The Taiwan-based CCTV equipment manufacturer Merit Lilin has scored something of a coup, becoming the first company to release ONVIF conformant products.
According to an ONVIF announcement released today, Lilin’s ONVIF compliant products include high-speed dome cameras, external IR cameras and a standalone video encoder.
From the press release:
“We congratulate Merit Lilin on launching the first ONVIF conformant products,” says Andreas Schneider, Sony Corporation and Chairman of ONVIF’s Technical Services Committee. “Having the first conformant products on the market is an important milestone for ONVIF. It also proves that the ONVIF specification, test tool and conformance process enable manufacturers to easily develop and verify ONVIF conformant products, which is key to achieve global interoperability.”
According to an announcement from Lilin, this is just the beginning of its line of products that will meet ONVIF specifications:
Lilin believe IP CCTV is about to overcome many of the obstacles that has stopped it replacing analogue systems. Over the coming months further announcements will herald the release of more segments of the Lilin product range compliant with the Onvif standard, resulting in a full system offering and extended camera range.
Not only will this allow Lilin to supply full IP systems with future proof interoperability but will also provide users with the option to select third party Onvif compliant products for integration, including Video Analytics and Video Management Software.”
Lilin may be the first, but it won’t have the field to itself for long. As ONVIF steering committee chairman Jonas Andersson confirmed to me recently, at a minimum, all three ONVIF founders (Axis, Bosch and Sony) have pledged to release ONVIF compliant products before the year is out.
The latest count has ONVIF membership at more than 70 companies, and ONVIF said it will be keeping track of those releasing compliant products on its Web site.
Something of a war of words has broken out between Dedicated Micros CEO Mike Newton and Controlware country manager Mark Harraway over IP-based surveillance and ROI claims.
In a recent opinion piece, Newton made charges of “inflated claims” by some pushing pure IP-based surveillance solutions, and argued that such systems often contain hidden costs related to things like the need for network upgrades while failing to take into account problems like the ability to guarantee failsafe, continuous recording.
Harraway wrote a stinging rebuttal, basically calling Newton a liar (“overtly disingenuous” was his euphemism of choice) when it came to a cost analysis of a theoretical 750-camera installation and accused him of trying to “hold back the market in an unhappy compromise of hybrid systems.”
There’s a huge gap in their cost analyses, with Newton’s estimate of a pure IP-based 750-camera system coming in at up to GBP 1.8mln, as opposed to a distributed, hybrid model, the cost of which he puts as low as GBP 250,000 (ranging up to GBP 600,000 depending on frame rate recording requirements).
Harraway says a pure, high frame rate IP solution could be delivered for under GBP 500,000. (The myriad details behind each argument are laid out in their respective articles).
Cost of the theoretical installation aside, both guys have a point. In a nutshell, Harraway argues that whatever the criticisms, the future ultimately belongs to IP, and anyone ignoring that now risks getting left behind. Newton says installers need to look beyond exaggerated vendor claims to get at the real cost of ownership for an IP-based system. While the rhetoric gets a little heated, the exchange is a good one for a topic that only seems to be attracting more interest.
It’s tough times in the Baltics. I spoke with Andres Kiil, the head of the Estonian-based pan-Baltic integrator Pristis, this morning, and while we were mainly talking about his company’s recent acquisition of a stake in the Estonian security services company Skorpion, the conversation turned to the economy and business in general.
As an integrator doing business across three Baltic countries that have been hit especially hard by the economic crisis, Kiil has a unique vantage point on this small but previously dynamic market. As opposed to most people I spoke to at the Sicherheits Expo in Munich last week, who were cautiously optimistic and sensing that after a tough end of 2008 and beginning of 2009, things were beginning to pick up, Kiil said that the situation in the Baltics was still very difficult.
That’s not entirely surprising, since Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have been the most hard-hit of the 27 EU member states by the economic crisis. Lithuania, for example, suffered the biggest GDP contraction in the EU in 1Q 2009, with its economy shrinking 12.6 percent.
