Pay-on-Foot equipment makes it possible for shopping centres to minimize the costs involved in parking management. Shoppers or building visitors obtain a ticket at the entrance to the parking lot. A time meter calculates the time parked and upon exit of the building the visitor simply inserts the ticket into the Pay-on-Foot machine which displays the amount to be paid. An important consideration is that of accurate calculation and also the ability to take several coins and notes. Clients want to be able to pay with a R20 note or with several 50c coins. The Pay-on-Foot equipment available from IDTek come with guarantees, prevent fraud and ensure a hassle free processing of parking lot entrance fees.

Shopping centres, airports and campusses all benefit through the innovative parking monitoring systems offered by IDTek. More often than not numerous parking bays stand empty while visitors to the building have to drive around in search for an open spot. With the parking monitoring systems available from IDTek park space managers can improve allocation of parking spots. The visitor can immediately identify on which floors or areas parking space will be available and drive straight to the relevant areas without having to waste petrol and time looking for a parking space. This improves the shopping experience of a customer, ensures that people don’t miss their flights and limits the possibility of an employee arriving late for work because of a lack of parking space.

IDTek offers clients top of the range surveillance camera equipment and installations including that of the Honeywell Equip series of surveillance camera solutions. The Equip surveillance camera series is IP based and offers excellent features to protect against sabotage. It offers surveillance camera sabotage detection features as well firmware updating. Any disruptions to the video stream can immediately be detected and alarming features help with fault finding. Easy setup features and remote viewing through web based technology makes this an excellent surveillance camera series. The password protected login feature ensures that only authorized persons will have access to viewing over the Internet.

Honeywell provides a wide range of IP surveillance equipment for every type of situation including that of airport security, gaming, retail and correctional services applications. The Honeywell security camera equipment as available from IDTek is advanced and offers the ability to be integrated with existing building management technologies. Notable in the range is the HCD554IP dome security camera which offers true day and night surveillance features. The above security camera can be adapted to various light conditions and will still offer excellent image quality. If the light drops too low for normal image capturing, the security camera automatically adjusts to black and white imaging ensuring that surveillance can be done even under terrible light conditions.

Retail chain stores, banks, educational institutions and shopping centres in South Africa all invest in surveillance equipment for sales and security reasons. Small businesses often don’t realize the important of a business security camera to ensure adequate protection. Some of the reasons why you should consider the installation of a business security camera are:

• Factories, quick shop owners, and any type of business needs to monitor the employee activities to ensure high productivity and prevention of theft. The business security camera provides monitoring capability even when there is no supervisor around.
• The IP based business security camera allows for remote monitoring of an area and thus enables a business owner to keep taps on activities even when he is on holiday.
• It provides the opportunity to monitor customer behavior such as shopping patterns.
• Allows for quick assessment from the office if there is a disgruntled customer on the shop floor and thus provides a tool to ensure adequate client service.

The security camera lens has as much to do with the monitoring ability as the recording ability and flexibility are connected to the type of software used. As such when selecting the security camera lens the use should be considered:

• Fixed focus – where the area to be monitored requires depth of focus and where the security camera does not have to tilt or change angle it is a good choice since it is cost effective and ensures high quality imaging.
• Auto focus – where movement is an issue and where the security camera needs to tilt or change direction, select the auto focus. This is almost standard with most of the digital surveillance equipment available from IDTek and is ideal where there cannot be an operator present at all times.
• Veri focus – where the length of focus needs to be adjusted manually. This type of security camera lens should not be used in building management and retail.

Analog cameras make use of CCD chips and turn the signals into an image that can be viewed via a television or monitor. The analog cameras have advanced well from the 1970′s and now offer high resolution, the ability to handle backlight as well as florescent light efficiently and it is now possible to monitor a whole building via the use of cabling. IP based or digital surveillance go a step further by using existng networks, offering a tremendously high resolution and also offering angle viewing. The analog cameras often had the disadvantage of blurring, costs involved with installation and maintenance. Not so when converting to digital surveillance. In some instances you can still use the analog cameras for outdoor monitoring and use the digital equipment for the rest of the building.

IP-CCTV surveillance makes it possible to obtain a high level of security to prevent unauthorized viewing of footage or any tampering with the footage records. With the normal CCTV systems it is possible for a person to tap in and intercept signals. The person can also replace signals transmitted with other signals. This however, is not an issue with IP-CCTV surveillance which includes several authentication and encryption features to prevent tampering with signal transmission. As such banks, casinos and any institution at risk of this type of tampering will benefit from the use of IP-CCTV surveillance equipment which provides the required level of security.

One of the most important benefits offered by digital network camera surveillance equipment is that of not needing a video card for recording as the images captured are transmitted directly to a server or computer via digital technology. Another benefit obtained through the use of digital network camera surveillance is that of compression of the data. If the images cannot be compressed an enormous amount of hard disk space would be needed for storage of the images. With that being said megapixel cameras should be used to ensure high resolution. IDTek offers several ranges of network camera surveillance equipment that can provide the image quality required to capture detailed footage such as vehicle number plates even when the vehicles are moving fast. By converting to digital network camera surveillance a whole analog CCTV system can be replaced by a few digital cameras at an affordable price.

Digital network cameras which are hooked up to the existing network view footage and then the images are relayed to a computer or server where the images can be viewed, stored and retrieved as required. One of the benefits offered by digital network cameras is that of the zooming as well as tilting ability. This ensures that even difficult angles can be monitored. Retail stores where the digital network cameras have been installed have reported an improvement of security while also being able to make the most of footage to enhance customer service as well as increase sales. As such it is a far cry from strictly viewing that which has already happened. By making use of modern technology as offered by IDtek retailers can now also use the security system for marketing purposes. If considering the benefits of addressing two main concerns such as customer service and marketing together with that of security, it is understandable that so many retailers now switch to digital network cameras.