Boston Herald
CHELMSFORD, Mass. - Axis Communications, a Swedish video technology company with its U.S. headquarters in Chelmsford, has created its own police cruiser to demonstrate how law enforcement agencies could use networked high-def video cameras.
Using such a set-up, police or other law enforcement agencies could watch cruiser camera footage live, rather than after the fact, and send video to fellow officers - or anyone - over a 4G wireless Internet connection, according to Scott Dunn, Axis’ director of business development.
‘Rather than say, ‘What happened?’, you can say ‘What’s happening?’ ' Dunn said.
The model cruiser is decked out with five high-definition video cameras: one in the front bumper and one in the windshield-mounted rear-view mirror to record footage in front of the car, a dashboard camera and one in the back seat to record the car’s interior, and a rear-facing camera on the back of the car. The trunk holds a network video recorder, or NVR, which is like a DVR, except that it doubles as a server, streaming video from the cameras to the cloud.
Dunn said the company outfitted the car, a 2010 Dodge Charger, with help from Marlboro emergency vehicle supplier MHQ, to show city agencies what could be done with HD cameras and networked equipment. City surveillance is a growing line of business for Axis, which does most of its business in the K-12 educational and retail/loss prevention markets. The technology is also used in trains, ambulances, buses and airports, Dunn said.
‘A police cruiser is a little easier to get into a trade show,’ he said.
The exact price of an outfitted cruiser is hard to pin down - Axis sells to integrators such as ADT or Siemens, rather than directly to customers. But Dunn said the NVR unit runs about $3,000, and cameras range from $500 to $1,000 each, which would be slightly more expensive than traditional analog camera systems.
The company, which has 74 of its 914 employees - sales, business development, marketing and technicians - in Chelmsford, is hiring. About 80 percent of city surveillance systems worldwide run on analog equipment, and Axis is predicting an industry shift similar to the recent move toward digital household TV.
‘The real question it, when is the tipping point?’ Dunn said.