After posting record results for 2008, Kiil said his business was contracting overall right now, with installations down about 50 percent from where there were at this point last year. To counter that, Pristis is going after the service market, and that strategy has already started to pay off. Revenues from service and maintenance are up 10 percent today compared to a year ago—a real accomplishment, considering the economy.
With a growing emphasis on the service side and successful restructuring already completed, Kiil said Pristis is still on track to post a profit this year. In his view, Estonia may be a little ahead of its neighbors—he expects the local economy to bottom out later this year or in early 2010—but Latvia and Lithuania probably won’t see things turn around until sometime in 2010.
Kiil expects things in the region to get worse before they get better, and he said that the next 12 months are going to be critical for a lot of companies.
Some may be questioning the economics of trade shows these days, but apparently not Clarion Events in the UK. After announcing this spring that it would launch a new security trade show in London in 2010 focused on the critical infrastructure market, the events organizer announced today that it is buying Counter Terror Expo, an exhibition and conference devoted to homeland security, from Niche Events.
Counter Terror Expo, which was just launched this year, reportedly had over 4,000 visitors and just won the Association of Exhibition Organisers’ Excellence Award for best trade show launch at a ceremony a couple of weeks ago.
I was at Counter Terror Expo this year, and the show was well attended and the conference, for the most part, interesting. At first glance, it would seem like this show would duplicate a lot of what Clarion is planning for it’s new CNi Expo, but maybe that’s not the case.
According to Clarion, Counter Terror Expo will be more of a complement than competition to its security exhibition lineup, which also includes the Defense Systems and Equipment International (DSEi) show.
From the release: Gordon Payne, Managing Director of Clarion Defence and Security said: “Nations today face increasingly diverse risks and threats to their security. The gap between long-established defence needs and emerging national security interests is closing, with greater crossover of technologies, systems and practises. Our defence and security portfolio enables us to meet the needs of these fast changing markets and the acquisition of Counter Terror Expo further strengthens our market leading position.”
No word on why Niche Events decided to sell an award-winning show, but it’s not cutting its ties with the event completely: Niche Events’ managing director Peter Jones, who was responsible for the launch of Counter Terror Expo, will continue to run the event.
You can find the full announcement on the Counter Terror Expo acquisition here.
IMS Research’s 2009 European conference on video content analysis (VCA) took place in Brussels this week, and two major themes dominated: the need for more education on VCA in the marketplace on all sides and the importance of managing expectations when it comes to what the technology can and can not do.
Integrators on two panel discussions I moderated—one aimed at scrutinizing the benefits of VCA in real world applications and another on VCA deployment from an integrator’s perspective—kept returning to the need for manufacturers to tone down exaggerated claims in their marketing materials for VCA, which they said had led to over-expectation on the part of end users and a backlash against the technology. For their part, manufacturers on hand seemed to agree (with the possible exception of Iomniscient, which seemed to suggest during discussions that there was next to nothing it couldn’t do).
Bart Verhulst, managing director of the Belgian integrator Securipoint, was particularly persistent about the need for honesty in marketing and presentation of what VCA can actually achieve. Jo Stark, IBM’s global head of digital video surveillance, backed up Verhulst, suggesting that VCA needed a “thought leadership initiative” that could help shift the VCA sector towards real education and a problem solving focus and away from what he termed a “science fiction focus.” Sergio Bellano of Johnson Controls agreed on the lack of knowledge and clear information on VCA, but said it was not only the fault of one side, and that system integrators have to do more to make sure the actual capabilities of the technology are understood by prospective end users.
Standards for VCA emerged as one possible answer to battling things like bad information and exaggerated claims. The problem is that standards are lacking. ONVIF might be part of the solution, though. Daniel Elvin and Markus Wierny, who sit on ONVIF’s technical services committee (and are also with Axis and Bosch, respectively), noted that ONVIF always intended to address VCA, which is reflected in VCA’s inclusion in ONVIF’s Core Specification (vers. 1.0).
