Electronics group, Panasonic has announced the creation of a new division called Panasonic System Solutions.
At a presentation in central London recently, the company explained the rationale behind the move and introduced a range of new equipment.
The new division will incorporate the functions of the company's cctv, IP camera, EPoS, iris recognition and NMstage (digital signage) sectors - most of which have been handled separately in the past - and provide an end-to-end solution for a whole range of different business system requirements.
Security being a key part of the Panasonic System Solutions portfolio, it comprises a range of products including CCTV cameras for use to monitor activities in the leisure and hospitality environments, plus shops, warehouses and car parks.
In the retail sector the cameras can be linked to the EPoS system via the Panasonic WINICS software. As well as handling functions such as stock reporting, sales monitoring and the tracking of promotions, the software also provides a platform for linking till transaction data with employee activity as recorded from CCTV cameras.
It works by using the relevant EPoS transaction data and the specific CCTV evidence, which can be interrogated down to location, cashier, transaction and time. Analysis of this data can then be performed by local, area or head office management at any location using a router over a wide area network.
New to the company's CCTV camera range is the Super Dynamic III (SDIII) series, said to be the first surveillance cameras to be able to think and act on their own. The first two models in the range are the WV-CS950 Colour Dome Camera and the WV-CP480 Colour Fixed Camera, both of which debuted in May.
In addition to cameras for mid to top-tier businesses, a comprehensive range of IP cameras suitable for home and small-to-medium-sized businesses is available. These provide cost-effective security solutions for tasks such as warehouse management, monitoring small shops and for surveillance of parking areas. For home use they can be used for checking on holiday homes, vacant properties and for watching a child's room.
Across all these environments the images can be transmitted using LANs and WANs, as well as mobile technology, allowing footage to be relayed to the internet and sent to a mobile phone.
Amongst a wide range of network colour cameras available, the newest is the fully functional KX-HCM280 dome camera, with a 360 degree observation and pre-set position capability. Also part of the portfolio is the WV-NM100, which incorporates a digital video camera, web server and network interface into one compact unit. In addition to JPEG, it can also handle the new MPEG-4 format.
Panasonic has also been developing iris recognition products, which it believes represent a more secure alternative to ID cards and passwords and which are already being used in banks, government buildings and airports.
The company's BM-ET300 Iris Recognition System is already installed at both Tokyo and Schiphol airports where they are initially being used to control the access of frequent flyers into the departure areas. There is also the potential for such devices to be used for immigration checks.
Another new product and expected to make a great impact on the market is Panasonic's digital signage software - NMstage. Its real-time, multi-window scheduling allows the management of content such as in-store TV, real-time 'news ticker tapes' and emergency messages, and the ability to schedule it out when needed to multiple screen types including projectors, LCDs and plasma displays.
NMstage can be fully integrated with other products in the group's portfolio; by linking it with the EpoS system it is possible to feed data directly through to screens in restaurants and shopping malls to display information such as menu boards.
It can also help with promotional marketing by allowing retailers to measure the effectiveness of any advertising that they run on their screen networks.
By linking the scheduling software to IP cameras and the EPoS system it is possible - by analysing the transaction data - to monitor how many people have looked at the promotional adverts and to also check what impact they have had on sales levels of the product being promoted.
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