tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51169198251226974722024-03-13T06:46:14.700-07:00Cyber Security | High Definition IP Camera | Learning Data AnalyticsBikal - produces applications and product for CCTV & Surveillance which have been advised and constructed by industry applicationsBikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-4088840169310604362016-06-12T12:05:00.000-07:002016-06-14T12:06:06.357-07:00How the EU is more than access to scale in the single market for small business for the UK knowledge economy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A recent article stated that four percent of UK small businesses reach a
turnover of greater than £1 million and more than 10 people after 10
years. The ability to manufacture product in the UK has been reported on
many occasions and the fact that we export more services to Europe than
product is not a surprise. Famous brands such as Rolls Royce and
Bentley are German owned and Jaguar’s recent success has gone to TATA as
the company’s owner.<br />
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Keeping with automotive brands Aston Martin is largely foreign owned and
lack of investment has meant that the it has suffered in product
development, showing that the brand it has is still strong enough to
maintain its kudos. What the UK does not lack is world leading knowledge
production, and this is not transferable to foreign entities<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
ARM Holdings plc has been a resounding success story of the UK
leveraging its knowledge economy with the company being part of the
smart mobile device revolution without having to invest in manufacturing
facilities to build the chips on which its’ innovations sit on.
Testament to this is the fact that Apple outsource their manufacturing
to Taiwan owned Foxconn who have their facility in China. ARM are a
model which can be applied to many UK businesses, especially small ones
with good ideas, and their Cambridge location means world leading
research continues to keep them ahead through ongoing innovations. <br />
<br />
The
USA has shown how hardware companies like Go-Pro and software like
Facebook have taken B2C (business to consumer) have managed to compete
and disrupt consumer markets. We feel this is unique to the USA and, to
some extent, maybe repeated in India and China. India and China lack the
knowledge history of the USA and, more importantly, the patent
protection laws as these will incentivize a knowledge economy.
Entrepreneurs in the UK, and non USA ones across the world, know of the
mentality of the USA of having a riskier appetite to startups and new
ideas. The considerable backing that is provided helps to accelerate the
success of failure of an idea. We think there are deeper reasons as to
why there is this sort of success in innovation in the USA, which will
be seen in China and India. <br />
<br />
Sovereignty for any nation
is vitally important and history provides a legacy for future
generations to look back on and assess their progression, however the
world has changed and new frontiers are being created. SpaceX is a
private company taking on NASA, one hundred plus year old company like
Kodak disappeared after mobile phones took over photo taking and even
tech giants like IBM have to pivot their business to remain relevant.
These companies either succeeded or failed due to the completion of
scale. The huge markets that are available to USA companies means that
small businesses can become big and large companies can start new
business divisions, their mainstay of income remains the same. Whether
they are selling 100 units or 1000 units every business benefits from
economies of scale, but in the UK we have a much smaller market and so
costs of business are considerably higher at that higher scale. IT can
be argued, and rightly so, that starting a business in the USA is more
expensive as the costs of marketing to a bigger target audience is
costlier. But when referring to transferring knowledge into a commercial
opportunity the size of market is more valuable to a small business. <br />
<br />
Small
businesses need to have a uniqueness about them, which could be a Pizza
shop in a special location to a new type of analytic that makes
prediction sin retail. There is an ability to make hay while the sun
shines when you have the head start but eventually others will come for
your market in some form and outside factors (a parking restriction
shows up outside that Pizza Shop). Distribution business models are now
defunct as product companies reach their target audience online,
especially when the product is simple or if the product companies fully
understand and executes a digital transformation strategy. <br />
<br />
In
our strategy the EU is a vital component for our small business to
achieve growth. Technology does not have any borders and past tax
arrangements by Amazon and Skype show that the government is behind in
anticipating how the industry can change policies. With closer ties with
Europe (which is expressed by the EU government grant, Horizon 2020,
for technology research) we want to use our digital transformation and
ability to work across borders to be able to move quicker to execution.
We are currently exporting to the Middle East and we have research
collaboration activity with Japan and the USA, but we have not managed
to achieve the same within Europe. It also appears that London is
competing with Berlin, to name one example in Europe, whereas the USA
now has industry focus within their national tech innovation centers.
For instance, Boston has a focus on health and has attracted more
pharmaceutical companies there. This joined up approach will probably
start to happen in India and China. Europe’s diversity is also a great
platform for knowledge development. European universities, collectively
have the highest research capabilities and even currently house world
leading intellectual property. It sadly may not be developed as a single
nation may not make it commercially viable. <br />
</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-92001787486983987252015-12-29T11:53:00.000-08:002016-06-14T12:01:20.845-07:00Modi visit to the UK Adds to Make In India Momentum<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>17th November, 2015. London, UK</b>. <b>PM Narendra Modi,</b> in keeping with
the format, addressed the Indian dispora of the United Kingdom to a
packed Wembley Stadium. It is clear that no other <b>Indian Prime Minister</b>
has ever represented the Indian nation from a cultural and political
standpoint to the world. Our knowledge and interest on the visit was
based on the societal benefit of having additional markets to supply, to
collaborate with and bring even further economies of scale to the
increase in electronic manufacturing.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a_Q1tMrqWFw/V2A_qtUWPzI/AAAAAAAAADs/PVFkP_6Chj892d1BmlsycjIhh6kRJlrHACKgB/s1600/make-in-india-momentum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="DNA Sequencing Soars" border="0" height="263" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-a_Q1tMrqWFw/V2A_qtUWPzI/AAAAAAAAADs/PVFkP_6Chj892d1BmlsycjIhh6kRJlrHACKgB/s400/make-in-india-momentum.jpg" title="" width="400" /> </a></div>
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<b>(Jay Shah, Friends of India and Bikal partner, second from the right).</b> </div>
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<a href="http://www.bikal.co.uk/" target="_blank"><b>Bikal</b></a> has been to India on three occasions in 2015 sparked by a
February UKTI trade mission that took place. This highly concentrated 4
days, attending IESA (India Electronic & Semi-conductor Association)
and <b>ELCINA annual events in Bangalore and Chennai</b> respectively,
reinforced the emerging market opportunity but also gave the team the
detail in where
the opportunities lie. Having been long term partners with Chinese
product and component manufacturers <a href="http://www.bikal.co.uk/" target="_blank">Bikal</a> has been researching how to
partner with other factories around the world. The timing of this
mission, the Make in India campaign (to promote manufacturing in India
and reduce imports) and then Modi’s visit to the UK have contributed to
our set up of our manufacturing partners in the UK.</div>
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<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Working with business consultants that are experts in the Indian
economic landscape, we have discussed many issues on improving economies
and creating wealth for the UK and India. Mr. Jay Shah, pictured above,
has been championing the support for India as a nation of entrepreneurs
and industrialists, while being vocal on some of the political issues
that hold it back from achieving that success. Jay Shah has business
experience in Africa, the UK (particularly in media) and is a member of
the Friends of India based in the UK. India has been a source for data
scientists and some of the support services for Bikal. The traditional
support services are a long standing industry which India excels in and
has been a leader in for many years. Bikal has used data scientists from
India for <a href="http://www.bikal.co.uk/big-data.html" target="_blank">Big Data projects</a> due to the shortage of skills within the
UK. The partnership is two way as Bikal will transfer knowledge and
technology to India for use locally and development for export to other
markets. As the relationship develops during the course of 2016 Bikal
will chart the progression of developments that take place, as this is a
change that will be to move a nation.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>About Bikal:</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A UK company that provides software and devices to capture video,
audio and big data. These can then create efficient processes, increase
public safety and provide preventative healthcare. This is done by
liaising with end users and using HPC and algorithms to process the
data. We work through our network of global offices and partners to
create localized solutions for local communities.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For further information and advice please contact us on <a href="mailto:uk@bikal.co.uk">uk@bikal.co.uk</a> or </div>
</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-27732188513298889182015-12-22T03:14:00.004-08:002016-06-14T10:33:45.930-07:00Big data analytics – The Power of Petabytes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<h4 style="text-align: left;">
<b>Big data analytics – The Power of Petabytes</b></h4>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Fifteen years ago, it was a landmark achievement. Ten years ago, it
was an intriguing but highly expensive research tool. Now, falling
costs, soaring accuracy and a steadily expanding base of scientific
knowledge have brought genome sequencing to the cusp of routine clinical
care.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The US$1,000 genome, initially conceived as a price point at which
sequencing could become a component of personalized medicine, has
arrived. “Our capacity for data generation relative to price has
increased in a way that is almost unprecedented in science — roughly six
orders of magnitude in the past seven or eight years,” says Paul
Flicek, a specialist in computational genomics at the European Molecular
Biology Laboratory's European Bioinformatics Institute in Cambridge,
UK. The HiSeq X Ten system developed by Illumina of San Diego,
California, can sequence more than 18,000 human genomes per year, for
example.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The biomedical research community is diving in whole-heartedly, with
population-scale programmes that are intended to explore the clinical
power of the genome. In 2014 the United Kingdom launched the 100,000
Genomes Project, and both the United States (under the Precision
Medicine Initiative) and China (in a programme to be run by BGI of
Shenzhen) have unveiled plans to analyse genomic data from one million
individuals.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Many other programmes are under way that, although more regional in
focus, are still 'big data' operations. A partnership between Geisinger
Health System, based in Danville, Pennsylvania, and biotech firm
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals of Tarrytown, New York, for instance, aims to
generate sequence data for more than 250,000 people. Meanwhile, a
growing number of hospitals and service providers worldwide are
sequencing the genomes of people with cancers or rare hereditary
disorders (see 'DNA sequencing soars').</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Some researchers worry that the flood of data could overwhelm the
computational pipelines needed for analysis and generate unprecedented
demand for storage — one article estimated that the output from genomics
may soon dwarf data heavyweights such as YouTube. Many also worry that
today's big data lacks the richness to provide clinical value. “I don't
know if a million genomes is the right number, but clearly we need more
than we've got,” says Marc Williams, director of the Geisinger Genomic
Medicine Institute.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>The meaning of mutations</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Clinical genomics today is largely focused on identifying
single-nucleotide variants — individual 'typos' in the genomic code that
can disrupt gene function. And rather than looking at the full genome,
many centres focus instead on the exome — the subset of sequences
containing protein-coding genes. This reduces the amount of data being
analysed nearly 100-fold, but the average exome still contains more than
13,000 single-nucleotide variants. Roughly 2% of these are predicted to
affect the composition of the resulting protein, and finding the
culprit for a given disease is a daunting challenge.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For decades, biomedical researchers have dutifully deposited their
discoveries of single-nucleotide variants in public resources such as
the Human Gene Mutation Database, run by the Institute of Medical
Genetics at Cardiff University, UK, or dbSNP, maintained by the US
National Center for Biotechnology Information. However, the effects of
these mutations were often determined from cell culture or animal
models, or even theoretical predictions, providing insufficient guidance
for clinical diagnostic tools. “In many cases, associations were made
with relatively low levels of evidence,” says Williams.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The situation is even more complicated for structural variants, such
as duplicated or missing chunks of genome sequence, which are far more
difficult to detect with existing sequencing technologies than
single-nucleotide variants. At the whole-genome scale, each person has
millions of variants. Many of these are in sequences that do not encode
proteins but instead regulate gene activity, so they can still
contribute to disease. However, the extent and function of these
regulatory regions are poorly defined. Although capturing all this
variability is desirable, it may not offer the best short-term returns
for clinical sequencing. “You're shooting yourself in the foot if you're
collecting data you don't know how to interpret,” says Altman.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Efforts are now under way to rectify this problem. The Clinical
Genome Resource, which was set up by the US National Human Genome
Research Institute, is a database of disease-related variants, and
contains information that could guide medical responses to these
variants as well as the evidence supporting those associations. Genomics
England, which runs the 100,000 Genomes Project, aims to bolster
progress in this area by establishing 'clinical interpretation
partnerships': doctors and researchers will collaborate to establish
robust models of diseases that can potentially be mapped to specific
genetic alterations.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
However, quantity is as important as quality. Mutations that offer a
strong detrimental effect bring an evolutionary disadvantage, so they
tend to be exceedingly rare and require large sample sizes to detect.
