Management professionals, nimbly doing more with less, are quickly modifying business security systems to function as remote management surveillance systems. Adding these management tools to an existing security camera system is one oversight element used to juggle more direct reports at multiple locations and keep tabs on off-site locations in times of emergency.

Some wearily wonder what more can go wrong when business is anything but usual. That’s an excellent planning question. Let’s look at how  prepared you and your team are to manage a natural disaster onsite or at on or more remote locations.

As most of world witnessed in recent years, careers have been made and lost based on critical performance during severe weather related conditions, natural disasters or other states of emergency. Take steps now to create awareness, readiness, preparation, communication and accurate information gathering, the hallmarks of successful emergency management.

First, don’t assume that your company’s security, safety and emergency policies and procedures are top of mind with your employees. Memories do fade quickly. Create awareness and a sense of urgency to get and stay prepared.  An employee emergency preparation training update can be executed quarterly with a simple power point webinar, though some teams will require live onsite training.

Second, get current. It is important to walk through all elements and documents of the emergency plan with key personnel in place today. Inspect the emergency plan paper binders and make sure they are up to date – staff will go to the hard copy when the power fails or the server is down; clarify emergency procedures and reporting systems. It is critical to make these updates after a staff reduction or when an on-site management position is vacant. Be sure that all contact information for the on-site emergency response team is accurate, well detailed and shared with team members.  Clearly define a communication plan that includes a reporting chain of command in an emergency so they will know what they can handle independently and when to call you immediately.

Finally, getting back to business after an event is the third critical piece of the plan. Update documentation and procedures to include a “before”, “during” and “after” emergency response check list for personnel and facilities. Include a post event inspection checklist used prior to re-opening and ramping up post emergency operations.

Begin your plan now to stay in touch and in control during an emergency. Inspect back-up emergency power for critical systems. Business security systems can continue to provide real time and DVR recorded footage of your site(s) in times of crisis when properly engineered with back-up power support. Cameras can be protected with high impact, durable housing that will often withstand severe weather related conditions, natural disasters or other states of emergency.

Plan to remain calm and informed using your internet remote surveillance system. In earthquake prone greater Los Angeles communities like Beverly Hills and Malibu earthquakes are an expected business occurrence. The only question remaining is how big, when and where. In the Southern California communities of Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties wildfires are common during dry Santa Ana wind conditions. Successfully managing a crisis or emergency requires pre-planning, continuous communication and up to date accurate information. A well engineered remote internet security system is an important tool for keeping you in touch, informed and better managed during times of threat and emergency.

About The Author

Teresa Penza, founder and President of NetCam LA, has been in the security industry for more than 10 years. She has designed and engineered  business security systems for a wide range of small business, retail, warehouse, commercial, industrial, government and healthcare applications. A partial list of Net Cam LA clients include Starbucks, Victoria’s Secret, Blockbuster, Taco Bell, Emerson, Closet Maid, Los Angeles County, ML King Hospital, UCLA Hospital and ADP Tax and Financial Services.  You can visit her at the NetCam LA website www.netcam-la.com.

Perhaps the biggest issue that NetCam LA security systems in Los Angeles has faced regarding the IP Megapixel cameras to date is how to cope with the volume of data produced, which demands more bandwidth and storage volume. However, improved compression algorithms, more widespread gigabit Ethernet deployments and reductions in storage prices mean that these issues are being addressed.

IP Security  Megapixel cameras have also suffered from low-light performance issues which have limited their deployment and end-user appeal. This issue is being addressed by the sensor manufacturers and the low light performance of IP security megapixel cameras is gradually improving, such that they can now compete in environments where previously lower resolution cameras with better light sensitivity were used.

Many end-users have shied away from IP Security megapixel cameras because of the high cost compared with standard resolution cameras. However, it should be noted that often this extra cost is offset because a single IP Security megapixel camera provides the same coverage as several standard resolution cameras. The price of IP Security megapixel cameras in Los Angeles is also falling and this will likely attract more end-users to ‘spec’ these cameras for their projects.

The market has been held back to some extent by the low number of companies supplying IP Security megapixel cameras in Los Angeles. Over the next two years the industry can expect to see a number of new companies enter the market, particularly some of the larger video surveillance camera manufacturers. This will likely benefit the end-user as improved feature sets will be offered at lower costs as the competition heats up.

