ISC West 2012, cloud is the key theme

Cloud. A word, when discussed in the context of physical security, that is often met with a multitude of mixed emotions including wonderment, fear and loathing. However the buzz from showfloor regarding the cloud and physical security suggests the industry is being to (cautiously) embrace the concept.

By Gary Wong, Senior Analyst, IMS Research (IHS Inc.) April 10, 2012

Cloud. A word, when discussed in the context of physical security, that is often met with a multitude of mixed emotions including wonderment, fear and loathing. However the buzz from showfloor regarding the cloud and physical security suggests the industry is being to (cautiously) embrace the concept.

“Disclaimer – When I use the word cloud, I am referring to it in its broadest sense and not just VSaaS”

At last week’s industry show in Las Vegas, ISC West, the overwhelming theme was the cloud. Whilst chatter regarding the combination of cloud and physical security is nothing particularly new, what is newsworthy is the evolution of the concept of the cloud from vapourware to something significantly more tangible. Having met with many vendors at the show and discussed the advancing practicalities of cloud solutions, it seems that cloud solutions in physical security will soon become significantly less fluffy and more likely to, as a remote monitoring service poster I passed on my walk to the show so eloquently put, “make it rain” for those involved.

Most of the discussion on the show floor regarding cloud solutions was focused on alleviating one of the bottlenecks in combining video surveillance with the cloud, bandwidth. Examples included:

  • A combination of local storage paired with cloud storage to manage bandwidth.
  • ”Multicasting” for video surveillance/active P2P management.
  • Advancements in transcoding and stream aggregation to reduce bandwidth.

Furthermore, there was also discussion regarding hosting video management software (VMS) in the cloud to improve solutions designed for multiple geographically dispersed systems (e.g. The retail franchise model) and leveraging the “unlimited” computational power of the cloud for video and cross functional analytics.

As with other industries, the move to the cloud appears to be inevitable. Advancements in reducing bottlenecks and new applications capitalising on the benefits offered by the cloud should see physical security and the cloud start to become less reluctant bedfellows.