The fast moving arena of video analytics took another step forward at this year’s IFSEC trade show held at London’s Excel Exhibition Centre with the unveiling of an automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) engine and platform from software and technology company Intelico which claims new levels of functionality and flexibility.
Although the system was only officially announced to the industry at IFSEC this year it has been extensively proven as an enterprise solution processing literally millions of vehicle movements over the past couple of years in high pressure and demanding sites, such as London Heathrow Airport, the makers say.
What makes the new system different? Apart from being fast and accurate, the company says that its tried and tested system offers integration opportunities. These include a rapidly growing list of both new and legacy equipment from many of the industry’s premier camera manufacturers such as Canon, as well as offering modules to integrate with most access control systems including Skidata.
Intelico attended IFSEC in support of Wavestore and were hosted on the busy Canon UK stand where they demonstrated their latest integration into the Wavestore Video Management system (VMS) and Canon cameras.
Intelico’s CEO and head of development James Sayer said: “The association with Canon is an exciting one for the us as although our ANPR is designed primarily for the car parking arena, in early trials using their 1080p 2mp camera on a motorway we were able to grab three lanes in one view in a scenario where two was the maximum with many other camera brands”.
Project Director Paul Anderson who shares responsibility for the development of the company’s vehicle management technology was in attendance on the stand and said: “ANPR systems in general are certainly not in short supply here at IFSEC again this year, but the reaction of visitors to our stand was very encouraging. Many were pleasantly surprised when they learned about the integration opportunities our system opens up as well as the fact that we do not require dedicated cameras or equipment.
“Integrators in particular where excited with the fact that they could now choose to use their preferred camera providers, and even retro-fit to a wide range of legacy equipment which enables them to provide some very cost effective solutions to clients with restricted budgets. Ironically, they can price lower whilst offering enhanced levels of functionality and efficiency not even found in considerably more expensive systems”
Custom built housings are towards meeting the aesthetic requirements of high profile environments.
With IFSEC hosted by Excel again this year it was almost home turf for the Intelico team who are part of the Level39 technology accelerator space (a hub for new fintech and smart city technology companies) based in the landmark One Canada Square building in Canary Wharf, as well as their company offices in Southend on Sea in Essex.
Intelico adds that its core business is creating bespoke software and technology for bluechip clients, which means that any of their solutions can be customised to encompass any environmental or operational requirements. For example the new ANPR system was paired with their centralised Smart Alert control and monitoring platform and successfully deployed at Heathrow Airport.
Intelico bespoked the entire platform to handle all parking infrastructure and customer intercom interactions at the airport for the new Apcoa parking control room based in the new Terminal 2 building. The challenges included integrating and monitoring more than 500 devices across the estate whilst handling an average of 1000 customer help requests and up to 50,000 vehicle movements per day.
This collaboration with Wavestore and Canon UK came about almost by chance whilst exploring camera options for a video analytic project on behalf of a client which led to conversations with Canon about anpr technology in general. Just a few weeks later and the system was working seamlessly with the Canon hardware and showing highly encouraging results from initial trials.
Ahead of IFSEC Intelico had soft-launched their new fine-tuned branding, part of which is a new updated website providing anecdotal evidence and information via a series of case studies. The case studies can be downloaded from the website at www.intelico.uk.
Intelico technical director Rob Clarke said: “We think the new website will enable our clients, both old and new, to better understand our full capabilities and how to take advantage of the resources and creativity that our team can provide”.
Intelico as a company was formed in 2012 to bring together a group from the world of software development.
