Uniarch is a new brand created by Uniview Technologies. With more than 10 years of experience and technology accumulation, we provides easy-to-use and cost-effective products in Uniarch, ranging from IP security system to video conference devices, for home and SMB business worldwide.
With its “Life in focus” in mind, Uniarch is paving the way for the changes: to achieve that, we make effort in transforming people’s day to day lives, as well as businesses of every size. Via optimizing for ease of use, we leave rooms for what’s matter the most. By business empowerment, we entail creating an environment that fosters growth. Uniarch envisions a world where enables everyone to a fulfilling life.
Uniarch includes IP cameras and video recorders that is the optimal option for the small-to-medium business applications such as residential, retail stores. They are capable of providing Ultra 265, maximum 95% bandwidth and storage reduction, wide dynamic range to ensure excellent image with significant foreground and background illumination difference.
Similarities Between Uniview and Uniarch
With this new line from Uniview, you’re going to get several of the same features you’re used to, as well as having full compatibility with any products you already have. Uniarch cameras work seamlessly with Uniview NVRs. However, there are some additional features Uniarch NVRs will only support with Uniview cameras, like auto tracking and human body detection. Uniarch cameras do not include these features, but many Uniview models do. Any Uniview cameras currently on your EZView app will be able to be seen together with your new Uniarch cameras since they share a cloud account. It is a bonus that Uniarch is compatible with most Uniview products, but Uniarch is also a full line on its own. Meaning, you’ll be able to get cameras, recorders, and monitors all under this line of products. You can expect the same stunning quality of imagery across both product lines.
Differences Between Uniview and Uniarch
With the Uniarch camera, to bring it more into the consumer realm, you can expect some other difference in the way the camera is put together. In most Uniview products, and most professional cameras in general, they’re going to have a durable metal build. They’re going to be feature rich and include things like AI and smart events. In typical consumer products you’re just going to see basic motion detection. Uniview products have these enhanced features, but some of these are not really necessary for basic consumer needs.The Uniarch is made of a durable, weatherproof plastic instead of metal, but it’s still going to hold up really well. It has basic motion detection but won’t have the AI capabilities.
Suprema, a global leader in access control, biometrics and time & attendance solutions, shared partner testimonials about its security controller CoreStation that helps facilitate building multi-credential access control systems. Suprema CoreStation is a biometric-enabled security controller that provides great system design flexibility with credential options ranging from PIN, RF card reader, mobile access to fingerprint and face recognition.
Powerful performance
Meyer, a partner in Turkey, was able to construct a face recognition access control system for its customer using Suprema CoreStation and Suprema face recognition terminals.
“CoreStation offers unrivaled matching speed. The customer preferred to connect the face recognition terminals to CoreStation instead of directly to the server for stronger security. This meant that all user data was saved in CoreStation and data had to be transferred to CoreStation for every matching operation. Despite this configuration, users do not notice any delay in authentication thanks to CoreStation’s powerful performance,” said Orcun Bayindir, CEO of Meyer.
IQ trading, a partner in Ukraine, enabled fingerprint recognition access control system for a banking customer. Andrii Glukhov, technical support lead at IQ trading, cited CoreStation’s scalability, enterprise level memory and interlock zone support as advantages.
“Using Suprema CoreStation, we connected 26 two-sided doors with high performance fingerprint authentication. CoreStation is a unique, powerful controller that can store up to 500,000 users, 1,000,000 fingerprint templates and 5,000,000 logs, providing uninterrupted service regardless of network issues. We were also able to create sequential passages with interlock zones, increasing overall security level and eliminating the possibility of a person entering the second door without closing the first one,” said Glukhov.
Easy to integrate
Absolon, a partner in Europe, provided mobile access solution to Crestyl, a leading real estate developer in Czech, using CoreStation. The site had over 100 doors with 1,500 employees and required a secure yet flexible controller that could be easily integrated with third party systems. Crestyl was operating a third party system C4 software and was looking for a way to add mobile credential without a major system overhaul. CoreStation, together with Suprema BioStar 2 and Suprema XPass D2 readers, was a great answer because of CoreStation and BioStar 2’s integration flexibility. C4 was integrated with BioStar 2 via BioStar 2 API and XPass D2 were selected for mobile credential compatibility.
“CoreStation’s appeal lies in the gamut of credential options it supports. Partners and customers can enable PIN, RF card, mobile access as well as biometric credentials like face and fingerprint with Suprema’s intelligent controller,” said Hanchul Kim, CEO of Suprema Inc.
Commitment to Security Standards and Compliance
Suprema’s four-door access control panel CoreStation is its first controller that acquired UL 294 compliance, a certification that evaluates the safety and reliability of the product. Suprema’s compact outdoor RFID reader, XPass D2 is SIA OSDP verified, meaning that the device conforms to the SIA Open Supervised Device Protocol (OSDP) standard and the related performance profiles. It ensures higher security than a common access control communication protocol by constant monitoring of wires and protecting with high-end AES-128 encryption.
Established long before data mining and bitcoin mining, mining the earth continues to be a major economic driver. The International organizing committee for the world mining congress issues a yearly World Mining Data report. The 2021 report states that world mining production in 2019 was 17.9 billion metric tons (roughly the weight of 96,000 Boeing 747 Jumbo jets). Most of the production (58.9%) was in Asia, followed by North America (15.8%), in terms of countries, China, U.S., Russia and Australia are the four biggest mining nations. In the last few years, Australia and China have seen the most growth and surpassed Africa, especially in the production of minerals like Lithium, Gallium and Niobium needed for the battery industry, demand for which doubled since 2015.
Challenges in mining security and safety
The mining industry faces extreme and multi-faceted challenges in both security and safety. The key concern of security managers in the mining sector are keeping employees safe, however, they are also tasked with preventing theft of valuable raw materials and equipment, choosing equipment that can work in extreme environmental conditions, maintaining compliance with health, safety and environmental regulations and more often than not, working in politically unstable countries.
Working in harsh conditions
Mining security faces three main challenges: harsh conditions, large areas and high costs for installing comprehensive solutions. Compared to commercial-use security systems, mine security systems must work in harsh environments. Dust, humidity, fog, low light, heavy water flow, flammable gases and extreme temperature are common. At the depths of mines, the temperatures could reach in excess of 45 degrees Celsius and the environment is constantly moist and humid. The outside climate in countries like Australia, South Africa or Russia can also be challenging with freezing temperatures in winter or searing desert heat in summer.
“When considering these conditions, equipment should be tested and certified with appropriate impact and ingress ratings, and this should be further evidenced and supported by the manufacturer through long product warranties. Reliable equipment ensures the system continues to do its job and the business continues to operate profitably whilst protecting its workforce” emphasized Mike Margrain, National Technical Manager for Gallagher in Australia.
Equipment therefore needs to be ruggedized and customized to mining operations. Operators need sealed, waterproof units with vibration dampers, which can function over a wide temperature range. All cables need to be secured in airtight or waterproof material, preventing dust and other particles from damaging them. Explosion-proof devices must be installed with appropriate cable management systems.
Cabling technique for example is different for mines, since drilling or attaching cables to rock can only be done by engineering personnel. The solution is pre-installed infrastructure cabling that provides power and communications for conveyor systems or vehicle workshops to most underground points.
