16/06/2009 by David Slade.

All radio stations broadcasting on national and local DAB multiplexes will cease being broadcast via FM by the end of 2015, according to the Digital Britain report (16 June 2009).

FM spectrum freed up by the switchover will be used for a new tier of “ultra-local” commercial services and community stations, the report added.

Radio licensing legislation needed to enable digital coverage to be extended and to encourage investment by the commercial sector - and the BBC - in new digital content, will be put in place.

In the report presented to the House today by Ben Bradshaw, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, the Government said it recognised the investment needed to achieve the Digital Radio Upgrade timetable will have to be made by the existing radio companies.

Currently, new licences run only for three or four years and the Government proposes to grant Ofcom new powers to extend the licence period of all national and local licences, broadcasting on DAB, for up to a further seven years.

To achieve the 2015 switchover date, the report proposes the BBC extend its national DAB coverage so it is at least comparable to its FM output.

In addition to providing for low-cost digital radios, the report includes a recommendation that all new car radios be digital by the end of 2013 and sets out a five- point plan to support the uptake of digital radio in cars. The Government plans to:

• Work with manufacturers to ensure that vehicles sold with radio are digitally enabled by the end of 2013
• Support a common logo for digital radios and ensure that non-DAB radios, and their limitations, are clearly labelled
• Encourage the development of portable digital converters, such as the Pure Highway, and the integration of DAB into other vehicle devices such as Sat Navs
• Promote the introduction of more sophisticated traffic information via DAB and comprehensive marketing by broadcasters
• Work with European partners, including the European Commission, to develop a common European approach to digital radio.  The report said: “We have approached the European Commission to encourage them to lead a community-wide effort. Such an approach, as was adopted in digital television, could provide certainty well in advance for vehicle manufacturers and those providing in-car devices to bring the unit price of conversion down.”

Andrew Harrison, chief executive of industry body RadioCentre, said he welcomed the target date of 2015 and added that the provisions of the Digital Britain report would enable RadioCentre’s members to plan and invest for their future.

The Government has asked Ofcom to consult on a new map of mini-regions for Digital Radio. In addition, by the end of August, the Government will publish a community radio consultation document, seeking views on changes to the current licensing regime.

In the Interim Report, released in January, the Government set out two migration criteria: when 50% of listening is to digital; and when national DAB coverage is comparable to FM coverage, and local DAB reaches 90% of the population and all major roads.

In the report released today, the Government said the precise switchover date would be formally announced two years in advance but it was confident it could achieve its target of 50% of all radio listening via digital by the end of 2013.

Posted in Ofcom, Digital Radio, DAB | Print | No Comments »

16/06/2009 by David Slade.

The UK economy is stabilising with the worst of the quarterly falls in GDP behind us but it will take until the beginning of 2010 before we see a return to growth, CBI Director-General Richard Lambert has announced
The UK’s leading business group expects modest growth to resume during the first three months of 2010, with the pace of growth gradually picking up during next year.The CBI predicts that UK GDP, supported by low interest rates and quantitative easing, should flatten out during the second half of 2009, with quarter-on-quarter figures of -0.1% and 0% in Q3 and Q4, and modest quarter-on-quarter growth of 0.1% and 0.3% in Q1 and Q2 of 2010.

Richard Lambert, CBI Director-General said: “The world recession has deepened, so it is not surprising that the UK economy has continued to suffer. However, the harshest period of the recession looks to be behind us, the economy is stabilising and this should continue during the second half of this year.

“The return to growth is likely to be a slow and gradual one; difficult credit conditions are still affecting business behaviour. For positive growth to return, lenders need to feel more confident so that credit can start flowing again.

“Some commentators have been carried away by recent tentative indicators as evidence of ‘green shoots’. It will take some time before we can be sure these shoots have roots we can depend on for sustainable growth and, in the meantime, the government must do everything it can to help firms get access to credit.”

The CBI expects that, by the end of the recession, the economy will have shrunk by a cumulative 4.8% - not as severe as the 5.9% seen in the early 1980s - after five consecutive quarters of falling GDP.

