By Julián Arcila – Special Envoy Denmark
The main objective of the event was to present the company's vision on the future of IP CCTV, as well as several case studies where the advances and advantages that have been achieved were shown, mainly in the retail commercial segment with network video surveillance systems.
After the presentations, the day focused on interviews and journalistic meetings of the communicators with the different representatives of the Swedish firm; the focus of the interviews varied according to the technological realities of each region, a situation that led to the conversations around Latin America being related to the preparation and aptitude of networks and systems in general in the region to adopt these IP-based technologies.
To start this article, it can be said that, in the opinion of Claudio Torres, Axis sales manager for South America, Axis' expectations are quite positive with respect to this region, as it recognizes that it is one of the fastest growing on the planet and that it offers better prospects for the penetration of this modality of surveillance and transmission. It seems that the great availability of coaxial-based applications offers a vast terrain that can be taken advantage of by companies dedicated to the development of IP cameras.
IP systems with additions linked to sound detection
While the day of presentations began with a brief account of what axis' business has been, even since its inception, but it was Anders Laurin, executive vice president of the firm, who began to address the issues that have traditionally been considered crucial when talking about IP cameras: resolution, bandwidth and compression.
The official acknowledged that usually when talking about high resolution and great detail in the images implies that storage capacity must be sacrificed, but Laurin referred to what could be the future of this industry by saying: "the vision, I think that not only from Axis, but from the different manufacturers of video surveillance equipment, for the next five or ten years is the development of megapixel cameras, this added to a greater intelligence in the camera itself, which will surely result in a better compression technology; the combination of megapixels and better compression capacity will result in an excellent solution with large images but lower bandwidth consumption. And if more intelligence is included within the system this means that more bandwidth will be saved, as more decisions will be made directly in the camera without using the network infrastructure.
Another element that adds to what would be the new technology is what Laurin called in his presentation as intelligent sound, which basically consists of the detection and analysis of elements such as screams of people, shots or window breaking. Anders explained more about the concept: "If a microphone detects an aggression or a glass is broken it can send information to the camera through the network so that it is directed towards where the event or fight is taking place, which makes it easier for both police and guards to react faster from the control center and perhaps prevent aggression; this is done by software."
Retail: sector that takes advantage of IP video
Although CCTV systems have been applied with remarkable success in various industrial and commercial sectors, the retail sector is perhaps one of those that has benefited the most from the application of video surveillance equipment. The reason is that camera systems have been fundamental for the prevention of losses related to theft of employees, theft of merchandise for sale at the point of sale and other elements that make up the well-known Shrinkage.
In this regard, David Gorman, loss prevention consultant and CEO of the firm David Gorman & Associates, and who has advised Wal-Mart among other firms, referred to the importance of CCTV systems for the retail sector. According to this expert, the retail segment is a niche in which companies invite potential customers to enter their establishments to buy in them. " Shrinkage means a large part of the loss of profitability of any retailer (between 20 and 40% of the return). Considering that retailers seek to reduce, for obvious reasons, losses as much as possible, managers choose to use these types of networked solutions to reduce these losses and try to deter criminals."
But in addition to the use of security, Gorman confirmed what we have published on other occasions in this medium, in relation to the fact that protection systems are offering a multitude of alternatives to increase the productivity and business of retail firms.
Sweden looks to Latin America
The Axis press conference also held interviews with Martin Gren, founder of Axis Communications Technologies, and Bodil Sonesson, Vice President of Sales. In both cases, the questions of the media of the region were directed to know the perception that this company has about Latin America and about what may come in the future for this region from the hand of Axis.
Gren referred to the participation that this company has in the region and commented that although at the moment they are strong in Mexico and nearby countries, today they must invest more in the region to obtain greater competitiveness, mainly in countries such as Argentina, Chile and Brazil. "We have a great challenge related to education; at the same time we have an educational program called the Axis Academy, which operates in both the United States and Europe, and which keeps its quotas exhausted. We try to train as much as our possibilities allow us and we know that this need is even greater in markets like Latin America."
For Martin, this need is primarily related to the importance of Latino users understanding the advantage of migrating from analog video systems to networked ones.
For his part, Bodil Sonesson hinted at part of what will be axis' strategy for the coming years in South America, on which he said they will seek to work very close to the distribution channel, to consolidate with important projects, as is happening in Brazil, nation where the Swedish manufacturer is presenting important growths.
In general, it had an enormous value because it allowed to know the technological vision of one of the most recognized CCTV manufacturers. A fact to finish: in the opinion of Anders Laurin, the future in video compression is related to the H.264, not only in terms of security, but also in commercial applications that require video.
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