3VR Security unveiled enhancements to an intelligent video
management and security tool that makes it easier for security experts to
identify faces, as well as capture events that take place on their property.
The enhancements include the application of biometrics and motion and object
analytics to video and the ability to capture and search video data.
The complete analytic suite includes object and
motion analytics and biometric analysis for face indexing, face recognition,
face tracking, face watch lists, face profiling and face import/export.
Indeed, while security cameras are good at capturing images, sorting through
the footage can be a time-consuming and expensive chore.
Tim Ross, co-founder and executive vice president at 3VR, explained that the
new tool, which works with any analog or digital cameras, also includes a
dashboard that security managers can use to review a predetermined set of
data, such as the faces of people who entered a building during the morning
rush.
“We’re turning video into metadata,” he told internetnews.com.
Rather than viewing several hours of raw footage, 3VR can simply display the
faces of all the building visitors, or a subset of visitors, such as those
faces not recognized as employees.
The system can also import the faces of former employees and generate an
alarm if one of those people entered the premises.
Or the object and motion analytics tool can show license plates of cars
entering or leaving the company lot at certain times.
Ross said that the solution is affordable because enterprises pay only for
what they use.
“You’re only paying for analytics where you want them, the directional
analytic for the camera pointed at the perimeter, or the face recognition
for the cameras aimed at entrances,” he told internetnews.com.
The solution is also scalable and modular.
Enterprises can deploy a range of
analytics to suit the location of their cameras and their individual
security needs, whether turning on face recognition for entrance and exit
cameras, activating object and motion analysis for perimeter security, or
looking for abandoned and removed objects in key areas.
Before this technology became available, physical security innovation was
focused on point improvements to cameras, communications and recording.
But the use of multiple cameras, digital video recorders and dedicated
security personnel has not solved the problem of easily identifying
threats.
“Billions of hours of video data are created every week, and security
organizations have struggled without an efficient way to effectively monitor
and analyze the mountain of unstructured video produced,” said Frost &
Sullivan research analyst Karthik Nagarajan.
Frost & Sullivan recently named 3VR’s solution “2006 Security Product of the
Year” for what it termed “a new approach to physical security.”
According to Nagarajan, “companies are now able to rapidly investigate and
resolve security events and prevent loss as well as reap the economic
benefits of a comprehensive security approach.”
Naturally, the proliferation of cameras in our daily life has led to
concerns about privacy.
Katherine Albrecht, director of privacy watchdog group CASPIAN, believes
that most people aren’t even aware of how often they’re being taped — and
that they wouldn’t be happy if they did.
“Video footage is one of the most invasive forms of data capture there is,” she
told internetnews.com.
She considers the data-basing of faces another intrusion into
people’s privacy.
According to Ross, however, 3VR actually reduces the intrusiveness of
cameras precisely because it is used to filter out unwanted information.
“The security issues concern what I see that’s tangential to an
investigation. With 3VR, you can target your review [of the footage].”
