Unlimited capabilities with VMS

Video management software ( VMS ) is turning CCTV surveillance technology into a powerful business management tool. In fact, the number of applications may soon only be limited to the breadth of the user’s imagination.

According to Gus Brecher, managing director of Cathexis Africa, customers are benefitting from a much broader range of applications, which are not only enhancing security, but actually improving the way in which businesses operate, with a direct impact on their bottom-line.

The power of video management software  ( VMS ) lies in its ability to add real value to the organisation beyond the scope of traditional security management. It is the enhanced video analytics and powerful integration with third-party systems that turns a traditional CCTV surveillance system into a com­prehensive operational efficiency tool, that can be used to positively impact all areas of the ­business, including: marketing, training, employee management, health and safety, liability and so on. Gone are the days of a certain portion of the company budget being grudgingly set aside for security services.

The CathexisVision software  ( VMS ) turns the CCTV system into a complete organisational tool where the cost of installation is easily justified across the entire organisation’s operations and every division of the company. Imagine, for example, if your retail CCTV system could help you analyse specific point-of-sale transactions or even analyse shopper trends in order to increase sales? If a bank’s CCTV set-up when integrated with the ATM system, could notify the control room of suspicious activity or abandoned objects? If a logistics company could integrate their CCTV coverage with their vehicle tracking system? And if the entire CCTV system of a mining conglomerate with operations all over the world could be alerted ahead of time of an impending system failure?

These are just a few of the major benefits of intelligent surveillance software. “Our latest product release, CathexisVision 2015 adds even more functionality and capabilities to our software, which is well-known for its sophisticated security and infrastructure management capabilities,” he says. CathexisVision features include:

Cathexis offers a range of video analytics to improve the effectiveness of the system. Examples of the various applications include: object tracking, queue length analysis, speed, direction, loitering, line crossing, colour analysis and background image stabilisation. It analyses vast amounts of data, while generating actionable information. Integrated with the surveillance system for almost any installation, the system automatically pinpoints significant incidents, allowing for immediate user-defined action, including notification to control rooms or sending an alarm.

CathexisVision 2015 ensures zero-downtime in the event of a server recording failure with its Automatic Failover Redundancy. The reliability of the system goes hand-in-hand with the kind of stability that customers have come to expect from Cathexis, such as its unique health monitoring system, which ensures integrity through the provision of automated warnings of any possible impending failure. This allows maintenance engineers to perform corrective maintenance before the system fails.

The quick camera setup allows for the installation of hundreds of CCTV cameras in a matter of minutes. In addition, CathexisVision 2015 provides an open platform, and includes a host of newly integrated IP cameras. The Cathexis open platform makes it possible to customise the surveillance solution and select different types of CCTV cameras (native and ONVIF protocols). This ensures that the solution meets the demands of different applications to be integrated seamlessly, providing clients with the best solutions for their application.

Cathexis has also developed Web-based hardware and licence design tools to assist distributors and installers to design the best system for their application. The hardware tool enables users to enter camera and storage parameters and automatically generates the recommended recording client servers for the particular project.

The licence tool allows the user to enter site requirements (number of cameras, third-party integration, video wall requirements, etc) and receive an automatically generated bill-of-materials.

The interactive user interface provides a visual representation of a single or multiple sites. The new video reviewing interface includes a time bar for the optimal user experience when reviewing video footage, including a multi-camera synchronised playback.

Cathexis has also introduced a ’reduced bandwidth reviewing’ feature that enables users to review recorded footage at lower than recorded resolution. Historically, systems have provided reduced bandwidth streams for live footage. This feature now does the same for recorded footage.

One of the major differentiating features of CathexisVision is the capability to integrate various third-party systems. This integration functionality enables data mining of transactions and associated video footage, which is enhanced by predetermined actions upon information received, as well as the association of specific actions for events.

The third-party systems include: access control, point-of-sale, alarm panels, fire panels and many others. Always on the lookout for superior integration systems, Cathexis Technologies has also recently added Paxton access control, Gallagher access and fence monitoring, ACT access control, Future Fibre Technologies’ fence system, REPOS point-of-sale, WBX weighbridge, Genesis alarm panels, as well as Trek scales, and many more.

Cathexis Technologies has over the past two decades become a local success story with its globally acclaimed local software systems development, specialising in video surveillance solutions for the international market. With offices now based in Africa, Europe and the Middle East, and distributors in the US, Australia and other regions, Cathexis Technologies has enjoyed exceptional growth in recent years.