Chelmsford Firm Unveils Tiny Camera For Covert Surveillance
The next time you're getting cash from an ATM, think of Axis Communications, a Swedish company with U.S. headquarters in Chelmsford, which has unveiled a new camera series that features lenses the size of the head of a pin.
The Axis P12 Camera Series, which the video network company is showcasing at trade shows, will be available on the market in October, according to the company.
Cracking The Code For Smaller Cameras
Fredrik Nilsson, general manager of North America operations for Axis, said potential customers include banks, retail stores, and any customers that need to monitor foot traffic without the subjects' knowledge.
Size and image quality are what set the cameras in the P12 series apart from other Internet protocol and analog camera systems, according to Nilsson. Until now, he said the smallest surveillance cameras have been about the size of a matchbox. And they've had to be hooked up to analog cameras and digitized for better image clarity.
"The challenge in the past was to make it really small," Nilsson said. "(Now) we have that really small camera head that has the capability of doing HDTV kind of quality video."
Axis cracked the code for a nearly invisible camera that provides high-definition images (much better than the grainy police videos you see on the news) by designing a system that separates the tiny lens from the actual camera, which is about the size of a human's thumb, Nilsson said.
The lens can be stored up to 26 feet away from the camera, so unless you're looking for it, you don't know you're being filmed. Another perk is that the P12 series includes a model that can be used outdoors as well as inside.
Making The Switch To IP
Though the majority of the market is still served by analog surveillance systems, Nilsson said more companies will find IP camera systems more attractive from a cost-savings standpoint. They are smaller, and therefore cheaper to install, are run using network cables — which cost less than power and data cables – and the data can be stored on standard servers, unlike analog data.
Despite the cost savings, smaller companies that require systems of 32 cameras or less still gravitate toward analog video, said Domenic Locapo, a spokesman for the company, and the challenge is to convince those customers to make the leap to IP camera systems.
"We need to spend a lot of time to educate and address their needs," Locapo said.
Image source: Axis Communications
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