The CBI expects there to be very slight growth from the start of 2010, with the pace picking up slowly, such that trend growth rates are restored only by the end of the year. For 2010 as a whole, this profile yields an average annual GDP growth of a modest 0.7%. This follows a fall this year in GDP of 3.9%.

CPI inflation is expected to fall below the Bank of England’s target of 2% in 2009 Q3 and remain there throughout the forecast period to the end of 2010. Quantitative easing is expected to continue for some months yet, but by the spring of next year, the Bank is expected to wish to return monetary policy gradually towards a more normal footing, with very modest increases in the official rate of interest from its current 0.5%.

Significantly, the labour market is proving to be even more flexible than hoped, with many more private sector employees accepting wage freezes and short-time working than in previous downturns. This should help limit the pace of job losses through 2009, and the CBI now expects unemployment to peak at a slightly lower level than previously thought. Unemployment is still expected to continue to rise until Q2 2010, to a peak of 3.03 million (9.6%), before edging lower during the remainder of 2010.

Consumer spending will be constrained not only by the rise in unemployment, but also a more elevated savings ratio and only modest increases in incomes. Through 2009 and 2010, the savings ratio is forecast to remain at a similar level to the two-year high of Q4 2008. Meanwhile, average earnings (including bonuses) should continue to fall on a year ago during Q2 and Q3 2009, followed by weak growth from Q4 and into 2010.

As a result, the CBI’s figures show household consumption shrinking by 2.9% in 2009, and growing only modestly in 2010 (0.5%). The weakness of construction investment over the early part of 2009 has led to a modest revision in the outlook for business investment. Business investment is expected to shrink by 12.4% this year, from the -9.3% expected in April, and by a further 1.4% in 2010.

Whereas firms have reduced their stock at a rapid pace at the start of this year, this should now begin to ease and firms should start re-building their stocks next year.

The public finances are expected to be under growing pressure from the recession and net borrowing is expected to reach £172.3 billion in 2009/10 and £182.2 billion in 2010/11, representing 12.2% and 12.6% of GDP respectively.

Ian McCafferty, CBI Chief Economic Adviser, said: “We still have some way to go before the UK economy is truly out of the woods and we see sustainable growth. For consumers, some of the worst fears of earlier in the year may now not be realised, but they will still face tough times as higher saving and lower income eat in to their ability to spend.

“However, the restraint shown by businesses and their staff in setting pay awards and accepting short-time working should help to curb the pace of job losses, lessening the pain for some, and shows the real strength of Britain’s flexible labour market.”

Posted in Construction workload | Print | No Comments »

16/06/2009 by David Slade.

Introduction

In both retail operations and the retail sales floor, the competition is fierce and the profit margins are slim. To stay on top, retailers have to seize every advantage they can. This often means adopting the latest technological advances as they become available. That’s why today nearly every aspect of retail operations, from inventory to hiring, is computerized and networked. Now is the time to add video surveillance to the list.

IP (Internet Protocol) video surveillance gives retailers new tools and capabilities for improving loss prevention and store performance. By enabling video to be captured as digital information and accessed anywhere on an IP-based network, IP video surveillance allows your loss prevention staff and other departments to view, analyse and manage surveillance video. Built-in intelligence also enables cameras to automatically detect and alert staff to potential thefts, suspicious behaviour, and other events.

The advantages hardly stop there. This same intelligence opens the door to new in-store research methods for determining the effectiveness of store layout, display design, and employee behaviour. What’s more, through advantages in using common networking and digital camera technology, stores can achieve everything from a lower total cost of ownership to higher resolution imagery that improves forensic evidence and re purposing for training and other uses.

Where traditional (analog) video surveillance falls short
As both a deterrent and a source of evidence, video surveillance is recognized as an essential element to any retail operation’s loss prevention program.

How effectively used is this video?
Not very. Inventory shrinkage continues to be an expensive problem for the retail industry. More than 1.5 percent of total retail sales. This percentage changes little from year to year, yet as overall sales continue to grow, billions more dollars are added to the total amount of losses. If a company could reduce its percentage of losses from shrinkage by even a tenth of a percent across its stores, it would see a significant improvement to its bottom line.