Establishing statistically meaningful disease associations for variants
with weak effects also needs large numbers of people.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In Iceland, deCODE Genetics has demonstrated the power of
population-scale genomics, combining extensive genealogy and
medical-history records with genome data from 150,000 people (including
15,000 whole-genome sequences). These findings have allowed deCODE to
extrapolate the population-wide distribution of known genetic risk
factors, including gene variants linked to breast cancer, diabetes and
Alzheimer's disease.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
They have also enabled studies in humans that normally require the
creation of genetically modified animals. “We have established that
there are about 10,000 Icelanders who have loss-of-function mutations in
both copies of about 1,500 different genes,” says Kári Stefánsson, the
company's chief executive. “We're putting significant effort into
figuring out what impact the knockout of these genes has on
individuals.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This work was helped by the homogeneous nature of the Icelandic
population, but other projects require a broadly representative spectrum
of donors. Efforts such as the international 1000 Genomes Project have
catalogued some of the world's genetic diversity, but most data are
heavily skewed towards Caucasian populations, making them less useful
for clinical discovery. “Because they come from the genetic mother ship,
so to speak, people of African ancestry carry a lot more genetic
variants than non-Africans,” says Isaac Kohane, a bioinformatician at
Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. “Variants that seem
unusual in Caucasians might be common in Africans, and may not actually
cause disease.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Part of the problem stems from the reference genome — the yardstick
sequence by which scientists identify apparent abnormalities, developed
by the multinational Genome Reference Consortium. The first version was
cobbled together from a few random donors of undefined ethnicity, but
the latest iteration, known as GRCh38, incorporates more information
about human genomic diversity.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Into the cloud</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Harvesting genomes or even exomes at the population scale produces a
vast amount of data, perhaps up to 40 petabytes (40 million gigabytes)
each year. Nevertheless, raw storage is not the primary computational
concern. “Genomicists are a tiny fraction of the people who need bigger
hard drives,” says Flicek. “I don't think storage is a significant
problem.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A greater concern is the amount of variant data being analysed from
each individual. “The computation scales linearly with respect to the
number of people,” says Marylyn Ritchie, a genomics researcher at
Pennsylvania State University in State College. “But as you add more
variables, it becomes exponential as you start to look at different
combinations.” This becomes particularly problematic if there are
additional data related to clinical symptoms or gene expression.
Processing data of this magnitude from thousands of people can paralyse
tools for statistical analysis that might work adequately in a small
laboratory study.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Scaling up requires improvisation, but there is no need to start from
scratch. “Fields like meteorology, finance and astronomy have been
integrating different types of data for a long time,” says Ritchie.
“I've been to meetings where I talk to people from Google and Facebook,
and our 'big data' is nothing like their big data. We should talk to
them, figure out how they've done it and adopt it into our field.”</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Unfortunately, many talented programmers with the skills to wrangle
big data sets are lured away by Silicon Valley. Philip Bourne, associate
director for data science at the US National Institutes of Health
(NIH), believes that this is partly due to a lack of recognition and
advancement within a publication-driven system of scientific credit that
leaves software creators and data managers out in the cold. “Some of
these people truly want to be scholars, but they can't get the stature
of faculty — that's just not right,” says Bourne.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Processing power is another limiting factor. “This is not a desktop
game — the real practitioners are proficient in massively parallel
computation with hundreds if not thousands of CPUs, each with large
memory,” says Kohane. Many groups that analyse massive amounts of
sequence data are moving to 'cloud'-based architectures, in which the
data are deposited within a large pool of computational resources and
can then be analysed with whatever processing power is required.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“There's been a gradual evolution towards this idea that you bring
your algorithms to the data,” says Tim Hubbard, head of bioinformatics
at Genomics England. For Genomics England, this architecture is
contained in a secure government facility, with strict control over
external access. Other research groups are turning to commercial cloud
systems, such as those provided by Amazon or Google.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Privacy protection</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In principle, cloud-based hosting can encourage sharing and
collaboration on data sets. But regulations on patient consent and
privacy rights surrounding highly sensitive clinical information pose
tricky ethical and legal issues.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In the European Union, collaboration is impeded by member states
having different rules on data handling. Sharing with non-EU nations
relies on cumbersome mechanisms to establish adequacy of data
protection, or restrictive bilateral agreements with individual
organizations. To help solve this problem, a multinational coalition,
the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health, developed the Framework for
Responsible Sharing of Genomic and Health-Related Data. The Framework
includes guidelines on privacy and consent, as well as on accountability
and legal consequences for those who break the rules.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
“In data-transfer agreements, you could save yourself pages and pages
of rules if the institution, researcher and funder agree to follow the
Framework,” says Bartha Knoppers, a bioethicist at McGill University in
Montreal, Canada, who chairs the Alliance's regulatory and ethics
working group. The Framework also calls for 'safe havens' that allow the
research community to analyse centralized banks of genomic data that
have been identity-masked but not fully 'de-identified', so they remain
useful. “We want to link it to clinical data and to medical records,
because we're never going to get to precision medicine otherwise, so
we're going to have to use coded data,” explains Knoppers.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Integrating genomics into electronic health records is becoming
increasingly important for many European nations. “Our objective is to
put this into the standard National Health Service,” says Hubbard. The
UK 100,000 Genomes Project may be the furthest along at the moment, but
other countries are following. Belgium recently announced an initiative
to explore medical genomics, for example.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
All these nations benefit from having centralized, government-run
health-care systems. In the United States, the situation is more
fragmented, with different providers relying on distinct health-record
systems, supplied by different vendors, that are generally not designed
to handle complex genomic data. The NIH launched the Electronic Medical
Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Network in 2007 to define best practices.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>From data to diagnosis</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The immediate goal of genomically enriched health records is to
explain the implications of gene variants to physicians, and one of its
earliest implementations is pharmacogenetics. The Clinical
Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium has translated known
drug–gene interactions reported in PharmGKB (a database run by Altman
and his colleagues) for clinical use. For example, people with certain
variants may respond poorly to particular anticoagulants, leading to
increased risk of heart attack. “The issue there is, how do you take a
practitioner who has 12 minutes per patient and about 45 seconds of time
allocated for prescribing drugs, and influence their practice in a
meaningful way?” says Altman.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As long as deciding how to adapt care to genetic findings remains a
job for humans, this process will remain time- and labour-intensive.
Nevertheless, combining genotype and phenotype information is proving
fruitful from a research perspective. Most clinically relevant gene
variants were identified through genome-wide association studies, in
which large populations of people with a given disease were examined to
identify closely associated genetic signatures. Researchers can now work
backwards from health records to determine what clinical manifestations
are prevalent among individuals with a given genetic variant.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
And the genome is only part of the story — other '-omes' may also be
useful barometers of health. In July, Jun Wang stepped down as chief
executive of BGI to start up an organization to analyse BGI's planned
million-genome cohort alongside equivalent data sets from the proteome,
transcriptome and metabolome. “I will be initiating a new institution to
focus on using artificial intelligence to explore this kind of big
data,” he says.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>It takes patients</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As researchers strive to integrate data from health records and
clinical trials with genomic and other physiological data, patients are
starting to contribute. “When we're focused on things like behaviour,
nutrition, exercise, smoking and alcohol, you can't get better data than
what patients report,” says Ritchie.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Wearable devices, such as smartphones and FitBits, are collecting
data on exercise and heart rate, and the volume of such data is soaring
as it can be gathered with minimal effort on the wearer's part.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Each patient may become a big-data producer. “The data we generate at
home or in the wild will vastly exceed what we accumulate in clinical
care,” says Kohane. “We're trying to create these big collages of
different data modalities — from the genomic to the environmental to the
clinical — and link them back to the patient.” As these developments
materialize, they could create computational crunches that will make
today's 'big data' struggles seem like pocket-calculator problems. And
as scientists find ways to crunch the data, patients will be the
ultimate winners.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For further information and advice please contact us on <a href="mailto:uk@bikal.co.uk">uk@bikal.co.uk</a> or <span class="skype_c2c_container notranslate" data-isfreecall="false" data-ismobile="false" data-isrtl="false" data-numbertocall="+442071935708" data-numbertype="paid" dir="ltr" id="skype_c2c_container" tabindex="-1"><span class="skype_c2c_highlighting_inactive_common" dir="ltr"><span class="skype_c2c_textarea_span" id="non_free_num_ui"><img class="skype_c2c_logo_img" height="0" src="resource://skype_ff_extension-at-jetpack/skype_ff_extension/data/call_skype_logo.png" width="0" /><span class="skype_c2c_text_span">+44 (0)20 7193 5708</span></span></span></span></div>
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Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-39066137745880248822015-12-11T11:22:00.003-08:002016-06-14T10:35:54.941-07:00Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS) - The 'Buzzword' for Affordable Video Storage & Management Services<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="std">
<img src="http://bikal.co.uk/images/video-surveillance1.jpg" height="77" width="400" /><br />
<b>5th December 2015</b><br />
The global market for Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS) is
projected to reach US$1.7 billion by 2020, driven by the growing demand
for affordable video surveillance services.<br />
<br />
Given that in-house video management and monitoring is becoming
unsustainable, both from an operational and financial point of view,
there is growing interest surrounding the ballooning concept of 'Video
Surveillance as a Service' (VSaaS). VSaaS is a service provisioning
business model where hardware, storage, management and monitoring
services are offered under the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model. For
service providers, the recurring revenue stream provided by this
business model is major benefit, as it offers a steady cash flow into
the business.<br />
<br />
For customers, the subscription billing based service delivery model
offers unrivalled cost benefits and affordability. Increasing preference
for low cost commoditized IT hardware and software is a major factor
driving the popularity, importance and proliferation of recurring
revenue-based business models. Other major benefits driving the
widespread popularity of VSaaS include ability to mix and match video
storage either in the in-house datacenter or in a cloud; remote
management and monitoring of surveillance videos; eliminates the need
for dedicated on-premise storage and other computing resources;
significantly lowers CAPEX and OPEX; anytime, anywhere access to video
footage on any device; and easy pay as-you-go payment model.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
<b>For more information please click on: <a href="http://www.researchandmarkets.com/publication/mir11kf/video_surveillance_as_a_service" target="_blank">Video Surveillance as a Service</a></b><br />
While security remains the major application area for video
surveillance, spurring market opportunities are non-security
applications in logistics, traffic management, patient monitoring,
industrial process monitoring & control, and live video
streaming/broadcasting, among others. Also driving investments in video
surveillance is the growing interest in smart cities by governments
worldwide. A key element of smart cities includes surveillance and
security. Unlike the current sporadic implementation of video
surveillance systems, smart cities require widespread deployment of
networked video surveillance, as the concept of smart cities revolves
around information collection, storage and distribution. Crime
prevention is a major area of concern as these cities are the hub of
economic activities and are therefore rich targets for criminal offences
and terrorist disruptions. Poised to benefit under this scenario is
cloud hosted VSaaS, given the numerous benefits offered such as
reliability, scalability, cost effectiveness, lowest total cost of
ownership,
reduced workloads and low maintenance.<br />
<br />
Other major factors driving growth in the market include increase in
new video surveillance deployments as a result of the rise in crime
& security issues, increased adoption of cloud enabled VSaaS,
stringent legislation of government safety mandates, and growing focus
on critical infrastructure protection. As stated by the new market
research report on Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS), Asia-Pacific
represents the largest market worldwide, led by China. A key factor
supporting Asia's dominance is the trend towards hardware inclusive
billing, which involves the addition of hardware into the monthly
service fee. Accounting for a major portion of the revenues generated in
the global VSaaS market, China is a massive consumer of subsidized
video surveillance hardware offered under the recurring revenue model.
