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US and Germany were the countries with the most nominated products, three products each, from a total of twelve products. Sweden had two products among the finalists. The other nominated products came from the Netherlands, South Korea, UK and Japan. 
   The Detektor International Awards were introduced seven years ago to honour those invaluable products and manufacturers that have contributed particularly innovative, original and/or new technological designs and developments to our industry. User friendliness or other values of importance for the end user / operator are additional factors taken into account by our jury during the prize judging process.
     "Over the last 12 months the security industry has moved on significantly with the greater acceptance of Internet Protocol and wireless networking and the real advent of biometrics technologies.  As a result the sector has seen the introduction of literally hundreds, or maybe even thousands of new product lines.  Our nominations today have been short listed from this vast array of newly introduced products," explains Lennart Alexandrie, editor in chief of Detektor International", as he presented the awards to the winners of each of the three main prize categories.
   In total, twelve security products were nominated in the categories of CCTV, Alarm and Access Control products.  
   
Prize with prestige
Detektor International is a leading security technology trade magazine for the EMEA market. In the IMS Research survey "Security Media Brand Awareness 2005", Detektor International topped the list of EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) market players, as the most well known and regularly read printed security publication. This top position gives the Detektor International Award a prestige beyond comparison.
    Furthermore, this prestige status is demonstrated by the quality of the prizes themselves, in addition to being a gesture of recognition, they are specially commissioned works of art, designed and produced by Bertil Vallien, one of the Worlds leading artists in glass sculpture.
   As in previous years there were three categories, CCTV, Access Control, and Alarm Products and the outcome of Detektor International Awards 2006 correspond to the following result

The Access Control products category

Innovative Achievement Award
In the Access Control category, the Innovative Achievement Award went to BioStation from the South Korean manufacturer Suprema and the AEOS faces from the Dutch company Nedap.
  
The new BioStation terminal offers an inventive solution for time attendance and access control. With a colour LCD and high quality sound, BioStation provides a different level of user interaction using multimedia information, Versatile interface options including wireless LAN and USB memory enabling an easy network integration and data transfer without any wiring. A 2.5" 16M Colour LCD displays messages, video, animation and photos to convey various information and notices. The terminal offers high quality 16 bit Hi-Fi sound for voice messages, background music or sound effects. The unit is able to store maximum 50,000 prints and has a logging capacity of 500,000 events. As another feature, the BioStation provides various external interfaces including wired/wireless LAN, RS485, RS232, USB, relay, Wigand and digital I/Os. In addition, the BioStation provides a USB memory slot so that users can easily transfer log and fingerprint data using a USB flash drive. It is also equipped with microphone and speaker to support door phone functions.

Nedap's AEOS faces software enhancement transforms the familiar, text based access control system into an easily understandable and intuitive security management solution. The system now has a flexible graphic interface, is web-based and meets the highest IT standards. This means that the system is now available to a whole new group of users due to the introduction of AEOS faces. Not only security officers, but also receptionists, operators, supporting staff and warehouse workers, can now benefit from the many features of the system. Tasks can be easily executed with simple, task-focused web pages.
   Nedap is the first company to apply Web 2.0 technology in a security management system. AEOS faces' technology offers interesting new possibilities in terms of user friendliness and flexibility. By using new and open standards, AEOS faces is directly supported by known software, such as Microsoft FrontPage and Macromedia Dream weaver.

Highly Commended Product Award
 Vision Access 3D Facial Reader, from A4 Vision (USA), shows how the most recent and significant advancements in biometrics surrounding facial recognition have emerged with 3-D facial technology. While introducing a third axis and depth to the process there is immediately more facial data considered. Accuracy improves exponentially with the ability to apply more mathematical probabilities to the data. Three-D recognition accommodates variable angles and covers more of the whole face. In practice, speed improves proportionately with the new accuracy because less processing time is required in the presence of precise information. Through a proprietary matching engine and algorithms, this system performs subject identification and verification in less than one second. Three-D facial recognition performance accuracy has been shown to match or exceed fingerprint recognition. Processing is faster and it requires less user cooperation.
  The Vision Access 3D Face Reader is used to control physical access to buildings and entrances. The reader is designed for quick and easy user positioning which optimises throughput at entrances. To accomplish this an LCD and audio feedback have been integrated into the design.
   This makes it very simple for the user to get into the correct position for the reader to quickly capture the optimal image.

