In an effort to keep their tenuous border with North Korea more secure, the South Korean government has introduced a battalion of 1,000 intelligent surveillance robots to help in patrolling the border.

One of the fastest growing markets for IP surveillance technology is public transportation. Buses, subways, transit depots and stations have been targets for vandalism, theft and violence for many years. Analog CCTV systems were installed in many cities with a mild degree of success, but their cumbersome equipment and limited technological capabilities made them an ineffective security solution.

One of the hottest debates among security professionals today is the future of video surveillance. With two distinct and different types of cameras competing for a slice of the market - which will succeed?

During the ISC West conference held this week in Las Vegas, Cisco announced its first foray into the surveillance camera industry. Cisco's entry comes in the form of a remote-controlled, IP-based digital security camera that operates effectively in both indoor and outdoor environments. The Video Surveillance IP Camera is motion-triggered, and features pan, tilt, and zoom functions that can be controlled remotely.

IBM and Axis Communications are teaming up to release an advanced open framework system for event-based video surveillance that utilizes video analytics and sophisticated indexing. The Digital Video Surveillance solution will support the complete Axis catalog of network cameras and servers, and is fully customizable to meet varying demands.

The UK is testing out a new video surveillance system designed to spot potential criminals, and then follow their movements. The camera unit, referred to as the Pounds 7,000 Bug, features a ring of eight cameras that provide a panoramic view of the area below. In order to determine whether or not criminal activity is taking place, the camera's built-in software, which can identify 50 behavioral traits, scans the footage. If abnormal behavior is detected, a ninth camera focuses in on the suspect and traces that person's actions.

If you live in a city or large town, chances are you've seen their footage on the news or noticed them on the freeway - traffic surveillance cameras are commonplace now on major arteries. In the United States, nearly every state has a dedicated arm of their department of transportation which maintains and monitors surveillance cameras on major roads, interstates, freeways and highways.

The town of Kazan, like many other cities in Russia, has been an seat of trade, government and culture for hundreds of years. However, with modern crises like a dense-evergrowing population, street crime, vandalism and a steady traffic flow, maintaining security has proven to be a bit of a challenge.

The latest trend in surveillance technology is video analytics. Cameras are becoming more intelligent, and in a sense, now feature minds of their own. Today's smart cameras are equipped with built-in video analytics that run software algorithms designed to detect specific events, actions, and even individuals. These cameras utilize sophisticated functions such as motion sensing, behavioral recognition, and facial recognition. But what happens when the sun goes down? With lessened visibility are the cameras still able to carry out these advanced functions at night?

Warfare has evolved rapidly over the last 50 years - the advent of airplanes, submarines and atomic weapons has forever changed the way that wars are fought, and has made strategy, intelligence and espionage into essential battlefield weapons. One of the latest developments in this new, distant type of war? Unmanned aerial drones.

While IP surveillance offers many benefits over analog CCTV, it's common for prospective users to have questions regarding how these new advanced systems affect storage space. With added capabilities such as increased resolution, higher frame rate, scalability, and the continuous recording, streaming, and saving of large amounts of data, IP-based surveillance systems can place a higher strain on storage hardware.

At this year's IFSEC show, 3rdi will showcase an innovative portable surveillance system that allows remote viewing via cell phone. The centerpiece of the system is a small interactive camera that can be placed anywhere. Especially useful for homeowners in search of a cost-effective video surveillance solution, this handy gadget is an intriguing choice due to its small stature and convenient remote monitoring capabilities.

We've discussed how awesome video surveillance is for protecting almost any environment - from schools to businesses to research environments, it's one of the most surefire ways to protect nearly every type of building. But paradoxically, some areas are so secure and so sensitive that video surveillance isn't just inadequate, it could actually wreak havoc.

A recent report from Frost & Sullivan North American Video Surveillance Software Markets has predicted that revenue from IP video will grow a staggering 70% in the next seven years - from $139.76 million in 2006 to $826.7 million in 2013. One of the catalysts behind this amazing growth? Schools.

