Apple to co-host panel on future of video surveillance

[AppleInsider]

Apple next month will appear at the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) forum to co-host a panel of industry experts who will be discussing the future of video surveillance.

Garrett Rice, senior manager of enterprise solutions at Apple, will be moderating the panel, which will be hosted in conjunction with technology partner videoNEXT, a leader in Physical Security Information Management (PSIM) solutions for commercial, government and military sites.

On Monday, videoNEXT announced a wireless video surveillance management solution called SKM-Mobile that will enable organizations to monitor and control live video surveillance cameras and receive alarm and event data via mobile handsets.

"Security professionals, especially for larger facilities, campuses and military bases, need the option of going mobile," said Ryan Kaltenbaugh, director, Global Business Development for videoNEXT. "SKM-Mobile enables them to view their cameras in real-time and be alerted when incidents occur, but not be tied down to a security office."

videoNEXT says SKM is an open, standards-based software solution that works with nearly any IP, digital or analog camera, and runs on any Intel or compatible server, using an organization's existing security and data infrastructure. Although SKM-Mobile is only available for phones running Windows Mobile version 5 or 6, a description of next month's panel suggests a version for the iPhone could follow.

The two companies will be highlighting "new, open solutions from videoNEXT, built on Apple technologies, which provide unique advantages," according to a description recently published by Apple. "Gain greater insight into the capabilities of videoNEXT's Physical Security Information Management Platform, running on Apple's servers, client systems and mobile devices."

The panel will take place at the ASIS 2008 seminar on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 between 4:00 - 5:00 p.m. The precise location will be Room C304 (Building C, Level 3) within the Georgia World Congress Center. Admission is free.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[CREB]

1984?

[nagromme]

This seems to be about cameras used by building security. Which they already have, they just view them from a desk instead of a mobile screen. Doesn't sound too 1984 to me. If anything Big Brother is to be done with those cameras, it can be done no matter what kind of screen is used.

[8CoreWhore]

Works well with at&t.

[Bageljoey]

Originally Posted by CREB

1984?

Well, they have something like this operating at my school. A security person can view up to 10 video feeds simultaneously on a laptop running on the wireless network. Therefore, the security person does not have to be in an office, but can move from hotspot to hotspot while still keeping track of other locations in the school.
Applying it to an iPhone would only make the security officer that much more mobile (and reduce the number of feeds they could watch simultaneously).

I wish it were not necessary, but it seems to be a useful solution in this day and age...

[Johnny Mozzarella]

I wish Apple would bring the iSight back, but make it HD.
I would love to be able to hook up 2 or 3 iSight HDs to my Mac and do a multi-camera shoot.
While HD cameras have come down in price, it gets expensive if you want to do any kind of multi-camera set up.

RED camera has done this for the high end of the market but still too expensive for the prosumer.

[Johnny Mozzarella]

And how cool would it be to be able to switch cameras from the iPhone?

[meh 2]

Originally Posted by Johnny Mozzarella

And how cool would it be to be able to switch cameras from the iPhone?

Especially if the iPhone was used as a mobile platform and the security person could view multiple screens through a set of virtual eyeglasses as they move through the complex and wouldn't need to consider the limiting factors arising from the iPhone's form factor.

[Xhorxhi]

I think this would be wonderful for those of us that wanted to monitor our own homes in this fashion, including alarming and audio monitoring.

[HellaDude]

Obviously no small-business owners (especially retail) out here... this could be of interest to any small business using Macs that wants/needs a security surveillance system as there are no (zero, nada) Mac-compatible plug-and-play systems currently on the market.

The current generation of systems now typically uses DVRs that besides directly hooking up to a monitor for viewing/reviewing, can also serve up images through the internet -- as long as you have Windows MSIE to view the images.

[Spiffy1]

Originally Posted by Bageljoey

...

I wish it were not necessary, but it seems to be a useful solution in this day and age...

