Security and Surveillance to drive Smart Cities concept

The scope of Security and Surveillance in the Smart Cities project is wide and vendors are heavily engaged with the government to tap enormous business opportunities coming up with the connected world concept

The ambitious project of ‘100 Smart Cities’ has created lot of buzz in the country. With investment of around Rs.7,060 crore pouring in, the Smart Cities project is attracting huge IT engagement in the areas of Security and Surveillance. Security integration has gained significance and it is going to be the major driver of the success of the Smart Cities project. The scope of Security and Surveillance is wide and vendors are heavily engaged with the government to tap enormous business opportunities coming up with the project.

Video Analytics and Surveillance

Video Analytics is the best innovation happened in the security domain. CISCO in a joint venture of big giants like L and T is offering smart security solutions in the smart city project. Major city surveillance projects in India have some technology component from CISCO.

Lokesh Lohiya, Regional Manager, Business development, CISCO emphasizes on need of command control system and mission critical network in city surveillance.

“Major smart city projects are failing because video does not reach to the control room or communication does not happen from the control room. It happens because of absence of robust network on the place. We are offering customized Video Analytics and connectivity solutions. We have developed video management software which offers smart features. Our high tech cameras are giving new dimensions to Video Analytics”, he says.

Similarly, Video Analytics is the core part of Security and surveillance of Mumbai Metro. Capt. Ramesh Kumar, Head of Security, Mumbai Metro opinion that future security is always going to be technology driven.

“We are enhancing our technological strengths and we are getting more into Video Analytics”, he says.

IOE enabling safe city concept

Internet of everything (IOE) is a big buzz around the world. It is more relevant for Smart city project enabling safe city concept from India perspective. Lohiya says that IOE is very much customized to Indians security and surveillance vendors can explore IOE in a local ways.

“IOE is all about is connecting the non connective things. It creates a platform to bring intelligence and innovation which has to be customized for Indian environment. Vendors have lot to explore with IOE in safe city projects”, he says.

 Security Integration in Traffic Management

City surveillance project is incomplete without effective traffic management system. Bangalore Traffic police department has successfully integrated IT in the traffic management system in the city. Under its B-TRAC project, the department has introduced several high tech traffic management mechanisms like Blackberry system, E-Challan system. Today Bangalore has the most robust automated traffic enforcement system in the country.

B Dayanand, Additional commissioner of Police (Traffic), Bengaluru city says, “If we really want to have a Smart traffic management in any city we need to collaborate with the technology. We also need to have a vibrant public transport. We are looking for emerging technologies that are suitable and can be customized to Indian environment.”

Bangalore Traffic police has collaborated with surveillance vendors and system integrators for next generation technologies for traffic management such as vehicle dictators.

Image Courtesy: gogreeninthecity.com

Managing Network Security

Wireless communication is a heart of smart city project. With increasing internet penetration, there is going to be increase in risk of data misuse. With hackers becoming super hi tech, they can easily target SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems to disrupt sensitive data. Porus Mehta, Sr Manager, Ericsson says that solutions like PKI infrastructure and intrusion prevention system could minimize the risk of hacking.

“Zero day attack very difficult to control. However, we need to try stop attacks from end users side. For that Unsecured networks needs to be secured. There should be compulsory registration in Wi-Fi. We can have integrated control within the chip itself and all communication should be encrypted. The Network Security vendor has wide scope to offer integrated security solutions for Network Security Management”, he says.

Managing Security integration

While talking about various technology integration for security and surveillance, there is need to ensure that security integration is maintained. There are multiple ways to look at security integration. Security manager has to select from the choices as per business policies of the organization.

Deepak Kaul, Channel Marketing Manager, Honeywell Security says, “Integration is a very open word and everybody is interpreting in different ways and the choices are many. In terms of security integration with Video Analytics and Data Analytics make the system smart”, he says.

Conclusion

Security industry has evolved and become matured in India. The industry is growing at the rate of 30-35 percent per year. We are using Internet of Things, Data Analytics and Video Analytics in a big way. Now when we are heading towards smart cities and integration of various security applications, the role of Security vendors becomes more critical. It has opened many doors to Security vendors to explore new business prospects.