3VR Blog

Tue, 15 Jun 2010

3VR Partners with Arecont Vision, Completes Participatory Testing in the Arecont Vision MegaLab

Coming on the the heels of our expansion of our SmartCam Program, earlier today we announced that the entirety of Arecont Vision’s line of advanced IP megapixel cameras are 3VR SmartCam Certified, making Arecont Vision the first camera manufacturer to be certified across 3VR’s complete product line.

Furthermore, last week we completed participatory testing in the Arecont Vision MegaLab, a dedicated testing environment that includes more than 80 cameras and every model Arecont Vision offers. With the assistance of Arecont Vision engineers, we completed three certifications over a two-day period: Camera Integration, Feature Integration and Load Testing.

Many customers are already experiencing the benefits of interoperability of 3VR and Arecont, including a major retailer that has implemented the joint solution in hundreds of locations to lower camera counts, improve storage capacity and provide enhanced imagery for analytics and data correlation.

Just another example of how we're partnering with leading vendors to provide higher performing solutions and a greater ROI for all our of customers and integrators. We're very excited for what the future of our partnership with Arecont holds.

Check out the full release here: http://bit.ly/9BPVHv

Mon, 07 Jun 2010

The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread! Members 1st Joins 3VR Family!

We're very excited to announce that Members 1st Credit Union has joined the 3VR family!

Chip McBreen, assistant vice president, fraud and security services, has implemented 3VR, specifically our P-Series SmartRecorder, across many of Members 1st's 43 branches (with the help of the Gilbertson Group), and is a huge proponent of its reduction on investigation times and superior video quality. Members 1st plans to deploy 3VR across all branches by 2011. Read the full press release here.

Check out the many good things Chip has to say about 3VR in SecurityInfoWatch.com, Security Director News (and Security Systems News), Security Products and the Credit Union Journal. In his own words, Chip described 3VR as being "the best thing since sliced bread" and we believe it.

Tue, 04 May 2010

Join Us! Live Webinar on Implementing Intelligent Surveillance and Search in Banking

Join us next Tuesday, May 11 at 11:00 am PDT, for a live webinar entitled “Best Practices for Implementing Intelligent Surveillance and Search Platforms: A Banking Case Study,” featuring Ted Barron, former CPP Vice President and Security Manager at Wells Fargo.

Ted Barron will be joining our 3VR Chairman and Founder, Steve Russell to share his experiences in testing, implementing and deploying 3VR’s intelligent surveillance and search technology at one of the largest financial institutions in the US. Through the bank’s rigorous testing and implementation efforts, they were able to determine best practices for the use of facial recognition, transaction integration and more. Most importantly, the bank discovered that search is the truly transformative feature of intelligent surveillance solutions.

This webinar will cover:
  • Goals and methods for testing intelligent surveillance and search solutions
  • Findings and recommendations for implementing intelligent surveillance and search on a large scale
  • Impact and ROI from intelligent surveillance and search solutions
And wait there's more! All webinar attendees will receive a copy of “Best Practices for Implementing Intelligent Surveillance and Search in Financial Institutions,” a 3VR Best Practices Guide written in collaboration with Ted Barron.

To Register: https://3vr.webex.com/mw0306lb/mywebex/default.do?siteurl=3vr&service=6

Mon, 12 Apr 2010

It’s about Customers: Why positive stories help the whole industry

Today’s security twittersphere has been active over a recently released report from Security Systems News Editor Sam Pfeifle entitled Facial Recognition: Does it work? (available in full to SSN’s premium readership).

Some of Pfeifle’s report (if we can be so bold as to paraphrase) centers around some emerging use cases for facial recognition analytics – two specifically from 3VR customers Redner’s Markets and Hilton America (see related stories on both Redner’s and Hilton here).

Specifically, Pfeifle calls out successful use cases for facial recognition related to using face rec as a forensic tool, combining analytics to enhance investigations, and the power of search to uncover useful data relating to organized crime rings and other meaty problems affecting businesses today.

“Rather than try to tag bad guys as they come into the store, Deily said the facial recognition was most useful for searches after the fact. “It helps with manpower,” he said, “by cutting down on the time it takes to investigate.” (SSN)

In the ensuing Twitter argument between Pfeifle (@sam_pfeifle) and IP Video Market’s John Honovich (@ipvideo), the point is argued whether positive customer stories are meaningful additions to the technology debate or just thinly veiled infomercials for a given manufacturer.

