The modern security and safety markets are moving at a fast pace, with new technological developments occurring almost every day. The flexibility on offer has never been so good, and for both integrators and end users, the ability to select best-of-breed technologies and adapt these to create a customisable solution adds value and increases the return on investment.
For many, the most innovative approach is to work with an open platform, allowing features and functions to be loaded onto smart hardware devices, thus allowing high performance from the hardware and diverse applications from the many available applications. For many, the benchmark in this sector is set by Security & Safety Things, and its Open Camera OS and Application Store.
Security & Safety Things connects camera manufacturers, developers, integrators and end users through its platform. It harnesses the growing computing power of security cameras to provide valuable operational intelligence for organisations in a variety of industries. Developers use the platform to rapidly create new apps for a variety of cameras from different manufacturers and offer these apps through Security & Safety Things’ open Application Store.
Security & Safety Things effectively turns cameras into multi-purpose IoT sensors that can be adapted to provide value in security, business intelligence and beyond. As a result, end users and integrators enjoy the freedom to combine a wide variety of cameras and apps to meet specific needs and use cases.
The basis for all this is Security & Safety Things’ operating system, built on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). It is free of charge for camera manufacturers. The OS leverages the expanding processing and analytic power of modern cameras, allowing them to run powerful AI-enabled analytic applications. Apps are created by highly specialised third-party developers and are available through the platform’s open Application Store.
Thanks to standardisation through the Security & Safety Things OS, third-party developers only have to develop an app once for it to run on different camera brands and form factors. This enables them to redirect resources to the development of new apps, and so end-users see new innovations and more specialised apps coming to market more often. Taking advantage of such innovative developments is not tied to purchasing new hardware, since supported cameras can simply be re-equipped with new apps during their lifecycle.
Security & Safety Things offers a paradigm shift for how video solutions are planned, deployed, and maintained. System integrators and customers can now pick and mix any combination of camera and analytics capability to support almost any use case. The solution means more than one app can simultaneously run on a camera, allowing it to perform multiple tasks.
To support the deployment and maintenance of such solutions, Security & Safety Things offers a comprehensive Device Management Portal, enabling remote management of any connected camera. Apps can be installed and managed through the portal, giving users statistics about camera status.
Security & Safety Things, together with its camera partners, is already supporting numerous projects. These offer various use cases including heat mapping and queue analysis in retail stores, automated payment processing or license plate recognition for barrier-free traffic, and a host of others.
At the time of writing, the Application Store features more than 90 AI-enabled apps from over 35 development partners, with more apps uploaded on a regular basis.