Mass surveillance is a widespread practice in China, given the
government's top focus on crime prevention and social security. By 2020,
the government plans to have all key public spaces covered under camera
surveillance. Public security monitoring, intelligent traffic
management and social management are prime reasons spurring the national
level focus on video surveillance in the country. The United States
ranks as the fastest growing market with a CAGR of 19.3% over the
analysis period.<br />
<br />
Major players in the market include ADT Security Services, Inc., Axis
Communications AB, Brivo Inc., Camcloud Inc., Cameramanager, CameraFTP
Service, Cloudastructure Inc., ControlByNet, Duranc Inc., Eagle Eye
Networks, Inc, Envysion, Inc., Eyecast Inc., Genetec, Inc., Honeywell
Security Group, IVideon Inc., March Networks, NeoVSPT, Next Level
Security Systems, Panasonic System Networks Co., Ltd., Sensr.net, Inc.,
Smartvue Corporation, and Vector Security Inc. among others.<br />
<br />
Title Index:<br />
<br />
<b>I. INTRODUCTION, METHODOLOGY & PRODUCT DEFINITIONS</b><br />
- Study Reliability and Reporting Limitations<br />
- Disclaimers<br />
- Data Interpretation & Reporting Level<br />
- Quantitative Techniques & Analytics<br />
- Product Definitions and Scope of Study<br />
- Managed Services<br />
- Hosted & Hybrid Services<br />
<br />
<b>II. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY</b><br />
<b>1. MARKET OVERVIEW</b><br />
- Video Surveillance - An Overview<br />
- Why In-House Management of Surveillance Videos is No Longer the Right Choice?<br />
- Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS) - The 'Buzzword' for Affordable Video Storage & Management Services<br />
- Video Surveillance as a Service - Market Scenario<br />
- The Trend Towards Hardware Inclusive Billing Pushes Asia as the Largest Market for VSaaS<br />
- Why Cloud Hosted VSaaS is a Technological Triumph for Developing Asian Countries?<br />
- Market Outlook<br />
<br />
<b>2. KEY MARKET TRENDS, DRIVERS & ISSUES</b><br />
- Existing & Emerging Video Surveillance Deployments Provide Opportunities for VSaaS<br />
- Growing Interest in Smart Cities Drives Opportunities in the Market<br />
- Why Market Opportunities Go Knocking on Chinese Doors?<br />
- Managed VSaaS: The Early Outsourced Model<br />
- Video Surveillance Management Meets the Cloud, Drives Spectacular Gains in Cloud Hosted VSaaS <br />
- The Disruption of Cloud Computing in the New Economy <br />
- Cloud Enabled VSaaS - The Way of the Future<br />
- Integrated Video Analytics - A Major Draw for VSaaS <br />
- Need for Mobile/Remote Monitoring Drives Demand for VSaaS<br />
- Security- Major End-Use Application Market for VSaaS<br />
- High Public Perception of Crime Encourages Proactive Investments in
Security Technologies & Drives Demand for Video Surveillance as a
Service<br />
- Rapid Urbanization & Ensuing Rise in Public Safety Requirements - A Business Case for VSaaS in Mass Surveillance <br />
- Government Safety Mandates Drive Adoption of Video Surveillance as a
Service Non-Security Applications Growing in Prominence Government
Investments Pour in for VSaaS<br />
- Private Offices Driving Robust Gains for VSaaS<br />
- Industrial Segment - Packed with Tremendous Opportunities for VSaaS<br />
- Growing Focus on Critical Infrastructure Protection Bodes Well for Video Surveillance <br />
- Retail & Hospitality Sectors Showing Great Interest on VSaaS<br />
- Transportation Sector Warming Upto the Benefits of VSaaS<br />
- SMBs - Major Consumer Cluster for Cloud Based VSaaS Challenges
- Pricing Still a Concern<br />
- Competition from DVR/NVR Based Remote Monitoring Services<br />
- Security Issues<br />
- Bandwidth Issues<br />
- Lack of Adequate Awareness<br />
- Way Forward<br />
<br />
<b>3. SERVICE OVERVIEW </b><br />
- Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS) - Definition<br />
- Tracing the History of Video Surveillance & its Evolution from Analog CCTV Systems to Service<br />
- Based Deployments<br />
- Key Benefits of VSaaS<br />
- Lower Costs<br />
- Eliminates NVR/ DVR Qualms<br />
- Secure Web Access to Recorded Surveillance Videos<br />
- Easy Installation and Maintenance<br />
- Protection from Malicious Activities<br />
- Classification of VSaaS by Revenue Model<br />
- Managed VSaaS<br />
- Cloud Hosted VSaaS<br />
- Hybrid VSaaS<br />
<br />
<b>4. PRODUCT/SERVICE LAUNCHES </b>
- Panasonic Unveils New Nubo 4G Enabled Monitoring Camera <br />
- Genetec Announce Reduced Plan Pricing and Novel Features for Stratocast VSaaS <br />
- Mastertel, Vocord, and 3Data Collaborates for Cloud-Based Video Surveillance Solution <br />
- ADT Launches New Cloud-Based VSaaS <br />
- Genetec Launches Stratocast VSaaS Solution <br />
- Vector Security Introduces CloudControl Hosted Video Solution<br />
- Schneider Electric Unveils New Cloud-Based VSaaS Solution <br />
- Camworx Launches New Cloud-based Y-cam Hive Compatible Service<br />
<br />
<b>5. RECENT INDUSTRY ACTIVITY</b>
- Dean Drako Acquires Brivo<br />
- Digicel Business Selects Genetec's Stratocast VSaaS for Digicel Eye <br />
- Canon to Take Over Axis <br />
- Brivo Systems Enters Strategic Partnership with Eagle Eye Networks for Cloud Access Control and Video Surveillance System <br />
- ESDS Inks MOU with Iveda to Offer VSaaS in India<br />
- Panasonic Takes Over Cameramanager.com<br />
- Kastle Systems International Acquires CheckVideo <br />
- UPSS Acquires THRIVE Intelligence <br />
- SingTel Selects Digital Barriers' TVI technology for VSaaS <br />
- Samsung Techwin and IProNet Enters Technology Partnership for VSaaS<br />
- CharTec Partners with Moonblink to Offer VSaaS to MSPs <br />
- Cameramanager.com Inks Partnership with NW Systems to Launch VSaaS in the UK<br />
<br />
<b>6. FOCUS ON SELECT PLAYERS </b>
- ADT Security Services, Inc. (US) <br />
- Axis Communications AB (Sweden) <br />
- Brivo Inc. (US)<br />
- Camcloud Inc. (Canada)<br />
- Cameramanager (The Netherlands)<br />
- CameraFTP Service (US) <br />
- Cloudastructure Inc. (US)<br />
- ControlByNet (US) <br />
- Duranc Inc. (US) <br />
- Eagle Eye Networks, Inc. (US) <br />
- Envysion, Inc. (US) <br />
- Eyecast Inc. (US) <br />
- Genetec, Inc. (Canada) <br />
- Honeywell Security Group (US) <br />
- IVideon Inc. (US) <br />
- March Networks (Canada) <br />
- NeoVSPT (US)<br />
- Next Level Security Systems (US)<br />
- Panasonic System Networks Co., Ltd. (Japan)<br />
- Sensr.net, Inc. (US) <br />
- Smartvue Corporation (US) <br />
- Vector Security Inc. (US)<br />
<br />
<b>7. GLOBAL MARKET PERSPECTIVE <br />
III. MARKET <br />
IV. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE<br />
</b>
- Total Companies Profiled: 64 (including Divisions/Subsidiaries - 65) <br />
- The United States (35) <br />
- Canada (5) <br />
- Japan (1) <br />
- Europe (12) <br />
- France (1) <br />
- Germany (1) <br />
- The United Kingdom (4) <br />
- Spain (1)<br />
- Rest of Europe (5) <br />
- Asia-Pacific (Excluding Japan) (9) <br />
- Middle-East (2)<br />
- Caribbean (1)<br />
<br />
<b>Pricing:</b><br />
- Electronic (Single User): USD 4500<br />
- Electronic (1 - 5 Users): USD 6300<br />
- Electronic (1 - 10 Users): USD 8550<br />
- Electronic (1 - 15 Users): USD 10800<br />
- Ordering - Three easy ways to place your order:<br />
1] Order online: Please <a href="http://www.researchandmarkets.com/publication/mir11kf/" target="_blank">click here</a> to order online from our website<br />
2] Order by fax: Please <a href="http://www.researchandmarkets.com/publication/mir11kf/" target="_blank">click here</a> to print an order form that you can fax to +353 1 4100 980<br />
3] Order by mail: Please <a href="http://www.researchandmarkets.com/publication/mir11kf/" target="_blank">click here</a> to print an order form that you can post to Research and Markets, Guinness Centre, Taylors Lane, Dublin 8, Ireland.<br />
<br />
For further information and advice please contact us on <a href="mailto:uk@bikal.co.uk">uk@bikal.co.uk</a> or +44 (0)20 7193 5708</div>
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Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-16184042364147066562015-12-08T19:54:00.002-08:002016-06-14T10:35:46.108-07:00Business, Innovation and Skills Committee<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="std">
<img src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/business-innovation.jpg" height="76" width="400" /><br />
<b>3rd November 2015</b><br />
<div align="center">
<b>Written evidence from <a href="http://www.bikal.co.uk/" target="_blank">Bikal</a> Distribution GKB</b></div>
<b>Executive summary</b><br />
<ul>
<li>- The digital revolution and the change in the economy of where the opportunities are.</li>
<li>- UK Academic research institutions and their ability to aid productivity through innovation.</li>
<li>- Manufacturing in volume vs high quality and partnering with
emerging economies who are driving manufacturing, by way of reducing
dependency in China.</li>
<li>- Requirement for the right skills pool through education and re-training.</li>
<li>- The funding requirement for short, medium and long term planning.</li>
<li>- Ageing population and cuts in welfare, leading to longer working lives.</li>
<li>- Collaboration between industries and the move away from single product companies.</li>
</ul>
<b>The organization</b><br />
A UK company that provides software and devices to capture video,
audio and big data. These can then create efficient processes, increase
public safety and provide preventative healthcare. This is done by
liaising with end users and using HPC and algorithms to process the
data. We work through our network of global offices and partners to
create localized solutions for local communities. We innovate product
through the collaboration with universities<br />
<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Myself</b><br />
I am the director of the <b><a href="http://www.bikal.co.uk/company-profile.html" target="_blank">company</a></b> and have been in business for 11
years. My main skill set is in sales and marketing and being from London
I have kept the company HQ here. I am 40 years old and plan to stay in
business in some form or another as the opportunities that I have worked
on seem to be bearing fruit. There is a knowledge base that has taken
me time to create and the contacts that have come with that are now a
lot more consistent.<br />
<br />
<b>Reason for submitting evidence</b><br />
I have seen the business landscape change and at the same time learnt
a lot about how to do business, as all business owners do. The digital
revolution is a key factor in the change as it effects the product we
sell (or create) and the way that we work. I have reduced my overhead by
using many online cloud softwares and having efficient PCs to work on. I
make changes in the way that I work every 3-6 months to maintain the
efficiencies or search out new ways and tools that will make work more
productive.<br />
<br />
This has given me time to work on our product offering which creates a
better business, through increased margins and higher demand product.
Most of these include cloud based services and capitalization of data,
hardware product is being commoditized because of volume manufacturers
in <b><a href="http://www.bikal.cn/" target="_blank">China</a></b>. A lot of these technology innovations have come from tech
transfer from universities and the main reason for submitting the
evidence is around the problem there has been in getting this technology
onto the market. The USA has seen many tech based companies come from
universities via tech transfer and from well-known drop outs from
universities. The USA manages to take an idea and then create a company
very quickly. USA Students, in the better universities, have ingrained
in them to create their own job rather than look for one and so they
drop out when the idea arises.<br />
<br />
Universities in the UK have business development offices and teams
but there is still a huge problem in getting a product or business
transferred into a company, creating a new entity or licensing to an
existing corporate. There have been instances of USA companies getting
patents registered which are inventions from the UK. I have personally
been speaking to professors and business development teams in the UK
Universities on an idea, writing proposals and then for them to turn
around and say we cannot manage this because of work load. Then I have
gone abroad to get the technology and currently I am working with a
Japanese University on the same idea.<br />
<br />
The digital revolution has changed the landscape and patents no
longer have the same power that they once had. A discussion with a
well-known listed tech transfer company stated that they only worked
with tech transfer opportunities where the university had patents in
place. They focus mainly on chemical and physics based technologies. The
digital tech was ignored by them and so I formed an R&D company
which looks into research of machine vision, audio and big data
technologies. To increase our productivity we do not wait for a patent
to be granted as the risk is for the same solution to be created but in
another way. This is unique to the digital revolution and we can give
examples of taxi mobile apps
such as Haile and Uber. Uber through the right backing have become
global. Ideas are the new currency and the patent application reduces
productivity through the perceived notion that patents are needed in the
modern economy. However, the innovation from the UK is hampered by the
lack of understanding with in universities, lack of skills &
re-training (we should not have to wait for millennials to graduate or
come into the workforce) and the short term venture funding.<br />
<br />
<b>Recommendations for action by the Government or others for the committee to consider</b><br />
<b>Factual</b><br />
1. The global economy is changing whereby if we rely on manufacturing
to compete productivity we do not have the manufacturing base nor the
skill level to do this. The ability to produce on volume and quickly
enough requires scale. We can compete on luxury goods but not on mass
volume manufacturing.<br />
<br />
2. We have identified, through our own need to develop new product,
the assets within universities. Research and development can produce a
multitude of products and services (some through increasing efficiency)
that will increase our productivity even if manufacturing is outsourced.<br />
<br />
3. I have examples of university technology that is advertising for
licensing of that tech but enquiry it is always 6 – 8 weeks more before
the product is ready. The inventor needs to do a little more research.<br />
<br />
4. The current foreign direct investment is based on asset purchases
such as property established companies, brand name. This shows that the
UK can attract investment but most of it seems to be low risk and long
term based.<br />
<br />
5. I have been on UKTI trade missions and they have been very good.
They take a little time understand how to use them but once you grasp
the handle of it they are good.<br />
<br />
<b>Recommendations</b><br />
1. We need to broaden into the areas that we are good at, which
relies on a higher skill set and a then services to support that skill
set.<br />
<br />
2. Business and entrepreneurship degrees, not necessarily mean that
they will want be more entrepreneurs but they will understand how
entrepreneurs work. There is a change
in business structures which is acknowledged by things like the BSI
standards. There is a BSI standard (BSI: 11000) for collaboration.<br />
<br />
3. There have to be more dispersed Innovation and incubation centres
and parks. Create clusters for innovation within small cities and towns.
