Analytics can help enterprises transform video-surveillance systems into force multipliers, IXP official says

Such analytics technology makes it more efficient to utilize video as a solution than to pay a person to be at a particular site around the clock, Consalvos said.

“For one of our clients, the cost of that one fixed-post position would fund 10-15 smart cameras—and that’s a full implementation of camera, video-management platform and analytics,” he said.

One of IXP’s recent deployments has been with Cal State-Northridge, which is using video analytics to help monitor surveillance cameras located at campus parking garages, parking lots, walkways and other areas where incidents have occurred, Consalvos said.

“It’s a workforce multiplier, in that the feeds from those cameras are going through some behavioral-recognition analytics—they are becoming a force multiplier inside their communication center,” Consalvos said.

But Consalvos emphasized that video should be leveraged only as a valuable tool within a greater operations strategy, not a silver-bullet single solution that is appropriate in all use cases.

“Remember, the goal here is the integration of technology and operations,” Consalvos said. “You can’t replace every resource with a camera, and you can’t replace every camera with a resource.

“It has to be best-fit for the client—that’s part of our methodology. You really have to understand what the risk profile is, what their operational requirements and end-to-end metrics are, and then you’ve got to examine their technology platforms in the enterprise to make sure you can consolidate all three of those aspects into a real workable, cost-effective solution.”