Best Access Control Product
The first prize, for the Best Access Control Product, went to the PhenoStor from the German company Bayer Innovation GmbH (Germany).
   PhenoStor is a new solution based on holographic data storage. Looking to find a solution that offers a larger storage capacity and greater security, Bayer has succeeded in writing data holographically into plastic. This process provides an extremely high protection against unauthorised access to the stored data and prevents it being tampered with or copied.
   Performance of biometrics authentication based on smart cards is limited by today's memory chip capacity, being below 1 MB. Future applications call for multiple biometrics images and other sensitive personal data to be stored on ID cards and travel documents. For that purpose, Bayer Innovation has developed the PhenoStor range, composed of writing and reading equipment, interface with biometrics software and a holographic smart card.

The Panel of Judges of the Detektor International Award gave the following motivation for selecting PhenoStor as the winning product:
"PhenoStor's superior memory capacity means that access control applications can be more secure, complex and feature rich. This is a true victory for progressive product development".

The Alarm Products category
Considering the high number of innovative new alarm products the jury had a tough task to rank them. 

The Innovative Achievement Award
 The Innovative Achievement Award in the Alarm Product category was shared by the CD GBD Glassbreak Detector from the Swedish company Covial Devices and the multi-criteria fire detector COPTIR from System Sensor (USA).
  
The CD GBD Glassbreak Detector utilises a new revolutionary patented detection technology which can be used on all kinds of glass, including laminated, reinforced and hardened glass.
This acoustic emission sensor technology offers exceptional properties by utilising the extremely high magneto-elastic coupling of magnetostrictive amorphous alloys. The new sensors measure acoustic emission from 50-1000 kHz. Apart from the fact that the sensors offer security against false alarms, this technology detects all kinds of intrusion attempts via glass; not just breaking but also scratching and cutting can be detected.
   One sensor can cover a glass area of up to 9 square metres and is tamper protected. It can be fitted anywhere on a window even in direct contact with the window frame. The technique utilised, makes it possible to tailor the frequency bandwidth and the sensitivity by changing some production parameters.
   Traditionally acoustic emission sensors have been based on piezo-ceramics. The working principle has been the same as for common accelerometers. This means that the surface wave
has been transformed into one-dimensional wave propagation with a terminating reaction
mass.
   Alarm indication latches in case of an alert, and is reset by cutting the power. Version 1.2 of the CD GBD Glassbreak Detector has a relay output with automatic reset after 3 seconds. The unit is delivered in a metal coloured plastic encapsulation.Version 1.2 series is mounted by means of a two-component adhesive for fast and very strong attachment to the glass surface.

COPTIR, developed in Systems Sensor´s European Manufacturing headquarters in Trieste, is a multi-criteria fire detector to integrate four independent sensors into a single point fire detector.
   The detector consists of independent Carbon Monoxide, Photo, Thermal and Infra Red sensors, all managed by an embedded microprocessor running sophisticated and responsive algorithms. Uniquely, the fourth detection element is a light sensor that provides environment monitoring to improve the false alarm performance of the device, and also improve response times to fast flaming fires whose detection has traditionally been a challenge to Photo and Photo Thermal smoke detectors. The integration of continual monitoring of all four major products of a fire has resulted in a detector that has ultra high immunity against false alarms whilst responding far more quickly to an actual fire. It is also highly configurable from the panel, allowing the detection system to be profiled to changes in the use and occupation of the protected building.
COPTIR has been extensively tested, not just under the standard EN54 test conditions, but for 21 different false alarm tests and 29 different fire alarm tests, possibly one of the most comprehensive series of tests ever run when a new device has been developed. The test results show that COPTIR should make a significant contribution to the industry's efforts to lower false alarm rates.
 
