I-View Now unites verified alarms and analytics

HENDERSON, Nev.—Verified alarms are based on the idea that more information for central station results in better, more efficient response from law enforcement. That principle is behind the development of a cloud analytic from I-View-Now, a service that suggests that even in the category of verification, there is room to know more.

The I-View Cloud Analytic, launched at ISC West, uses an algorithm-based video analytic to determine a human presence after an alarm is tripped. Larry Folsom, CEO of I-View Now, said the alarm could add a new wrinkle to how central stations think of video verification and priority response.

“From a central station perspective, we'll be able to send them alarms and send them video, but we'll able to send those both at higher priority if we find a human,” said Folsom, who noted the analytic could have its strongest application outdoors, where “the majority of signals are false.”

He added: “It's almost like watching it a second time to ensure we understand [the video].”

But having a higher priority alarm is only one facet of the value proposition, Folsom said. By integrating software with edge storage devices, the service pulls proprietary video stored on a camera or NVR and transcodes it to “a common language.” The video is then run through a cloud analytic and “served to central stations through integration to those software platforms,” Folsom said.

In essence, the service gives relatively inexpensive network devices the functionality of a cloud-based video analytics platform, Folsom said.

Folsom believes analytics will become a standard part of video verification technology, adding that analytics in general are “analogous to a virus,” and stand only to improve as they account for an ever-broader range of signals.

As the analytic becomes increasingly sophisticated, Folsom believes the service could change the way central station personnel and subscribers alike assess verified alarm signals.

“We think we know where this is going to want to go,” Folsom said. “We believe that we're going to get comfortable very quickly with the idea that if there's no human, it's not an alarm.”