In previous years, most organizations' physical security and IT security have operated independently, and have been managed through separate departments. However, Avocado Security's Version 2.0 technology allows various departments to have a centralized point of access to intelligent data that is generated directly from their physical security equipment. With Avocado Security's platform, detailed security information about one location, or even multiple locations, can be shared across departments with managers and executives, providing them with ongoing information about the operational intelligence of their organization.

CEOs can access information on how the entire organization is running, the Vice President of Marketing can verify why there is more traffic in a particular area of a store, and the Vice President of Sales can validate cash register (point of sale or POS) figures with security images to effectively understand how to up-sell the next product - turning security cameras into intelligence security devices as well as into 'money-making' machines.

With its ability to understand user activity, Avocado Security helps discover, detect, analyze and maximize surveillance security information, regardless of where and when it is generated. Avocado Security’s new technology delivers Business Intelligence (BI) with security images by taking the video images from surveillance cameras and translating them into intelligent, usable, business data and statistics.

One of the unique offerings of Avocado Security Business is that it enables security data from multiple remote locations to come together into one central access point so that BI information is accessible for all locations by key personnel. Because security details from multiple locations can now be centrally accessed, it empowers security personnel to share important security data with other company locations so that each security department can identify how other locations are faring, allowing better decision-making across the entire organization.

(TMCnet) -- Senior Editor, Mae Kowalke conducts a one-on-one interview with Avocado Security’s CEO, Kevin Shahbazi.

Traditionally, video surveillance was simply a way to achieve security or prevent theft. That’s still the case (especially in the post-911 world). But, solutions that use video cameras to capture the activities of people in various locations have other applications as well.

One company that sees a great deal of potential for turning video surveillance into a “money making machine” is Avocado Security. To find out how video surveillance can reap financial benefits for companies in many industries, TMCnet queried Kevin Shahbazi, CEO at Avocado. He shared his insights about video surveillance and explained who and why Avocado was founded.

Avocado Security, the world’s pioneer of the On-Demand Security and BI Optimization Platform, today announced that Access Control & Security Systems Magazine, a prestigious physical security publication, has named the Avocado Security Business Edition Version 2.0, a Finalist Award winner for its 2008 "Products of the Year" award.

Access Control and Security Systems magazine is a business-to-business publication that focuses on how America's commercial, industrial and institutional facilities employ security systems to make their sites safer. Their subscribers--36,700 of them--come mostly from larger companies (Fortune 1000-size) and are the high-level personnel in charge of security at their companies or institutions. We focus on the equipment used in security systems, and especially on how that equipment is integrated into "security solutions."

Version 2.0 of Avocado Security's Security and Business Intelligence (BI) Platform translates surveillance camera images into intelligent, usable business data and statistics. For example, users can view statistical graphs and charts reporting the number of times an elevator door opens, the times when increased levels of traffic exist at a particular entrance or exit, or logs of camera activity and unauthorized configuration changes over the last 24 hours.

Avocado Security's Security and Business Intelligence Optimization Platform as an on-demand solution now supports Microsoft® Internet Explorer 7 and Mozilla Firefox. The solution takes video imaging from surveillance cameras and translates them into intelligent, usable business data and statistics such as graphs, charts, and sales and marketing information. The product provides daily operational intelligence reports based on corporate physical security and business intelligence data from any location on a 24/7 basis.

With biometrics, the data often is a manageable single image. The same is not the case for video surveillance, which can churn out huge amounts of data quickly. A 4-megapixel camera taking 15 fps of 12-bit data will produce 96 MB of data per second. That translates to more than 300 GB/h.

Avocado Security software takes images from a security or surveillance system and converts them into metrics, such as the flow of people through a door or down an aisle. The system also can tell when a camera is malfunctioning, as the result of either a defect or a deliberate attempt to disable it.

Avocado Security pioneering technology continues to sweep awards and Analyst recognitions by converging physical security to Business Intelligence (BI). Avocado Security automates our daily viewing of millions of CCTV images by translating them into meaningful graphs and statistics. So now instead of looking at "dumb video" across a variety of video monitors, you can have "intelligent information". End-users benefits include dual use of their security cameras, and improved customer service while increasing sales.