A major weakness in loss prevention techniques today is the inability of analogue video equipment to detect criminal behaviour and alert personnel. Someone has to be constantly watching store monitors – or later search through hours of video to find a particular instance of theft. Poor video quality also hurts effectiveness. Analogue surveillance cameras are only capable of video resolutions equivalent to 0.4 megapixels, whereas the latest digital video surveillance cameras provide much higher resolution. Blurry, low resolution analogue images often fail to provide conclusive evidence in theft prosecutions or insurance fraud cases, such as bogus injury claims. Such images aren’t sharp enough to read license plate numbers, work poorly in training videos, and have no value for other uses, such as facial recognition systems.

What if:

• That video was sharper and could alert you to a theft?
• There was a way to tap the incredibly rich information in all this video for activities such as store design research?
• You could use it as an operations management tool measuring how long it takes for an employee to help a customer waiting at a customer service kiosk?
• You could do searches for organized crime behaviours and create training videos for employee showing these behaviours?
• The video was so sharp you could see enough detail to read an employee badge number?

The answer is IP -Surveillance
IP-Surveillance brings all the advantages of network cameras and IP networking to video surveillance. Using digital cameras, it gives you sharper colour video, greater coverage, and better zooming capabilities. Incorporating video surveillance into your local area network (LAN) makes the video collected at every store available throughout your network. This means other departments can use store video capabilities for training, consumer behavior research, testing store layout and display design, and many other uses. What’s more, the cameras can be more “intelligent.” IP-Surveillance systems can actually “watch” for certain kinds of behaviour, events and actions. You no longer need people monitoring the monitors.

Here’s a look at five key advantages of IP-Surveillance:

Improving loss prevention
The programmable intelligence capabilities of IP-Surveillance and network cameras enable detection of suspicious behavior by customers or employees, reducing the need for dedicated loss prevention staff to monitor shoppers. In fact, smart network cameras may be more effective than staff. After 20 minutes or
so, the average person’s attention wanes watching monitors. A smart camera is always attentive. Intelligence at the camera level closes many gaps in loss prevention.

IP-Surveillance systems can be set up to:

• Detect suspicious behaviours, such as a consumer taking multiple units of an item not normally bought in bulk, or a cashier deliberately not scanning a purchase.

• Capture organized crime behaviours in a store and enable you to quickly communicate them to other stores in your chain.

• Integrate video surveillance with electronic article systems (EAS) to ensure proper procedures are being followed, such as stopping customers who set off the alarm at the door.

• Directly connect video with point-of-sale (POS) systems to uncover employee sweethearting (giving unauthorized discounts to friends) or other improper sales. For instance, video can be activated everytime an age-restricted sale is made or a refund given.

Delivering greater business value
Intelligent network cameras and the ability to store and access video on the network is driving many of the smartest retailers in the industry to investigate new uses of video surveillance to improve their bottom line. Some are working with the Loss Prevention Research Council in a program called StoreLab™ to co-develop and test innovative store layouts, work processes, and technologies to maximize sales, profit and productivity, while minimizing losses and crime. For one study, nearly a dozen stores of all different types (mass merchant, drug, home improvement, club, department, and speciality) are giving researchers access to their networks to test ways IP-Surveillance can be used to study consumer behaviour, employee tasking, and loss prevention.

IP-Surveillance is ideal for these applications because it can be set up to recognize certain actions and events, plus makes it easy to search thousands of hours of video to find the few minutes of footage that correspond to your search.

Some ways your company could use the video your store collects every day include:

• Monitoring the number of customers entering and leaving and the length of checkout lines to provide alerts when more staff is needed.

• Providing alerts when shelves need restocking, spills have occurred, aisles are obstructed, or checkout lines exceed guidelines.

• Monitoring employee/customer interactions to improve service, detect gaps in training and management, spot and praise good behaviour, and identify employees avoiding customer contact or shirking other responsibilities.

