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SPECIAL FOCUS: STATE OF THE INDUSTRY TECH TRENDS By Ray Coulombe Trends to Watch in 2014 12 innovations I will be looking for this year I f you are a fan of technology, it is a pretty nice time to be in this industry. With that in mind, it's time for me to dust off my crystal ball for 2014 and prognosticate where security technology is headed in 2014. We are in the middle of several well-known and irreversible technology trends, and here are the key areas I will be watching: Video Analytics: We are only scratching the surface of creating usable video data. Today, analytics is used mainly to send an alert for the purpose of capturing someone's attention or triggering a recording. As we are on the threshold of usable "Big Data," video analytics will begin to make a major contribution in the ability to search and the correlation of stored video files. Additionally, georegistration has enabled coordination of cameras, better The Cloud: In my last column, I noted the impact of the cloud in both the commercial and residential sectors. Cloud services will grow as a significant revenue and profit generator to those integrators and dealers who pursue them. This may well help underlie a rise of those companies that embrace the higher-margin service model (as the IT industry has done); while those who furnish and install the security hardware see declining margins. IT Security: Cyber is a hot topic in security circles, but we don't hear much about it from electronic security manufacturers. Is that because they don't support it or don't care; or because they do support it and the customers either take it for granted or don't care? It's probably some of each. I expect the offerings and messaging to the industry will change as customers (think more "If (IT) can monitor network IT) elevate this in priority. Video Storage: Have you checked prices devices, why not security devices of SDXC cards lately? 64 GB for under $35, 128 using similar tools? The technology GB for $120, and 256 GB for $500. I believe — called SNMP — exists, and the that properly equipped IP cameras are on their way to becoming the next generation of NVRs. security industry will be expected Wired Infrastructure: There's a ton to provide the management of coaxial and non-Cat 5e/6 wiring (RS-485, power wiring, etc.) installed, with much of it capability that it offers." still used to connect legacy devices. Vendor map displays, and asset and people tracking. The geoofferings are proliferating to provide Ethernet and PoE registration of individual video pixels has the promise of (transport and injection) to reclaim that wiring for the greatly improving the tracking capability of video surveilcause of IP; in fact, I recently saw a product offered by lance, particularly when coupled with analytics. TKH that builds an SFP port into an IP camera, offering Access Control: I noted at ASIS 2013 the increasing immediate options for Cat5e/6, fiber optics, and built-in number of standalone IP door controllers, equipped with conversion to coax. Very distributor- and craft-friendly. capabilities such as PoE, diagnostics, active directory Biometrics: Eyes, face, hand, finger — all will conintegration and cloud-based supervision. As the industry tinue to be integrated into physical and logical access continues to migrate to service-based offerings, there is a devices. At ISC East, Farpointe Data displayed a proximity real appeal to lightweight, flexible and easily deployable card (early 2014 intro) requiring a finger on the card, comhardware which supports that model. paring the imprint with a previously registered fingerprint Network Supervision: Convergence is happening on that card. and IT is getting more engaged in security; so, if they can Situational Awareness: Lower cost, very capable monitor network devices, why not security devices using PSIM (or variant) systems have been introduced, and their similar tools? The technology — called SNMP — exists, third-party integrations, usefulness, usability and cloud and the security industry will be expected to provide the capabilities increase. The promise of a holistic information management capability that it offers. Incidentally, there (continues on page 61) may be a service play here, too. 42 www.SecurityInfoWatch.com | SD&I; | January 2014