David Engebretson is the president of Slayton Solutions Ltd., Chicago, providing online and instructor-led training on fiber optics and networking electronic security systems. His latest book, Technician’s Guide to Physical Security Networking: Enterprise Solutions is a fully illustrated manual describing high-end IP physical security applications. Visit www.slaytonsolutionsltd.com for ordering information.
We have all seen the explosive growth of surveillance video installation and usage. The next step is to provide high-resolution cameras with proper mounting height to enable accurate facial recognition now or in the future.
In my 40 years in this industry, I have come to the conclusion that many system problems and technician frustrations come from the installation and testing of network cabling jacks and plugs. Whereas in the old days we just had to get the right wire under the correct screw and torque it down, now technicians working on IP devices must properly terminate all eight conductors in a Cat5e or 6 cable, while making sure that only a minimum distance of the paired conductors are untwisted so as to minimize the potential for EMI/RFI and crosstalk between the pairs.
My daughter, now 14, has decided that indeed there is no Santa Claus. I have tried to explain to her that if you believe in Santa, he will bring you goodies on Christmas Day.
As loyal readers are aware, my daughter and I are rapidly preparing for the upcoming zombie apocalypse. As fervent viewers of “The Walking Dead,” we came to the decision that the addition of a crossbow to our growing arsenal was in order. After receiving the weapon (there should be some way to limit the per-day dollars that can be spent ordering stuff over the Internet) we took the crossbow to our summer cabin in Michigan to have some target shooting fun.
In some ways, things were better in the old days. Once I was young, working on the Illinois Tollway for $6 an hour (in 1972 that was really good money), gas was $0.39 a gallon, and I received retroactive back pay as a loyal member of Teamsters Local #705.
Flood waters that have besieged parts of Thailand and affected the production of hard drives could possibly become a problem for our industry around February or March 2012. If the DVRs and NVRs you are installing require specialized hard drives, and they were being built at the flooded factory, there well could be equipment shortages and/or greatly increased costs for these devices.
