“The response to this program has been positive from day one as citizens have seen an immediate impact from it,” said Mayor Brown. “We plan to expand the system with 40 additional cameras by the end of the year.”

The city has received more than 50 calls from Buffalo citizens requesting cameras on their street corners. Other municipalities that have publicly announced installations of Firetide wireless surveillance networks include Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix, West Palm Beach, Fla., and Los Angeles County.

“Any police department in the country considering video surveillance should ask themselves why not go wireless,” said Police Capt. Mark Makowski, Buffalo Police Department. “I’m convinced it is the way of the future. With a wireless network, we can put cameras where they are most needed, and it’s a capability that most cities and police departments can afford.”

Buffalo’s new system allows the police department to be more proactive instead of responding reactively to 9-1-1 calls. Additionally, police officers are better prepared when approaching a situation because an officer operating the network camera provides details about exactly what is occurring at that particular scene.

Tough Requirements

In its initial request for bids, Buffalo requested:

* The ability to read license plates from 200 yards away.
* Evidence-grade, real-time video (high-resolution streaming video at 30 frames per second).
* Wind- and weather-proofing, and good performance in low lighting.
* Flexibility to add and move cameras in the future.

The current system consists of 56 Avrio Rapid Deployment Surveillance Solution PoleCams – portable units that integrate Axis network cameras and Firetide wireless mesh nodes in a weatherized enclosure – plus 37 additional Firetide nodes for infrastructure connectivity. All PoleCams have been installed in overt locations with blue lights and police branding. Some of the cameras are pan-tilt-zoom network cameras that operators can control remotely. The video is monitored by members of the police force who are temporarily unable to patrol the streets, such as injured or pregnant officers. Funding for the current deployment came from the state of New York’s Efficiency Grants.

“We knew Firetide’s network would have to be the core of this system since we need a lot of bandwidth to run evidence-grade video,” said Mark Jules, president, business development and strategic planning, Avrio Group. “Together with Axis, Firetide and OnSSI, we are able to serve a growing number of American cities, both large and small, that are discovering how wireless video surveillance can be an effective weapon to fight crime.”

Future Plans

In the near future, two hospitals will gain access to footage from cameras that monitor the entrances and exits to their parking lots. Avrio’s Rapid Deployment Surveillance Solution uses a video surveillance control and management solution from OnSSI allowing the hospitals to view video from their cameras only, while providing the Buffalo Police Department with access. Future plans include adding video analytics and gunshot detection technologies to the system.

Like many cities, Buffalo contends with drug dealing, shootings, assaults and other felonies within its 42-square-mile boundaries. But the wireless video surveillance system isn’t limited to high-crime areas. The city has also deployed cameras in its business district to stimulate economic development, as well as at critical infrastructure sites for Homeland Security purposes.

“Our wireless video surveillance system multiplies the eyes of the police officers,” said Makowski. “You can only do so much undercover work before drug dealers figure out who you are. With the cameras, we can keep our eyes on them constantly.”

RFP Process

Once Mayor Brown was elected, he asked the police commissioner to investigate video surveillance systems in other cities. The Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications’ intelligent security system provided a blueprint for a request for proposal (RFP). The RFP outlined requirements for the wireless video surveillance system without detailing technical specifications, allowing integrators to offer their best technologies. Out of the seven proposals received, the Buffalo Police Department selected the solution offered by Avrio, Johnson Controls and Ferguson Electric.

“We are excited to partner yet again with a leading public safety solutions provider such as Avrio Group,” said Bo Larsson, chief executive officer of Firetide. “Avrio has proven that it can implement a cutting-edge wireless surveillance project of Buffalo’s scale and complexity, while providing broadcast-quality, evidence-grade video that law enforcement agencies need for successful investigations. The combination of Avrio’s expertise, Axis’ network camera capabilities, Firetide’s wireless technology, and OnSSI’s video management system provides a compelling solution to municipalities seeking to improve security and public safety in response to public demand.”

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“Virtualized architectures are gaining momentum in China as a better way to run datacenters,” said Diane Greene, president and chief executive officer of VMware. “Through our relationship with Lenovo and its world-class brand, we are making VMware virtualization more broadly available to the Chinese market. With VMware virtualization, Lenovo customers can quickly experience its significant business benefits including reducing operating and capital costs by as much as 50 percent, delivering applications more quickly and reliably in virtual machines, and improving security across the datacenter and on the desktop.”

“Together with VMware, our customers will have access to a versatile technology that is helping to transform IT in China and around the globe,” said William J. Ameilio, president and chief executive officer of Lenovo. “Coupling Lenovo’s leading server products with VMware’s broad range of award-winning virtualization solutions will help customers as they come to terms with the rapid datacenter growth taking place in businesses throughout China.”

Customers can now purchase Lenovo servers pre-installed with VMware’s market-leading datacenter virtualization and management platform, VMware Infrastructure 3, provided with full support from Lenovo. VMware Infrastructure 3 enables automatic load balancing, business continuity and power management and the ability to move a virtual machine across physical machines to minimize service interruption. VMware Infrastructure 3 is also compatible with VMware’s desktop virtualization and management solutions.

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The latest SIR shows the fewest number of security vulnerability disclosures across the software industry since the second half of 2005, along with a rise in malicious and potentially unwanted software, which demonstrates a continued use of malware as a tool for targeting computer users for profit.

More specifically, the second half of 2007 showed a decline in new security vulnerability disclosures by 15 percent and a decrease in total vulnerability disclosures by 5 percent for all of 2007. Vulnerabilities are weaknesses in software that allow an attacker to compromise the integrity, availability or confidentiality of that software. The data also reveals a 300 percent increase in the number of trojan downloaders and droppers — malicious code used to install files on users’ systems — illustrating that the malware category continues to grow in popularity among attackers.

The report also shows a 66.7 percent increase in the number of potentially unwanted software detections — programs that may impact user privacy or security by performing actions the person may not want — between July 1 and Dec. 31, with a total of 129.5 million pieces of potentially unwanted software found on users’ systems.

“The SIR provides us with a chance to share with our customers and industry partners what we’re seeing in the threat landscape so we can all help ensure users are better protected and work toward a more trusted Internet,” said Vinny Gullotto, general manager of the Microsoft Malware Protection Center. “This latest volume supports our position that today’s threats continue to be motivated by monetary gain, and it also gives us a solid view of vulnerability and exploit trends.”

The purpose of the SIR is to keep customers informed of the major trends in the threat landscape and provide valuable insights and security guidance designed to help customers make better, more informed decisions with regard to products, technologies and resources. The latest report builds on previously gathered data, but also includes new sections focused on issues of security breach notifications, spam and phishing, Internet safety enforcement, and the storm worm — a highly visible, continually updating and adapting trojan dropper.

Based on these and other key findings from the report, Microsoft recommends all interested parties use the data, insights and guidance contained in the report to better assess and improve their own security practices. Active steps Microsoft recommends include the following:

— Check for and apply software updates on an ongoing basis, including
updates provided for third-party applications.
— Enable a firewall.
— Install and maintain up-to-date anti-virus and anti-spyware programs
that provide increased protection from malicious and potentially
unwanted software.

A copy of Microsoft’s newest Security Intelligence Report and other related information can be found at www.microsoft.com/sir.

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