As a concept for modern retailers, effective video management is essential. Post COVID-19, cities, workplaces, social spaces and shops will never be the same again. To maximise their operational efficiency, retailers must look at long-term integrated investments that will provide a competitive advantage. A solution for modern retail stores will lie more and more with 24/7 control centres, where video from multiple stores is monitored centrally. Cameras and their video will be the eyes of the monitoring centre, where analytics tools integrate security, management, health & safety and marketing to streamline operations and costs. Subjects watched over could include ‘Shopper profiles’, ‘people not following Covid 19 rules’, and much more. Cloud technologies, their deployment and benefits will drive the video industry for years to come. On the hardware side, sensors and IoT will impact data capture and in turn, the role of the VMS. With regard to Milestone, as an open platform product, XProtect is ready to play a role in these changes, and the role of high-performance, reliable and secure barox video transmission will be integral. Indeed, “Without hardware, XProtect cannot function,” explains Soraya Heristchian, Milestone Community Manager, North Europe. “To enable easy integration and better customer experiences, Milestone offers its Device Driver pack strategy for cameras and other devices, as well as the System Builder program. With the barox switch you can configure, and monitor switch ports and traffic visually from within their Smart Client, and switch alarms and events can also trigger alarms into XProtect.” Fast approaching and already implemented by some organisations in Europe, barox views its role as integrated into the Industry Revolution 4.0 process, where transformation makes it possible to gather and analyse data across machines; enabling more flexible, more efficient and faster processes to be employed. This ultimately leads to higher quality service and goods for the vendor, allied to greater cost efficiencies - yielding a highly competitive edge. Focusing heavily on interconnectivity, automation, machine learning, real-time data and high-quality video networks, Industry 4.0 applications and deployment examples include factories; for infection control, reducing the spread of the Covid 19 virus and spotting non mask wearers. Challenges within logistics that could be solved with Industry 4.0 include, the effective tracking of shipments, preventing theft, managing efficient deliveries/loading/and unloading (and preventing delays). In Logistics, checking if a lorry is at the right loading bay, locating lost lorries and the handover of lorries to the correct loading bay (on average approx. 7% are misplaced annually), all support a more profitable enterprise. Monitoring traffic and footfall within transportation hubs and retail stores to reduce crowding and flag up overcrowded areas, reduce missing packages/theft, and linking to IT based remote back office functionality to order and restock again, introduce greatly beneficial costs savings. In Safe cities, crowd control and social distancing can be better implemented too. To improve efficiencies, the importance of open platform, future-proofed technology needs to be considered, as well as secure data protection and privacy, so the choice of a high-performance video/data switch will be essential to implement these new solutions securely. “Open platform IP video management software can provide more than just security, by helping retailers to reduce costs,” says Soraya. “By providing a secure environment for customers and staff, it also gives owners the opportunity to integrate business systems to achieve greater efficiencies in their operating processes, solving challenges such as loss prevention and to provide vital business intelligence to retail operations management.” “To enable these efficiencies, the boots on the ground will need to be provided by sophisticated video switches, such as the barox RY-28 Series Managed Ethernet switch,” says Rudolf Rohr, barox Co-founder & Managing partner. “With its advanced firewall functionality, deep cyber protection and integrated diagnostics, it’s the perfect fit. These switches will connect via VPN (via an external router), and provide power for IP cameras and displays, whilst making sure that attacks from local IoT’s will be distributed (as a first line of defence). They will also save on service costs and down time by automatically rebooting cameras and other devices, and distribute invaluable data statistics to the host, all via a high-quality cyber secure video network. The future for video transmission and cloud-based integrated services is looking very bright for those who are ready to take the next step.”