When the 2008 Olympic Games kick off in Beijing next
year, organizers will be using a sophisticated computer system to scan
video images of city streets looking for everything from troublemakers
to terrorists.
[nytimes.com] The IBM
system, called the Smart Surveillance System, or S3, uses analytic
tools to index digital video recordings and then issue real-time alerts
when certain patterns are detected. It can be used to warn security
guards when someone has entered a secure area or keep track of cars
coming in and out of a parking lot.
Beijing’s S3 network is
already being rolled out and is expected to be operational by the time
the Games begin in August 2008, said Julie Donahue, vice president of
security and privacy services with IBM.
Terrorists have used the
Olympic spotlight to grab international attention for their causes, and
at next year’s event terrorism will be the top security concern,
Beijing officials have said.
That means that IBM’s S3 system could end up being tested in a very public fashion.
"I was at the Kennedy School (of Government at Harvard University)
a couple of weeks ago, and some guy got up and said, "If there’s a
security incident at the Beijing Olympics, it’s going to change the
course of capitalism forever," and I’m like, ‚Oh man!’" Donahue said.
IBM
is also developing a similar surveillance system for lower Manhattan,
but has not yet begun deploying that project, she added.
Just one
year ago, the S3 system was little more than a research project at
IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center, but in the past year the company’s
service group has been working hard to develop it into a profitable
line of business, selling it to retail and banking customers such as
Italy’s UniCredit bank.
IBM is also integrating the S3 system
into the city of Chicago’s existing surveillance infrastructure, as
part of the city’s Operation Virtual Shield emergency response project.
This
ability to weave S3 into an existing network and video surveillance
infrastructure is an important selling point for the product, Donahue
said. "It’s expensive to get that video infrastructure in place just
for even basic analog cameras," she said. "So what we do is, we can
hook in your analog cameras and reuse that infrastructure, put in
IP-based cameras and then architect it so that we can do the right
level of analytics."
"Physical security and IT security are
stating to come together," she said. "A lot of the guys I’m meeting on
the IT side are just starting to get involved on the physical side."
Source: http://www.nytimes.com