Highly Commended  Product Award
   The Highly Commended Alarm Product prize went to Eyetec from Siemens Building Technologies, Fire and Safety products (Germany)
   Eyetec is a dual-principle motion detector, in which passive infrared signal processing is complemented by a top-quality optical sensor. The Eyetec detector, thus, attains a unique degree of detection reliability and tamper security, virtually ruling out false alarms.
   With this unique combination of technologies, Siemens sets new standards for detection and tamper security. The intelligently linked signal processing methods of two independent sensors detect hazardous events with the highest possible degree of reliability and virtually rule out false alarms.
   An image analysis algorithm automatically evaluates all motion patterns and assesses them for plausibility. The image sensor also records events before, during and after an alarm is actuated, thus permitting reliable, traceable alarm evaluation. In addition, directions of movement or active/inactive monitoring zones can be defined accordingly.
   The passive infrared sensor in Eyetec is equipped with top-quality black Triplex mirror optics. The black base material filters out disturbing white-light sources and thus eliminates further causes of false alarms. Eyetec also sets new standards with regards to protection against tampering. Conventional motion detectors recognise masking only in the near vicinity of 10-30 centimetres. By contrast, Eyetec's anti-blocking function detects tampering attempts in the entire coverage area and reliably actuates an alarm in the event of any conceivable attempt of an attack or irregularity.

Best Alarm Product
The winner and receiver of the Best Alarm Products Award was the Professional Series from Bosch Security Systems (Germany).
   Professional Series features sensor data fusion technology, which enables data comparison from all the detector's sensors to significantly reduce false alarms.
   The detectors feature up to five different sensors within each unit as well as a highly sophisticated microprocessor that gathers data from each sensor and, via a proprietary algorithm, determines whether an alarm is necessary or not. This virtually eliminates false alarms, while improving catch performance by 35% over traditional motion detectors.
   The detector's tri-focus optics technology includes three separate lenses with specific focal lengths for long-range, medium-range and short-range coverage, eliminating the need to adjust the lenses at different mounting heights and providing wall to wall coverage with no gaps.
The detectors include other advanced features that contribute to the reduction of false alarms. Active white light suppression eliminates false alarms caused by bright light sources, such as car headlights. To deliver consistent performance at all operating temperatures, dynamic temperature compensation automatically adjusts the detectors' sensitivity relative to room temperature, to more accurately detect the unique signature of human body heat.

The Panel of Judges of the Detektor International Award gave the following motivation for selecting Professional Serie as the winning product:
"Professional Series increases the capability of true intrusion detection, whilst simultaneously and significantly reducing the false alarm. Smart reliable and simply the Best Alarm Product 2006."

The CCTV Products category
The recent developments within camera surveillance are exciting with many new features and the very real potential of interacting with other security systems. The IP development in this field is one important factor, but the latest technical capabilities of these systems certainly open up new markets and applications. The jury, therefore, particularly scrutinised the nominations in this area.
  
Innovative Achievement awards
In the category for camera surveillance, or CCTV as it is commonly known, the Innovative Achievement awards went to the TransVu Media from the UK company Dedicated Micros and the Endura concept from the US based Pelco.

Trans Vu Media from Dedicated Micros (UK) is a robust mobile digital video recording system for video surveillance on buses or trains. It also offers extra value in addition to the security related benefits. In fact Trans Vu can be used to broadcast information on the screens to passengers, like travel information or advertising messages and simultaneously record and store images.
   Another feature of the system is a built in G-force detector which gives the operator the possibility to log unusual or abnormal driving patterns like for example hard breaking, knocks from road bumps passed at high speed or excessive tilting due to speeding around bends. There is also an interface for GPS positioning and an option to connect to the speedometer of the vehicle.