In its short, 40-year lifespans, video surveillance technology has brought about many security revolutions. Stores have shifted from man powered security to exclusive camera systems. Cameras are used almost universally in places never thought possible - even 10 years ago. But the cultural implications to security cameras started in 1949, before the age of security cameras, with George Orwell's novel 1984.

How many times has this happened to you? You pick up the phone to call a friend and your wireless phone picks up your neighbor's conversation instead. You hear a noise on your baby monitor and it turns out to be someone calling the pizza delivery place down the street. A Palatine, IL woman recently discovered that her baby monitor - a new model featuring wireless video and a viewing monitor - was intercepting some very unusual footage...from the Space Shuttle Atlantis.

The Channel Tunnel (commonly called the "Chunnel"), an undersea tunnel connecting England and France, been called one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. Completed in 1994, the 50km (31 mile) tunnel is used extensively by freight and passenger trains. Surveillance is an important security tool for ensuring that trains move efficiently and safely.

It's the biggest recorded heist in UK history - a staggering £53 million pounds, (about $105 million USD) taken from a sorting and holding depot for retail stores and groceries all across England, even serving the Bank of England. So how did this take place? Money handling and intense security go hand-in-hand, and this depot was no exception. This was an inside job - security guard Emir Hysenaj actually used video surveillance to counter the security of the depot.

While the use of security cameras has increased significantly over the years, and video surveillance equipment is more advanced than ever before, security specialists are still hard at work trying to find ways to make the cameras more intelligent. The goal, essentially, is to create cameras with brains. Right now the focus is on video analytics. IP cameras and video recorders which utilize video analytics are able to spot specific predetermined activity thanks to sophisticated software algorithms. Examples include advanced motion detection, facial or behavioral recognition, people counting, and even spotting situations where an object is left behind, or a car is parked too long in a certain location.

Worries over stocks, bonds, and a sagging housing market have peppered the news of late, and economic forecasts have been gloomy for nearly every industry - except video surveillance. Investment kingpins over at The Motley fool have predicted that the video surveillance market may be in for a boom.

Parallel parking for the first time is never easy - there's the careful initial alignment, and the tricky backwards steering and fingers-crossed reversing into the spot. Hopefully, if all goes as planned, the maneuver will be over soon. However, we all know that these things don't always go as planned - and sometimes, an attempt at parallel parking ends in a gut-wrenching crunch. This is how driving has been for years - a game of chance - a game that many auto makers are trying to change.

In the wake of the worst school shooting in US history, worries about student and classrooms afety are at an all-time high. Schools around the country have implemented security systems - ranging from the simple to the highly complex - in an effort to make the learning environment as safe as possible.

Watching game footage is one of the most important strategies for football teams - it allows them to predict offensive and defensive moves, prepare strategies and anticipate the cohesiveness of their opponent. So important is the footage of opponent games that teams often hire cameramen to film the games for future research. One cameraman, however, may be in trouble for recording too much.

360-degree video surveillance enables users to get comprehensive views of broad areas with a single security camera. This technology is especially popular for large open areas such as casino floors. Now imagine a 360-degree camera that utilizes some of today's more sophisticated surveillance innovations and you'll get an idea of what Sentry, a leader in 360-degree technology, is going for with its latest camera release.

The graffiti problem in Los Angeles' North Hollywood area is so bad, the city has decided to employ high-tech security cameras that not only monitor specific areas, they also speak to taggers caught in the act.

Frank Waterhouse had a major victory against the City of Portland when he was acquitted of charges of criminal trespass and disorderly contact. Now, he and three others are suing the Portland Police department for damages, claiming the police violated their constitutional rights when they tried to film a property search in May 2006. See video from Waterhouse's camera inside....

Police officials in Montebello, Calif. announced this week the successful installation of a surveillance system aimed at stopping graffiti taggers in their tracks. The new cameras use "Tagger Trap" technology, a sophisticated detection system that recognizes the ultrasonic frequency emitted by spray paint cans. When the act of graffiti is perceived, the cameras zoom in on pre-assigned target areas and send notification to authorities monitoring the scene from the police department.