Despite the past hype and overselling, everyone seemed to agree VCA still has incredible potential. At the same time, the IMS conference made it clear that VCA is also a technology that’s hard to get your arms around. Whether it’s disseminating accurate knowledge about it, the complexities of deploying it, the difficulties of benchmarking or standardizing it, there seem to be no easy answers. It’s a technology that’s still looking for that killer application—whether on the security or business intelligence side—that can help crystallize it’s utility and ROI value. Events like this conference will hopefully help move the industry down that road.
Our newswire report with more details on Day 1 of the conference can be found here.
IMS Research’s third European conference on video content analysis is just around the corner. This year’s event, which takes place in Brussels on June 23-24, will bring together a range of people either manufacturing, deploying or using video analytics with the aim of highlighting the technology’s successes, limitations and prospects going forward.
The agenda includes presentations from Niscayah, Siemens Building Technologies, IBM, Johnson Controls, Milestone, Bosch, Axis, the Dutch Police and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, to name just a few.
I’ll be moderating what should be some lively discussion on two panels—one looking at the benefits VCA has delivered in real world deployment, and another focusing on deploying analytics from the integrators’ perspective. Other discussion panels will address intelligent video and ROI, VCA use in airport and transport applications, and the future of VCA technology.
You can find the full conference program, with details on presentations, here. For those who’d like to attend but can’t, watch this space and our newswire to find out what you’re missing.
IndigoVision just announced that it’s hired Ivo Drent to fill its newly created post of senior vice president for EMEA.
Drent comes to IndigoVision after putting in 10 years at Pelco, where he also ran EMEA operations and, according to the IndigoVision announcement, took Pelco’s sales in the region from nothing to USD 100mln.
The creation of the new post is part of a reorganization at IndigoVision which the company says is aimed at bringing it closer to its partners and their local markets. To do that, IndigoVision is relocating management of technical support and marketing form Edinburgh to three regions—EMEA, the Americas and APAC—with each team reporting to a regional VP.
The full announcement is here.
Fresh off its IFSEC appearance, Canada’s Aimetis is doubling down on its activities in Europe. The company just announced that it has concluded two distribution deals with major distributors for the European market.
In France, the company has signed on Conectis, the largest French distributor of cabling systems and networking equipment for the IP video market, in an arrangement which will see the company distribute Aimetis’ intelligent video software suite Symphony across the country.
The second deal, pan-European in scope, is with Anixter EMEA. Anixter will initially launch Aimetis on the German market with a rollout in other countries to follow.
It isn’t just my impression – a lot of participants in this year’s IFSEC are happy with the results and already looking towards 2010. One of those is Optelecom-NKF, which issued a statement out of its Europe HQ in the Netherlands today that it has already signed on to continue next year the significant sponsorship role it had at this year’s show. The company’s decision was based on the very positive sponsorship experience of the 2009 event, which it says tripled its leads. In addition to its stand, Optelecom sponsored and IFSEC/Siqura café to promote its Siqura IP-based surveillance solution, and also sponsored the handy pocket floor plan, which got lots of use as people tried to navigate the new halls.
I also talked to Simon Nash, the head of video surveillance for Sony EMEA, a few days ago, and he echoed the Optelecom line, expressing satisfaction with the results of this year’s IFSEC. While he said the show was smaller this year and traffic was somewhat down from last year, he said the quality of visitor and leads was “incredibly high,” and that’s not only because the Prince of Kent dropped by the Sony stand this time, though I’m sure that didn’t hurt.
One other interesting show note is the announcement yesterday that Clarion Events, a major UK exhibition organizer, is feeling upbeat enough about the future to launch a new security expo—CNi— in London in 2010 focused on the homeland security and critical infrastructure markets. There’s no Web site for the event in the announcement, and I haven’t been able to find one myself, but it’s set to launch next year at ExCeL in London on June 1-2. Clarion, which also runs the Defence Systems and Equipment International(DSEi) expo, is holding some breakfast briefings with senior UK officials this September as part of the expo’s rollout. You can find more info on CNi here.
