infoTECH Feature

September 12, 2014

Mobotix: How Networked Video Solutions Can Deter Crime

When it comes to modern telecommunications and networking, there are few ideas more important than video. Video technologies are connecting companies to their customers, law enforcement to better resources, industry to increased levels of monitoring and global employees to each other. At ITEXPO, held last month in Las Vegas, TMC (News - Alert) Senior Editor Peter Bernstein caught up with Steven Rosenbloom, business development manager for Mobotix, a Langmeil, Germany-headquartered company that produces network camera technology.

“The way you can look at Mobotix cameras, different than any other video surveillance solution, is we’re more of an IT device. You can even say we’re a telephony device since we include a SIP server in every one of our cameras,” said Rosenbloom. “We’re really geared to the networking side of the business as opposed to just being a device on the end of the network that you have to manage; we can actually help you manage other devices on the edge of the network.”

Rosenbloom, who has a law enforcement background, noted that people often have a low expectation of the video market: simply to capture information that can be played later. He noted that Mobotix is different: its technology can actually deter crime, and it can “speak,” two-way, to any other device on the network.

“We’re an intelligent, logical device at the edge,” he said. “We can prevent the crime from happening. We already solved the issue. For example, [let’s say] we were trying to protect this area where we’re having this interview. Typical camera systems do what’s called ‘motion detection.’ They create boxes, and if pixels change, an event happens. The problem with our industry is that that’s unreliable. You’re going to get 80, 100, or 200 alerts every night, and people turn the system off.”

Rosenbloom explained that Mobotix doesn’t track motion, it tracks movement, at which time the camera can relay an audio message to an intruder that he has entered a secure area and that law enforcement has been notified. If the intruder continues moving in – the camera can sense directionality – the system can then turn on lights.

It’s a way of making the video surveillance process smarter. Rosenbloom notes that with much of the video being used in law enforcement today, quality is poor enough to interfere with solving crimes. With better, smarter solutions, video may become a way to prevent, and not just record, crime. 




Edited by Alisen Downey
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