An important, and seemingly obvious, key to the success of any network camera solution is to avoid blocked, manipulated, or redirected video signals. This is especially critical in surveillance locations where the cameras are susceptible to damage, vandalism or tampering, for instance in schools, prisons, transit stations, and harsh outdoor environments. One way to prevent lost signals in these situations is to employ cameras with weather-proof or vandal-proof housing. And recently, Axis Communications came up with an even more sophisticated solution; an "Active Tampering Alarm" that automatically alerts security staff any time a camera disruption is detected.

Time is the crucial element of bobsledding (or bobsleighing, as it is called in the UK). Bobsledders hurl themselves down an icy track in a specially calibrated track, trying to beat the clock and outpace their competitors. UK-based video surveillance company Scryron, known for their intelligent digital video systems used by police and courtrooms all over the UK, has teamed with the British Bobsleigh team to use video surveillance equipment to help improve the sledders' race times.

2007 has been a great year for video surveillance - improvements in technology, widespread applications, and predictions for the future of network cameras. Here are some of our most memorable posts:

In an effort to further reduce crime in the city of Tayside, the Scottish city has decided to outfit its police force with a tiny video surveillance camera mounted directly onto the uniform starting next June. Tayside has been at the forefront of surveillance technology before - it was the first Scottish town to add security cameras to patrol bikes in 2006.

Grossmont High School in San Diego has been reeling since late 2001 - when two shootings happened at the school in just two weeks. Grossmont's environment has been improving since August, however, since Sony equipped the campus with a new IP camera surveillance system called e-Surveillance.

Early IP cameras had it rough - they were expensive, cumbersome, and usually shunned by network administrators for their possible security issues. This paradox - that a security camera could pose serious network security issues itself - was at the center of the IP camera debate for many years.

Don't get the lead jumpsuits out of storage - the x-ray camera isn't yet a reality. The surveillance company ThruVision, has just introduced a revolutionary new surveillance camera that uses electromagnetic rays that explosives, drugs, and other illicit substances emit - from under clothing.

Designed to assist vehicle access control, traffic surveilance and law enforcement, Milestone's XProtect Analytics LPR 1.5 is a video analytics video management platform that uses special analytics to recognize and record license plate and other registration data from a wide variety of vehicles.

Basler Vision Technologies, a longtime leading provider of industrial digital cameras, has announced that it is entering the IP camera market with a line of IP cameras. Like their digital cameras for industrial, traffic and medical applications, Basler Vision IP cameras are compact, high quality and quite robust.

Usually we think of hidden cameras as being squirreld away in buttonholes and cleverly placed in newspapers and briefcases during high-stakes criminal investigations or by spies trying to crack open state secrets. Not so in Philadelphia. THe city has recently announced the introduction of mobile covert surveillance cameras to help control the city's rampant problems with illegal dumping.

Mentioning a "burnout" can mean many things - your friend from high school who spends his days playing video games in his parents' basement, or what your blender did when you got a little too excited about making gazpacho. In Christchurch, New Zealand, however, officials are happier about stopping a different kind of burnout with roadside surveillance cameras.

Axis announced the release of three new cameras today - the P1311, M3011 and M3014 - all representing new advances in technology and announcing the direction of IP cameras in the future.

MOBOTIX is always on the cutting edge when it comes to high-resolution IP cameras. The company's latest venture is a series of network cameras engineered specifically for verifying license plates, not just during the day, but also at night. The MOBOTIX M12 LPF IP cameras feature a long pass filter that, when used with an Infra-Red illuminator, allows for the ability to capture and verify license plate numbers on moving vehicles at night.

There's been a lot of speculation about network cameras lately - that use will double by 2011, that analog video will never die, and so on. Research firm Frost & Sullivan has released a new report - "North American IT and Telecom Opportunities in the Network Video Surveillance Markets" which puts forth a much more drastic claim - that by 2013, half the surveillance cameras in North America will be IP cameras.