While we generally like to remain outside the fray of these industry dog fights, we feel compelled to ask the simple question here. If customer stories do not matter, then what does?

Recently, we’ve held back on making our own claims about face rec in favor of allowing our customers to speak about the value they derive from the technology in their own words. And talk they have – citing their own experiences with 3VR face rec and how it helps them shorten investigations, find more bad guys, reduce internal losses, and serve their customers more effectively.

In simple, customers are finding value in technology that rises above the level of hype and FUD. Certainly, we want the industry to know about that, and we are grateful for our customers’ willingness to share their experiences with their peers.

3VR is the first to admit that facial recognition is a controversial technology, oft oversold, poorly specified, and mis-implemented. Fantastical use cases of finding terrorists at the Superbowl or tracking fleeing suspects on live video have created CSI-like expectations that cannot be fulfilled with today’s technology.

Could SSN have found a customer to bad-mouth face rec? Sure, but what is the point? Have we not heard this story before (view this small compendium of face rec failure stories)? Is the industry interested in hearing about technology that fails or are they interested in information that will actually help them to improve their own operations, catch more bad guys, and improve the safety and security of our citizens and the people who protect them?

And this is precisely the point, as emerging use cases surface through first-hand customer successes, the industry needs to know! It’s not about a publisher or an analyst or a manufacturer presenting a biased account supporting a particular position, it’s about finding meaningful use cases for technology and presenting those to the market so that others can enhance their understanding of how that technology can impact their business.

For our part in the debate – we’ll continue to show the success of our customers as evidence of the value of analytics and search.

Thu, 01 Apr 2010

Lessons from Complex Installations

A New York Times article this week highlights the issues surrounding New York City’s problems with its vast camera system. In the wake of 9/11, New York is a city that has relied on and supported its ever-expanding influx of surveillance cameras. It is difficult not to notice the cameras placed at nearly every street corner in an effort to help police gather evidence to catch criminals, and investigate crimes and possible acts of terrorism. But there is a significant problem plaguing a specific area of the system, the subway. The New York Times reported that nearly half of the subway system’s 4,313 security cameras that have been installed are not working properly. The article specifically pointed out that the surveillance system today, “remains a patchwork of lifeless cameras, unequipped stations and problem-plagued wiring.

That is a significant problem, especially in the wake of this week’s suicide bombings in Moscow’s subway system that left at least 36 people dead. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority operates the city’s bus, subway and train system and it is responsible for the surveillance systems.

There are two issues at hand here. One is that the integration of the various sensors and video management system installed in the NYC subway system is so complex that one issue can potentially take down an entire network of cameras. Second, there is no system health alerts in place to let operators know when there are issues with a particular sensor. Unfortunately, both these issues attributed to the fact that no video is available to investigate a recent homicide.

New York has invested an enormous amount in this system and police and other first responders should be able to rely on it to investigate crimes in an efficient manner and increase situational awareness. Right now, they are unable to do either.

It is exactly these issues that has driven 3VR to build a platform that is both easy to install, easy to use and has robust capabilities, including health monitoring, that will enable customers to make sure their systems are installed and are running correctly.

3VR takes the burden of complex programming and compatibility issues out of the hands of integrators and end users, and allows them to focus on putting the technology to use saving lives.

3VR has built its Intelligent Surveillance and Search Platform to be easy to deploy for integrators. Not only does it take the IT complexity out of the equation, but it also integrates key functions, such as video management, facial surveillance and license plate recognition. Also the platform is based on open standards and is able to integrate with various manufacturers’ cameras, sensors and other business applications. This makes it less complex from an integration standpoint and easier for end users to navigate its inherent functionality. In addition, the system’s comprehensive health monitoring capabilities alert operators to malfunctioning cameras, failing hard drives, or even the improper reception of data.

In today’s evolving risk landscape, it is more important than ever to leverage the power of technology as part of a comprehensive security program. Customers need solutions that are both intelligent and easy to maintain and use. This will only make the job of catching criminals and investigating issues easier, and that is the primary goal.

Wed, 31 Mar 2010

3VR in Scientific American

Yesterday, Scientific American posted a piece highlighting 'search' as the next trend for surveillance technology, specifically in the hospitality and banking industries, and featured 3VR as a leading company in the space.

The writer, Larry Greenemeier, who spoke both with folks at Hilton Americas-Houston, where we recently deployed, and our founder and chairman, Steve Russell, hones in on the implementation at Hilton to describe the different parameters 3VR can search on, as well as the tremendous value 3VR provides around customer service, employee time fraud and parking lot activity in the hotel.