“This market has been held back while a range of technical problems have been overcome. However, the market is now poised for a period of rapid growth,” said IMS Research analyst Alastair Hayfield.

IP Megapixel Surveillance Cameras: Worth the Price?

Why are so many end users switching to IP security megapixel camera technology, or at least examining this technology at tradeshows and in project bids? The main reason is price. That probably sounds confusing since the conventional wisdom is that a reliable, industrial-quality IP megapixel network surveillance camera is three or even four times more expensive than comparable low resolution (4CIF) security cameras. How can the IP megapixel surveillance camera be cheaper?

Video Surveillance Goals in Los Angeles

Before we take up price, let’s first discuss why an end user would even consider the IP security megapixel camera? This is the most important question because in some instances IP megapixel security cameras may not be appropriate. Before you look at any camera or NVR/DVR combination you have to initially define the goals for your video system. For simplicity, we narrow the security goals down to three categories:

1. General Surveillance in Los Angeles: These are applications; often live viewing, where you don’t need detail on recorded video. For instance, you may be watching a road and looking for traffic jams but do not need to read license plates. Or you may be looking to see what a crowd is doing but do not need to recognize faces. You may simply want to detect when someone is in a restricted area so you can respond immediately.
2. Forensic: These are applications where you need to see, record, and recognize images like license plates and faces, so you can go back “after the fact” and determine exactly what happened.
3. High Detail: Applications where you need to read a license plate but also read the model of the car. In a retail or banking context, you need to clearly see the customer’s and employee’s faces as well as identify the currency in their hands.

By assigning a category to your application you are, in fact, defining the resolution requirements. With older surveillance system technology, resolution was defined by its TVL (television lines, a.k.a. total video lines). Over the last few years the market has evolved to defining resolution by the total number of pixels. This is more objective when comparing products that have different resolutions.

So, when an image is 640 x 480, that is actually 640 (horizontal or columns) pixels x 480 (vertical or rows) pixels, for a total of 307,200 pixels, or approximately 0.31 of a megapixel (million pixels).
IP CCTV has been around for a number of years now and it’s interesting to just pause and consider who is committing to it as their chosen surveillance technology. Megapixel IP security cameras will become the standard for CCTV applications  in Los Angeles as the market trends and patterns are already developing.

Of course there are many other factors that we can debate; bandwidth, storage, cost, compression standards, etc. But for article one, let us just consider that the analogue versus IP debate should fizzle-out soon simply because analogue CCTV cameras cannot improve significantly on 540TVL resolution; which in turn means that each camera should only view a scene width of 4.3m or 14ft.

People have greater expectations now, they can do so much with cheap digital stills cameras and their PCs (not to mention what they see via the internet). They are often disappointed with analogue CCTV performance; currently conscientious surveyors, consultants and installers have to take time to brief their clients properly and spend most of that time explaining the limitations of CCTV, what it won’t do, setting realistic expectations, explaining why a camera can only cover a small scene width effectively.

In truth there is no way that the public was ever going to persist with VHS VCRs once DVD players became affordable, and in time we will all move on to blu-ray and HDTV, it’s just a matter of price performance ratio.

IP megapixel security cameras and multi-megapixel surveillance technology in Los Angeles

Megapixel Surveillance Camera (2MP) – Gas Station

Below is a sample video from a high-end, standard analog camera installed at a gas station. This clip was taken right before the camera was removed and replaced with an Arecont Vision AV2100 – 2 Megapixel Camera. A clip from that camera was shot immediately after installation approximately forty minutes later.

Analog Video Footage

The conversion to a hosted flash video takes away the actual ability to read every license plate and see every face. The original video was shot at 1600×1200 lines of resolution from the Arecont camera. The analog camera that was replaced shot in 640×480 lines of resolution. Just imagine the high-def clarity of the Arecont camera at nearly eight times the recorded image size and field of view.

Arecont 2MP High Definition Footage

The advantages of this technology hardly need to be explained. The security inherent in capturing recognizable facial details and 100% of all license plates goes without saying.

Here is a still shot from an Arecont 2MP camera taken in a similar automotive environment but shot from much higher up.

Click on the image below to see it full size, and you can easily see detail unlike any other camera…