Necessary for what? To provide a placebo for your fears? Maybe you should surrender all of your rights so you can feel safe. Or maybe you should be locked up for your own protection?

A life lived in fear is a life half lived.

[cactus_man]

Originally Posted by Spiffy1

Necessary for what? To provide a placebo for your fears? Maybe you should surrender all of your rights so you can feel safe. Or maybe you should be locked up for your own protection?

A life lived in fear is a life half lived.

Totally agree with you. Whether you're talking about Nazi Germany or Star Wars Episode 3, authoritarianism is always the result of people being scared. First, the citizens have to be certain that, without constant government surveillance, they're doomed. (Which is basically where the U.S. is right now, thanks to 9/11 and all that.) Then, the government steps in to "help" by stripping the people of their freedoms, all in the name of protection.

Some people think it's an acceptable tradeoff. I say, they don't know any better because they haven't lived under a totalitarian regime. I have, and I can confidently say that I'd much rather be AT RISK of a terrorist attack than live under constant surveillance, where bad things are GUARANTEED to happen. Everybody dies eventually anyway; it's how you live that matters. And one of our founding fathers (I forget who) did say that "He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither." (Why can't we have somebody that smart running for office today?)

On another note, it's been proven that those cameras (like in London) don't prevent crime anyway. They're useful for figuring how a crime (like the London train bombings) was committed after the fact, but that's about it.

[CREB]

Originally Posted by Johnny Mozzarella

I wish Apple would bring the iSight back...

I'm with you as I still own two that I cannot let go of.

[aplnub]

This already exists. It is called, Security Spy and it runs great on my Mac. I get emails with photographs of the movement/incident and I can watch multiple video feeds at the same time via my iPhone over Edge, 3G, or WiFi in real time (within a few seconds of each other over edge). Real enough in the worse case.

Maybe they should check that out. http://www.securityspy.com/

Originally Posted by HellaDude

Obviously no small-business owners (especially retail) out here... this could be of interest to any small business using Macs that wants/needs a security surveillance system as there are no (zero, nada) Mac-compatible plug-and-play systems currently on the market.

The current generation of systems now typically uses DVRs that besides directly hooking up to a monitor for viewing/reviewing, can also serve up images through the internet -- as long as you have Windows MSIE to view the images.

Dude, I use Axis camera's that give better resolution than DVD. I have a small business, less than 60 employee's and we use this already. See above post. Ben even has widgets that show you the second by second feed of what is going on. Security Spy is great!

[bigmike]

Originally Posted by cactus_man

...On another note, it's been proven that those cameras (like in London) don't prevent crime anyway. They're useful for figuring how a crime (like the London train bombings) was committed after the fact, but that's about it.

Speaking of this, check out on YouTube "7/7 London Bus Bomb Witness - Inside Job PROOF" (5 parts)

[A Grain of Salt]

Until Apple's marketing department finds out about it and veto's the Apple employees from speaking.

[HellaDude]

Thanks aplnub... my bad as I should have said "turn-key" instead of "plug-and-play." I'm familiar with Security Spy. It's sounds very nice for those interested in putting together a Mac Pro-based system. But the level of technical knowledge, effort, and expense far exceeds that required by dozens of the pre-packaged systems available at a wide range of consumer outlets including Home Depot, Lowes, Circuit City, Fry's, Radio Shack, Costco, etc.

Glad to hear that you're a very satisfied Security Spy user. I might contact you with questions should I have an application where SS seems like an appropriate solution.

Originally Posted by aplnub

This already exists. It is called, Security Spy and it runs great on my Mac. I get emails with photographs of the movement/incident and I can watch multiple video feeds at the same time via my iPhone over Edge, 3G, or WiFi in real time (within a few seconds of each other over edge). Real enough in the worse case.

Maybe they should check that out. http://www.securityspy.com/

Dude, I use Axis camera's that give better resolution than DVD. I have a small business, less than 60 employee's and we use this already. See above post. Ben even has widgets that show you the second by second feed of what is going on. Security Spy is great!