Ensuring mine employee safety
Employee safety is the primary concern in the harsh working environments in mines, and verifying authorized personnel is the first step in accomplishing this.
Access control at mines should only admit personnel who passed safety inductions, medical checks and training. Added features include license renewal and expiry notifications. Management is increasingly aware of the cost related to worker safety failures, loss of lives and loss of material and equipment. Other than passing government regulations, increasing the level of security and safety could save money, increase productivity, reduce losses in infrastructure and cut production downtime.
“In underground operations, it is paramount that the location of workers is known due to the elevated risk in these environments. Cardholder location tracking is implemented to ensure workers can be accounted for in the event of an emergency, or to safely manage underground blasting” explained Margrain and described how this works in the field: “Providing electronic ‘tagging’ stations and implementing long-range tracking of personnel ensures the control room operators not only know how many people are in locations underground, but in which area each worker resides. Integrating this data into firing procedures ensures explosives cannot be triggered until all personnel are accounted for in safe areas. Tagging portals which provide feedback to the worker with personal information (and photo ID images) provide peace of mind that the system has indeed logged their location as they travel to different areas while on shift. Furthermore, long-range tracking of workers can be employed in underground operations where travel is required in buses, light vehicles, or machinery. This ensures the location data can be captured without requiring personnel to exit vehicles in dangerous locations to present to a physical access point. The method of access credential utilized for this safety data becomes extremely important as the risk of missed movement can have real implications for personnel health and safety”.
In addition to controlling access, monitoring the work zone is essential for protecting employees. The use of video surveillance underground helps to monitor miner safety by viewing rock falls or accidents in real time, speeding up search and rescue time, and help inhibit illegal activity such as theft or pirate miners. For large areas, radar integrated with video detects if a worker is in a hazardous area or is near hazardous materials or gases. It secures transport and storage of ammonia nitrate, explosives and other hazardous materials.
Should an accident occur, the operational health and safety (OH&S) solution must track miners by access control, sensors and RFID systems. The solution should generate “muster reports” quickly, providing the exact number of individuals in an area to the control room personnel at any given time.
Access control solutions in mines
Access control in the mining and resources sector is generally used less for security and more to manage governance, risk, and compliance; “it’s all about protecting the safety of workers and ensuring business continuity,” said Gallagher’s Margrain. “This includes managing personnel competencies to only allow access to those that hold active qualifications and inductions for the site, or within a particular onsite area. Contractors may also perhaps only enter if they hold current insurance and have an active work order. In many countries, there are state or government legislated licenses that a worker must hold before they can work on a mining site. These competency level controls will differ depending on what role a worker has and where they are working — for example, there will be different enforcement rules for someone working underground, than those working only on the mine surface” he added.
“Fatigue is a significant risk to workers at an organization that operates 24/7, particularly to those who work night shifts or are working in dangerous environments. We see these rules being applied in more stringent ways for such personnel to prevent a worker from breaching fatigue policies during their shift. An access control system allows sites to quickly locate workers for risk assessments and a potential change of personnel – not only saving time, but also preventing disruption to the site. This type of management (with appropriate enforcement and proactive dynamic notifications) therefore becomes even more important for personnel that are working underground,” explained Margrain. To prevent theft, most attention is focused on access control and intrusion detection for storage, processing areas and areas where heavy machinery is present.
Whilst biometric access control has rapidly increased in popularity in recent years, the uptake in the mining and resources industry has been slow. The primary reasons for this are because daily work environments can impact the ability to reliably match workers via biometrics, due to workers becoming dirty or wearing PPE (personal protective equipment).
Video surveillance in mine security
Security requirements differ by the mine type. Open-pit mines are based on authority and risk levels and put emphasis on access control, while underground mines — with a higher requirement for safety — put emphasis on people location management.
The large area of mines poses a challenge to security. Fencing and lighting might be very expensive, and even with the most comprehensive security solution installed, surveillance is not considered as a viable option for many underground mines, due to harsh conditions and extended tunnel length. Large mines can have hundreds of kilometers of tunnels, which simply cannot be effectively monitored by cameras.
Intrusion detection in mines
While priority areas depend on the site, a mine’s security profile is generally developed from the outside in, making perimeter security the first concern. However, although perimeter fencing is important, it is often impractical due to the large and difficult landscape of mine sites.
Video surveillance can detect perimeter intrusion. Day and night cameras are suited for open areas with good light over long distances. Infrared cameras can perform close-range monitoring at low light entry and exit points. For dark outdoor areas, thermal imaging cameras can see intruders.
Preventing equipment theft
Some mine vehicles are worth millions of dollars and are costly for downtime and repairs, so monitoring and securing equipment is important. Other than asset tagging, sensor solutions such as onboard vehicle collision alert technology also help protect property. The collision alert system detects hazards in the vehicle’s path and alerts drivers for potential collisions, preventing damage to the vehicle and protecting worker safety. Solutions like these provide invaluable production data feedback in difficult-to-reach areas. When integrated with access control, mine companies can make sure that only authorized personnel can operate the vehicle. The option of combined driver & vehicle identification increases security as you know exactly who was driving which vehicle.
Driver-based automatic vehicle identification (AVI) ensures that a vehicle can never leave, or get access to a secured area unless occupied by an authorized driver. Vehicle and driver access traditionally requires the driver to stop and badge or present their access card. This can often result in traffic congestion around access points/gates. Current solutions allow vehicles (both trucks and cars) to activate gates far enough in advance (up to 10m, at speeds up to 200 km/h) which eliminates the need for vehicles to stop, ensuring an uninterrupted flow of traffic. This is a notable feature for mining sites where it is disruptive to stop and start heavy machinery.
Trends in mine security
The United States Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) maintains a database of all mine-related accidents and fatalities in the U.S. MSHA accident reports show that footage from video surveillance is often used in the forensic investigation of accidents.
On May 2, 2020, Rodger A. Zimmerman, a 56-year-old front-end loader operator died when he was engulfed by material inside a collection container (hopper) at Enon Sand & Gravel mine. Zimmerman entered the hopper to clear a blockage caused by material inside the hopper. Once inside, a large amount of material dislodged, engulfing Zimmerman. Video evidence from the mine’s surveillance system verified entry into the hopper to dislodge blockage from underneath was a common practice and occurred repeatedly on previous days captured on the video. The surveillance video showed miners on the belt structure and/or inside the hopper not wearing safety belts or harnesses and not equipped with lifelines, while the belt was operating and without engaging in lock-out-tag-out (LOTO) procedures.
Today’s video analytics can be used to detect and stop this type of accident before happening. Video analytics can raise an alert when employees are getting too close to dangerous equipment or if they are not wearing the right safety equipment like a hard hat or safety harness. Hikvision for example installed a system in a coal mine in China that increased worker safety by monitoring the areas around winches and other equipment, and by sending alerts if employees get too close. The Hikvision solution was also configured to support specific mining-safety applications, such as constant monitoring of surface water levels in different areas of the mine. Constant seepage from rock formations means that surface water can accumulate in different areas of the mine, which is a problem in terms of potential flooding, damage to infrastructure, and worker safety risks. The Hikvision system monitors surface-water levels constantly and allows the mine staff to take action to deal with any problems that arise before water levels exceed safe limits.