• Studying and improving store design, traffic flow, and point of purchase displays to improve sales and reduce shrinkage.

• Developing training tools to teach employees everything from how to spot common shoplifting behaviours to ways to more effectively help customers.

Reducing total cost of ownership through IP -Surveillance advantages
For most retailers, nearly all important processes and operations are connected through a local area network (LAN). The exception is loss prevention. Legacy Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) systems are proprietary and typically have separate support and maintenance contracts. This precludes loss prevention from being able to leverage the lower infrastructural costs of the existing network and all the advantages of IP networking for video.

IP networking delivers cost savings in video surveillance in many ways.

• Your company already has the necessary IT expertise. Network cameras have IP addresses just like any other network device and can be inexpensively installed anywhere in the network and controlled centrally via software. This enables you to leverage existing infrastructure such as servers, switches and cabling. Your video surveillance infrastructure simply becomes another part of the IT infrastructure, allowing you to take advantage of the cost savings of IP networking, as well as standard IT policies (such as authentication, data security, etc.).

• IP-Surveillance systems use open standards and run on ordinary Ethernet networking. Using standard PC server hardware for video recording and storage rather than proprietary equipment such as Digital Video Recorders (DVRs) radically reduces management and equipment costs, particularly for large systems where storage and servers are a significant portion of the total solution cost.

• Availability of powerful software management tools for monitoring, accessing and storing video. Software makes it easy to add additional powerful capabilities such as combining video evidence with time-lined POS transaction data or integrating video with cash register transaction data for advanced, flexible searching and analysis.

• Easy, future-proof installations with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components. Installation can be done in stages, integrating your analogue CCTV system with your network video solution. As analogue cameras reach their end of life, you replace them with network cameras that simply plug into the network.

• Greater archiving capabilities and storage reliability. Surveillance videos can be transferred through the network to off-site storage just like any other data and stored on standard servers.

• Ability to scale capacity and performance. To provide support for multiple servers, sites and cameras, allowing your system to grow easily with your organization. Saving staff time through centralized management and remote accessibility

Part of the problem with analogue video is that it’s usually only available at the store. Each camera has a cable that feeds its video into a monitor and, unless you have a network video recorder, a local recording device. If someone in another store or headquarters wants to monitor what’s going on in a store or see a particular incident, the video has to be recorded and mailed.

By having cameras connected to a network, you can achieve a higher level of surveillance with less people. Loss prevention personnel can monitor many locations from one office. Live camera feeds can be accessed over the Internet from any location, making it easy to check out an alert or event from any computer, laptop or other device with a wired or wireless Internet connection.

Network camera advantages
While traditional analog cameras can only provide the equivalent of 0.4 megapixel resolution, network (digital) cameras can deliver up to 16 times greater resolution, cover a larger area, and provide superior digital zoom capabilities. This can translate into such rich detail as the numbers on a license plate or the name on an employee badge. Their progressive scanning (versus analogue interlaced scans) also produces better detail within a moving image such as a person running away.

Network cameras are also less expensive to install. They don’t even require a power outlet. Using Power over Ethernet (PoE) technology, you can power a camera with same cable used for connecting it to the network. PoE also enables easier application of uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) to ensure 24 hours a day, 7 days a week operation.
Switching to network cameras is actually common sense. If you were going out to buy a camera right now for personal use, what would you get, analogue or digital? You would buy digital. It offers the greatest return on your investment and opens the door to all kinds of value-added features through connection to the rest of today’s digital world.

Other digital camera advantages include:

• Intelligence at the camera level includes detection of motion, directional motion, abandoned objects, object removal, human presence, camera tampering, identification, and digital pan/tilt/zoom (PTZ).

• Network cameras can be equipped with image buffers that save and send the images collected before and after an alarm occurred.

• On a network, network cameras can be monitored, managed and updated just like any network

By David Slade - Davmark Ltd

Posted in Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), commercial off-the-shelf (COTS), Ethernet (PoE), Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), Loss Prevention Research Council, IP-surveillance, electronic article systems (EAS), point-of-sale (POS), Retail solutions | Print | No Comments »