No. 11/2012 (March 12, 2012)
Who will soar "in the cloud"? - the boom on "cloud servers".
According to a recent IHS iSuppli report, the production and implementation of cloud servers has the potential to become the fastest growing and most profitable sector of the ICT market over the next three years.647 000 such units were produced in 2011, the specialists estimate that in 2015 the world production of servers for cloud computing will rise to about 1.8 million. It means that during this period the average annual growth rate will exceed 30%, i.e. it will be five times higher than the growth rate of the market of ordinary servers.
Who will reap the fruits from the cloud expansion?
The first obvious candidate is Intel. Currently, over 95% of server processors are produced by this Silicon Valley giant. As the company invests 15% of its turnover (yearly around $ 8 billion) in R&D, most likely it will remain the market leader in the coming years. Adding a very high profit margin (25%), we know which shares are best to buy ...
The second group of companies that may generate extraordinary profits are physical memory manufacturers. The two major manufacturers of traditional hard drives, Western Digital and Segate, control 63.5% of the whole market. Last year, the corporations sold a total of over 400 million hard drives. They will probably share a large part of the cloud computing pie, too. However, they are pushed by other players who want to make money on server components - Samsung and Micron. The SSDs produced by these companies are faster than traditional HDDs, which is extremely important for the transmission of large amounts of data.
A third group of companies that can benefit from this server boom are those that sell complete servers. The main players in this field are IBM and Hewlett-Packard. At this moment, each of these companies has about 30% market share. Both companies are actively engaged in the development of cloud computing. In the case of HP, the problem of the corporation may be its strong position in the laptop market - the shareholders do not want to abandon that field and focus mainly on (a much more promising) cloud computing.
The second group of companies that may generate extraordinary profits are physical memory manufacturers. The two major manufacturers of traditional hard drives, Western Digital and Segate, control 63.5% of the whole market. Last year, the corporations sold a total of over 400 million hard drives. They will probably share a large part of the cloud computing pie, too. However, they are pushed by other players who want to make money on server components - Samsung and Micron. The SSDs produced by these companies are faster than traditional HDDs, which is extremely important for the transmission of large amounts of data.
A third group of companies that can benefit from this server boom are those that sell complete servers. The main players in this field are IBM and Hewlett-Packard. At this moment, each of these companies has about 30% market share. Both companies are actively engaged in the development of cloud computing. In the case of HP, the problem of the corporation may be its strong position in the laptop market - the shareholders do not want to abandon that field and focus mainly on (a much more promising) cloud computing.
Is server boom to reshuffle the market of server components? Probably not. Tempted by high profits, other players like manufacturers of flash memory chips and ARM processors may intensify their involvement in this area, but the companies described above have at this moment the lion's share of the market. What's more, they seem to be aware of the prospects of cloud computing and probably will do anything to make use of this trend to soar to the clouds.