Ai-driven video analytics are gaining traction as a means to minimize false alarms. Avigilon’s H4 Thermal camera for example is embedded with Avigilon self-learning video analytics to provide long-range perimeter protection and leverages thermal technology to operate under challenging conditions while minimizing false alarms. It detects the movement of people, vehicles and partly camouflaged objects in complete darkness or areas with challenging light conditions.
Security systems are also used to drive compliance with OH&S regulations. Access control manufacturer Gallagher allows cardholder information to be recorded in the Gallagher system and shared bi-directionally with existing HR/people management systems for accurate, real-time use. Staff records provide a full audit trail to ensure compulsory training and testing are undertaken. This minimizes corporate liability and enables organizations to meet their Duty of Care.
Mobile smartphone devices are commonly used to spot-check workers on-site (i.e., to validate they are trained and inducted to be where they are, or performing their current task), as well as being able to be used for mobile evacuation procedures and access control movements.
Compliance driving product requirements
Given the risks associated with mining operations, government legislation can be stringent but differ immensely in different parts of the world. “We have seen an increase in concern around fatigue and exposure, and the need for reporting to assist with state levy calculations. Cases of corporate manslaughter against negligent management have certainly created more interest in systems which can demonstrate duty of care and protect workforces,” said Margrain. In many cases, not only do such system implementations meet those goals while ensuring business continuity, but they also demonstrate a reduction of operational cost through improved efficiency. Margrain recommended factoring this into vendor selection: “Having a system with governance, risk, and compliance solutions that can be tailored to meet changing requirements, without significant reinvestment, should be factored into vendor selection. By working with their vendor, sites operating in unique conditions like that of mining, can design a system that is tailored to the specific needs of their site and ensure health and safety requirements are met at the required level”.
The Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games have come to a successful end, with China setting a new medal record in its history of the Winter Olympics. Dahua Technology took on the responsibility of securing Yanqing’s Olympic Venues and Shougang Park. Guided by the “Winter Olympics of Science and Technology”, Dahua fully integrated many digital intelligence technologies, such as video Internet of Things, universal sensing, AIoT and AR, into this grand event, making great contributions to the success of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
Challenge
Located 75 kilometers northwest of Beijing’s city center, Yanqing has two competition venues, the National Alpine Ski Centre and the National Sliding Centre, and other supporting facilities, such as Yanqing Olympic Village and Publishing Center. The entire zone is featured with complex terrain and a changeful climate. Another competition venue Big Air Shougang was located in Shougang Park. It staged the freestyle skiing and snowboard Big Air competitions at the Games. Big Air Shougang is the world’s first permanent venue for Big Air. Following the Winter Olympics, the venue will be used for various sports competitions and athlete training. Meanwhile, many Olympic landmarks, such as offices for the Organizing Committee of the Winter Olympics and training venues, have been set up in Shougang Park. The security of the wide range of roads, public areas, all kinds of venues and supporting facilities in the park was a top priority.
Solution: Safeguard the Yanqing Venues with intelligent systems
Dahua conducted several surveys in Yanqing Zone and tailored various intelligent systems such as intelligent traffic camera, AR panoramic solution, walk-through metal detector, ecological environment monitoring system and so on for mountain scenarios. This not only provided a security guarantee for the Winter Olympics events, athletes, audience and staff, but also facilitated the security management of Yanqing’s Olympic venues by improving the overall prevention, early warning and management efficiency.
The mountain road to Yanqing’s Olympic Venues is rugged and prone to traffic accidents at night, especially under rain and snow. By upgrading the intelligent traffic camera system in the core road sections, Dahua effectively solved the pollution caused by the white light explosion and flash at night on mountain roads, improving the safety of drivers and greatly reducing the incidence of traffic accidents. Meanwhile, Dahua also realized real-time sensing and intelligent management of vehicle entry and exit, which improved the road traffic management, traffic safety and civilized travel during the event.
According to the geographical features of Yanqing Zone and the complexity of management, Dahua innovated and deployed AR panoramic solution. Combined with the full-realm sensing ability of IoT, Dahua created a large live map that displayed the venues and surrounding infrastructures. Through the panoramic map, the staff were able to supervise the overall dynamics and details of the competition area at any time to conduct emergency operations and improve management efficiency and safety. Dahua walk-through metal detector appeared at the entrances of various venues, to help with fast temperature monitoring, intelligent identification and early warning of not wearing a mask, and rapid detection of metal contraband. This speeded up the traffic and reduced potential security risks timely. The efficiency of security work was promoted at the same time.
Assistance in declaring the winner
The sliding events bobsled, luge, and skeleton are the fastest games in Winter Olympics. Racers moving through the complex and narrow course at super speeds present an extraordinary challenge to the judges’ scoring and of course to athletes’ safety as well. Dahua Technology developed an intelligent video tracking system based on our industry-leading intelligent video sensing capability. The system captured the fleeting video image of high-speed athletes sliding down the track, displayed the video images of athletes passing through different slopes at high-speed seamlessly and orderly, and recorded every detail of the entire competition. With zero interference to the racing tracks, the Dahua intelligent video tracking system provided data support for the athletes’ training before the competition and a strong basis for the referee’s decision and game’s fairness during the competition.
To facilitate the “ecological Winter Olympics”, Dahua intelligent environment online monitoring system was in place to collect environmental temperature, humidity, wind, wind direction, noise, atmospheric pressure, weather and other data of the competition area all the time, to help managers grasp the dynamic changes of various environmental factors in real-time, and provide environmental data support for the events.
In the management center, Dahua built up a digital intelligent management platform for Yanqing Zone by using video IoT and visualization technologies including Dahua high-definition LCD screen and distributed seat management system. In this way, real-time views and visual scheduling of the overall operation of the whole competition area were realized. Thus, real-time response and efficient command in the case of emergencies were achieved, while refined management and information decisions were supported.
Equip the Shougang Park with AI innovations
In Shougang Park, Dahua fulfilled the demand of intelligent management. By applying intelligent panorama, multidimensional sensing, access control management and other artificial intelligence innovations, based on a unified intelligent management platform, Dahua built a comprehensive modern safety management system covering all roads, public places and venues in and outside the Shougang Park.
It greatly realized the real-time warning of all kinds of risks in the park, contributed to the innovative upgrade of the security management mode of the park, comprehensively improved the comprehensive services and management of the Winter Olympics.
Result
On the field, the Winter Olympics athletes were competing fiercely for medals; outside the stadium, Dahua technical team was trying their best to provide services for both Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Yanqing Zone, Shougang Park, National Conference Center and other perimeter areas. They pushed their limits and accomplished the task of securing the Olympic venues successfully in more than two consecutive months.
The team delivered high-quality services including video technology development for specific events, solution formulation, installation and commissioning, and on-site technical support, helping to create a simple, secure and wonderful Winter Olympics.
Dahua provided security services with high quality and high standards. Based on technology innovations and scenario-oriented application of digital intelligence, it has contributed to the success of many wonderful urban activities and boosted digital intelligence upgrades in thousands of industries. In the future, Dahua will continue to focus on customer needs and create more products and solutions for customers through innovative technologies.
Initially conceived as an international company, ZKTeco started out modestly, with only its products being sold abroad, without services and customization for customers. But then, at the global level, something happened that, contrary to expectations, opened new opportunities for many companies – the global economic crisis. In 2008, many security companies decided to try their hand at making it big in international markets. ZKTeco was among the pioneers.
