Barox Promotes the Development of Video for Retail

The New Normal and Beyond

To maximize their operational efficiency, retailers need to consider long-term integrated investments that give them a competitive edge. A solution for modern retail stores will increasingly lie in 24/7 control centers, where video from multiple stores is centrally monitored. Cameras and video recordings will be the eyes of the monitoring center, where analysis tools integrate security, management, health, safety, and marketing to optimize operations and costs. Monitored topics could include “shopper profiles” for market research purposes, or “people not adhering to Covid-19 rules,” and much more.

 

Cloud technologies, their deployment, and their benefits will drive the video industry in the coming years. On the hardware side, sensors and IoT will impact data collection and, consequently, the role of the VMS. Milestone, with XProtect, offers an “Open Platform” product that is important in these changes. And barox’s powerful, reliable, and secure video transmission will play an essential role. Indeed, “without hardware, XProtect cannot function,” explains Soraya Heristchian, Milestone Community Manager, Northern Europe. “To enable easy integration and better customer experiences, Milestone offers its ‘Device Driver Pack strategy’ for cameras and other devices, as well as the ‘System Builder Program.’ With the barox Switch, you can configure ports and traffic from your Smart Client and visually monitor them, and Switch alarms and events can, in turn, also trigger alarms in XProtect.”

 

The process of Industrial Revolution 4.0 is progressing rapidly in Europe and has already been implemented by some organizations in Europe. barox sees itself as part of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, as this ongoing change makes it possible to collect and analyze data across devices, enabling more flexible, efficient, and faster processes. Ultimately, this leads to higher service and product quality for the provider, combined with higher cost efficiency – and thus a high competitive advantage.

 

Challenges within logistics that could be solved with Industry 4.0 include the effective tracking of shipments, the prevention of theft, the management of efficient deliveries/loading and unloading (and the avoidance of delays). In logistics, verification that a truck is at the correct loading ramp, locating lost trucks, and assigning trucks to the correct loading ramp are all issues (on average, approximately 7% of trucks are misplaced annually). All of this supports a more profitable business.

 

To avoid crowds, traffic, including pedestrians, is monitored within traffic hubs. In the area of retail stores, monitoring is helpful to alert in case of overcrowding of stores or also when detecting crowded areas. Enormous cost savings are achieved by linking with IT-supported back-office functions for ordering and replenishing inventories. In safe cities, the control of crowds and “social distancing” can also be better implemented.

 

The use of an “Open Platform,” a future-proof technology, as well as data protection and privacy, are fundamental to increasing efficiency. Therefore, the choice of a high-performance video / data Switch for the secure implementation of these new solutions is crucial. “The ‘Open Platform’ IP video management software can offer more than just security by helping retailers reduce costs,” says Soraya. “By providing a safe environment for customers and employees, it also offers owners the opportunity to integrate business systems to achieve greater efficiency in their operational processes, avoid (goods) losses, and provide important business information for the management of retail operations.”

 

“To enable these efficiencies, a basic requirement is the use of sophisticated video Switches such as the barox RY-28 series (Managed Ethernet Switch),” says Rudolf Rohr, co-founder and managing partner of barox. “With its advanced firewall functionality, cyber security, and integrated diagnostics functionality, it is the perfect solution. These Switches will connect via VPN (through an external router) and provide power for IP cameras and displays, while ensuring that attacks from local IoTs are thwarted (as the first line of defense). They will also save service costs and downtime by automatically restarting cameras and other devices, and distribute valuable data statistics to the host via a high-quality, cyber-secure video network. The future of video transmission and integrated services from the cloud looks very promising for those who are ready for the next step.”