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THEY SAY A WATCHED POT NEVER BOILS. It is equally true that someone who watches a boiling pot does not see the tremendous transfromation occuring, When asked at one minute intervals, "What's the water doing?" the observer may say, "It's still boiling," as if nothing had changed. In fact, the water has been evolving into another state. But that radical metamorphosis is hard to detect as long as most of the water remains in the pot. A similar phenomenon is occurring in the security industry.
Many evolutionary trends are occurring at once, most tied to advances in computer technology. But these changes have been evolving slowly for several years, like water evaporating from a pot. Consequently, it is sometimes easy to dismiss the significance of the latest incremental changes, such as the improvements in networking capabilities and the advances in digital storage capabilities.
"I think we're on the way to very big change," says Frank R. Abram, general manager of the Security Systems Group at Panasonic Security & Digital Imaging Company. Abram is referring specifically to the networking of security systems.
This connectivity will allow companies to network all the components of a security system-recorders, controllers, card readers, for example-to facilitate installation and operation. When security devices can communicate via networks, it "reduces cable and conduit costs, makes it easier to centralize monitoring, and.. allows viewing [of] CCTV scenes from any PC," says John J. Strauchs, senior principal, Systech Group, Inc.
Abram envisions corporate security having its own private network and cameras. Others, like Roy Border of The Border Group, see security joining in with the corporate LAN. "While security [departments] may have a dedicated channel," says Border, "they will not have dedicated networks."
Security personnel would not be able to run their own network without the help of the IT people in any case, notes Bordes, but having a separate network is also not necessary because "the fact that digital cameras and digital video recorders now reduce the bandwidth required for a video signal on any network allows the IT department to work much easier with video than in the past."
Networking advances are also allowing multiple viewers to see near real-time video over the corporate LAN, where in the...