Our editorial team has covered many events in the past sixteen years. Having published no less than 178 issues of a&s Adria magazine so far, we witnessed the emergence and maturation of technologies, innovations that caused controversies only to become commonplace, the disappearance of former industry greats who were thought indestructible, the rise of new companies, we talked and hung out with the professionals who, in fact, can be said to have sown everything that has grown in the past decades. But, after all those years, one thing manages to impress us every time – a story about a name and reputation that grow together out of the vision that everything is possible, regardless of the challenges. In search of one such story, this time we went to the suburbs of Madrid, a city and a corporate “forest” in which countless businesses flourish. Madrid is also the seat of the European headquarters of a company whose access and entrance control is an evergreen tree in this corporate forest. We want to tell you a story about ZKTeco.
Watch the video report:
Creativity from all over the world
The European headquarters and warehouse were founded in 2010 and have been located in Madrid for twelve years. A pioneer in biometrics and RFID technologies, ZKTeco is now a multinational company with close to 3600 employees. From the beginning, its founders and engineers sought to independently develop algorithms to verify the biometric characteristics of the body, which over the years has become an ecosystem for identity verification and smart security. Both hardware and firmware as well as software are produced internally, at research and development centers scattered from from the India to Xiamen, Dalian and Dongguan. Today, the company’s offer is rounded up not only with biometric and RFID modules but also with access control systems, turnstiles and barriers, video surveillance, metal detectors, and integrated security solutions. At its European headquarters, where the service, sales, development, and financial departments are located together with a warehouse whose capacities will soon double by moving it to a new location, ZKTeco’s partners and distributors can receive all the necessary services. From there, they provide support to other European subsidiaries: British, German, and Italian offices, whose numbers they also intend to increase.
The economic crisis is an opportunity to change strategy
We were greeted by an extremely pleasant team of people, led by Even Wang, General Manager of the European Business Group at ZKTeco, in whose company we felt as if we were members of the personnel. Socializing took place until the afternoon and was spent in pleasant and useful conversations. Their friendly synergy, we noted later, is certainly one of the wheels that powers the company’s business on European soil, about which we will learn more later.
“ZKTeco started as a small company, with two or three people”, says Mr. Wang from the outset of our conversation and continues: “The founder is Mr. John Che. The business started as a technology firm that was researching biometrics. At that time, biometrics were not so common in the world, so they tried to design one biometric module to offer to the market. Step by step, they decided that they could develop a time and attendance terminal. So, some money was raised to move to Shenzhen, a zone known for its electronics industry.” The company started to grow but that was not enough for a major breakthrough in the market. The business was mainly done in China, and only its products were sold abroad, without service and customization offered to the clients. But then, at the global level, something happened that, contrary to expectations, opened new opportunities for many Chinese companies – the global economic crisis. In 2008, Chinese companies decided to try their hand at making it big in international markets in order to prevent financial problems. “ZKTeco was among those who adopted this strategy at the earliest stage. In the beginning, we had a small team of people, but we were also lucky that the demand for biometric systems increased sharply”, adds our interlocutor. ZKTeco made a difference in the market by offering an attractive price, a broad range of products, and quality service. Clients knew that they could count on people who are always at their disposal, which is very important in business.
This resulted in rapid business growth. They are proud, they say, of the decision taken at the time. But it was not easy. “You go to another country where no one knows you, you have to learn to live there, find customers, talk to them in your poor English. I joined the company in 2010. I initially worked in India and I know how hard it is for a Chinese company to start from scratch outside their home country. Language, laws, taxes – these are all great challenges. But we were trying to gradually adapt, find local people and partners, understand each other and bridge the cultural gap. I can say that after 14 years of development we have a great team. We now have 3600 employees, of which 450 are internationals. I think that’s the largest number of foreign employees in a Chinese company,” says Wang.
Going public
Another important turning point for ZKTeco happened in 2020, and it was marked by yet another trend among Chinese security companies – going public. The higher inflow of capital enabled them to further strengthen and expand. ZKTeco started the process of the initial public offering (IPO) a little earlier in order to become a public company and increase capital investments in expanding production and opening new offices. “The money will mainly be invested in research and development, especially in the software segment. The second part will be related to the service network; we will open five new offices, new warehouses and continue to employ local people. I think we need to have local people in every country because the value is to offer services to our clients locally”, explains Wang. ZKTeco currently has 38 subsidiaries in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and overseas, but they want to open many new ones. In Europe, they plan to open offices in France, Romania, and Poland, as well as in other countries.
People are the greatest resource
Just in time when the company went public, the coronavirus pandemic broke out. Yet again, as it happened in the past with the economic crisis, ZKTeco has found an opportunity to offer new solutions to its customers, this time in the form of a cost-effective and adaptable solution for measuring body temperature and detecting the wearing of protective masks. “We got a lot of great clients, such as Telecom Italia and Spanish Telefonica, as well as the opportunity to gain access to many banks and government institutions. That helped us a lot to get through the difficult period in 2020. We have kept and even increased the number of employees. We kept working in all countries and continued with our development and research. We even opened our office in the UK during the pandemic. Even in the most difficult period in May 2020, our team continued to help our clients in Italy”, recalls Wang.
The greatest strength in the focus on entrance control
Although it initially presented itself as a biometric company, ZKTeco is always trying to adapt to different applications. “We are currently fully focused on developing entrance control technologies and solutions, including those handling the passage of vehicles, people, and luggage. I think that we can offer a high value in that. As much as AI and IoT change the world, people have to start from the entrance. The entrance is a key point for home automation and office security. For the past twenty years, ZKTeco has been working on one thing only – entrance control. We try to offer the best hardware and software solutions. That is why we have no less than 10 product ranges today. Our greatest strength lies in this type of focus”, says Even Wang, General Manager of the European Business Group at ZKTeco.
Breaking stereotypes
How ZKTeco managed to expand its business in Europe year after year was the topic we discussed in detail with Kinga Zarzyck, International Business Development Manager with ZKTeco, who was both our host and the person behind the organization of our visit. For years, ZKTeco kept facing one obstacle that prevented them from stepping out of the widespread stereotypical mold. In the eyes of its users, the company was mostly seen as a supplier of access control and time & attendance hardware. In recent years, however, they have focused on delivering solutions, ranging from offering consultancy and adapting solutions to project requirements to assisting with their implementation. “Our goal in the coming years is to change this perception because ZKTeco is changing and growing constantly, not only in terms of its revenue but also in terms of its solutions and their quality. To achieve this, we have opened local branches in Germany, Italy, and the UK in the last five years. We also have salespeople in Romania and Poland. We intend to open local offices in these countries as well as in France in the near future. It is very important for us to be close to our partners and to react faster and adapt our solutions to the needs of the local markets “, explains Zarzycka.
In order to provide the best possible customer support, the European branch expanded the most in the segment of its pre-sales and project departments. It is, in fact, a new segment of ZKTeco that was created not so long ago to support partners chiefly through products. While distribution is important, integration is another channel that needs support. They currently work with more than 100 partners across Europe. Upon asking whether they work directly with installers and integrators or with distributors only, we were told that everything depends on the country. “We also work with integrators, and not only with the larger ones that have the capacity to develop their own solutions. Yet, it all depends on the strategy in a particular country and how that country is organized. Not every distribution channel in a country can function at the same level or be as good as, for example, the Adriatic region”, says Zarzycka, citing the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and the UK as examples of countries focused mainly on integration with security system management software.
