Doing More With Less

By Brent Hamachek · July 2008

Compression technology improves performance, reduces cost of video management

Drug store giant Walgreens has just completed installing and networking Ionit Technologies Inc.’s DVR system to monitor, manage and protect more than 6,200 stores, facilities and distribution centers around the country.

The DVRs offer advanced compression technology for Ionit’s clients that improve performance and reduce the overall cost of managing video. The company has designed real-time custom software for Walgreens’ 16- channel DVRs located in each store. Using advanced recording codec, the technology can compress data up to 2,000 times and interface with both analog and digital cameras. The new DVR system has the capacity to add more cameras, as needed per location, giving Walgreens several months of reliable recording time.

A Powerful Solution
“The number one concern for businesses today is physical security—keeping employees and customers safe,” said Jim Talbot, CEO and founder of Ionit Technologies. “Walgreens sees the value in using Ionit systems for business intelligence with add-on modules that will increase not only customer safety, but the customer’s experience in their stores, as well.”

Walgreens chose to partner with Ionit for its security needs because retail officials felt the systems were reliable, had an acceptable compression rate and achieved less than a 2 percent failure rate in large test patterns. The security system can be customized over time to meet Walgreens’ needs as the company changes and grows.

“Replacing the low-cost embedded systems and creating enterprise security over an existing infrastructure met Walgreens’ requirements,” Talbot said. “We wanted to fit into their systems so they didn’t have to conform to ours.

“Additionally, we are actively integrating with other systems inside the Walgreens network. They see the value of the system as a powerful business intelligence solution.”

Maximizing Value
As the economy teeters on the brink of a recession, large corporations are attempting to maximize the value of every dollar they spend on every element of infrastructure. As an example, a difficult business environment is forcing corporations across the country, in various industries, to manage more locations with fewer people. High resolution and constantly streaming video help make that feasible.


Since virtually all companies recognize the need for security and some form of video surveillance system, the question becomes, “Since I need a system in place for security anyway, what else might I be able to accomplish with it?” For example, something previously thought to be only a cost-center for a large company’s operation can be converted to a tool that helps increase the return on investment.

In boardrooms across the country, the expression “thinking outside the box” is devalued and overused. In the case of high compression video imaging, however, that type of creative thinking can be rewarded by reshaping traditional camera security into a valuable marketing and management tool.

While virtually every DVR manufacturer can tout the capability for remote access and monitoring, some difference within the industry relates to the pure functionality and high-quality resolution that is enabled by compressing file sizes up to 2,400 times. It is not enough for an off-site manager to simply have a DVR system that delivers the image. The image must be delivered in a manner that does not overwhelm transmission channels and that provides a clear, high-resolution image that also is manageable.

To change the paradigm that cameras and DVRs are just for security, an enterprise solution has been developed that can be integrated with other business intelligence software to let multiple departments within the same organization use the system for multiple objectives. Again, because of its compression capability, a single system can allow simultaneous viewing of multiple locations and can even have those locations viewed by different departments. If the marketing department wishes to use the DVR to track store queues or count customer traffic, the company can create a customized integration to work with the preferred vendor’s peoplecounting software.

The same would be true for facial recognition, POS applications and other state-of-the-art integrations now being used by companies attempting to maximize their ROI.

Continued Innovation
The systems have been engineered to provide a substantial amount of computational overcapacity so additional software can be used. Ionit provides an open platform for integration, and to the extent that required hardware in a system is reduced, the risk of system failure is greatly lessened, as is the overall cost.

“As a company’s vision grows, we are prepared to grow with it,” Talbot said. “Our intent is to be a corporation’s long-term surveillance and management solution provider. We believe superior service, product features with measurable benefits and reasonable pricing is critical to delivering that solution to the client.”

Companies cannot stand still with their current product line or system capabilities.

“Biometrics and applied behavioral algorithms are clearly the future for automating and enhancing the customers’ experience,” Talbot said. “Biometrics, incorporated into surveillance products, will seamlessly automate customer verification and information retrieval into meaningful activities. We are working with some of the leaders in the field to make tomorrow, today. Any company not already working on these things is behind the curve, and the market won’t be forgiving.”

About the author

Brent Hamachek
Brent Hamachek is the COO at Ionit Technologies Inc.


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