Volume 8
How New Video Infrastructure Enables
Safe Cities
Guest Editorial by Wayne Arvidson, VP, Intelligence, Surveillance & Security Solutions, Quantum Corporation
Improving safety in our cities is a paramount concern. Advancements in video surveillance technology and analytics
play an important role in improving safety in our cities, but taking full advantage of these innovations presents a challenge.
On September 26, 2016, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released their annual crime statistics.
According to the FBI report, there were an estimated 1,197,704 violent crimes committed in 2015—an
increase of 3.9 percent over 2014 numbers. Robberies were up 1.4 percent.
Murders and non-negligent manslaughter increased 10.8 percent. Both rape and aggravated
assault numbers also were higher (6.3 percent and
4.6 percent, respectively).
Improving safety in our cities and towns is a paramount concern for everyone, especially our law enforcement community. Agencies continuously seek
better ways of gathering intelligence to prevent
crime.
Cross-agency communication, information sharing,
and analytics play an important role in making that
happen. Advancements in video surveillance technology and analytics can help, but taking full advantage of these innovations presents a challenge.
Multi-sensor, high-definition cameras have become
more powerful and affordable in recent years. This
has helped security officials to expand city surveillance systems, providing more coverage and vis-
Oct/Nov 2016 Edition
ibility.
Cameras located inside and outside of buildings,
transportation stations, rail cars, and buses – in addition to those positioned at street corners, intersections, and parking areas – are helping to provide more “eyes and ears” for law enforcement.
But the more cameras there are (and sensors per
camera), the more data there is to store and to integrate, requiring a high-performing, scalable storage
infrastructure to handle it.
In fact, video surveillance is among the most challenging workflows for any storage system.
Considering all the variables involved—number of
cameras, type of video format, frame rate, video
compression, and length of the recordings—the
amount of data that must be managed can become
unwieldy.
For example, a typical 2 MP, 1080p high-definition
camera generates approximately 10 GB of data per
day. Multiply that by thousands of units and factor
in data retention time (which continues to increase)
and that presents a massive data management
challenge.
Too often, agencies have implemented video surveillance designs as stand-alone, self-contained
systems.
Utilizing an edge-to-core architecture, these systems lessen the bandwidth impact on networks, but
often introduce limitations due to the decentralized
nature of the design.
Systems are not connected with each other and
data is often stored in silos, which slows down
cross-departmental data sharing and restricts realtime data correlation and analytics.
Video data is becoming one data set among many
as “smart” devices become more prevalent and
analytics are able to process the aggregated data.
As applications mature, the potential for improving
public safety through the intelligent use of technology is high. Consolidation and integration are keys
to unlocking the future potential—and that makes
storage infrastructure an important consideration.
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