New Year.. .new security system?

As 2012 draws to a close and we are on the cusp of 2013, many re-evaluate portions of their lives. Here at HAE, we are always on the look out for new trends in emerging technology and how we can upgrade our customer's systems to make sure they are at the cutting edge of the security industry.

With old favourites from 2012 spanning everything from OnSSi and FeliCa, to the BPT Perla and Lenel, we cannot wait to see what innovations 2013 may bring. HAE are lucky to be part of an ever evolving industry.

Our PES Manager, Izak, and our MD, Robert, will keep HAE current and up to date with the latest security solutions that will last the test of time and our multi-faceted engineering team will keep our maintenance sites and installations running smoothly.

Here is to all of you and we are wishing you a very warm and prosperous 2013!!

Managing Director’s Blog

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

As the summer comes to an end, we are looking forward to Autumn and all it brings.  Of course, it has it own unique set of problems for installation and maintenance, not in the least working outside in the colder conditions (if you’ve ever worked up a cherry picker on a rainy, cold December’s day you’ll know exactly what I mean).  One of my roles is to ensure that stratgically we are moving the business in the right direction.  So as the schools re-open their doors, I use the Autumn term to re-evaluate how we run the business and what direction it needs to move in.  I have to ensure that we continue to grow but never lose sight of our clients’ needs and try to fulfil them to the highest possible standards. I feel that I am constantly learning, continuing my education if you like, with all the new developments and ideas that I pick up. As I turn the page over on a new notebook, I ponder on the best ways to drive the business forward and …… “will my handwriting still be this neat by page 9?”

Robert De’Antiquis

A week in the life of a Trainee Engineer

Our latest addition to the HAE family- Trainee engineer, Hamid, gives us an insight into his first week......

'During my first week I’ve learned alot; from BPT access controls to Fire Panels. Every day I’ve been out to different sites and each day faced a different problem. Some days you attend more than one site; you can be fixing an intercom and then later on you’ll be sorting interference on a camera. One of the major things I’ve learnt is how the cabling is put together and checking if there is the right amount of voltage running through the cables and setting up loops and knowing where to put a conductor. I enjoyed working with the different engineers and seeing the different but very similar methods of solving issues. I’ve found the maintenance manager very helpful with any questions I had (deserves a high five!). Initially, I thought having to be up at such early hour to get to work would of tire me out but I’ve found that it just made me work harder and be more responsible as a person. At the moment I’ve been working on the Maintenance side of the company, but I would like to get a taster of the Installation side too.  Having to work with CCTV and seeing how they operate is a great insight, getting to know different types of NSRs - such as the SONY IPELA NSR-500 with ‘Intelligent Video Analytics’ and features like file export to Disc, SD Card or a flash drives. Getting to see the pressure first hand that the engineers have to work under some days makes you want to try harder and make notes to insure that if you get the same problem in the future you’ll be able to solve it on your own.'

Hamid

MD's Blog

"I Didn't Set Out to Beat the World; I Just Set Out to Do My Absolute Best."
- Al Oerter

It was great to get behind the Olympics Games recently; both the opening and closing ceremonies were fantastic and getting so many medals for Team GB really added to the excitement.  The good spirit in the UK, especially London, was almost heady.  For two weeks, people actually talked to each other on public transport and the games were the only topic of conversation. 

We tried to ensure that our customers were not disrupted by traffic issues and moved our start times around to accommodate as necessary, but in the end, there were few issues.

All the security forces and volunteers have been rightly praised, along with all those who have organised, planned and given us a Games to be proud of.

Robert De’Antiquis

HD cameras for the future... make.believe in Sony

Our PES Manager, Izak, discusses his thoughts on HD cameras:

"As with all new technology there are always some sceptics who don’t accept pioneering technology.

I heard about the new HD cameras, but with good IP cameras available at the time, I was not really interested, as proven cameras (like the Sony SNC RX570) had a brilliant zoom and were already outperforming the Coax cameras which currently saturate the market.

As a company, Heston Apex Europe LTD, was chosen to carry out a trial installation of a number of RH-124 Cameras on a stadium.