At the moment it seems as if things are London centric. (We are working
with Glasgow University, Kyoto University and a doctor based in Austin,
Texas). Locating within London and London competing for startups is not
going to increase the productivity, due to the cost of rent and travel.<br />
<br />
4. Universities need to be on a performance related or some other
process whereby the technology is accessible for small firms. We have
even offered to pay for the tech as well as continuing the research so
that the university can produce papers. Compulsory purchase orders
should be created for technology transfer as there are other scientists
that can
continue the research if the inventors are not able to create a
commercial product and or company. By registering each tech with a
central committee the university should be given a time span to respond
and act or the small firm should get access to that technology, this
committee can then make the company accountable for working and paying
for the technology.<br />
<br />
5. Allow or attract more engineers and youth to the economy. Germany
are paying for Chinese grads to stay in the country, as they recognize
they have a shortage. We need to have an allocation of permanent stay
working visas (which include start up/ entrepreneur (without the £200k
investment stipulation) as international students (mainly Indian and
Chinese) are creating the right competition and have the drive to
disrupt the established thinking. This is evident with the USA economy
and tech we have seen come from Silicon Valley.<br />
<br />
6. Partnership with manufacturing countries (Asia and Latin America)
should be encouraged. We need to license more of the technology to
international manufacturing companies. This requires for the UK to move
quickly. We can be a design house and inventor of smart technologies and
selling expert services.<br />
<br />
7. Aid UK trade with more involvement with the UKTI, more demand from
international buyers needs to be supported as most of the companies are
small (the UK punches above its
weight) and so we need to support the costs of marketing.<br />
<br />
<b>Mr. Raj Sandhu<br />
August 2015</b><br />
<br />
<b>Online version
<a href="http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/business-innovation-and-skills-committee/governments-productivity-plan/written/19283.html" target="_blank">Business Innovation and skills committee</a></b><br />
<b>Other submissions
<a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/business-innovation-and-skills/inquiries/parliament-2015/productivity-plan/publications/" target="_blank">Business Innovation and skills</a></b><br />
<br />
For further information and advice please contact us on <a href="mailto:uk@bikal.co.uk">uk@bikal.co.uk</a> or +44 (0)20 7193 5708</div>
</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-66778265230441759382015-12-01T02:55:00.003-08:002016-06-14T10:37:24.270-07:00Modular data centres are greener<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<img src="http://bikal.co.uk/images/modular-data.jpg" height="240" width="400" /><br />
<b>Nov 23rd, 2015, In Data centre, By Frank Brand – Associate Director,</b><br />
Amsterdam can rightly claim to be one of the founding cities present
at the birth of what is now called the ‘Data Centre Industry’ – the
others in Europe being London, Frankfurt and Paris. The city continues
to be a focus of attention for colocation and connectivity within the
Netherlands and across the continent.<br />
<br />
However, it is at the other end of the country in the municipality of
Sittard-Geleen, where the most recent innovation in data centres can be
found. Last month (Friday April 10th to be exact) saw the
ground-breaking ceremony for what will become arguably the most energy
efficient Tier III facility in the Netherlands.<br />
<br />
The data centre is being built by ICTroom for the Belgian cloud
services provider Cegeka and will initially provide 750kW of IT power
and a design PUE of 1.14. It will integrate solar power to reduce its
carbon footprint and it will make use of GEA’s indirect Air2Air cooling
system which helps to reduce the cooling system's energy consumption by
up to a factor of seven compared to classic cooling methods.<br />
<br />
As with any technology, time tends to bring improvements and the data
centre environment is no exception. Equipment is better designed: UPS
systems running closer and closer to the theoretical maximum efficiency,
air handling units which don’t leak air and generators with superior
fuel economy. It is no wonder that today’s data centre has better green
credentials than those built ten years ago.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<br />
There are however, four topics that can have a massive bearing on the
carbon and resource footprint of a data centre and these are sometimes
overlooked – namely i) the use of efficient IT systems; ii) the use of
DCIM to maximise efficiency; iii) operational excellence and iv)
modularity. As we build out the new data centre in Sittard-Geleen
together with our customer Cegeka, we are endeavouring to address each
of these up front.<br />
<br />
With a long heritage as a systems integrator, Cegeka are well placed
to address the first of these issues – that of the use of efficient IT
equipment. Cegeka is not a small business. It has a turnover of over 240
million euros and is growing at around 12%. It employs more than 3,200
employees and already has data centres in Hasselt (Belgium), Leuven
(Belgium), Veenendaal (the Netherlands) and Poland.<br />
<br />
Cegeka knows that whilst the data centre may be super efficient, if,
as is often the case, servers are running using only 10% of their
capacity and still demand 70% of maximum power whilst idling, the total
power used (and wasted) will eclipse any and all savings from efficient
cooling. By owning the full stack from application to the rack and
employing advanced virtualisation and SDN, Cegeka will be able to turn
almost all of the 750kW supplied to the racks into productive work
inside the servers.<br />
<br />
Hand-in-hand with efficient IT equipment is the ability to control,
in real time, the DC resources being used to support it. The ‘M’ in DCIM
is most often thought of as ‘Monitoring’ rather than ‘Management’, but
at Cegeka’s new facility, sophisticated management platforms will be
used to ensure that not only is the infrastructure under 24/7
supervision, but that power and cooling can be adjusted dynamically to
match the demands being placed upon it.<br />
<br />
The third of the often-overlooked areas relates to the operation of
the data centre. Good green credentials require both technical knowledge
and an appropriate management culture. Physical configurations that
(for example) optimise airflow are a pre-requisite to good economics,
but even with the best DCIM systems in existence, constant vigilance
from well-trained staff is needed to crack down on wasteful habits.<br />
<br />
The fourth topic though, modularity, is probably the
elephant-in-the-room when it comes to minimising the overall impact a
data centre has on the resources in the environment. Modularity (whether
pre-fab or container or other) is all about providing capacity quickly
at the time when it is needed.<br />
<br />
We should probably consider modularity in the context of the ‘urban’
data centre versus the ‘frozen wasteland’ data centre. There is a
perception that all compute workloads are going to end up in the vast
mega centres which are popping up in countries with endless geothermic
power and which never get hotter than 10°c.<br />
<br />
Even where data protection concerns require these centres to be
housed in more southerly climes, the scale of a mega centre can
undoubtedly create efficiencies relative to the amount of compute power
being planned for. But (and it is a big but) even if one believes that
those mega centres will all be used at their optimal capacity, it is
just not realistic to assume that all workloads will migrate to these
large ‘public’ cloud facilities. 451 research recently presented
findings that 73% of workloads will remain on-premise or in private
hosted environments over the next two years. It turns out that location
is important. Cegeka’s new data centre is next to the Belgium and German
borders and so in addition to pan-European public cloud offerings, it
is planning to serve ‘local’ Dutch, Belgian and German private cloud
customers who prefer to have their data and systems close by than on the
other side of the continent.<br />
<br />
We therefore come to the role of the medium-sized data centre (1-5MW)
as a private cloud factory in the cloud-services supply chain. Without
modularity the economics of providing such facilities would, in any
case, be challenging up against public cloud and colocation. Modularity
provides the ability to flex investment according to demand, and once
combined with enlightened commercial and operational support
arrangements can deliver an owned and branded facility ‘as-a-service’.<br />
<br />
More generally, the green credentials of modularity have not been
given their due recognition. Firstly, the whole concept of building to
meet demand means that excess resources are not deployed. Secondly,
demand changes over time so building-to-order means that infrastructure
is not deployed and then left fallow. Thirdly, the whole concept of
re-use and recycling which is commonplace in our day-to-day life, can
actually be applied to the modular data centre. Components can be
deployed when and where needed. Then when (and if) they are no longer
needed, they can be removed and re-used elsewhere.<br />
<br />
So modularity has moved on from providing a predictable form factor
and a guaranteed performance level. It now delivers both scalability and
flexibility and these are critical to being able to match supply and
demand. Of course – as with any just-in-time supply chain – it is
critical to engage suppliers who can commit to strict delivery
timescales with a ‘first-time-right’ philosophy and can become the
trusted partner in managing those resources.<br />
<br />
Ultimately, the best that the data centre industry can do to ensure
that the world’s resources are not being squandered is to deliver data
centre capacity exactly when and where it is needed. No more, no less.<br />
For further information and advice please contact us on <a href="mailto:uk@bikal.co.uk">uk@bikal.co.uk</a> or <span class="skype_c2c_container notranslate" data-isfreecall="false" data-ismobile="false" data-isrtl="false" data-numbertocall="+442071935708" data-numbertype="paid" dir="ltr" id="skype_c2c_container" tabindex="-1"><span class="skype_c2c_highlighting_inactive_common" dir="ltr"><span class="skype_c2c_textarea_span" id="non_free_num_ui"><img class="skype_c2c_logo_img" height="0" src="resource://skype_ff_extension-at-jetpack/skype_ff_extension/data/call_skype_logo.png" width="0" /><span class="skype_c2c_text_span">+44 (0)20 7193 5708</span></span></span></span></div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-82734529171341068582015-11-20T05:22:00.001-08:002016-06-14T10:37:43.509-07:00Web-Services Giants Use Artificial Intelligence to Make Smarter Applications, Driving Explosive Growth in Machine Learning Workloads<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span id="goog_1243798171"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_1243798172"></span>Santa Clara, CA, USA, 13th November 2015. NVIDIA today announced an
end-to-end hyperscale data center platform that lets web-services
companies accelerate their huge machine
learning workloads.<br />
<br />
The NVIDIA hyperscale accelerator line consists of two accelerators.
One lets researchers more quickly innovate and design new deep neural
networks for each of the increasing number of applications they want to
power with artificial intelligence (AI). Another is a low-power
accelerator designed to deploy these networks across the data center.
