Author: Virginia Fair

Evolution of Access Control: From the Keys in Your Pocket to The Eyes on Your Face

Door Access Using a Key

Remember when access control was limited to fitting a key into a lock and turning? You know the drill. You probably used one to lock your door this morning, and you’ll use it again when you go home this evening. Turn it one way you retract the deadbolt that holds the door closed and gains access. Turn it the other way, you fit it back into place, denying access to anyone without a key. Unfortunately, the lock and key system is an ancient innovation that is not up to the challenge of many of today’s security needs; this is where we need to upgrade to IP camera systems, electronic access cards, biometrics, and other modern technology.

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An LA Experiment in Surveillance

How do Wide Area Surveillance systems measure up to IP camera surveillance systems?

The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department wanted to determine if Wide Area Surveillance would work for them. According to the Center For Investigative Reporting, they chose Compton, an area long plagued by crime as their “lab”.

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Expanded Replay Review? An IP Thing?

Are IP Cameras part of Major League Baseball’s expanded replay review? It seems like I was just counting the days until Pitchers and Catchers would be reporting to spring training. It would be a promise that the end of the horrendous winter of 2014, and its polar vortex would be coming to an end. Now, all of a sudden, we’re halfway through the 2014 baseball season!

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IP Cameras and Smartphones Provide Remote Door Access Control

Network-attached IP cameras and intercoms combine with your smartphone to create the latest technology for door access control.
By: Virginia Fair

New Information Technology News
New Information Technology News

BYOD and Convergence are two of the buzziest words around. BYOD stands for Bring Your Own Device and refers to the policy many schools and businesses have adopted of allowing workers and students to work on their own laptops, smartphones, or tablets.

Convergence is defined as the merging of two or more existing technologies to produce a new application or media. For example, the collaboration of broadcast media and online services has brought the internet to TV and TV to the internet. What has made convergence a priority for so many sectors are those BYOD devices.

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Situational Awareness and IP Technology

Emergency Situation

Is it just me, or does it seem as if each morning we turn on the news only to find yet another incidence of first responders selflessly putting their lives on the line to remedy a situation? Some days it’s a man-made tragedy like a mass shooting or a hostage-taking, other times it’s an act of nature like a mud slide, sinkhole or a wildfire roaring out of control as it edges ever nearer to hillside homes.

We’re seeing the big picture, the situation from all angles, but have you ever thought about what it’s like for the individual responder, limited to only what his five senses tell him? That’s why situational awareness is of critical importance, and why it is important to make use of IP camera systems and other available technology to facilitate this awareness.

The Bubble

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