From the commencement of the installation, it was glaringly clear that this is the new technology for the future of the industry.

On the opening day, with a crowded stadium, it was possible to zoom in and identify people on the opposite side of the field. This enabled the security controllers to monitor any disturbances with ease and be sure that proper identification of the people involved was available.

So why choose the next generation of Sony HD cameras?

1.       Fewer Cameras. With full HD cameras better coverage is provided, with the advantage that identification of individual suspects is still possible. With previous generations of cameras you would need both a static camera and a PTZ camera to zoom in to the specific point of interest to get identifiable images or as alternative a multitude of static cameras zoomed in, which would therefore cover a lot less.

2.       Fewer Monitoring personnel. Fewer cameras also means fewer people are needed to monitor the same area and in tandem with the implementation of DEPA technology found on Sony cameras, intelligent functionality can be utilised on a PC

3.       H264 encoding. With H264 encoding it gives the best use of the bandwidth possible.

4.       High frame rates. With up to 30FPS, a smooth picture is ensured, therefore assuring the consistent capture of movement. This will increase with the newer generation cameras as demonstrated by Sony at IFSEC.

5.       Monitoring in all conditions. The Sony camera ranges have some of the best low light performance around. This includes PTZ cameras and the ER550, as well as the static cameras with additional IR as the DH280 and CH280.  Even in incredibly low levels of light in a server room, I observed a DH140 displaying a clear picture.

Even the best cameras is useless if not correctly set up. The SNC-Toolbox ensures ease of setup with all the cameras and settings available in one place. The cameras now have an easy setup and focus feature that enable the installer to tweak the focus and zoom without the need to sit on ladders with a spot monitor to adjust it."

Managing Director's blog

“Good actions give strength to ourselves and inspire good actions in others.” - Plato

I spent a very enjoyable evening with one of our clients who has been raising funds for St John’s Hospice, in St John’s Wood, Marylebone. 

St John’s Hospice gives extraordinary palliative care, free of charge, for over 2,000 patients and families each year facing many life-threatening illnesses.

There were eight slots in which to sponsor two of our client’s entries in the Great River Race on 15^th September; where the highest bidders would be given the opportunity to put their logo on the side of one of the boats.  I’m pleased to say that HAE entered a bid and were one of the top eight.  We are now looking forward to seeing our logo on the boat and to cheering the team along. 

This is such a good cause and is local to the area, and it will make such a massive difference to the families that St John’s Hospice look after each year.  Their kindness and care should be an inspiration to us all.

Robert De’Antiquis

Lenel Custom Solutions workshop- an engineer abroad

Our PES manager, Izak Potgieter travelled to Rochester in the USA to undertake a course in Lenel Custom Solutions work shop. Check out his blog below- Lenel Custom Solutions Workshop…. An engineer abroad!!!

Lenel Custom Solutions workshop – an engineer abroad

In the last couple of months, since being appointed as PES manager, I have increasingly had to deal with an escalation in complexity and sheer amount of Data Exchanges. With some new projects I have also had to do integration into 3^rd party software and hardware using DataConduIT.

With this in mind I asked to be sent to the annual Lenel Custom Solutions Workshop at the Lenel Headquarters in Rochester NY- which was definitely a challenging experience!

This workshop covered all of the following fields:

·         Database Architecture and links

This sector provided me with some additional insights into the layout of the data in the databases, and as well as supplementary information in regards to the database tables and relevant SQL scripts, links and triggers.

·         Data Exchange.

In the course we did several types of data exports and imports. We did hands on work in class and I definitely learned some new techniques regarding complex Data Exchanges. These will definitely save me a lot of time in the future and also will result in increasingly stable exchanges for more complex projects.

·         Custom Reports

With the use of Crystal Reports, it is possible to write reports that will cover the specific need for any client. With the use of existing templates from Onguard it is a simple case of changing it to fit requirements. This is a massive time saver and increases the simplicity of using the system.

