How a focus on quality creates the most trusted solutions
Safety and security should never be taken lightly. It only takes one weak link in a security network to turn a potential threat into a serious event that could put lives, data, and...
Safety and security should never be taken lightly. It only takes one weak link in a security network to turn a potential threat into a serious event that could put lives, data, and critical infrastructure at significant risk. And that weak link could be anything from a corroded camera housing to extreme weather, low level light conditions, or a cyber attack.
At Bosch, we believe that the strongest security solutions are built on quality. It’s been the key to our philosophy since 1886. And a key reason why we’re trusted to safeguard people, premises and property the world over.
Designed to perform, built to last
All our products and solutions have a high level of quality as an integral part of their design. From the superior materials and build quality of our MIC IP moving cameras, through to an inherent robustness and resilience of our Intelligent Video Analytics, our focus is always on creating solutions that are built to last with an outstanding attention to performance. Solutions that prove to customers time and time again that they can trust our quality.
That trust is not something that is easily won. It requires an ongoing commitment, extensive security knowledge and vast experience in securing multiple domains everywhere from airports and government buildings to retail stores and smart city applications.
And it is this solid foundation of quality and experience that has enabled us to build a world-class reputation for delivering trusted solutions that change the security landscape. Solutions that never fail to protect our customers’ investment, the data they collect, and their privacy by design.
Taking intelligent cameras to extremes
For example, when it comes to the design of our MIC IP moving cameras, we take extreme measures to ensure they are as robust as possible, so they can perform in the most demanding environments. We started with the new and improved housing design. To provide unprecedented protection against corrosion, it is engineered from superior metallurgy with a finish that has passed the rigorous ASTM B117 salt spray test. The solid metal camera body is designed to withstand the most challenging weather conditions including high winds, rain, fog, dust and 100% humidity (IP68), temperatures from -40°C to +65°C, extreme vibrations (IEC60068) and high impacts (IK10). MIC IP cameras are also NEMA TS 2-certified, making them a tried and trusted solution for traffic and transportation applications such as monitoring highways, tunnels and bridges.
Another quality feature that is designed into Bosch MIC IP cameras is that they never lose their homing position. The rugged gear-to-gear interface ensures continuous pan tilt operation and low wear out. The camera will only lose its preset when exposed to excessive force but will return to its pre-defined position automatically for reliable monitoring and image capture. The camera control software issues digital pan and tilt commands to the motor controller in a closed loop positioning system that steers the camera to the desired position. So you always keep sight of what matters.
High definition in the lowest light levels
It’s the continuous development of ideas like the design of our MIC cameras that demonstrates our commitment to lead the industry in quality and performance. Another example of this was the invention of the Bosch starlight technology, the gold standard in low light video surveillance. Starlight promises the highest level of detail and clarity around the clock by maximizing video performance regardless of the light conditions.
A good example of this pioneering innovation is the Bosch FLEXIDOME IP starlight 8000i range of fixed dome cameras. With resolutions up to 4K ultra high definition, and a frame rate of at least 30 frames per second, these cameras harness starlight technology to capture highly-detailed, color images even when ambient light levels are as low as 0.0077 lux. Dynamic ranges of up to 134dB also safeguard images in scenes where uneven light conditions might otherwise compromise security.
As you’d expect from Bosch, FLEXIDOME IP starlight 8000i cameras are also extremely resilient. With IK10+ vandal resistance, IP66 water resistance, anti-corrosion coating and an operating temperature of -50 to +60 ⁰C, they are more than a match for challenging situations. And it is precisely this strong quality that makes them indispensable for businesses that need to capture irrefutable evidence. Inferior quality cameras simply do not have the high resolutions and frame rates, enhanced light sensitivity and excellent dynamic ranges to distinguish objects and individuals beyond doubt in extreme low-light situations.
Seamless video management, no matter what
We appreciate that any downtime in your security operations can lead to major disruptions for your business. It’s the reason we’ve extended our philosophy of trusted quality and performance to our Bosch Video Management System (BVMS). Designed for maximum resilience, BVMS provides seamless management of digital video, audio and data across multiple sites, 24/7.