The line also includes a suite of GPU-accelerated libraries.<br />
<br />
Together, they enable developers to use the powerful Tesla
Accelerated Computing drive machine learning in hyperscale data centers
and create unprecedented AI-based applications.<br />
<br />
"The artificial intelligence race is on," said Jen-Hsun Huang,
co-founder and CEO of NVIDIA. "Machine learning is unquestionably one of
the most important developments in computing today, on the scale of the
PC, the internet and cloud computing. Industries ranging from consumer
cloud services, automotive and health care are being revolutionized as
we speak.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
"Machine learning is the grand computational challenge of our
generation. We created the Tesla hyperscale accelerator line to give
machine learning a 10X boost. The time and cost savings to data centers
will be significant," he said.<br />
<br />
These new hardware and software products are designed specifically to
accelerate the flood of web applications that are racing to incorporate
AI capabilities. Ground-breaking advances in machine learning have made
it possible to use AI techniques to create smarter applications and
services.<br />
<br />
Machine learning is being used to make voice recognition more
accurate. It enables automatic object and scene recognition in video or
photos with the ability to tag for later search. It makes possible
facial recognition in videos or photos, even when the face is partially
obscured. And it powers services that are aware of individual tastes and
interests, which can organize schedules, deliver relevant news stories
and respond to voice commands accurately and in a conversational tone.<br />
<br />
The magic is made possible by machine learning. The challenge is
obtaining the daunting amount of supercomputing power needed to innovate
and train the growing number of deep neural networks, and the
processing to instantly respond to the billions of queries from
consumers using the services. The NVIDIA hyperscale accelerator line was
created to accelerate these workloads and dramatically increase the
throughput of data centers.<br />
<br />
These new additions to the NVIDIA Tesla platform include:<br />
<ul>
<li>NVIDIA® Tesla® M40 GPU - the most powerful accelerator designed for training neural networks</li>
<li>NVIDIA Tesla M4 GPU - a low-power, small form-factor accelerator for
machine inference, as well as streaming image and video processing</li>
<li>NVIDIA Hyperscale Suite - a rich suite of software optimized for machine learning and video processing</li>
</ul>
<b>NVIDIA Tesla M40 GPU Accelerator</b><br />
The NVIDIA Tesla M40 GPU accelerator allows data scientists to save
days, even weeks, of time while training their deep neural networks
against massive amounts of data for higher overall accuracy. Key
features include:<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Optimized for Machine Learning</b> - Reduces training time by 8X compared with CPUs days vs. 10 days for a typical AlexNet training).</li>
<li><b>Built for 24/7 reliability</b> - Designed and tested for high reliability in data environments.</li>
<li><b>Scale-out performance</b> - Support for NVIDIA GPUDirect allowing fast multi-node network training.</li>
</ul>
<b>NVIDIA Tesla M4 GPU Accelerator</b><br />
The NVIDIA Tesla M4 accelerator is a low-power GPU purpose-built for
hyperscale environments and optimized for demanding, high-growth web
services applications, including video transcoding, image and video
processing, and machine learning inference. Key features include:<br />
<ul>
<li><b>Higher throughput</b> - Transcodes, enhances and analyzes up to 5X more simultaneous streams compared with CPUs.</li>
<li><b>Low power consumption</b> - With a user-selectable
power profile, the Tesla M4 50-75 watts of power, and delivers up to 10X
better energy efficiency than a CPU for video processing and machine
learning algorithms.</li>
<li><b>Scale-out performance</b> - - Harnesses widely used FFmpeg to accelerate video transcoding and video processing.</li>
</ul>
<b>NVIDIA Hyperscale Suite</b><br />
The new NVIDIA Hyperscale Suite includes tools for both developers
and data center managers, specifically designed for web services
deployments, including:<br />
<ul>
<li><b>cuDNN</b> - the industry's most popular algorithm software for processing deep neural networks used for AI applications.</li>
<li><b>GPU-accelerated FFmpeg multimedia software</b> - With a
user-selectable power profile, the Tesla M4 50-75 watts of power, and
delivers up to 10X better energy efficiency than a CPU for video
processing and machine learning algorithms.</li>
<li><b>NVIDIA GPU REST Engine</b> - Enables the easy creation
and deployment of low-latency accelerated web services spanning dynamic
image resizing, search acceleration, image classification and other
tasks.</li>
<li><b>NVIDIA Image Compute Engine</b> - GPU-accelerated service with REST API that image resizing 5 times faster compared to a CPU.</li>
</ul>
<b>Mesosphere Support</b><br />
In the latest showing of industry support for the Tesla Accelerated
Computing Platform, Mesosphere announced that it is collaborating with
NVIDIA to add support for GPU technology to Apache Mesos and the
Mesosphere Datacenter Operating System (DCOS). The move will make it
easier for web-services companies to build and deploy accelerated data
centers for their next - generation applications.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bikal.co.uk/nvidia-news.html" target="_blank">Bikal</a> is a Nvidia technology user and uses its technology for video
and data processing. Video analytics offloaded to GPU reduce the load on
the RAM and CPU, which reduces the power consumption and increases
performance. Our Big Data analytics are compatible for GPU so that our
algorithms benefit from deep learning and detect anomalies for better
decision making. Recently we have used the Power8 tool, that IBM have
created, to make these analytics compatible with our analytics and be
deployable on an existing infrastructure.<br />
For further information and advice please contact us on <a href="mailto:uk@bikal.co.uk">uk@bikal.co.uk</a></div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-8764953253940298272015-11-20T05:17:00.004-08:002016-06-14T10:46:08.052-07:00Mega Trend: Cloud - Application Development and Data Move to the Cloud<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="std">
<img alt="Mega Trend: Cloud - Application Development and Data Move to the Cloud" src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/mega-trend-cloud.jpg" height="206" title="Mega Trend: Cloud - Application Development and Data Move to the Cloud" width="400" /><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<img alt="The Rise of Object Storage" src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/object-storage.jpg" height="206" title="The Rise of Object Storage" width="400" /><br />
<img alt="Inexpensive, scalable storage for massive amounts of unstructured data" src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/inexpensive.jpg" height="206" title="Inexpensive, scalable storage for massive amounts of unstructured data" width="400" /><br />
<img alt="Mega Trend: Platform as a Service" src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/mega-trend-platform.jpg" height="206" title="Mega Trend: Platform as a Service" width="400" /><br />
<img alt="WW Infrastructure HW Spending" src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/infrastructure-HW.jpg" height="207" title="WW Infrastructure HW Spending" width="400" /><br />
<img alt="WW Infrastructure HW Spending Including Hybrid Cloud" src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/hybrid-cloud.jpg" height="206" title="WW Infrastructure HW Spending Including Hybrid Cloud" width="400" /><br />
<img alt="Mega Trend: Object Storage" src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/massive-amounts.jpg" height="206" title="Mega Trend: Object Storage" width="400" /></div>
</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-61939521773796320402015-10-08T00:17:00.003-07:002016-06-14T10:45:01.718-07:00Recent data from IBM Security Services shows 55% of all attacks were found to be carried out by malicious insiders or inadvertent actors <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<h1>
</h1>
<div class="std">
<img alt="Recent data from IBM Security Services shows 55% of all attacks" src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/it-security-page1.jpg" height="240" title="Recent data from IBM Security Services shows 55% of all attacks" width="400" /><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<img alt="it security and insider threat" src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/it-security-page2.jpg" height="240" title="it security and insider threat" width="400" /></div>
</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-59510247302129053362015-10-04T23:34:00.000-07:002016-06-14T10:38:23.894-07:00Bikal UKTI Trade Mission to Mexico City 7th -9th September 2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td colspan="2" height="10"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="47%"><img src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/bikal-UKTI-trade.jpg" height="185" width="312" /></td>
<td width="53%">Bikal was part of the UKTI trade mission to
Mexico City, Mexico. The mission was based around unbanisation,
infrastructure and smart cities. The mission supported the Dual Year of
Mexico and the UK which was created following President Nieno�s visit in
March.<br />
<br />
On the mission we met with partners, end users and government
departments.</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<img alt="Dual year of uk and mexico 2015" src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/great-mexico.jpg" title="Dual year of uk and mexico 2015" /><br />
<br />
Our overall strategy is to build local partners in the
countries that we want to do business in. These partners then become part of the Bikal name and we forge
closer ties through a range of innovation, case study references an exporting UK knowledge and technology. The knowledge can be in the form
of innovation, management and research. The research will come from
academic institutions and from ex-professionals in law enforcement and
the military. Our case study references in security equipment deployment
are transferable to the Mexican market. Mexico has a rapid rate of
infrastructure development and so our deployments in security in cities,
ports and law enforcement. <br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
By meeting with government departments we learnt from the top the
current status of Mexico City, its issues and the future plans. Some of
other cities were also discussed by the federal government officials
that we met and this provided an insight into the culture as well as the
economics of the country. It was clear that there is not only
opportunity for UK exports but for collaboration with Mexican people,
companies and the government. There is a young, well educated and
dynamic population that is located to sell into the rest of the
Americas.<br />
<br />
Over the next 3 months we will be creating a framework and establishing our business opportunities in the region. Bikal has sold
into the Americas and the Caribbean for over 5 years and this trade
mission will solidify our presence in the region. We will update our
progression over the coming weeks and identify our key partners in the
region.</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-46489756437053690492015-09-30T00:07:00.002-07:002016-06-14T10:38:32.514-07:00Press Release: ONVIF Expands Influence with 5,000 Conformant Products, 500 Members and 5th Profile<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 100%px;">
<tbody>
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<td colspan="2" height="10"><br /></td>
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<td width="47%"><img src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/onvif-press-release.jpg" height="118" width="200" /></td>
<td width="53%"><b>SAN RAMON, CALIFORNIA. – Sept. 21, 2015</b>.
ONVIF, the leading global standardization initiative for IP-based
physical security products, is announcing that it has reached nearly
5,000 IP-based physical security products registered as ONVIF compliant,</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
grown to more than 500 member companies, and has developed its fifth
profile specification - Profile A for advanced access control, to the
industry for feedback.<br />
<br />
These milestones signify ONVIF’s continuing development and
influence as a major driver of interoperability in the physical security
market. <b>“End users in the industry and the broader consumer
market now expect basic interoperability when they make purchases, and
manufacturers are responding by making more interoperable products by
using ONVIF’s specifications,”</b> said Per Björkdahl, Chairman of the ONVIF Steering Committee. <b>“We
are proud to have reached these milestones in ONVIF’s growth and
development and look forward to working with our members and the
industry at large to continue to promote interoperability in the
market.”</b> <br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
<b>5,000 Conformant Products and 500 Members</b><br />
In the last 12 months alone, the number of ONVIF conformant products
increased by 1,300, an increase of approximately 35 percent increase.
Also in the past year, ONVIF reached more than 500 members, a membership
that represents six of the seven continents in the world.<br />
<br />
<b>5th Profile – Profile A</b><br />
ONVIF’s fifth and newest profile - Profile A for advanced access
control, is designed to establish an interface for access control
clients and expands the configuration options for ONVIF conformant
access control systems. Profile A is available in release candidate
status on the ONVIF website.<br />
<b>“ONVIF’s latest release of the Profile A Release Candidate
was designed to meet the market’s evolving need for a more advanced
access control profile,”</b> said Neelendra Bhandari, Engineering Leader at ONVIF member company, Honeywell Security. <b>“This
illustrates ONVIF’s commitment to stay attuned to the needs of its
members and the industry which is reflected in its ongoing development
of new profiles and continued work to promote interoperability.”</b><br />
With Profile S for streaming video, Profile G for recording and
storage, Profile C for physical access control, Profile Q for easy
installation and advanced security features and Profile A for advanced
access control configuration, ONVIF continues to work with its members
to expand the number of IP interoperability solutions ONVIF conformant
products can provide. <br />
<br />
Further information about ONVIF’s conformant products, including the
vendors and the conformant models, is available on ONVIF’s website: <a href="http://www.onvif.org/" target="_blank">www.onvif.org</a><br />
<br />
For press inquiries, please contact:<br />
Andrea Gural<br />
Eclipse Media Group on behalf of ONVIF<br />
Phone: +1.207.319.7372<br />
E-mail: <a href="mailto:agural@eclipsemediagroup.net">agural@eclipsemediagroup.net</a><br />
<br />
Stan Moyer, ONVIF Executive Director<br />
2400 Camino Ramon, Suite 375<br />
San Ramon, CA 94583, USA<br />
Phone: +1.928.395.6773<br />
E-mail: <a href="mailto:info@onvif.org">info@onvif.org</a></div>
</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-67573137248987752742015-09-20T22:37:00.002-07:002016-06-14T10:38:51.331-07:00Data Privacy vs Crime Prevention<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Data Privacy vs Crime Prevention</b><br />
The big brother concern is something that is constantly in the news. Civil liberty groups have on many occasions highlighted breaches or methods of what they deem as an invasion of privacy. Some of the data privacy concerns are based on the change in terms of conditions, on things like social media websites such as Facebook, and others have been based on what the Police or law enforcement have done. For instance, a recent public event, an outdoor concert, created a furore as the police installed a temporary facial recognition system which was linked to a database for drug dealers across Europe. This did not go down well with the law abiding attendees of the event.<br />
<br />
Therefore, the use of the technology is not the problem but the fact that law enforcement need to capture all data to then find the people that they are looking for from that data capture. The problem of the data capture is not always contested like this. Also, what is the difference of sifting through recorded images after the event and applying the same software to see who went? The data privacy invasion is the same but the effectiveness of law enforcement is reduced as the drug dealers would have committed the crime and more importantly could have led to injuries and fatalities that may have been preventable with earlier detection. <br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