More solutions for the customers
Our host is also in charge of organizing business in our Adriatic region. She has been cooperating with partners from Southeast Europe for four years, and for that purpose, she was a guest at our Adria Security Summit on no less than three occasions. “We have tried to get even closer to our partners throughout these years through the support received at the Adria Security Summit. We plan to attend the coming Summit in October in Croatia. It’s one way to meet potential partners and companies we could work with. It is not just about offering them our access control technology, which is our best-selling product in the region, but rather about introducing them to other solutions we can offer, such as parking ramps and turnstiles. In addition to small and medium-sized enterprises, we are also getting involved in other larger and more complex projects with varied and non-standard requirements”, says Zarzycka. To achieve this goal, they are constantly investing resources in educating partners and customers about new series of products and solutions. This is done while simultaneously working on integration with different security platforms, which means that they will be able to access the projects not only with ZKTeco’s hardware but also with a full range of specialized products aimed at other complementary security segments. Regarding the manufacturing segment, ZKTeco will soon move its warehouse to a new facility in Madrid. So, it’s all about a comprehensive approach whose proper implementation will make success inevitable.No delays in production and delivery
When it comes to storing products with the aim of timely delivery in difficult times marked by the chip shortages in the global market, ZKTeco claims that they have prepared for the lack of materials and stored a lot of raw materials. “We have no production delays, and in addition, we have doubled the stock of all the products we sell here in Europe, so we have no problems with delivery. It’s all just a matter of proper planning. I am sure that with a larger warehouse, the situation will be even better, that is, it will be an even smaller problem than it is now “, says our interlocutor. However, due to rising raw material prices and multiplied transport costs, they were forced to revise the prices of their products. But, on the other hand, they compensated for this by extending their warranty to three years.
Showroom Tour
To get acquainted with the entire range of ZKTeco’s solutions, we visited a beautifully decorated showroom, which is divided into product segments, from access control and time and attendance to smart locks for hotels and smaller housing units. We were greeted by Mr. Robertodino Sebastiano Leita, an amiable International Presales Engineer with ZKTeco Europe. As an excellent connoisseur of ZKTeco’s products and solutions, he introduced us to each product group and answered all our questions in detail.
ZKBioSecurity – the Core of ZKTeco’s Solutions
At the heart of ZKTeco’s solutions is the ZKBioSecurity web platform, which integrates multiple functionalities. It is all about the so-called modules for access control, time and attendance, online and offline elevator control, hotel and visitor management, parking lots, mobile patrols, and video surveillance. There are also new modules that allow data management from all access control devices, including body temperature measurement. VMS modules that support thermal cameras and network recorders are also included. When ProFace X [TD] or SpeedFace V5L [TD] face recognition devices are used, the person’s image is sent to the software, with the security guard being able to identify the person with the higher body temperature than usual. The people flow management feature has been added to the time and attendance module. The latest version of the platform also provides advanced security features such as FP online registration, HTTPS encrypted communication, registration using a QR code, an LCD screen to display a log of live access events, etc.
“The platform is one of our main services. I do not define it as a product, but rather as a service because it includes all the necessary solutions within the security framework. Access control is at the core of what we do, and to that, we can add more functionalities that are translated into modules. The control we provide is primarily focused on user protection. By this, I mean any type of information, such as normal entries, normal events, alarm events, and some types of anomalies – all of which are perfectly controlled. It is possible to integrate not only with our other devices but also with the products made by our partners via APIs and SDKs directly. Each module communicates with other modules, which is fundamental. This means that if you want to verify the alarm caused by an access control system or activate the alarm, open or close the door due to an event in the CCTV or sensor module, you are actually able to do it”, says Leita. The platform can be used in projects of all sizes. Its optimized architecture, which enables advanced biometric identification, and a modern interface provide users with a completely new experience and easy management of various systems.
Time and attendance from anywhere
When it comes to time and attendance data and associated hardware, the key difference is that ZKTeco generally does not use controllers but rather terminals. Still, “the market has changed a lot over the years and we are aware that mobile and cloud solutions are taking precedence. That is why one of our latest innovations is GoTime Cloud, in which a user can now use a mobile phone in addition to traditional card and biometric verification methods, while the supervisors have total control over employees: where they are, what kind of work they do, etc. You can see on the screen that each working code is marked with an image and all of them can be exported as reports”, explains Leita. Localization is available in the form of a map, which is increasingly in demand in the market, and you can also create advanced calendars, custom shift schedules, or configure all changes in your company.
Integration of mechanical entrance control and access control
The entrance control product series features several categories. There are several types of turnstiles and barriers available, which are divided based on the level of mechanics and electromechanical control one needs. The showroom featured various three-arm turnstiles and turnstiles with curved and flat flaps and barriers for parking lots, together with vertical tripod barriers used in football stadiums. But the real benefit is found not only in the products themselves but in the fact that they can integrate with their own access control. “It is important to mention that we can perform any mechanical and software integration ourselves because we are the proprietors of our technology. This means that no matter what kind of reader or controller is demanded for turnstiles, we can offer it to our customers. This greatly simplifies the work of the installers who install them in the field”, says our host.
Innovation at work
To get an idea of the designing prowess of their engineers, we were introduced to the ZPad Plus, one of ZKTeco’s best-selling products. Originally, it was a device used for time & attendance, but during the pandemic, there came a need to check the green certificate. So, they used the original public applications certified by the Italian government and integrated them with their hardware, which can now make decisions and open doors or activate an alarm relay based on the validity or invalidity of the certificate. “It is one of our best designs so far and it has been a great success, especially because we have improved the algorithm that has the ability to check personal documents, so we can be sure that the certificate belongs to the person who shows it”, says Leita.
We also had the opportunity to check the Mars Pro series of turnstiles with flat or curved flaps, designed for spaces with a large flow of people. It has a modular structure and comes with new features, such as frame modularity, which can be easily assembled and disassembled. No matter what level of damage is done to your turnstile, only its impacted part will need to be replaced. However, the most important functionality is the number of ten million cycles, which is a rarity on the market.
Radar-equipped barriers
There are two types of barriers on the market: those with strong mechanical components, which can raise arms up to six meters long, and cost-effective barriers for residential and commercial areas. ZKTeco offers both types. The parking solution is based on LPR bullet and dome cameras integrated with barriers equipped with VR10 radar, which completely eliminates the need for any induction loop. When the vehicle leaves an area, it is not necessary to re-read the plates so a copper spiral is usually installed in the ground and it detects the weight of the vehicle and sends a signal to the barrier to open. With radar, there is no need for that, because it is simply pointed to the right side and calibrated. The license plates are controlled locally by a camera, while the VR10 controls the arms without the need to install a magnetic loop, which also makes the job easier for installers. Another good thing is the anti-shock mechanism, which detects an obstacle (e.g. a child passing by) and prevents the arm from falling. “An additional important functionality of this solution is that it can work independently or you can connect it to our ZKBioSecurity platform. So, in addition to all the information about vehicles that pass through the barrier, you can also link each car with a user in the system”, concludes Leita.
We ended our showroom tour by checking the solutions with smart locks for hotels and smaller housing units, with ZKTeco offering four series: online hotel management, offline hotel management, smart locks with local Bluetooth connection, or smart locks with cloud connection via an e-mail account. This enables remote management of credentials, without the need to go to the site.