No matter what type of interruption of failure occurs, your security team can access continuous live footage and playbacks. If the Video Recording Manager fails, the cameras still record independently. If the primary storage fails, the camera automatically records on secondary storage. And if that fails, mirror recording is available. Should your IP camera network go down, the SD card saves the recordings for when the network is back up again. Finally, should the Management Server fail, core functions will still be available from the operator client, excluding alarms and status supervision.
Security alerts that you can trust
One of the other issues that every security team faces is the quality of alerts and alarms. That’s why it was important to us to ensure our high-performance camera ranges (7000-9000 series) come with built-in, industry-leading Intelligent Video Analytics. Like the rugged housing, this technology is also designed to offer high-quality performance in conditions that would be difficult for other cameras to operate in. Why? Because Intelligent Video Analytics, combined with outstanding image resolution, is able to distinguish between genuine security events and known false triggers caused by conditions like rain, hail, wind and snow, and reflections on water.
This obviously increases the accuracy of the security solution. But just as importantly, it means that security teams are only alerted to an event when it is absolutely necessary, significantly reducing the time, effort and resources that organizations spend on investigating false alarms.
Business insights that drive value
But with more than 15 years’ experience in the field of security, you can trust Bosch built-in video analytics to do far more than just detect intruders. Bosch video analytics improves security, increases efficiency and reduce costs by interpreting the video data captured by the cameras and using it to provide smart data that delivers business insights. That elevates Bosch cameras beyond security to innovative solutions that guarantee new value for users.
Bosch video analytics has a number of interesting applications that can improve the quality of surveillance operations. Scenario defaults with pre-configured tasks means it can be used for early and long distance intrusion detection, as well as left or removed object detection. In the transportation sector, Bosch video analytics can detect vehicles travelling in the wrong direction in one-way traffic zones or enforce no parking zones to raise valuable revenue from fines. In retail environments, Bosch’s video analytics comes into its own for people counting and queue notifications, helping businesses to optimize store layouts and staffing levels to improve customer satisfaction. All ways to maximize the value you get from your high-quality security investment.
Safeguarding your security infrastructure
It is also worth considering that every Bosch smart camera operates independently, something we call intelligence at the edge. Decentralizing intelligence in this way makes your surveillance infrastructure far more robust and reliable because there is no single point of failure. Should one camera or encoder fail, the rest of the system will maintain full performance. It also means the solution is scalable, so cameras can be added to your network at any time to improve the resilience of your security infrastructure even further.
A quality user experience
However, all these advanced capabilities are irrelevant if the security system is too complicated to use. That’s why we invest as much time and effort in improving the quality of the customer experience as we do in refining our technologies. The Bosch interface design makes it easy to access, retrieve and interpret data, so it’s as intuitive to use as the technology itself.
Securing your data, protecting your privacy
When it comes to data protection, every security system is vulnerable to potential threats. That’s why tamper protection comes as standard on all our security products. User access to cameras, recording solutions and video software is managed in flexible ways to protect data, privacy and confidentiality. We also employ authentication to prevent the unauthorized transfer of data by only allowing trusted entities to access it. That’s something that’s guaranteed with Bosch’s unique Trusted Platform Module because the latest hardware and software features are built-in, for resilient data security you can trust. Furthermore, it is not possible to upload 3rd party software that could compromise the system, with firmware updates are only possible by Bosch signed firmware files. New software sealing measures means that any changes in configuration will be detected immediately to protect your operations. And finally, the embedded Login Firewall makes the whole system more robust to protect against loss of control through denial of service (Dos) cyber attacks.
Committed to improving quality
With our strong heritage of quality, it goes without saying that we will continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible to create long-lasting solutions that build a safer and more secure world. In the words of our founder, Robert Bosch: “We should all strive to improve on the status quo: none of us should ever be satisfied with what has been achieved, but should always endeavor to do better”.
That’s exactly what we intend to do, today and tomorrow.