Facebook's Prineville data center in Oregon, USA
Servers are the basic units able to operate independently in data centers. The data centers, equipped with computer systems for processing and storing large amounts of information, are connected with clients via high-quality redundant communication links.
These facilities are very well protected, supported by uninterruptible power supply systems, safe from fire and natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. ANSI/TIA-942 Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers defines four levels (tiers) of requirements for the data center infrastructure. The highest one, Tier Level 4, should guarantee 99.995% availability.
The currently built data centers, such as that of Amazon, use containers, each housing ca. 1000 servers. In the case of a failure, the container can be quickly replaced by another one, and repaired outside the system. The cost of building a modern data center amounts to hundreds of millions dollars. The biggest data center is being built in Langfang, China, with an area of 600,000 m2 or 80 association football fields.
These facilities are very well protected, supported by uninterruptible power supply systems, safe from fire and natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. ANSI/TIA-942 Telecommunications Infrastructure Standard for Data Centers defines four levels (tiers) of requirements for the data center infrastructure. The highest one, Tier Level 4, should guarantee 99.995% availability.
The currently built data centers, such as that of Amazon, use containers, each housing ca. 1000 servers. In the case of a failure, the container can be quickly replaced by another one, and repaired outside the system. The cost of building a modern data center amounts to hundreds of millions dollars. The biggest data center is being built in Langfang, China, with an area of 600,000 m2 or 80 association football fields.
How to choose a monitor for analog CCTV system?
The use of professional analog monitors, specially designed for CCTV applications, allows for maximum possible image detail in the images from analog cameras, without any loss of the original quality. The best results are provided by monitors with resolution above 540 TVL.When the operator is to identify people's faces, license plates etc. from the live video feeds from the cameras, the investment in a truly professional monitor is a must. The example is SAMSUNG SMT-1923 M3019, designed for continuous operation in both analog and digital video monitoring systems. Its 1280x1024 (VGA) and 620 TVL (video) resolutions are suitable for even most advanced analog video surveillance systems. With the use of the two BNC inputs, the video can be displayed with horizontal resolution up to 620 TVL, while standard analog monitors reach only 540 TVL. The employed DNIe(TM) technology improves image quality regardless of signal level. Its modern TFT-LCD screen is protected by vandal resistant tempered glass. Monitors of this series can also be used for PCs - in places or for applications that require high durability and vandal-proof protection.
For recognition and intrusion detection purposes it is sufficient to employ the well-tried 19'' Iiyama M3018 ProLite PLE1906S-B1 LCD monitor perfectly cooperating with popular DVRs, such as Atu, Trend 250, Hikvision, Signal. It connects with a DVR via VGA interface, and its aspect ratio of 4:3, maximum resolution of 1280*1024, and audio path (including built-in speakers) are the best choice for this purpose. The high dynamic contrast (20000:1) and a very short 2 ms response time ensure clear and blur-free imaging fully exploiting the image quality offered by modern CCTV cameras and digital video recorders.
In analog CCTV systems it is possible to use computer monitors equipped only with VGA inputs, however they must support the actual display mode of the DVR output. Otherwise, the image will be distorted or not available.
In many cases it is preferable to display images from cameras on large TV screens, with the use HDMI outputs available in modern DVRs, e.g. Signal. However, the large images from analog cameras will not provide the quality similar to HD television and should be viewed from a suitable distance.
In many cases it is preferable to display images from cameras on large TV screens, with the use HDMI outputs available in modern DVRs, e.g. Signal. However, the large images from analog cameras will not provide the quality similar to HD television and should be viewed from a suitable distance.

DVRs from Signal DL-83xx series can be connected to 3 monitors simultaneously,
via BNC, VGA, and HDMI outputs
via BNC, VGA, and HDMI outputs
Fiber optic television in a big hotel complex. The choice of the optical transmitter.
Owner of one of the hotels in West Pomerania, Poland, had the TV distribution system renewed. The installation company was asked to upgrade the system so that the analog televisions could receive DVB-T channels. Since the entire hotel complex consists of five large buildings, the best choice was application of optical cables that had been installed in the construction stage of this facility.
The layout of the hotel complex and fiber optic links
The contractor faced the problem of selecting an optical transmitter with the appropriate output power. The transmitter was to be placed in the server room in the building A3, the same which also housed MMH-3000 headend. It was found that an application of two symmetrical optical couplers/splitters (1/4) in the cascade would result in excessive attenuation and the problem with finding a suitable optical transmitter.
The installer chose the following passive optical components:
- optical coupler with 60/40 % coupling ratios placed in the A3 building (attenuation: 2.9/4.9 dB),
- 2 optical couples with 25/25/25/25 % coupling ratios located in A3 and C buildings (attenuation: 7.1 dB).
It was calculated that the total attenuation in the optical path within the building A could be up to 15.8 dB (including cable attenuation of 0.4 dB/km and 3 dB reserve), and in the other buildings, thanks to the asymmetrical coupler, up to 14 dB. It was planned that in each of the buildings there would be placed optical receiver Terra OD-002 R81726 with sensitivity of -7...2 dBm. Having known the minimum receiver's sensitivity and attenuation of the fiber-optic paths, the minimum output power of the transmitter situated by the headend should have been 8.8 dBm. The installer chose optical transmitter Terra MOS-211 R81720 with a DSB laser providing output power of 10 dBm. This allows for reliable signal distribution within the whole complex and future expansion of the system, if needed.
Internet and video monitoring through a single fiber.
The newly installed video monitoring system in a production plant consists of 8 analog security cameras M11270. The video is monitored in the surveillance room at the company's office building located about 500 meters from the factory.The video signals are transmitted via optical fiber, also used for Internet access. The Trend DVR M72508 and computer workstations stations of the factory staff are connected to the managed switch TP-LINK N29959, additionally equipped with optical SFP transceiver module ULTIMODE L1416 (Tx/Rx: 1310/1550 nm), combining the video and Ethernet signals. Transmitted via the optical fiber, the signals are similarly handled and separated in the surveillance room, using web smart switch TP-LINK N29951 with SFP module L1417 (Tx/Rx: 1550/1310 nm). The switch is connected to the Internet and with the workstations of the office workers and managers.

