PSIM, or security platforms that take feeds from various systems and provide guidelines on how to react in the event of an emergency, has enjoyed a good year in 2016, with greater analytical capabilities, more drone applications, and more federated solutions being cited as some of the top trends.
That’s according to Keith Bloodworth, CEO of CNL Software. “PSIM is a smart way to connect vast numbers of DVR/NVR/CCTV systems, from multiple different vendors, to retrieve video of interest for distribution to the force operatives who require the information,” he said. “What has been significant in 2016 is the growing number of law enforcement agencies around the world who now acknowledge that the best solution comprises public/private co-operation as well as use of phones, drones and whatever technology gives them access to video most accurately and/or quickly."
Among the prevailing trends in PSIM last year, combination with analytics to increase efficiency definitely stood out. “Video analytics is back, especially embedded in the camera for live detection or as a forensic tool to retrieve video clips needed for post incident investigations. Where this becomes interesting is the use of mixed technologies from multiple vendors to build an end user application, as required and defined by a client,” Bloodworth said. “This is how PSIM and other third-party vendors, particularly analytics, can offer huge reduction in operations, costs and time by allowing automation in event identification and process. Analytics used on their own are not a solution, but as part of a wider, more encompassing operation, can add detection and tracking as well as identify from vast amounts of video data from multiple vendors.”
Another trend is PSIM co-working with drones, which take video surveillance to areas that are otherwise inaccessible to humans and have gained wider acceptance among law enforcement. “However, this evolving technology needs to be managed, to provide the required information on the situation at the right time and technology is now required in the command and control room for identification and bi-directional use of this geo located video – hence the need for even smarter PSIM solutions with the ability to take the workflow elements out of the field and in the hands of operations staff,” he said.
The use of federated solutions for larger enterprises was also a prevailing trend, as users of multiple numbers of control rooms are now looking for them to be aggregated and managed from a central command facility, maintaining both local and centralized operations. “CNL Software has several very large examples, where this is now in use and is having a huge ROI on deployment, management of the assets, enterprise-wide updating as well as managing all the required information at all points in the enterprise. Armed forces, government and ministries are obvious areas in need of this federated approach to PSIM, and this is set to grow as a specialization in the next few years,” he said.
As for what’s in store this year, Bloodworth sees a reduction in entry-level PSIM vendors, a market increasingly taken over by VMS and access control system manufacturers. “We expect to see ongoing significant growth for enterprise level PSIM vendors, where PSIM is a customized, mission critical solution for the client, with tailored user interfaces, workflows and standard operating procedures,” he said.