Today, Axis Communications announced that its 233D network dome camera will include an innovative auto-tracking feature. With auto-tracking, the camera can detect a moving person or vehicle, and then follow it as it passes through the camera's field of view. This feature is especially useful for unmanned surveillance applications where it's important to capture any presence of people of vehicle moving through a particular area. Think of school or office buildings after hours, hotel corridors, or parking garages, for instance. These are places where it's typical to have an unmanned surveillance setup with automated recording.

NUUO Inc. announced this week that its video management system can be adopted for the use of network cameras using H.264 video compression. H.264 is the latest cutting-edge compression technology being adopted by top IP camera manufacturers such as Axis, Arecont Vision, and Sony. H.264 products can be supported by NUUO IP+ Series video management software, as well as the NVRmini Standalone system.

The arrival of H.264 video compression is helping lay to rest any remaining concerns of those who still cling to the idea that analog CCTV systems compare favorably to their new IP-based counterparts. A typical worry amongst analog purists is the cost of network video storage and bandwidth. With H.264, those thoughts are quickly squelched. H.264 significantly reduces storage and bandwidth costs compared to previous compression technologies, making it even easier to capture and save the highest quality video footage without bogging down your network. That's the big key for H.264 compression: it provides high-quality video at a much lower bit rate so you can get the absolute most out of those high-resolution network cameras.

The simplicity of video storage and archival with IP camera systems is a definite upgrade from the days of bulky cassette tapes that came along with analog surveillance. IP-based surveillance systems have the ability to store video footage straight to a hard disk which improves storage capacity and enhances searching capabilities.

Power over Ethernet (PoE) is an incredibly flexible technology used commonly with network camera systems. With Power over Ethernet, LAN-enabled devices such as network cameras can be powered over an IP network infrastructure using standard Ethernet cabling. Many IP-based surveillance systems today incorporate PoE technology, taking advantage of a variety of benefits including cost-effectiveness and ease of installation.

For many surveillance applications, having access to audio enhances the results that security cameras provide. Many IP camera models offer audio support with either built-in microphones that allow camera operators to listen in on areas under surveillance, or with two-way audio communication using a microphone and an external speaker.

IR illuminators are lamps that emit infrared light used by day/night cameras to produce images in complete darkness. This light is mostly invisible to the human eye, though some IR lights cast a red hue. Because they are difficult to detect in the dark, IR illuminators are especially beneficial in situations requiring discreet video surveillance.

If you’ve been shopping for an IP camera, chances are you’ve seen the phrase ‘ONVIF-compliant.’ But what does that really mean? ONVIF (Open Network Video Interface Forum) is a global and open industry forum that was formed to facilitate the development and use of a global open standard for physical IP-based security products. The forum aims to standardize how IP products within the video surveillance industry communicate with each other.

There is no dispute that megapixel IP cameras and HDTV network cameras offer the best image quality on the market. However, there is some confusion surrounding the difference between high definition (HD) cameras and megapixel cameras. These terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but megapixel and HD cameras aren’t exactly the same.

It is a common misconception that video surveillance systems consume vast amounts of bandwidth. Unlike downloading video from the internet, streaming IP video over a network generally doesn’t eat up bandwidth.

Day/night network cameras are a versatile video surveillance solution. These popular cameras are available in all forms, including dome, PTZ, fixed, indoor and outdoor, and more.

Security cameras feature an iris built into their lenses that control how much light affects their sensors. Clearly, the iris is a vital component of a camera, and there are several types of irises to consider when comparing security cameras.

Though they offer comparable results, digital zoom and optical zoom are not the same. Depending on the situation, one type of zoom can prove a better option over the other. Some security cameras offer only digital zoom, while others offer only optical. It is also common for a security camera to have both digital and optical zoom.

Because hackers will always remain a threat, it’s critical to change your IP camera’s default username and password. Once you’ve changed the username and password, we recommend that you update it every six months to protect your network from hackers. Let’s face it: hackers are becoming smarter and more conniving.