Internet and video monitoring through a single fiber
Low-cost IP CCTV system for a small house, business, office...
The outdoor area is monitored by Sunell SN-IPC54/50DN K1620 camera with Sony CCD sensor, more sensitive than a CMOS one. The camera provides high quality megapixel images (1.3 MP). In dark periods, the area is illuminated by the IR illuminator Redbeam IRN40 M1649. Its IR LED array provides IR light beam of 940 nm wavelength, with operational angle of 45 degrees, over a maximum distance of 40 m. Infrared radiation at this wavelength is completely invisible to the human eye (no red glow).The rooms have been equipped with 2MP cameras Sunell SN-IPD54/12VDR K1695 with integrated IR illuminators, so they can be efficiently monitored day and night.
The resource CD-ROMs supplied with the Sunell cameras provide free NVMS NVR software for configuring and managing the IP cameras and recording the video streams on typical PC computers. The recording can be scheduled by the user as well as triggered by motion detection or alarms from external sensors.

The components of the economical megapixel IP CCTV systems for round-the-clock video surveillance,
including the "invisible" IR illuminator Redbeam IRN40 M1649
including the "invisible" IR illuminator Redbeam IRN40 M1649
How to select disk arrays for NVRs?
NUUO NVRs K4108, K4316, K4204 can support RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 disk arrays. RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) ensures increased data reliability or increased input/output performance. Depending on the purpose of a video surveillance system, the administrator can choose the optimum RAID configuration:Advantages | Disadvantages |
RAID 0 – striped disks – the array is seen by the operating system as one single disk, the data is interleaved | |
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RAID 1 – mirrored disks – each of two disks stores exactly the same data | |
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RAID 5 – striped disks with parity – possible data recovery when one drive fails, using error correcting codes and data stored on other drives | |
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RAID 10 – stripped disks with mirroring – the array is implemented as RAID 0, whose elements are RAID 1 arrays | |
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If the priority for a CCTV system is extremely long data retention time, the proper choice is RAID 0 or RAID 5.
When it is necessary to ensure maximum security of the stored data, the appropriate choice is RAID 1 or RAID 10.
When it is necessary to ensure maximum security of the stored data, the appropriate choice is RAID 1 or RAID 10.
What to do when a typical AP is not sufficient?
Typical wireless APs have output power of 19-20 dBm. The approximate area of coverage provided by such a device can be estimated by applying the rule of three walls and two ceilings (on average, it also depends on the type of walls and ceilings, local interference levels etc).
Incomplete WiFi coverage
Green - good signal
Red - low signal

New products offered by DIPOL
Worth reading:
The Internet for the blind. The invention which will really open the Internet for the blind is "feelscreen" - a screen that allows the user to experience various sensations associated with touch. Roundness, concavity, roughness, smoothness etc. - these are the features that can be coded and transmitted over the Internet, and the recipient with the special screen will be able to identify by touch.
The Time Magazine's list of "The 50 Best Inventions of 2011" includes the screen being developed by Finnish company Senseg, the prototype of which was unveiled at CES 2012 in Las Vegas...
The Time Magazine's list of "The 50 Best Inventions of 2011" includes the screen being developed by Finnish company Senseg, the prototype of which was unveiled at CES 2012 in Las Vegas...
How to mount antennas to a mast. Many people interested in receiving DVB-T channels upgrade their antenna systems. Few of them, unfortunately including also professional installers, are aware of the fact that larger antenna arrays should be mounted on masts in the appropriate way, compliant with applicable standards. Although this subject is quite extensive and concerns mainly large antenna systems, it is worth to know the rules for proper installation of a next antenna on the mast attached to a wall or chimney...
Example layout of antennas on a mast. It is worth mentioning that according to DIN EN 50083-1,
the distance between any adjacent antenna mount clamps should not be shorter than 1/6 of the mast length
the distance between any adjacent antenna mount clamps should not be shorter than 1/6 of the mast length
POF solution for a CCTV system at company's parking lot. Due to acts of vandalism and taking assigned parking spaces by unauthorized people, the management decided to install a video monitoring system covering the company's parking lot.
The main requirement for the system was high image quality, allowing for facial recognition and reading license plates...
The main requirement for the system was high image quality, allowing for facial recognition and reading license plates...
Block diagram of the system:
1 - Managing center,
2 - Intermediate point converting the IP stream into optical POF signal
1 - Managing center,
2 - Intermediate point converting the IP stream into optical POF signal