In addition, he references our Union Savings Bank deployment and 3VR's unique ability to search by transaction number to determine when and where the illegal activity took place.

Check out the article in full here.

Mon, 29 Mar 2010

3VR on Fox Business News


Today, our 3VR founder and chairman, Stephen Russell, appeared on Fox Business News Online's afternoon show to discuss our unique intelligent surveillance technology. In the interview, Steve discusses how companies like Union Savings Bank and Hilton Americas-Houston are using our platform successfully to enhance the security of their locations and are getting a real return on investment.


Check out the full interview here.

Wed, 24 Mar 2010

3VR's Steve Russell speaking at ISC West

It's a big week for the security industry, yes it's that time of the year again: ISC West! We're out in Vegas this week and are excited to announce that our founder and chairman, Steve Russell is going to be presenting at the conference alongside Joe Davis, senior manager of south region loss prevention at T-Mobile, about how organizations in any industry can leverage intelligent surveillance to improve business transactions and better serve customers.

The session is titled "Business Benefits: Security Technology & Applications for Customer Service," and will detail how folks can use video surveillance to do more than just address loss prevention and organized retail theft. The speakers will outline how organizations can tie their systems to core business values to improve knowledge of business trends, operational practices, transaction conversion, and ultimately increase their bottom line. Davis will also outline how T-Mobile’s investment in intelligent surveillance has helped the company better serve customers and analyze business trends in the retail space, resulting in substantial benefits for security personnel, management and customers alike.

Join us! The presentation is at 11:30 a.m. PT on Thursday, March 25 in Room 202 of the Sands Expo & Convention Center.

Tue, 23 Mar 2010

Introducing the 3VR SmartRecorder, ServerClass 100

3VR today released its 3VR SmartRecorder, ServerClass 100, our most powerful and flexible solution to-date, designed to meet customer demands to deploy 3VR solutions on a larger scale.

A hybrid video recorder and management system built on 3VR’s intelligent surveillance and search platform, the ServerClass 100 offers more camera expansion capabilities, robust analytics, data systems integration and processing capability of any other video management system on the market.

The ServerClass 100 provides a solution to customers who want the flexibility and IT-friendliness of today’s software-only solutions with the ease of installation and support of a hybrid or network video recorder. With expanded camera counts, analytic capabilities, and storage capacity, the ServerClass 100 easily scales to meet the needs of cities, transportation and infrastructure security, as well as other large scale deployments in 3VR’s core markets like retail, banking, hospitality and campus safety.

The ServerClass 100 has already been deployed in airports, power plants, subway systems, and in several large office buildings both domestically and abroad, and will be made generally available to the public May 1, 2010. It is is the first in a series of planned ServerClass products of increasing scalability and power.

The ServerClass 100 will be demonstrated at 3VR's booth at this week's ISC West conference. Stop by booth #3109 or view our new video to learn more.

Thu, 18 Mar 2010

3VR Expands 3VR SmartCam Program

Today we announced the expansion of our SmartCam Program with the addition of new partners, Axis Communications and Arecont Vision. We're pretty excited to have these new partners joining the program - the goal of which is to bring a new level of performance between leading megapixel and HDTV network cameras and our 3VR platform.

The SmartCam Program highlights advanced capabilities that make cameras and the 3VR platform function more effectively together, delivering improved performance for analytics and storage, as well as reducing the support and configuration burden for customers and the integrators that support them. Some of those main features include:
  • Auto-Discovery: All SmartCams must have a documented protocol for network discovery allowing the camera to be detected through the 3VR interface;
  • Configuration API: All camera settings that are available via the cameras native Web UI or camera configuration software are also available to users via the 3VR user interface allowing completed camera configuration through the 3VR interface and reducing the need to travel onsite to adjust and configure cameras; and
  • Dual/Multi-Streaming: Every stream from the camera is available as both a primary stream (H.264, MPEG4, or MJPEG) and at least one secondary stream (MJPEG or bitmap) simultaneously, preferably in independent resolutions and frame rates allowing for high quality streams to be used for analytic purposes while optimizing storage of lower resolution images.
We're excited to announce these first cameras to earn the title of 3VR SmartCam Certified from cutting-edge camera-makers Axis Communications, Arecont Vision, and also IQeye. We look forward to adding support for more many more in the near future!