Thirteenth security company in the world
After a full-day tour of ZKTeco’s European headquarters and the meetings with the leading people from its management, business development, and technical departments, we were left with the feeling that the company has made a lot of progress during all these years. When we reflect on its first appearances at major security fairs only ten years ago and its modest biometric solutions which focused on cost-effectiveness back then, we simply have to compare it with what we had the opportunity to see and hear during our visit. It is no wonder, then, that ZKTeco ranked 13th among the top fifty security companies in the world according to Security 50 list. They have come a long way from one product group to multi-series solutions but managed to keep the focus on one thing – entrance control. And that is the biggest advantage of ZKTeco.
Computer vision is helping to reshape the transportation industry at every level from streamlining the passenger experience to preemptive fleet maintenance to fuel optimization. As the transportation industry continues to evolve, converging technologies such as 5G and powerful edge compute will enable the next generation of prescriptive and adaptive data-driven outcomes benefiting passengers, the industry and sustainability.
Byline: Wayne Arvidson, Global Director, Market Development and Strategy, Dell Technologies
Whether moving people or goods, transportation environments are in constant motion. Railways, airports, cargo ships, and public and private transportation are complex use cases for computer vision. They require real-time situational awareness, based on the analysis of many different data points, which taxes compute and storage resources at the edge—defined as where the physical world meets the data world.
The challenge is being met using a real-time federated approach with scalable, high-performance hyperconverged infrastructures (HCI), allowing organizations to capture and process large amounts of data at the edge, and provide real-time insights. The results, not the actual data, are then sent back to a centralized location for re-training of the analytics model which then is pushed back out to all edge locations, thus delivering better quality insights in near real-time.
Although computer vision has not yet been widely adopted industry wide, transportation organizations that have invested are realizing gains in terms of safety, customer experience, operational efficiency, sustainability and revenue generation, and are looking to take advantage of further advances in technology in the future. Automation and touchless processes integrated with computer vision greatly enhance transportation services as well.
Collectively, this has a big impact on adopters, especially when organizations are hard-pressed to maximize profits amidst rising costs and reduced resources.
What transportation industry challenges are addressed or resolved with computer vision?
All facets of the transportation industry have seen tremendous loss in revenue and resources over the last few years. As the economy began to turn around, public and private transportation organizations were under pressure to rebound with lower budgets and labor shortages, spurring efforts to find ways to be more efficient.
In addition, safety is a key requirement across rail, water, air, and roadways, often requiring split-second decisions that can often be enhanced by machine learning. And predictive maintenance, where parts are replaced before equipment and vehicles break down, is extremely valuable to operations but often difficult to do well due to the number of variables involved.
In any of these situations, different data points can be ingested once, and analyzed for multiple uses. A security infrastructure can provide a foundation which captures audio and video data, and data from IoT devices, which the computer vision system then combines and analyzes, producing insights that can be used to positively impact safety, the customer experience, operational efficiencies, sustainability and revenue generation.
How can computer vision improve passenger, personnel and facility safety?
A significant part of passenger and personnel safety is to ensure that the facility and equipment itself is physically secure. Through the use of cameras and sensors, computer vision enables more precise inspection of passenger baggage and cargo.
Certain types of behaviors or objects can also be monitored. Electronic devices, such as smartphones and laptops, each have a unique MAC address. Airports today can capture device MAC addresses to track devices throughout a facility. When combined with data from sensors, those devices can be automatically tracked and decisions made in real time. If an unauthorized person enters a secure area, security personnel are alerted to take immediate action. Computer vision systems can also determine how many people are in a location, for example if an evacuation is necessary.
Examples of computer vision affecting the customer experience
An important focus of airports is to get people through the facility as quickly as possible. Part customer experience and part operational efficiency, computer vision with artificial intelligence can improve queue management by proactively determining when to add customer service personnel to an airport check-in counter or open another security line.
The touchless passenger experience is also gaining traction, which aims to minimize time from curb to gate while enhancing the passenger experience throughout the journey (Figure 1). For example, passengers could be automatically checked in upon arrival, prechecked to walk through security, be alerted to gate changes, order a coffee that’s waiting at the shop closest to the gate and use frictionless boarding. This scenario is possible through the correlation of data, with the computer vision system making the decision that you are the correct passenger.
Figure 1. Use of computer vision to streamline the passenger experience
We briefly mentioned the value of predictive maintenance to organizations; it also has a considerable impact on fuel consumption and costs, and can reduce an organization’s carbon footprint. Cameras and thermal vision technology are used to visually inspect vehicles for wear and tear, and when integrated with IoT sensors, can more accurately identify parts that should be replaced.
Airports can use computer vision to greatly increase the efficiency of ramp operations and plane turnaround. The system monitors the location of planes that just landed and whether the luggage offboarding equipment is in place. It also automatically notifies the catering truck, fuel truck, and ramp personnel.
Public transportation also benefits from the efficiencies brought on by computer vision. As municipal transit agencies look to increase ridership and fuel efficiency, some communities are experimenting with dynamic routing of buses to reduce instances of empty buses on routes. For passenger vehicles, some cities charge a fee when your vehicle enters the city center. Pollution sensors detect elevations in airborne chemicals, such as carbon monoxide, triggering an alert that results in varying fees paid by those vehicle owners.
Railways equip trains with cameras and install them in stations to inspect and monitor parts as the train rolls down the track, increasing safety, efficiency and revenues. For a detailed look at how computer technology is used to inspect railcars, browse this Duos Technology Group case study.
Does computer vision affect sustainability in transportation?
In the context of transportation, sustainability focuses mainly on the consumption and proper management of power and fuel. Airports, for example, deal with large amounts of fuel and are concerned about the release of potentially dangerous amounts of vapors and chemicals that could increase air pollution or contaminate groundwater. Deicing planes also requires the use of chemicals, so cameras and sensors can assist in deicing a plane just enough to make it safe without an excess of chemicals flowing from the tarmac or runway into the ground. Airports and railways deal with vegetation control as a means of fire suppression. Computer vision technology monitors fuel usage, air and ground contamination, and even the height of vegetation around landing strips and railyards.
Similar to smart cities, airports, train stations and cruise ships can use computer vision to control power consumption, water usage, air conditioning and heating. Based on where people are and their usage patterns, smart lighting can be automatically controlled to turn off or use downlighting during the brightest part of the day and light other areas 24/7 for safety purposes.
Generating revenue for transportation companies and the public sector
This gets back to doing more with fewer resources as well as enhancing current revenue streams. For an airport, that means steering passengers toward retail within the facility to maximize their spend and turning aircraft around quickly, to allow more flights per day. A single flight can generate tens of thousands of dollars in fees, so getting one more flight through a gate per hour has a significant impact on revenue.
Depending on how crowded an airport is, dynamic pricing could be implemented automatically to adjust parking pricing. States and local municipalities also benefit from dynamic pricing. Drivers typically need a tag or pass for high-occupancy lanes on freeways. Computer vision technology can increase the fee for high-occupancy lane usage based on the current amount of traffic.
How do mobile edge computing and 5G affect computer vision in transportation?
Real-time actionable insights and learning is critical to situational awareness in the field, and technologies like 5G and mobile edge computing enable faster response times.