We have been on social media (@bikalcctv) and often retweeted after a fatal shooting has occurred. In most cases, these crimes are committed by sufferers of mental illness who get access to legal firearms. The issue could be laid to blame on access to firearms and there not being enough gun control but the counter to this argument is that other forms of weapons can be found and used. This is not proven or researched but some degree of the scale of the killings (James Holmes and the cinema in Aurora, CO., USA) may be an indicator that if semi-automatic weapons were not so easily available then there would not be as many deaths as there were. <br />
<br />
From social media accounts it is clear to see who is in favour of the freedom to bear arms and the groups advocating for gun control. Our opinion is based around that reversing the culture of guns in places like the USA is not something that can be reversed. In the UK, following the Dunblane tragedy, more controls were placed on the ownership of guns without any opposition, or very little. This, in our opinion, is nigh on impossible in places like the USA. <br />
<br />
Does public safety increase if there is higher levels of gun control? The ability to open a firearms store, the type of gun that would be legally be allowed to be produced and the ongoing assessment of a gun owner could be actions to reduce the access to weapons. This is surely an effort and it would be going up against the gun lobbyists, who on are representing law abiding gun owners. Research on how many guns are owned for self-protection, and, hence, very rarely discharged would be an interesting statistic to analyse. We have seen how gun sales rise when a shooting occurs, and this when the news is national. The regional homicides which are not national reported may still cause a spike in local sales of guns. The USA is now owning 40% of the global supply of weapons, a staggering figure. The correlation between this and the number of gun related deaths is clear.<br />
<br />
Crime is not limited to legal and illegal use and holding of guns, there are physical assaults, child abuse and domestic cases. A lot of suspects will have an escalation to more serious crime and their background usually will have some form of social and or economic despair or insecurity. There are then of course the socio and psychopaths that are intent on causing harm due to their mental incapacity.</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-70336941748492732462015-09-20T22:34:00.002-07:002016-06-14T10:39:05.783-07:00Walmart Shrinkage<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Wal-Mart’s CFO announces 1.4% cost in annual results due to shrinkage</b><br />
The retail behemoth has announced a charge which equated to 1.4% of their sales revenue. The presumption that the figure is accurate will still mean a cost of around $3-4 billion. The description of the losses has been based around outsiders stealing from stock rooms around the back of stores and customers stealing, paying for some goods and shoplifting some items. The CFO and company execs are asking the staff to be more vigilant and try to spot when theft occurs. Is this realistic for the staff to do, while they service customers?<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>Possible underlying causes</b><br />
There are external influences such as the economic and social conditions of the region. Wal-Mart will, on the whole, provide access through their pricing to lower income groups. In addition, their business has a wider range of goods which may also attract theft as it allows a central place to acquire goods. This is of course all speculation. For instance, do Wholefoods or CVS have similar rates of theft and what are their policies or processes to reduce this loss?<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>Understanding shrinkage</b><br />
Shrinkage is a term used in retail that describes losses but the source of these losses is between shoplifters, staff theft and losses through mistakes. The theft by staff can be from employees stealing directly or sweet heartening, which is when a staff member gives unauthorized discounts or do not charge for goods at the cash register. So the 1.4% cost to Wal-Mart will have various reasons that the CFO may not know about or if he does, needs to breakdown further the sources of that loss. Figures in the past have stated that shrinkage from staff accounts for 40% to 70% of the total retail losses. (Therefore, was the comment from the CFO at Wal-Mart a diplomatic response to not blame staff but to still provide a reason to the shareholders and the market? This is a question for another time).<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>Current retail processes in tacking shrinkage</b><br />
The ability to isolate the cause of the losses will enable a retailer to tackle the issue. The causes will vary from retailer to retailer. For instance, luxury goods retailers may have more staff theft and less shoplifting, due to the nature of the protection of the display stock. One recent discussion with a Security Chief of a well-known luxury retailer revealed that their stock room had access control. But the process to review the access data was done at the end of each month, which in our opinion was too late. A person could become an employee, steal handbags worth tens of thousands (as these may not be part of a regular stock take due to the low volume of sales) and leave the company before the end of the month. Usually, a person will know within 2 weeks the processes and vulnerabilities of a business if their intent is to steal. Usually, this is enough time for an opportunistic thief as well.<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>Countering retail shrinkage indirectly</b><br />
In a lot of cases, the majority of theft is economic and or social circumstance based, especially when it is small scale. The cost to society (through the efforts of policing and the courts) makes prosecution inefficient when there are other non-malicious circumstances are the motivator to steal. Corporations should, we think, think of the micro economic circumstances that exist that create the underlying causes. Foodbanks are a growing source of food supply to families and individuals who suffer from food insecurity and there may be a correlation in this and any shoplifting that takes place. A Sainsbury’s Local store in London runs donation boxes for depositing food for donations to foodbanks. This could be an informative and non-direct way to inform someone that there is source to help them. We would need to ask Sainsbury’s this question.<br />
<br />
The answer is, therefore, to collect data first and understand the causalities of the source of shrinkage. Retailers cannot start to reduce shrinkage until they know where it is coming from and what products (and in some instances the services services) are being targeted. This parameter will vary from region to region and probably to the layout of the premises. We can use video and data analytics to assess the threat, much like the insider threat when company members are on company networks within an office or other work environment.<b> </b></div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-53471092189546462412015-09-19T01:17:00.002-07:002016-06-14T10:43:36.196-07:00Written evidence from Bikal Distribution GKB Ltd<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Executive summary</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<ul style="margin: 0pt; padding-left: 0pt;" type="disc">
<li style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 28.06pt; padding-left: 7.94pt; text-indent: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The digital revolution and the change in the economy of where the opportunities are.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 28.06pt; padding-left: 7.94pt; text-indent: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">UK Academic research institutions and their ability to aid productivity through innovation.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 28.06pt; padding-left: 7.94pt; text-indent: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Manufacturing
in volume vs high quality and partnering with emerging economies who
are driving manufacturing, by way of reducing dependency in China. </span></li>
<li style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 28.06pt; padding-left: 7.94pt; text-indent: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Requirement for the right skills pool through education and re-training.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 28.06pt; padding-left: 7.94pt; text-indent: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The funding requirement for short, medium and long term planning.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 28.06pt; padding-left: 7.94pt; text-indent: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Ageing population and cuts in welfare, leading to longer working lives.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Symbol; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 28.06pt; padding-left: 7.94pt; text-indent: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Collaboration between industries and the move away from single product companies.</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The organization</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">A
UK company that provides software and devices to capture video, audio
and big data. These can then create efficient processes, increase public
safety and provide preventative healthcare. This is done by liaising
with end users and using HPC and algorithms to process the data. We work
through our network of global offices and partners to create localized
solutions for local communities. </span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">We innovate product through the collaboration with universities.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Myself</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">I
am the director of the company and have been in business for 11 years.
My main skill set is in sales and marketing and being from London I have
kept the company HQ here. I am 40 years old and plan to stay in
business in some form or another as the opportunities that I have worked
on seem to be bearing fruit. There is a knowledge base that has taken
me time to create and the contacts that have come with that are now a
lot more consistent. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Reason for submitting evidence</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> I
have seen the business landscape change and at the same time learnt a
lot about how to do business, as all business owners do. The digital
revolution is a key factor in the change as it effects the product we
sell (or create) and the way that we work. I have reduced my overhead by
using many online cloud softwares and having efficient PCs to work on. I
make changes in the way that I work every 3-6 months to maintain the
efficiencies or search out new ways and tools that will make work more
productive.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">This
has given me time to work on our product offering which creates a
better business, through increased margins and higher demand product.
Most of these include cloud based services and capitalization of data,
hardware product is being commoditized because of volume manufacturers
in China. A lot of these technology innovations have come from tech
transfer from universities and the main reason for submitting the
evidence is around the problem there has been in getting this technology
onto the market. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The USA has seen many tech based companies come from
universities via tech transfer and from well-known drop outs from
universities. The USA manages to take an idea and then create a company
very quickly. USA Students, in the better universities, have ingrained
in them to create their own job rather than look for one and so they
drop out when the idea arises. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Universities
in the UK have business development offices and teams but there is
still a huge problem in getting a product or business transferred into a
company, creating a new entity or licensing to an existing corporate.
There have been instances of USA companies getting patents registered
which are inventions from the UK. I have personally been speaking to
professors and business development teams in the UK Universities on an
idea, writing proposals and then for them to turn around and say we
cannot manage this because of work load. Then I have gone abroad to get
the technology and currently I am working with a Japanese University on
the same idea. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The
digital revolution has changed the landscape and patents no longer have
the same power that they once had. A discussion with a well-known
listed tech transfer company stated that they only worked with tech
transfer opportunities where the university had patents in place. They
focus mainly on chemical and physics based technologies. The digital
tech was ignored by them and so I formed an R&D company which looks
into research of machine vision, audio and big data technologies. To
increase our productivity we do not wait for a patent to be granted as
the risk is for the same solution to be created but in another way. This
is unique to the digital revolution and we can give examples of taxi
mobile apps such as Haile and Uber.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Uber through the right backing have
become global. Ideas are the new currency and the patent application
reduces productivity through the perceived notion that patents are
needed in the modern economy. However, the innovation from the UK is
hampered by the lack of understanding with in universities, lack of
skills & re-training (we should not have to wait for millennials to
graduate or come into the workforce) and the short term venture funding.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Recommendations for action by the Government or others for the committee to consider</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Factual</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">1.</span><span style="font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The
global economy is changing whereby if we rely on manufacturing to
compete on productivity we do not have the manufacturing base nor the
skill level to do this. The ability to produce on volume and quickly
enough requires scale. We can compete on luxury goods but not on mass
volume manufacturing. </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">2.</span><span style="font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">We
have identified, through our own need to develop new product, the
assets within UK universities. Research and development can produce a
multitude of products and services (some through increasing efficiency)
that will increase our productivity even if manufacturing is outsourced.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">3.</span><span style="font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">I
have examples of university technology that is advertising for
licensing of that tech but upon enquiry it is always 6 – 8 weeks more
before the product is ready. The inventor needs to do a little more
research.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 36pt; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">4.</span><span style="font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">The
current foreign direct investment is based on asset purchases such as
property and established companies, brand name. This shows that the UK
can attract investment but most of it seems to be low risk and long term
based.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 36pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">5.</span><span style="font: 7.0pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">I
have been on UKTI trade missions and they have been very good. They
take a little time to understand how to use them but once you grasp the
handle of it they are good.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 36pt; text-align: left; text-indent: -18pt;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Recommendations</span></b></div>
<ol style="margin: 0pt; padding-left: 0pt; text-align: left;" type="1">
<li style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 49.35pt; padding-left: 4.65pt; text-indent: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">We
need to broaden into the areas that we are good at, which relies on a
higher skill set and a then services to support that skill set.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 49.35pt; padding-left: 4.65pt; text-indent: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Business
and entrepreneurship degrees, not necessarily mean that they will want
be more entrepreneurs but they will understand how entrepreneurs work.
There is a change in </span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">business
structures which is acknowledged by things like the BSI standards.
There is a BSI standard (BSI: 11000) for collaboration. </span></li>
<li style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 49.35pt; padding-left: 4.65pt; text-indent: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">There
have to be more dispersed Innovation and incubation centres and parks.