·         DataConduIT

In this section of the course, we covered the basic setup and integration of software with the use of DataConduIT. Included in this coverage was basic fault-finding procedures that will help with all future installations and fault finding.

This was definitely a course that met my preconceived expectations and with the wealth of knowledge I took from it, I will be able to implement it into my work and offer a much better service to our clients.

I also managed to sneak in a bit of sightseeing, and was able to check out New York and Niagra falls- all in all the trip was a great success and I really enjoyed myself!

Why Use a Fully Encrypted Card Access Solution – FeliCa - Sony Make.believe

Cards such as Mifare and FeliCa, have an unique manufactures code (CSN) which until recently was adequate for normal level of access control. The CSN number is part of the manufacturing process and it used to requires a high skill level and very expensive equipment to clone chips with a specific number.

It has been possible for a while to read the card data and retransmit this, but this was again limited to a small number of experts with very specific knowledge about the card technologies.  For those applications where the security level had to be higher, encrypted cards have normally been specified.

With the success of the Internet, information sharing has totally changed. Protocols and details are available on line to any one, which already makes it easier for hackers to access.  

There are a few hacker organisations we are aware of and they publish details on how to hack the HID IClass, Mifare and many other types. This was still more of a development community and not easy to do for non experts. 

This has changed and now you can buy ready made equipment which can read the CSN of Mifare, FeliCa, HID and others. The data can then be easily retransmitted. This equipment can be bought ready made on line by anyone.

With the equipment you can easily read someone's card unnoticed (for example, in a lift) and then walk over to any door and retransmit to gain access.

An example of this equipment is available at: 

http://www.proxmark.org/

The trend in using just the CSN can cause big embarrassment for large corporate companies, if security was breached this way and was released in the public domain.

Security levels of cards and readers are becoming increasingly important because of the above statement.

An example of an encrypted Mifare card hacked is on YouTube. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8VVKnUdECgThere are a few examples on the Internet of this.

“FeliCa” has not been known to have been hacked and would be outside the scope of most people ability, if this was ever achievable due to the high levels of encryption."

Robert De'Antiquis

OnSSI Ocularis

Our PES Manager Izak Potgieter has been working in the security industry for five years. He is extremely well versed in a number of systems and is master certified in Lenel. Izak is HAE's go-to engineer and has allowed us an insight into one of his favourite products:

'After years in the security industry it rarely happens that I stumble upon a product that is so innovative that it amazes me.

When I first heard about OnSSI Ocularis I assumed it would be similar to all of the other products in the field catering for video recording solutions…… but after attending the training I can say that this is truly a high end solution that belongs at the top of the industry.

All the recording is controlled by background services that utilise resourses to the maximum. The user interface is managed with an IIS Web service.

There are several outstanding features: Blank screen monitoring, Push Video, Virtual Matrix and Motion search to name a few. All of these innovations set this apart as a high end solution.

The client software uses multiple screens with full functionality, without any problems and outstanding graphical interface. It also utilizes the GPU (Graphics Card) instead of the CPU to handle the decoding of video for display that is a better and more cost effective way of distributing the processing needs of encoded H264 video streams.

With different Solutions in place from Ocularis PS to ES there will be a solution to fit any given complexity and need.'

Izak Potgieter
PES Manager

To learn more about OnSSI, check out their website: http://www.onssi.com/

“Stop the Press” Sony FeliCa.. make.believe in Evolis

The latest in our Sony FeliCa growth can be attributed to the full integration into the Evolis 'Pebble printer' which allows the full encoding of FeliCa cards. This solution moves FeliCa one step closer towards becoming a true end to end solution and here at HAE has been greeted with much excitement.

This was achievable through using the free SDK tool provided by Evolis alongside their 'Pebble Printers'!

The Evolis 'Pebble' printer allows the printing of colour badges with photo resolution. Easily installable with aesthetically pleasing lines the Pebble 4 printer has a Magnetic Stripe encoder, Smart contact station encoding unit and Contactless encoding unit. These features are all superbly designed and flawlessly integrated making it the printer of the moment.

Watch this space for more developments and check out Evolis' website at: http://www.evolis.com/