Consider rolling stock, like a public bus. The driver needs to focus on the road and passengers. A bus equipped with cameras and a compact hyperconverged infrastructure can use computer vision to create real-time situational awareness for the driver as well as for transit hub staff. As the vehicle approaches a bus stop, the system captures the number of waiting passengers, or passengers with special needs. The increased bandwidth of 5G enables fast transfers of the insights back to a central location for analysis, with the results of the analysis streamed back to the bus in near real time.
Computer vision is truly transforming the transportation industry, aided by automation, touchless technologies and 5G. Edge computing and machine learning capabilities make faster and better-quality decision making and situational awareness in the field possible, which in turn increases efficiencies, makes environments safer, lowers carbon emissions, raises customer satisfaction and helps organizations be more profitable.
Founded by Iain Liddell in 1984, Uniserve has grown to become the UK’s largest privately-owned logistics and global trade management provider. Uniview is expected to provide the complete video surveillance solution to Uniserve’s headquarter. Seamlessly blending ocean freight, air freight and road freight services with intelligent warehousing, distribution and supply chain, makes the solution much more complex. Including camera’s in a freezer of minus 30 degrees, So many interesting features and nearly every type of Uniview camera used.
To tackle the multi-dimensional challenges of the solution, products like IPC3615LR3-PF28-D, IPC2325LBR3-SPZ28-D, as well as NSW2010-10T-POE, etc. were used in the project.
LightHunter
Traditional infrared light is regarded as a black-and-white picture, which has a difficult time restoring the real surveillance scene. Poor low-light effect and is easy to lost details. Especially for large warehouses. There are different monitoring requirements at different times. You will face large or narrow space, and there are strong light or dark light even no light environment, all these mixed scenes require high dynamic range of camera video. Uniview LightHunter technology ensures ultra-high image quality in low illumination environment. You will get a good picture no matter where you install the cameras.
Low-temperature environment
There are both common warehouses and low-temperature cold-chain warehouses with surrounding temperature ranging from-18℃ to-25℃ for these large storage systems. Electronic devices tend to shut down during low temperature emviornment, that’s if the camera cannot reach the preheating value, it cannot be started if the ambient temperature is too low. Fortunately, Uniview cameras has a wide adapting temperature, range from -30°C to 60°C (-22°F to 140°F) that can perfectly cope with extremely cold environment.
250m PoE
The large-scale storage system covers a large area and the room is empty. Each floor has no independent shaft or operation room for transit, which is very different from the traditional buildings and hotels. The distance between the two mounting points is very far. NSW2010-10T-POE, up to 250m transmission distance on surveillance mode, make the vast logistics land solution come true.
With everyone’s collaborative efforts, the project was greatly recognized and received high praise from the customer. Uniview’s aim is to become a global leader in video surveillance industry which endeavors to build a safer world by providing professional, reliable and cutting-edge products and services.
Source: Prasanth Aby Thomas, Consultant Editor, asmag.com
The US and many nations have imposed sweeping and severe sanctions on Russia after it invaded Ukraine. These sanctions could have certain downstream effects for US security buyers.
Asmag.com recently spoke to Brian Schwab, Founder and Principal Consultant of S3SDC and partner at eSRX, to understand the extent of these effects. This category includes video surveillance equipment, access control, intrusion detection equipment, etc. The current sanctions list prohibits the export of advanced, dual-use technology to Russia. This will seriously curtail that country’s ability to produce physical security components or equipment of any value for export purposes. But the impact will not be the same for buyers in the US.
“When analyzing the overall global physical security equipment market, in my opinion, Russia does not produce any equipment in this area that is qualitatively or technologically distinctive from any other global producer,” Schwab said. “Generally speaking, physical security equipment, or components thereof, are what economists call “substitutional goods.” This means that given price and availability, a consumer can simply switch from one equipment manufacturer to another and still be able to meet their immediate security needs with little noticeable loss in quality.”
That said, Russia is not a major global market player in equipment production. Most of the top physical security equipment manufacturers are in Asia, western Europe, and the Americas. The market for Russian physical security goods in the US is already minuscule, and these sanctions may not have any noticeable impact on US buyers in sourcing products.
More impact on cybersecurity
Any tangible impact of the sanctions is likely to be felt in the cyber security realm. The COVID-19 pandemic transformed the everyday work environment making telecommuting or remote work the new norm. Online communication devices and info sharing platforms (such as Zoom, Teams, and Dropbox) have become extremely popular. This has increased the number of potentially vulnerable devices and network connections, resulting in a sharp rise in the number and type of potential threats US businesses and other organizations face.
“One major Russian cyber security firm, Kaspersky Labs, has already said it will be unaffected by the sanctions and that it will fulfill its contracts and obligations to international customers and partners,” Schwab continued. “This seems to be because Kaspersky opened a security network data center in Zurich, Switzerland, to handle information voluntarily shared with users in North America, Europe, and Asia.” This allows Kaspersky to mollify any concerns that Russia can exploit data, with or without the company’s cooperation or consent. Yet, Kaspersky’s sales in the US market were flat in 2020 and were estimated to have increased by 2.8 percent in 2021.
Any specter of doubt in the minds of many US security buyers, already cautioned by the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act and actions taken by the US Department of Homeland Security that same year, will likely have already caused many to switch their service provider to a non-Russian organization.
Cybersecurity threats also impact buyers
A second-order effect of the sanctions would be hacktivist or state-sponsored cyberwarfare activities aimed at disrupting business activities, compromising data, and other nefarious activities conducted on behalf of the Russian state.
“This is where I would anticipate the largest financial impact to US security buyers will likely be seen through an increase in costs associated with data protection measures,” Schwab said. “However, with increasing ransomware attacks over the past few years, many US firms have already begun to move in this direction. As such, the second-order effect of implementing these security activities may already be factored into these US firms’ acquisition process and not as much of a heavy lift as one may at first think.”
For those who have not switched but remain committed to using one of several large data analytics firms of Russian origin or location, there are legal issues that must be measured and assessed as part of those firms’ Enterprise Security Risk Management process. This will likely require US buyers to assess their contracts with these Russian firms to determine whether force majeure measures exist, whether these protections would apply (i.e., the undeclared war Russia launched may not be included under force majeure provisions), and how any potential risk of data exposure, compromise, or loss may impact the US company’s downstream clients. If force majeure is not viable, protections may be available under “Restatement of Contracts,” which would allow cancellation of existing contracts due to either supervening impracticability or frustration of purpose. While these will not protect against possible misuse/abuse of data these Russian firms maintain, they will provide some measure of legal protection if data is breached or maliciously compromised.
Impact on the supply chain
Russia plays a small but essential role in supplying specific raw materials used to create security- and defense-related equipment. Russian raw materials, such as titanium, are integral parts of defense and aerospace equipment.
“However, many US firms had begun to diversify their raw materials suppliers following the 2014 Russian takeover and annexation of Crimea,” Schwab pointed out. “Firms may now begin to look to China to pick up the slack, but this is not a guaranteed way to eliminate supply issues caused by sanctions, given the trade war between the US and China that began during the Trump Administration as well as the growing Sino-Russian “strategic partnership.”
Conclusion
In short, Russia’s penetration into the US security market was limited even before this war started. Given Russia’s lack of market share, it is unlikely that US security buyers will see a significant impact from the sanctions imposed on Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine.