Create clusters for innovation within small cities and towns. At the
moment it seems as if things are London centric. (We are working with
Glasgow University, Kyoto University and a doctor based in Austin,
Texas). Locating within London and London competing for startups is not
going to increase the productivity, due to the cost of rent and travel.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 49.35pt; padding-left: 4.65pt; text-indent: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Universities
need to be on a performance related or some other process whereby the
technology is accessible for small firms. We have even offered to pay
for the tech as well as continuing the research so that the university
can produce papers. Compulsory purchase orders should be created for
technology transfer as there are other scientists that can continue the
research if the inventors are not able to create a commercial product
and or company. By registering each tech with a central committee the
university should be given a time span to respond and act or the small
firm should get access to that technology, this</span><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;"> committee can then make the company accountable for working and paying for the technology.</span></li>
</ol>
<ol start="5" style="margin: 0pt; padding-left: 0pt;" type="1">
<li style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 49.35pt; padding-left: 4.65pt; text-indent: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Allow
or attract more engineers and youth to the economy. Germany are paying
for Chinese grads to stay in the country, as they recognize they have a
shortage. We need to have an allocation of permanent stay working visas
(which include start up/ entrepreneur (without the £200k investment
stipulation) as international students (mainly Indian and Chinese) are
creating the right competition and have the drive to disrupt the
established thinking. This is evident with the USA economy and tech we
have seen come from Silicon Valley. </span></li>
<li style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 49.35pt; padding-left: 4.65pt; text-indent: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Partnership
with manufacturing countries (Asia and Latin America) should be
encouraged. We need to license more of the technology to international
manufacturing companies. This requires for the UK to move quickly. We
can be a design house and inventor of smart technologies and selling
expert services.</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 49.35pt; padding-left: 4.65pt; text-indent: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt;">Aid
UK trade with more involvement with the UKTI, more demand from
international buyers needs to be supported as most of the companies are
small (the UK punches above its weight) and so we need to support the
costs of marketing. </span></li>
</ol>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a><b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">Mr. Raj Sandhu</span></b></div>
<div style="margin: 0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "calibri"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic;">August 2015</span></b></div>
</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-14657972731707889332015-09-17T22:34:00.004-07:002016-06-14T10:39:32.410-07:00Smart Cities Data Management<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Cities that don’t protect all data run the risk of collecting none</b><br />
Data lies at the heart of many city services and smart cities are collecting ever increasing amounts of it. While cities use the data to streamline operations and make people’s lives easier, more people are seeing the efforts as creepy.<br />
<br />
Experts say unless cities act now to move beyond good intentions to solid privacy policies, they could soon feel a huge backlash. They warn time is running out to take those concerns seriously. The drive toward smart city apps will bring the privacy issue to a head sooner rather than later.<br />
<br />
<b>Privacy trumps convenience</b><br />
Imagine a city app that always directs you to the closest available parking space to your office. Sounds like a dream, right? Surveys show a growing number of people see that as a nightmare.For that app to work, the city would know who you are, where you work and when you arrive, among other things. Without safeguards on that data, people worry that sensitive data could be available to anyone and used in the worst possible ways.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
Council Lead Partner <b>Cisco</b> has been warning cities for years about the <b>public’s privacy concerns</b>. It has found that unless cities clearly disclose what they do with the data and how they protect it, more people will opt-out of smart services or refuse to use them altogether.<br />
<br />
And the concerns aren’t just with a tiny tinfoil hat fringe group. A new study from security expert TRUSTe finds <b>80% of people say their privacy is more important</b> than the convenience offered by smart devices.<br />
<br />
<b>Some cities aren’t making it easy</b><br />
Privacy watchdogs are battling a proposal in New York that would give the city detailed, real-time information about everyone using app-based ride services, like Uber. The city would even get the personal information of people who booked a ride but cancelled before the car arrived. The Taxi and Limousine Commission doesn’t specify why it needs the information, what it will be used for or how it will be protected. The commission is no stranger to privacy issues. It’s the same group that investigated Uber for using personal information like that <b>to spy on its riders.</b><br />
<br />
<b>A privacy role model</b><br />
At the other end of the spectrum is Seattle, which is working to develop a city-wide privacy policy that covers all services. The city worked with stakeholders from all departments and outside experts to define <b>six privacy principles to protect personal information</b>. The outside experts were part of a 10-member privacy advisory committee that included several lawyers, a law professor, the ACLU, and a privacy strategist from <b>Council Lead Partner Microsoft</b>, among other business leaders. Seattle is now <b>finalizing its privacy toolkit</b> and evaluating its existing privacy safeguards. An education effort will follow. It’s an extensive effort, but cities that fail to make it may find they have very limited data to work with as citizens decide their privacy is more important than convenience.</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-62143851059912419062015-09-06T21:28:00.001-07:002016-06-14T10:39:47.249-07:00Chinese smart cities MOU signed with UK Tech Company following UKTI Trade Mission<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td colspan="2"><b>Bikal
and Color Cube Technology of Kunming sign a MoU to exchange services,
hardware and research for development of cross country smart
cities technologies</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" height="10"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="30%"><img src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/color-cube-technology.jpg" height="163" width="200" /></td>
<td width="70%">London, UK. 12th August 2015. A UKTI (United
Kingdom Trade & Investment) trade mission to Smart Cities Expo
Shanghai in September has led to the confirmation of a memorandum of
understanding between two technology companies in UK and China. Bikal,
which provides Smart Cities video management software, big data
analytics and technology from academic research, is in the UK.<br />
<br /></td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
Color Cube Technology is an IT
infrastructure company that works with leading Chinese construction
companies which are building Smart Communities across China.<br />
<br />
Bikal has
been partnering with Chinese companies for three years. Their combined
market scale offers opportunities for buyers in the UK to benefit from
bulk manufacturing is already available to Chinese buyers. <b><br /></b><br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
<b>Bikal participated in the trade mission and exhibited at the Shanghai expo</b>
and was part of the panel session alongside Digital China, Huawei and
BT. Following the Expo UKTI China office had requests from Chinese
companies to talk to Bikal about projects for Smart Communities
developments within cities that consisting of 90,000 to 120,000 people.
Color Cube Technology invited Bikal to Kunming in April for an initial
consultative onsite opinion with a formal invite to an open day with 300
companies on the 30th & 31st July. “Having met with Bikal at the <b>“Tech is GREAT”</b>
UKTI events we knew that they were engaging with China as a whole and
would be part of the business environment and not just send people from
their office in the UK, “we want to develop long-term strategic
cooperation relationship with other companies in the future in terms of
developing high tech smart community” commented <b>Mr. Jiang CEO of Color Tube Technology.</b><br />
<br />
The MoU is intended as a partnership and not a buyer and supply agreement. <b>“Our plan is to work collaboratively with our Chinese counterparts,”</b> stated <b>Raj Sandhu, CEO of Bikal</b>.
“This MoU combines strengths for any smart cities project. We have
access and understanding of academic research when implementing smart
technologies,” he added. In addition, this work will be supported by
Bikal’s office in Beijing which is managed by Tracy Yang. <b>“Color
Cube Technology has access to the wide range of hardware that would be
deployed in a project. I will be able to provide Chinese companies the
opportunity to sell into the UK and Europe,”</b> said Tracy Yang.<br />
<br />
<b>Bikal</b> is part of <b>UK Smart cities</b>
and will be inviting Chinese city delegations to come to view projects
and to gain knowledge from different processes. For instance, projects
can be new <b>(complete regeneration projects such as Old Oak & Park Royal, London)</b>, retrofit <b>(Milton Keynes)</b>
and merging of historic parts of a city and new buildings (Glasgow).
This type of diverse application will be similar to locations in China
and Bikal will provide academic support for the ability to research
technology and processes within <b>China before any RFP (request for proposal is created)</b>.
Bikal and Color Cube Technology realise that this is a long term,
two-way, knowledge & tech transfer relationship which will form
models for smart cities across the world.<br />
<br />
<b>About Bikal:</b><br />
A UK company that provides software and devices to capture video,
audio and big data. Thereby creating efficient processes, increase
public safety and provide preventative healthcare. This goal is achieed
by liaising with end users and using HPC and algorithms to process the
data. We work through our network of global offices and partners to
create localized solutions for local communities.<br />
<br />
<b>About Color Cube Technology:</b><br />
<b>Yunnan Color Cube Technology Co., Ltd.</b> is a
technology company committed to build the first real all-optical network
smart community in China. Relying on self-building T3+ large
micro-module data centre, all optical high-speed network: Color Cube
firstly created telephone, television and Internet merging in one
network, smart cloud system, big data analysis system and the smart card
system. Color Cube also established three smart life formats including
smart life, smart office and smart shopping. Thus, the Cube brings about
the greatest degree of convenience, happiness and benefits to community
residents.</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-67101247561647588612015-09-06T21:26:00.004-07:002016-06-14T10:40:18.679-07:00Bikal is participating in the Tech in Brazil events during August 2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td colspan="2"><b>Bikal is participating in the Tech in Brazil events during August 2015, with assistance from the UKTI in Brazil.</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td colspan="2" height="10"><br /></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="50%"><a href="http://techinbrazil.com/company/bikal-distribution" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/techinbrazil.jpg" height="118" width="200" /></a></td>
<td width="50%"><a href="https://techinbrazil.com.br/empresa/bikal-distribution" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/techinbrazil-01.jpg" height="118" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-11218794422560248582015-09-06T21:24:00.004-07:002016-06-14T10:40:34.862-07:00End of support for Windows Server 2003 begins on July 14, 2015. Are your customers ready?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
<tr><td width="43%"><img src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/windows-server-2003.png" height="118" width="200" /></td>
<td width="57%">Chances are, they may not be. With less than a
month to go before end of support, according to estimates, there are
still millions of servers running Windows Server 2003. It was the
workhorse of choice for many years, but the time has come for
customers to migrate to a newer, fully supported platform.</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
That’s where you come in. It’s a great opportunity for you to ramp
up your business and support your customers through a major technology
change. They’ll appreciate the help, and you’ll appreciate the way your
business will grow. <b> </b><br />
<b></b><br />
<a name='more'></a><b><br /></b>
<b>Find tools to help.</b>
Access our extensive set of resources to learn more about: <br />
<ul>
<li>- Talking with your customers about the importance of migration.</li>
<li>- Ways to assess a customer’s current environment by categorizing applications and workloads.</li>
<li>- Migration options, either in the datacenter or in the cloud.</li>
<li>- How to develop a migration plan.</li>
</ul>
Visit the <a href="http://www.bikal.co.uk/t.sidekickopen08.com/e1t/c/5/f18dQhb0S7lC8dDMPbW2n0x6l2B9nMJW7t5XYg2BFWpsW4Y9jV47fK0GHW2zq5cM56dDBpf5mG7Pj02?t=http%3A%2F%2Fclick.email.microsoftemail.com%2F%3Fqs%3Da9b9333c0374189a45edd158204a9b392e6b3e786320b0ce5673187e0687fcb724a60ab02e1c44eb&si=6239417753141248&pi=d8fc9f10-bc2e-4e31-c0b7-ab1ecf6eb4cd" target="_blank">Windows Server 2003 end of support partner page.</a> <br />
<br />
You’ll also find customizable ModernBiz marketing materials that highlight Windows Server 2012 R2, including <a href="https://readytogo.microsoft.com/global/_layouts/RTG/CampaignViewer.aspx?CampaignUrl=https://readytogo.microsoft.com/global/campaign/pages/%28global%29%20windows%20server%202003%20end%20of%20support.aspx" target="_blank">partner readiness materials, pitch decks, email templates, brochures, and copy blocks.</a>
Use these to show your customers the importance of migrating from
Windows Server 2003, and the migration paths that are available.<br />
Helpful tools like the <a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=7826" target="_blank">Microsoft Assessment and Planning (MAP) Toolkit</a>, which makes it easy to conduct a migration assessment for a customer’s current IT infrastructure, are also available. <br />
<h3>
<a href="https://mspartner.microsoft.com/en/QQ/Documents/MarketingURL.aspx?wservereos2003" target="_blank">Complete the migration of your customers. </a></h3>
<h3>
Your Microsoft Partner Network Team </h3>
</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-88056794491966314712015-09-06T21:21:00.001-07:002016-06-14T10:40:47.067-07:00ONVIF Chairman Named to IFSEC Global’s Top 50 Most Influential People in Security<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="std">
<b><span style="font-weight: normal;"><b>SAN RAMON, CALIFORNIA. – July 1, 2015. ONVIF</b>,
the leading global standardization initiative for IP-based physical
security products, announced that <b>ONVIF</b> Steering Committee Chair Per
Björkdahl is one of IFSEC Global’s ‘Top 50 Most Influential People in
Security and Fire,’ ranking number 17 on the list.
<br /><br />
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">“I am honored that <b>ONVIF</b> is recognized as an influential force within
the security industry,” said Per Björkdahl, Chairman of <b>ONVIF’s</b>
Steering Committee. “<b>ONVIF’s</b> inclusion in IFSEC Global’s list is a
testament to the increasing support of <b>ONVIF’s</b> standards and broader
acceptance of interoperability as a necessity for the future of the
industry.”</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Public voting and a panel of judges from the security and fire-safety
industries determined the ranking, with IFSEC Global asking voters to
select thought leaders and pioneers from the list of nominees. In its
announcement of this year’s winners, the publication cited <b>ONVIF’s</b>
prominent role in simplifying interoperability.</span><br />
</b><br />
<a name='more'></a><b><br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;">
</span></b><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">Founded in 2008, <b>ONVIF</b> now consists of more than 500 member companies
in six continents and more than 4,500 Profile conformant products.
Further information about <b>ONVIF’s</b> conformant products, including the
vendors and the conformant models, is available on <b>ONVIF’s</b> website: </span><a href="http://www.onvif.org/" target="_blank">www.onvif.org</a><br />
<br />
For press inquiries, please contact:<br />
Andrea Gural<br />
Eclipse Media Group on behalf of ONVIF<br />
Phone: +1.207.319.7372<br />
E-mail: <a href="mailto:agural@eclipsemediagroup.net">agural@eclipsemediagroup.net</a><br />
<br />
Stan Moyer, ONVIF Executive Director<br />
2400 Camino Ramon, Suite 375<br />
San Ramon, CA 94583, USA<br />
Phone: +1.928.395.6773<br />
E-mail: <a href="mailto:info@onvif.org">info@onvif.org</a><br />
</b><br />
<b>About ONVIF </b><br />
<br />
<b>ONVIF</b> is a global and open industry forum that is
committed to standardizing communication between IP-based physical
security products to ensure their interoperability and to facilitate
their integration. <b>ONVIF</b> was established in 2008 to develop a global
open standard for IP-based physical security products. Membership is
open to manufacturers, software developers, consultants, system
integrators, end-users and other interest groups that wish to
participate in the activities of <b>ONVIF</b>.
