As a result of rapid urbanization and urban growth, today’s cities are dealing with complex and rising security threat levels. It has become increasingly evident that technology is an important tool that can be used to counter the negative impact of the situation and provide safe and secure cities. “Asia is a regi
As a result of rapid urbanization and urban growth, today's cities are dealing with complex and rising security threat levels. It has become increasingly evident that technology is an important tool that can be used to counter the negative impact of the situation and provide safe and secure cities.
“Asia is a region with one of the most numbers of high growth cities. With rapid growth, economic opportunities, migration, and work force mobility, it is bound to have a greater number of conflicts, social unrest, and criminal activities. These two factors combined expose the fundamental weaknesses of traditional law enforcement and public safety, which surveillance technologies can overcome,” said Patrick Lim, Director of Group Sales and Marketing at Ademco Security Group.
Currently, some countries are largely focused on installing and improving their video surveillance systems while others are in the process of shifting from merely monitoring the cities to leveraging their security networks to provide real-time information that local and state authorities can use to make effective decisions to mitigate dangerous situations.
City Surveillance Project Challenges
Countries in this region have widely varying levels of infrastructure, threats, and surveillance capabilities. The fact that the city departments in each country may not have been coordinating their efforts and end up with systems that cannot be easily integrated into one infrastructure confounds the situation even further.
The importance of a systems integrators (SI) to ensure that all these disparate subsystems can be operated together efficiently, cannot be understated. They would need to work with a broad range of suppliers to provide the right solution for that particular city as there is no one perfect solution that can be used for all cities.
Since most projects are growing in complexity and scope, government budgetary concerns are, of course, a primary factor that can affect the overall design and implementation of these security systems. “Safe city projects have evolved to much more things than just surveillance even though it still forms the cornerstone of such projects. The dilemma for many cities will be the huge capital outlay versus the continuous growth that they will be experiencing,” mentioned Lim.
Some governments are now taking a different approach to manage this problem. Instead of spending copious amounts of money for system maintenance, they are turning toward SIs to not only design and carry out the project, but also to provide continuous service for an allotted period of time.
“These days, however, most if not all city surveillance projects will go on a leasing basis where the systems are leased to the government for a nominal fee for a number of years and monthly payment are calculated based on the system's performance and uptime. Hence, ensuring the system is well maintained by the SIs for maximum rental collection,” said Jen Huei Chong, Sales Manager at Integrated Choice.
“These concepts have helped the government to accelerate the adoption of city surveillance by moving from high capital expenditure (CAPEX) to operating expenditure (OPEX).”