The Endura concept from Pelco of the USA maximises compatibility and user friendliness of the networked video surveillance system which, combined with a high picture quality, functionality and flexibility enables video surveillance via a broad range of cameras, decoders, DVR- and NVR-units and virtual matrices controlled by an easy to handle control unit. The control unit enables the user to operate the Endura system in the same way as the traditional analogue systems.
   The Endura concept comprises a complete systems range including everything from different kinds of cameras, encoders, decoders, DVR units, NVR:s, as well as virtual matrices and all this can be controlled via an easy to use control unit. Additional features include fast winding from the keyboards, live and playback as well as control of an almost infinite number of cameras (the network capacity sets the limit). The powerful distributed systems architecture a robust hard- and software platform and the familiar user analogue interface make this digital video solution easy to implement.

Highly Commended CCTV Product
This years receiver of the Highly Commended CCTV Product was the The SNC-RX550P from Sony (Japan). This network camera, with endless 360 degree rotation, delivers detailed surveillance of a large area and combines the latest image processing technology to provide multiple compression formats and intelligent functionalities with a high-speed PTZ (Pan/Tilt/Zoom) capability.
   SNC-RX550P can freely and endlessly rotate 360 degrees (300 degrees per second) allowing users to monitor almost anywhere surrounding the camera using this single unit. In addition, equipped with a powerful 26x optical zoom, the camera allows users to zoom in on small or distant objects with exceptional clarity. Another feature is the image stabiliser function which can minimise the appearance of shaky images caused by low-frequency vibration which improves capture.
   Designed for around the clock operation, the SNC-RX550 incorporates a Day/Night function, providing clear images even in 0 lx lighting conditions. Using advanced image processing technology, the camera provides three compression formats; JPEG, MPEG-4, and H.264, so that users can choose the appropriate compression format to match the network environment and monitoring applications. The SNC-RX550 also includes a newly developed "Dual Encoding Capability" to allow simultaneous streaming in JPEG and MPEG-4, further expanding monitoring applications.
   Combining other intelligent features, such as Advanced Video Motion Detection and Unattended Object Detection into its stylish body, SNC-RX550 is a choice for a wide variety of surveillance and monitoring applications.

Best CCTV Product
The award for this year's Best CCTV Product went to Axis 212 PTZ from Axis Communications (Sweden).
   Axis Communication's revolutionary 212 PTZ Network Camera for indoor security surveillance incorporates a digital PTZ device that provides instant, one-click pan/tilt/zoom functionality and automatic patrolling without wear and tear on moving parts.
It is equipped with a high quality sensor with three megapixels and a wide angle lens which makes it possible for the user to zoom in on an area of 150 square metres. The camera utilises picture compression with Motion JPEG and MPEG-4 in order to get the best image quality and make optimal use of bandwidth.
   Other features include two-way sound and a built in microphone. In addition the camera is equipped with power over Internet, which means that the camera gets the power supply via the network cable, which reduces the costs for installation and cabling.
This digital PTZ camera, with no moving parts, does not just offer outstanding functionality but also a sensationally low price, which makes it available for applications where one would normally choose a less advanced solution.
   The AXIS 212 PTZ features pre- and post-alarm image buffering, video motion detection, and scheduled and triggered event functionality with alarm notification. The network camera comes with a comprehensive set of security features such as multi-level password protection, IP address filtering and HTTPS encryption.

The Panel of Judges of the Detektor International Award cited the following as motive for selecting AXIS 212 PTZ  as the winner:
"The AXIS 212 PTZ Network Camera is really good news for everyone that believes advanced video surveillance can solve security problems. This camera has all the qualities to become both a versatile and ideal monitoring solution."

Independent selection process
2006 marks the 7th annual event for this prestigious award and the outcome was awaited with great interest. An important contributing factor to the prestige reputation of the Detektor International Award is the fact that the manufacturers cannot apply for the award. The selection is carried out exclusively by a jury comprising of eight independent professionals (all of them associated with the editorial board of Detektor International) from five different countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway, UK and USA), who have followed the flow of newly launched products from all over the globe during the last 12 months.