<br />
<b>
</b></div>
</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-46115360170933848622015-09-06T21:16:00.002-07:002016-06-14T10:40:59.467-07:00Port of Fujairah Explosion Proof Surveillance Solution<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="std">
<b>Port of Fujairah, UAE Contractor: Topaz Engineering</b>
<br />
<hr />
<b>Requirement:</b> London, UK. 12th September 2013. The requirement for the clients is a
surveillance system to monitor the decks of oil tankers berthed at the
new oil terminal, a system that will not cause fire in the hazardous
atmosphere and yet be prudent to sniff for smoke before it could turn to
a disastrous fire.
<br />
<b>Solution:</b> Products
CCTV CAMERA AND EXPLOSION PROOF HOUSING: Oxalis and Sony<br />
<img alt="Port of Fujairah Explosion Proof Surveillance Solution" src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/fujairah-explosion.jpg" height="240" title="Port of Fujairah Explosion Proof Surveillance Solution" width="367" />
The Atex flameproof (EExd) closed circuit TV camera stations provided
is for use in hazardous areas in offshore, marine and industrial
environments. Certified for use in Zone 1 and Zone 2, Category 2G (Gas)
and Zone 21 and 22, Category 2D (Dust), Group IIC T Class T4 to T6, the
Atex series provides for all requirements of remote safety and
surveillance monitoring in Hazardous areas.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
The camera station utilizes integral through cabling from its base
mount cable entry with integrated cabling to the attached camera
housing. This provides a complete integrated assembly with no trailing
cables as all terminations are made at the base mount entry.<br />
Fitted with either 24 Volt AC fixed speed variable speed motors,
together with preset potentiometers, the camera station was supplied
with factory fitted cable assembly for connection to external fibre
cabling to the telemetry control receiver drivers.<br />
The camera recommended for the purpose of monitoring is Stainless
Steel 316L EEXD IIC Integrated Pan Tilt 24VAC variable speed 24°/sec
pan, 12°/sec tilt, complete with integrated housing, integral window
wiper and washer pump, heater and sunshield.<br />
The camera housing of this camera is designed to accommodate a range
of CCD camera and lens configurations for both fixed and zoom lens
applications and we proposed the use of Sony FCB-EX1010 36X Zoom lens.
The FCB-EX Series of cameras incorporate an advanced backlight
compensation technology that dramatically improves camera dynamic range
by 128 times when compared to conventional cameras, resulting in clear
image reproduction in extreme high-contrast environments. These cameras
capture the same image twice – first with a normal shutter speed, and
then with a high shutter speed. The dark areas captured at normal
shutter speed and the bright areas captured at high shutter speed are
then combined into one image using an advanced DSP LSI, thus clearly
reproducing the original scene<br />
<br />
<b>NETWORK VIDEO RECORDER: Bikal</b><br />
<img alt="Network Video Recorder Bikal" src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/network-video-recorder.jpg" title="Network Video Recorder Bikal" />
Bikal Network Video recorders incorporates the latest technology of
storing video data This Video Viewing and Recording Appliance offers a
cost effective performance as a standalone video viewing/recording,
monitoring and administration appliance. It offers standard VGA, HDMI
and DVI HD video ports optional support for up to 4 mini Display ports,
2 DVI and 2 HDMI for total of 8 high resolution HD monitors for
complete and cost effective surveillance view and administration. This
NVR combine for proven high performance complete cost effective video
surveillance view and administration solutions.<br />
The Bikal NVR Video is the ultimate viewing center appliances
specifically design for mission critical video surveillance. These Video
View Appliances come in Tower or rack mount chassis ideally suited for
security Monitoring centers. Installation and setup is a breeze. The
products come standard prebuilt, configured, all components installed,
the operating system is pre-installed and complete product test is done.<br />
Bikal complete physical security solution carry all necessary
components including high performance recording, viewing/monitoring and
administration servers, along with our high performance storage products
for a complete solution.
<br />
<b>Solution:</b> Integration<br />
The entire solution and the architecture was done in-house, each
camera station was equipped with analog/fiber converters by COE
(www.digitalbarriers.com/COE/) due to transmission over 3Km distance
over fiber. Video feeds transmitted from cameras encoded into IP stream
by AXIS encoders and served to milestone installed BIKAL NVRs. The VMS
handles live & recording video streams and served to operator roomx2
for monitoring and Playback. Operator room is equipped with the Video
Management Software viewing software for monitoring live and recorded
video feeds and a multi functional joy stick to control Pan, tilt, and
zoom and washer wiper control. Recoding video streams are retained in
Bikal NAS severs for 6 months.</div>
</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-600890367494706292015-09-06T21:11:00.003-07:002016-06-14T10:41:18.610-07:00UK Trade & Investment Smart Cities Trade Mission To China<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<br />
<article class="col-main">
<div class="page-title">
<h1>
Bikal CEO, Raj Sandhu, discusses Smart Cities at the
Shanghai Smart City Expo with Huawei and BT, as part of UK Trade &
Investment initiative</h1>
</div>
<div class="std">
<b>Panel includes: </b><b>London, UK. 17th October 2014 UKTI as Chair BT (North East Asia), Digital China, Huawei, Clicks & Links and Bikal
</b>
<br />
<hr />
The panel discussed
<br />
<ul>
<li>- Technology Convergence</li>
<li>- Project Management</li>
<li>- Big Data and Analytics</li>
<li>- Security vs Privacy</li>
</ul>
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
<img src="http://www.bikal.co.uk/images/forum-agenda.jpg" />
</div>
</article></div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-34722105470305603622015-09-06T21:10:00.001-07:002016-06-14T10:41:32.618-07:00Public Area and Street Surveillance<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Urban environments often are important and vital environments
where age old difficulties plus modern problems congregate. To at least
in part assist deal effectively with providing safe streets for all,
surveillance is a key to providing cost effective always on
deterrent</b>
<br />
<hr />
London, UK. 23rd areas of congregation for work and pleasure.
These areas are sometime designated, like parks, and sometimes become
popular due to location. For instance, strategically located street
steps can become
a meeting place, lunch area or some other form of recreation. City
planners, law enforcement, councillors are just some of the agencies who
have to manage these areas. Management occurs in real time (for
instance for law enforcement) and historically (for council planners)
for different reasons.
<br />
<br />
Surveillance within global towns and cities vary in weather conditions,
congestion, human traffic and culturally which throw up challenges in
using the correct equipment in the correct quantity. Infrastructure in
wide open spaces is more difficult to implement than a city or town, but
then cultural factors in some cities can make cameras labelled as
obtrusive.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
With the right camera a surveillance city managers can put in place
equipment which is able to monitor a region in the day and night to give
a general overview. The camera we recommend is a night vision
camera which is controllable from a central place or monitoring centre.
The camera, being a pan tilt and zoom dome, can be set on a guard tour.
This is an automated pre programmed movement of the camera to
cover a wide area.</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-25700601631495290632015-09-06T20:59:00.001-07:002016-06-14T10:41:44.607-07:003G Body Cam for Emergency Services Training<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Live viewing of multiple cameras on emergency services staff can aid reaction training for all types of emergency scenarios.</b>
<br />
<hr />
London, UK. 16th October, 2012. Law enforcement, fire services and
paramedics are three separate services who need to work in conjunction
with one another for different aims. Usually, each service will conduct
their own
training and will come together for a specific event based disaster
training. In London for instance this is based around the London
Underground. Coordination of police, British Transport, Air and the
metropolitan, as a first
responder is key for initial reaction. Fire and ambulance crews will
have an input based on whether the incident is ongoing or has finished.
Essentially, there are hundreds of scenarios.<br />
<br />
Surveillance within global towns and cities vary in weather conditions,
congestion, human traffic and culturally which throw up challenges in
using the correct equipment in the correct quantity. Infrastructure in
ide open spaces is more difficult to implement than a city or town, but
then cultural factors in some cities can make cameras labelled as
obtrusive.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
With the right camera a surveillance city managers can put in place
equipment which is able to monitor a region in the day and night to give
a general overview. The camera we recommend is a night vision camera
which is controllable from a central place or monitoring centre.
The camera, being a pan tilt and zoom dome, can be set on a guard tour.
This is an automated pre programmed movement of the camera to cover a
wide area.<br />
<br />
Our Partners are also immensely benefited as they are able to provide
their customers with the best Products and Solutions with ease that
promise a high ROI on the investment with hassel free easy Installation
and maintenance. Bikal seen its inception has numerous successful
Installations worldwide.
</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-38525522672188420032015-09-06T20:47:00.005-07:002016-06-14T10:41:55.272-07:00Shopping Mall rent calculations calculated using IP CCTV<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>A new shopping centre in Budapest used Bikal Eyesoft video
analytic features to measure footfall and areas, which may not have been
obvious, where people congregated.</b>
<br />
<hr />
London , UK. 18th Oct 2012. Bikal Eyesoft was deployed, by one of
its partners in Budapest (Pentolt), in a brand new shopping center. With
many shopping centers there are management concerns for health &
Safety as the
shopping mall is owned by a landlord. The individual shops and stores
are just tenants within a building that can house 20 to 200 individual
stores. As with traditional established shopping streets, areas and
districts (areas which
evolved from the markets) there are shops that don’t work due to their
own management and business type. However, for some businesses it is
down to the rent and rates which are charged. For a new shopping mall
that does not
have the history, this rent setting is an important factor to maximize
profit and maintain occupancy.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
Shopping mall designers will attempt to use data from other builds to
determine foot flow and strategically based “anchor tenants” will ensure
that adjoining premises will command a premium. But this is still not a
guarantee
that the store will survive. With the progression of the internet for
shopping, shopping malls are becoming leisure activities for consumers
to experience.
Shopping mall operators need to utilize space without compromising the
health & safety of visitors.<br />
<br />
CCTV with the right logging software can measure this traffic. Features
include object counting, crowd congregation, fire & smoke detection,
unattended baggage and motion detection. Shopping mall operators as
well
as the store operators within the mall can then use this data to assess
the viability of a business. Essentially, all the calculations and
models and theory
behind how people move around a shopping mall can never be predicted.
There is a always some spot, space or place within the building that for
no apparent reason draws a crowd to rest or the youth the hang out. For
instance, if there are some steps which are in a quiet location, then
this maybe where the mother take prams for the kids to stretch legs or
take a nap. This location is the ideal for a shop catering for mothers
or kids clothes.<br />
<br />
Here the case in point is that visual data is almost secondary (it is
really for evidence of an incident) but that visual data when converted
into numerical data can create reports. These reports can then be used
to assess operations
to try to ensure maximum occupancy which enhances the overall consumer
experience.</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5116919825122697472.post-52914124753238079122015-09-06T20:46:00.004-07:002016-06-14T10:42:03.958-07:00Farmers use M-CCTV via 3G & 4G to increase income<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b>Bikal Mobile NVR Applications and related devices protect the Farmers stock and provide management benefits on crop protection</b>
<br />
<hr />
London , UK. 22th Oct 2012. Rural regions are currently one of the
lowest areas of internet density. They suffer from poor farmers and
telecom companies who do not find the areas profitable – low number of
users per square meter. The internet has changed all that. Farmers are
beginning to cut out the middle
man when selling their produce, can check actual market prices and sell
to locations all around the world. Therefore, they are empowered to
control their income and since it is more valuable, they need to secure
it. The security is
related to employees, fire, harvesting (use of automated machinery),
crop protection, weather monitoring, livestock protection & control
and many more.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /><br />
3G, and now more increasingly 4G / LTE, Mobile CCTV is the solution for
giving these vast spaces the security that is required. Cameras, which
are SIM enabled, can be used individually or for higher quality
resolution and
features individual Mobile NVRs (and in some occasions Mobile DVRs) can
be used. The MNVR and MDVR have durable casings and can also be housed
in IP66 or IP67 rated casings. Solar panels and batteries may be used
in some applications where power is an issue.<br />
<br />
The costs of the data transfer are offset with the savings of not having
to implement any hardwire connectivity. This is good for the Farmer as
well as the mobile operator who can then provide more services to the
remote areas.
This increases ARPU for that region and can aid in reducing the cost per
call and data rate for that region.<br />
<br />
With the use of Moble NVRs (MNVR) and Mobile DVRs (MDVR) the farmer is
able to use long range, night vision, PTZ and almost any type of camera
to watch over their crops and livestock. The M-CCTV applications will
enable
remote view with M2M features so that the farmer can view on a tablet
and smart phone.</div>
Bikalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08573933673484025039noreply@blogger.com0