a constant stream of video was too daunting a task, the Aimetis Symphony software was installed on underwater VGA cameras and a surface level Flir thermal imaging camera designed to capture the monster in all weathers and total darkness.
Aimetis said that their software was selected because it “was proven to have the lowest rate of false alarms, particularly in outdoor environments”. It could also be deployed on a range of different manufacturers’ cameras and had been successfully used locally by a supermarket operator who was part of the business association.

The equipment was installed with the help of UTS a Swedish system integrator.
See a Swedish TV broadcast of the sightings. (Be prepared to sit through a brief advertisement, though!)

Milestone Aggregates Video Analytics Tools in Single Interface

COPENHAGEN – 1 September 2008. Milestone Systems, a leader in true open platform IP video management software, announces its Video Analytics Framework – XProtect™ Analytics 2.0. Part of the Milestone open platform solution, XProtect Analytics seamlessly integrates video analytics tools from different manufacturers under a single, easy-to-manage interface. This gives a powerful, future-proof framework for implementing and managing different video analytics applications that addresses some of the key industry issues such as the end user’s need to easily correlate alerts between various analytics tools. Using the Milestone correlation tools, they can rapidly search across alerts and events to easily find relevant video evidence about security incidents from multiple sources.

“Within the next three to five years video analytics will be as prevalent in video surveillance solutions as motion detection is today,” says Eric Fullerton, Chief Marketing and Sales Officer of Milestone Systems. “Enabling users to easily integrate intelligent video analytics from different manufacturers, both at the edge and at the server, helps decrease false alerts, reduces operating costs and makes the system much easier to operate.”

With the Milestone’s Video Analytics Framework, organizations have easy access to critical information they need to make proactive decisions and take preventive measures to mitigate the consequences of a security incident. A combination of advanced analytic tools and optimized IP-based video technology based on the Milestone open platform, XProtect Analytics Framework enables video analytics at the edge (on camera) and at the server, minimizing processing power and adding value to archived video.

With XProtect Analytics users can correlate events from generic tools such as license plate recognition, facial recognition and traditional real-time access control with alerts from video content analysis tools, such as object detection, etc. Users can build strong, accurate evidence by cross-matching events in real-time and from archived video. Integrating video analytics with open platform video management systems gives a flexible choice of hardware and software that greatly expands the potential for video analytics and increases the value of archived video.

A true open platform solution, such as the Milestone Video Analytics 2.0 Framework, simplifies system operation by integrating a wide variety of video analytics products under one easy-to-manage user interface. This gives a powerful surveillance solution with a flexible IP video management system and a central console for operating, collecting and correlating events from multiple sources.

Milestone has already implemented a variety of solutions with key customers resulting in significant efficiencies. The XProtect Analytics 2.0 framework is based on successful and proven development projects at customer sites, and will be commercially available in Q4 2008.

Register and download the Milestone Video Analytics White Paper

ABOUT MILESTONE

Milestone Systems is a global developer of open platform IP video management software. XProtect™ gives users a powerful surveillance solution that is easy to manage, reliable and proven in more than 35,000 customer installations. With support for the industry’s widest choice in network hardware and integration with other systems, XProtect provides best-of-breed solutions to “video enable” organizations - reducing costs, optimizing processes, protecting people and assets. Milestone software is sold through authorized partners in 90+ countries.

ioimage Named Again as Worldwide Market Leader for Intelligent Video Devices

New Independent Report Reveals ioimage as the Leading Supplier of Intelligent Cameras and Encoders With Mid/High end Video Analytics With Over 37 Percent of the World Market

HERZLIYA, Israel, September 2 -- ioimage, the pioneer of intelligent video appliances designed for simplicity, has been recognized by IMS Research for the second time running as the world's leading supplier of intelligent video surveillance devices. According to an IMS report published in June, 2008, ioimage holds a share of 37.7 percent of the global market for intelligent cameras and encoders with mid/high end VCA (Video Content Analysis), and 16 percent of the overall intelligent video devices market, which also includes DVRs and traffic appliances.

IMS Research is a leading independent supplier of market research to the electronics industry. Entitled The World Market for Video Content Analysis 2008, the report provides a comprehensive breakdown of the video content analysis market including statistical data by supplier, product type and geographic region up to 2012.

The report reveals that the market for video surveillance devices with mid/high end video analytics which includes person detection, vehicle detection, perimeter intrusion detection, asset protection, object detection, behavior recognition, people counting, etc, is growing rapidly and is estimated to reach approximately $1 billion in 2012, with intelligent video cameras being one of the fastest growing segments.

The report identified over 80 companies active in the video analytics market during 2007, and video encoders as the most successful analytics platform so far. "ioimage was one of the first companies to market with intelligent video surveillance devices and has retained its leadership position, with a commanding share of the market in 2007," said Simon Harris, Senior Research Director at IMS Research. "ioimage has been instrumental in the market's expansion, with its strategy of developing solutions with mass market appeal. The video surveillance market is in the early stages of transitioning from stand-alone analog CCTV systems to fully networked systems with video analytics, and ioimage is well positioned to capitalize on this trend."

"The key for success is enabling small and mid-sized organizations gain access to intelligent video by offering them systems that are flexible, cost effective and simple to install and maintain, using field-proven and time-tested analytics," said Roni Kass, CEO and Founder of ioimage. "By broadening the reach of video analytics in sectors such as industrial and manufacturing facilities, logistics and education, ioimage has consistently been recognized as the pioneer and leader of this transformation."

For international media inquiries: Fiona Ungar, Marketing Communications Manager, Tel: +972-9-954-6003, fiona@ioimage.com; For US media inquiries: Chelsie Woods, ioimage Public Relations, Tel: +1-207-510-0029, cwoods@eclipsemediagroup.net,