The real impact will likely be a drop in immediate supplies of raw materials needed to create security-related equipment and devices. This will potentially cause short-term shortages that will increase prices and the availability of some equipment. However, as new raw material sources are developed, this is likely a short- to mid-term impact only for US buyers.
Finally, US firms will have to assess their existing contracts with Russian firms to protect themselves legally. While this is a time-consuming process in itself, US firms may also experience a corresponding increase in cyber security spending above pre-invasion levels to protect themselves against anticipated Russian cyberwarfare and other state-sponsored malicious hacking activities.
Hotels can be complicated sites to protect. Busy kitchens, extensive electrical installations plus regular repair and maintenance work all increase the likelihood of fire incidents. Add to these the presence of an ever-changing population of residents who may smoke, be careless around call points and detectors, or have varying mobility, and the picture becomes increasingly complex.
No two hotels are the same. Some are high-rise and purpose-built with hundreds of guest rooms and a host of leisure, retail and dining spaces. Others may be sprawling resorts with isolated beachfront villas or remote log cabins. Smaller, boutique hotels pose different challenges, and further complications arise when the hotel is within a historic building.
It’s clear that there is rarely scope for a ‘one size fits all’ solution. Nevertheless, there are some requirements applicable to all hotel fire protection. We will explore some of these next.
False Alarm Management
The causes of false and unwanted fire alarms in hotels can include cigarette smoke, shower steam, the accidental triggering of manual call points, and even contractor activity. Against a backdrop of these and many other possible triggers, how do hotels minimise fire risk, ensure staff and guest safety, avoid undue panic and disruption, whilst also limiting damage to profits and reputation?
A high-performance fire system will offer comprehensive false alarm management generally using cause and effect programming, as well as detection and verification methods to help prevent false alarms.
AlarmCalm false alarm management is available as standard on Advanced’s Axis EN and MxPro 5 solutions and delivers unprecedented control of verification and investigation delays. By dividing sites up into virtual false alarm ‘building areas’ independent of fire zones, users gain more precise control of false alarm management and reduction strategies that exactly fit the needs of each part of a building.
To highlight some of the solutions to the challenges faced within hotels, Advanced has published AlarmCalm Complete False Alarm Management for Hotels.
Phased Evacuation
Selecting a fire panel brand with the ability to process complicated cause and effect is crucial to effectively manage the evacuation process.
When configured correctly, cause and effect programming, can help ensure that the people most in danger from a fire are evacuated first. Meanwhile, the flow of others in the building can be kept at a manageable level and safe escape routes maintained. This is especially the case for systems featuring the latest sounders that support recorded messages or varied tones.
Easy Identification of Fire Events
Large, multi-storey hotel complexes can make it difficult for fire and rescue services arriving on site to find and monitor the spread of fire. This can hamper decision-making, increase reaction time and affect assessments of how to tackle the blaze.
TouchControl
In smaller boutique hotels, where space can be at a premium and aesthetics are important, fire panel location can be contentious. It is a challenge to integrate fire protection discreetly whilst maintaining up-to-the-minute status and control.
For these scenarios, Advanced offers the TouchControl repeater panel. Ideal for use in public areas, thanks to its discreet, low-profile design, the panel complements a wide range of interiors and is capable of displaying hotel notices, messages or advertisements when in standby mode. However, upon detector activation, the display instantly reverts to show fire system status via clear maps and plans of the site and the zone/area in fire. The screen itself has the added benefit that it can be operated by firefighters even when wearing gloves.
The ability to locate powerful fire system technology within high-traffic areas without detracting from high-quality interior decor gives fire system specifiers and installers new scope to combine design appeal with fire safety for full protection of people and property.
BMS Integration to Support PC Graphics
Fire systems within larger hotel premises are often required to integrate with BMS (building management systems) to communicate with third-party solutions. By consolidating data from multiple applications onto one system, end users have full oversight of an entire complex, improving reporting, information management and decision-making.
Advanced’s EN 54-approved Axis EN, MxPro 5 and UL 864-approved Axis AX panels all easily integrate with a site’s BMS via a simple fire protection interface. Once connected, end users with access to Advanced’s PC graphics package can view the status of their entire site via maps and plans.
In summary, well-considered, well-implemented fire protection solutions can transform the experience of hotel residents and staff alike. In making fire protection a priority and specifying the best equipment for each hotel’s particular needs from the outset, it is possible to maximise safety, minimise disturbance, protect reputations and enhance hospitality.
Unscheduled downtime at data centers can cause serious financial, operational and reputational damage. Many operators aim to avoid them altogether, often making UPSs a critical role in the infrastructure. Operators also have to manage the risk of failure and potentially serious danger of the lithium-ion batteries found inside?
The rise of lithium-ion batteries
Uninterruptible power supply systems (UPSs) are key to data center operations yet on-site power remains the most common cause of outages[1] and most downtime incidents are likely preventable. And as the power source, Lithium-ion batteries are steadily superseding their valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) counterparts – and rightly so[2]. Looking at a 10-year period, li-ion batteries cost 31% less than traditional VRLA batteries because of the lower maintenance and replacement costs[3]. They are up to 70% smaller and 60% lighter, and generally work reliably at higher temperatures than VRLA batteries, making them the ideal onsite candidate for UPS application in data centers[4]. On the other hand, the capital expenditure of li-ion batteries is double than VRLA batteries[5], which means that the cost of a potential failure is much higher from day one.
Thermal runaway – the chain reaction of batteries
Another concept managers of data centers must be aware of is thermal runway, essentially a nearly unstoppable chain reaction of defective batteries. Initiated by mechanical or thermal failures – abuse, overcharging or internal short circuit– the battery cell starts to decompose, which increases temperature, which in turn increases the rate of decomposition. The result is a self-feeding heating rate within the cell that increases until the cell loses stability, ruptures, and all remaining thermal and electrochemical energy is released into the surroundings[6], resulting into quickly escalating and catastrophic, often explosive fire, that is extremely hard to extinguish.
The problem with li-ion battery fires
According to a study from the Underwriters Laboratories (UL) Firefighter Safety Research Institute, li-ion battery fires present serious challenges:
Releases explosive gases and vapors during thermal runaway,
Forms and disperses a vapor cloud, and
ineffectiveness of fire suppression.
Thermal runaway fires can have grave consequences: toxic gas leaks, fires, explosions – they could bring an entire data center facility to a halt.
Enter the Li-ion Tamer®
„It is nearly impossible to stop an advanced thermal runaway process, and the consequences could be catastrophic” explained Siniša Pintarić, Business Development Manager – Honeywell Fire & PA/VA Solutions. „This is why the goal here is to look for very early signs of battery failure and to be able to stop the process before it becomes a problem.”
Li-ion Tamer® is designed to provide enhanced safety for battery systems and can be installed at a wide range of integration points throughout data centers.
Off-gas begins as gases that are generated inside individual cells due to exothermic reactions which begin to occur as a result of internal problems in the battery or external abuses. The release of these gases is the first stage of a battery failure which can self-propagate until the battery begins to smoke and go into fully developed thermal runaway. The ability to detect the gases provides a signal capable to providing early warning of the eventual cell failure and can enable actions which can help mitigate the effects of the battery failure.
Li-ion Tamer® is designed to detect and protect from individual modules all the way to room level integrated solutions.
Click here to find out more about our solutions for data centers.
