Take the CAMERA POLL    Your opinion counts.

Van Till considers the question in three stages:

• Define the varieties of cloud computing in use today
• Explain which models offer the best fit for physical security
• Suggest some ways to keep the cloud secure for these applications

Assuming that the number of physical security solutions using public clouds will continue to grow, what are some of the approaches the industry (or customers) can do to make sure these applications are as secure as possible?

First, there’s an old rule of thumb that says your security is only as good as your last security audit. Vendors need to perform standardized audits, and customers need to insist on them. Within the federal market, this audit requirement has been institutionalized in FISMA (Federal Information Security Management Act) and more recently with FEDRAMP, which has a specific cloud focus.

Second, there are many best practices that the cloud industry has already started advocating. Physical security service providers should incorporate these best practices into their own offerings. One of the best sources for this type of information is the Cloud Security Alliance.

Finally, buyers always need to take at least some responsibility for the security of their purchases. Ask questions. Ask about audits. Ask where the data is hosted. Ask whether the service has undergone penetration testing. There are many “top 10 cloud security” lists on the Web — download a few and learn the hallmarks for recognizing good, secure cloud offerings for your physical security solution.   read it all here

IPVideo Corporation, of Bay Shore, NY, an independent PSIM solutions maker is a long time veteran in the PSIM business. With 15+ years of experience in the game, they have a lot of experience to offer. Like many PSIM companies their initial products have been heavily influenced by the needs of a small number of large clients. In their case a large project for Con Edison was big influencer.

IPVideo announced a C3 Fusion^TM PSIM, a new release of their product that tracks alerts and alarms, helps plan new procedures, gives operators a work list for a specific alert situation, tracks open tasks, and generally provides tools to help deal with a busy operations centre. After a situation has been resolved, C3 fusion keeps the data in a database for later review or forensic analysis.

Their product can be used to supplement a 3rd party VMS, or used with IPVideo’s own VMS.

Although software functionality is the center of the IPVideo’s announcement, we believe that the real story is in the integration expertise that the company brings to a large end user. Any Fortune 500 company integrating video, access control, intrusion etc. across many large properties is going to need some serious customization/integration work. They will have a ton of legacy issues that will defy any simple off-the-shelf approach.

The functionality in the software demo is only a starting point for a large project. Focused vendors like IPVideo will do anything to make a large client happy. We suspect that the flexibility of their approach, and the motivation and ability of their staff to accommodate the wishes of a large client is worth at least as much as the base functionality.

In spite of the title of this article – we think that independent PSIM vendors will continue to play an important role. Even though we view them as software vendors, their role as system integrators is critical. We expect to see more of these service oriented vendors emerge.

UPDATE:  John Honovich  tweets: any vendor who sells VMS and PSIM is not independent, ipvideocorp is no more independent than verint/rontal.

I think John missed the point here.  IPVideo Corporations  independence creds are based on the companies private ownership and open business model, not the fact the they do or don’t have their own VMS.

This article inSecurityInfoWatch.com discusses how PSIM will affect integrators and vendors.  There is no doubt that PSIM affords a lucrative opportunity for  savvy integrators who build a name as experts in this emerging market.

Everyone involved with surveillance systems will be working with the IT department more and more. For instance, over 75 percent of integrators report that they are spending more and more time with IT this year versus last year. In fact, 29 percent say they are spending significantly more time. If integrators are spending more time with IT, you can only imagine the impact IT has had on end-users. Why do we bring this up?

The ability to use network infrastructure is one of the major advantages of an IP-based surveillance system. Corporate networks typically provide adequate bandwidth and switching and routing versus coaxial cable. However, don’t simply assume that running bandwidth intensive surveillance data over the IT network will be no problem.And, remember, especially if you are using high-resolution cameras, a lack of bandwidth will provide unsatisfactory images for the security department.

Here is the real problem: IT management doesn’t always understand the actual impact of video on their network. Their most important concern is that video will overburden the network and, as a result, they panic.

Check out the full article here.

“One of the longest-standing arguments against going all-digital has been the perceived higher cost of IP cameras compared to their analog counterparts. However, cameras are only one part of a video surveillance solution, and the total cost of a complete system is dependent on a number of factors.”

Are IP-based systems able to compete with analog products for small to mid-sized projects?  Have digital solutions reached a market tipping point and will they capture a majority of the surveillance market anytime soon?  Read the whole thing

“The first thing we look for is what integrations already exist; that’s the big one,” said Steve Rogers, vice president, LANAIR Group, Los Angeles, Calif., which implemented a PSIM solution from Proximex at Port of Long Beach.

“Getting all those systems to plug in and relate events is a major, major piece of work,” said Greg Thornbury, vice president, SecureNet, a Carollton, Texas-based integrator researching PSIM solutions. His clients in oil/gas, petrochemical and finance sectors tend to have old versions of major systems as well as homegrown applications. His question for PSIM vendors is who they connect with and how.

“The value of the product is in the hooks,” said Ayal Vogel, vice president, sales and marketing for Safeguards Technology, Hackensack, N.J., which has worked with Mer Inc., Fair Lawn, N.J., to date. “The value increases by the number of connectors that are preexisting,” he said.

C3 Fusion uses it’s Unified System Connection Protocol (USCP™) to connect to security subsystems.  USCP is a unique bi-directional messaging system that allows for interface with fusion snap-on connector services completely outside of C3 Fusion’s core software. The connectors provide continuous network integrity testing, and buffering for lossless network fault recovery. Connector Development Kits (CDKs) make USCP available to third party developers.

A successful PSIM application must be able to support a variety of connections including legacy and industry specific custom subsystems to the latest in physical security devices.

The entire Islip installation is controlled by the intuitive DynaView video management system from IPVideo Corporation.  Axis Communications published an extensive review of the project in the following case study.

http://www.infoworld.com/print/90521

The IPVideo PSIM Display Console uses a hashing system that is very difficult to crack and never transmits the passwords over the network. Passwords are never stored on client machines and stored in the PSIM router as encrypted hashes.