IFSEC 2009 wrapped up on Thursday, and for the final day of a four-day show, there were still decent number of visitors on hand, though things were definitely winding down in the afternoon.
My meetings on the final day included a stop at Aimetis, which, although based in Waterloo, Ontario, does a significant amount of work in Europe. According to the company’s Bethany Moir, the European market now actually accounts for over 50 percent of the company’s total business. Earlier this year it won a deal for the biggest IP-based surveillance project in Germany, at the Munich airport. Originally focused on analytics, Moir explained that with so many analytics companies out there, Aimetis made the decision to move into video management system (VMS) software as well. That resulted in the company’s flagship Symphony system. Aimetis’ strong point is this seamless integration of analytics with the VMS, according to Moir. While there are obviously bigger players out there in the VMS market which handle analytics, Moir said integration is not always as simple as they say it is. In fact it’s another integration that the integrator has to manage.
Miha Lederer and the rest of the team at Tab Systems were enjoying the final day of the show, riding high on winning the IFSEC award for best access control system for their Electra product. After three previous nominations, Tab Systems finally got the gold this year. The decisive factor this time around, according to Lederer, was the fact that Electra delivers the best, most innovative elements of Tab’s access control products in a package that’s priced for the mid-market segment. Like all of Tab’s products, Electra is based on multimodal biometric access control technologies, including facial and voice recognition, coupled with features like video intercom, IP phone and video surveillance and messaging options. Based in Slovenia, Europe is among the company’s key markets, but its business plan is to pursue possibilities around the world, and the company is hoping all the attention that comes from winning an IFSEC award will help push that.
I stopped in at March Networks, which had a big presence at this year’s show, and talked to Ely Maspero. Anyone familiar with Italy’s Cieffe, which was bought by March last year, recognized a number of Cieffe staff on the stand, including Cieffe founder Fabrizio Colciago, who stayed on at March as managing director. March Networks, which was well known in North America, but didn’t have much of a profile in Europe when it took over the well-recognized Cieffe, is definitely making headway getting its name out on the market here. The UK market can be a tough one for an IP surveillance specialist like March, but the possibilities definitely make it worth the effort, Maspero said.
It was a good show for IQinVision, Dawn Miller told me. Europe continues to be a key market for the U.S.-based company, with significant projects in the works like one for the Rotterdam police in Holland. That project, a trial in which around 20 shops in the city center have deployed to combat store robberies, is going very well, Miller said, and a final verdict on whether to roll the project out on a wide-scale basis across the city is expected soon. The company also used IFSEC to introduce its foray into access control – Iqaccess software. The on-camera software alerts the user via a pop-up window on a PC whenever motion is detected, a doorbell is pressed, or another device triggers an IQeye network camera. The software allows the user to control the camera’s relay to activate a door, control lights, sound a voice alert or a variety of other responses. Miller said she uses it herself, as it gives an extra layer of security, especially when she’s at the office working late.
Overall, IFSEC 2009 has got to be called a success. Faced with the economic crisis and the near hysteria over the initial cancellations for this year’s show, the organizers went into overdrive to make the best of a bad situation, and in that they succeeded. Cancellations were kept to a minimum, some key industry players were enticed back into taking part, and in the end, even Norbain came around, agreeing to return to the exhibition floor next year. The seminar programs targeting new technologies and ways to save money in an economic downturn were well attended, and the show’s new location in the NEC was appreciated by everyone I spoke to. Most importantly, the vast majority of people I talked to were pleased with the number of visitors. While most people thought the show has a smaller feel, and said that traffic was down somewhat from 2008, the general consensus was that this year’s event not only averted catastrophe, but managed to generate some forward momentum for the industry which will hopefully continue through the rest of what most still expect to be a tough year.
