ONVIF News

It’s a challenging time for security integrators and installers. Equipment prices are going down (along with margins), and commoditization is wiping away what used to be the advantage of exclusively offering a top product brand. Integrators can continue to succeed by finding a way to move ahead of the pack – but how? We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: How should integrators/installers differentiate themselves or make themselves stand out in today’s market?

More than 27,000 security professionals are expected to attend this year’s IFSEC International event ONVIF, the leading global standardization initiative for IP-based physical security products, announced today that it will be a sponsor of IFSEC International 2016 in London, 21-23 June, 2016, at ExCel London. IFSEC International is Europe’s largest security exhibition and more than 27,000 security professionals are expected to attend this year’s event. Recen...

Ensuring privacy is often a concern for video surveillance systems, especially in situations where a system intended for “public” surveillance could somehow, perhaps inadvertently, view private areas or situations. The classic example is an apartment building whose windows are within the range of a video surveillance camera. How can you provide video surveillance without invading the privacy of the apartment dwellers? Integrators and end users often turn to technology for a solution....

The Use Case WG will act as additional ‘ear to the industry’, and help ONVIF to gather input on what is happening in market ONVIF®, the leading global standardization initiative for IP-based physical security products, announced recently the formation of the ONVIF Use Case Working Group (WG), a new working group charged with developing real-world use cases in response to current market demand. These use cases will be used as input for ONVIF specifications, the...

eMotion includes license plate recognition, and Arteco Everywhere to remotely activate I/O devices from software client Founded in 1887 in Buies Creek, N.C., Campbell University offers students all of the amenities of a typical large-scale college campus while at the same time providing the feel of a small, close knit community. With an enrollment of more than 6,000 students, including 4,000 undergraduate and graduate students on its main campus, the private university offers...

Oncam, the leading provider of 360-degree video capture and business intelligence technology, announced recently the addition of two new models to its Evolution 05 camera suite: the EVO-05 Mini Outdoor and the EVO-05 Mini Recessed cameras. Featuring the company’s patented 360-degree dewarping technology, Oncam’s EVO-05 Mini range packs a high-quality 5MP sensor and fisheye lens into an ultra-small and robust form factor with no moving parts. EVO-05 Mini Outdoor The EVO-05 Mini Outd...

As more security equipment categories become commoditized, a previously rich source of income for integrators and installers – markup – is becoming harder to come by. Less expensive products with little to no perceptible value differentiation leave integrators with few options, not to mention the growth of pricing transparency that comes courtesy of the Internet. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: Given the increase in commoditized hardware (i.e., lower profit margin...

ONVIF specification by IEC pave the way for further international adoption of ONVIF as part of security projects ONVIF®, the leading global standardization initiative for IP-based physical security products, announced recently that its newest access control specification has been adopted by the global standards group International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) as its new standard for Electronic access control systems, positioning the ONVIF specification as the glob...

Recently at a conference, one of my media colleagues asked an interesting, and basic, question: What exactly is an open system? Many of us think we know what an open system is, but the ensuing discussion provided several different answers, many of them centered on what an open system is NOT (rather than what it is). An open system does not limit a customer’s options. An open system provides maximum flexibility as a system evolves over time. In other words, an open system doesn’t l...

The security market in the United States has been in a collective state of exhilaration since ISC West. The (possibly) unprecedented success of the big trade show has left us all feeling optimistic about the year ahead. Members of our Expert Panel Roundtable are joining the chorus of compliments for the show as they answer this week’s question: How successful was ISC West 2016? Did it meet your expectations?

Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, recently unveiled five new network cameras with advanced capabilities designed to effectively meet the needs of indoor and outdoor applications in a wide range of markets. All five cameras share several core technologies and features including a Genuine Canon Lens for capturing high-clarity, virtually distortion-free video, a 2.1 Megapixel (1920 x 1080) resolution high sensitivity CMOS sensor, and Canon’s powerful DIGIC DV III Imag...

IP hardware is enabling customers to break free from proprietary security systems,to embrace the system integration available on open platforms Proprietary, closed systems are the bane of security. Yet they still exist. Robert (Rob) G. Lydic, Global Vice President of Sales for ISONAS, Boulder, Colorado, addresses the importance of open platforms in access control and what it means to systems integration in this exclusive Q&A. Trends In Access Control Technology SourceSec...

Panoramic cameras deliver superior ROI by doing the work of multiple cameras Digital Watchdog (DW™), the industry leader in digital recorders, surveillance cameras and related management software, has announced that their new 5MP Hemispheric Fisheye Camera will be demonstrated at the ISC West Security Industry Trade Show, April 6-8, 2016, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Booth 17089. The camera delivers a 360° hemispheric image or 360° and 180° panoramic views after...

Attendees will tap into industry trends including security robotics & cybersecurity as well as see what’s new from exhibitors PSA Security Network the world’s largest electronic security cooperative today announced the roster of sponsors for PSA TEC 2106 to be held in Westminster, CO on May 9-12, 2016. For 2016, TEC goes “Beyond the Edge,” offering educational programs focused on industry trends and polishing attendees’ business acumen with s...

Cities are increasingly connected using information and communication technologies, a trend often referred to as “smart cities.” In much the same way, “safe cities” initiatives are uniting businesses, city officials, law enforcement and other stakeholders in an effort to maximize the safety of businesses and citizens and to minimize theft and crime. Safe cities programs seek to leverage a variety of resources, including public-private partnerships, to make urban communiti...

ONVIF and PSIA compliant IQeye 9 Series will be available to demo with Vicon’s VMS at ISC West Booth #23053 Vicon Industries, Inc. (“Vicon”), trusted designer and producer of video security systems and high-performance IP cameras, is pleased to announce the introduction of the full-featured, multi-megapixel IQeye 9 Series camera. These cameras will be available to demo with Vicon’s VMS for a powerful security solution at ISC West Booth #23053. Wide Sce...

In addition to sponsoring 10 SIA sessions, ONVIF will be represented by more than 60 member companies exhibiting at ISC West ONVIF®, the leading global standardization initiative for IP-based physical security products, announced recently that it is a sponsor of the Security Industry Association’s April 6th and April 7th educational sessions offered at ISC West 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. ONVIF is sponsoring ten educational sessions in total, all part of the program&r...

One of the things all security systems have in common is that they depend on human operators, to one extent or another. But how often is the human factor overlooked in product design? Sometimes, more focus is aimed at increasing the functionality of a system, even at the expense of usability. That’s how we get systems that have more capabilities, although accessing that functionality may be hopelessly complex. Creating effective graphical user interfaces (GUIs) is an ongoing challenge for...

Government And Public Service  From national governments and the largest metropolitan areas in the world to the most rural communities, government agencies, and departments, all face the challenge of protecting citizens, staff, property, infrastructure, and resources within limited resources.    Arecont Vision IP megapixel cameras have been proven around the world to meet the needs of city surveillance, traffic enforcement, police and law enforcement, corrections, military,...

We hear that everything is going to the cloud – or is it? Security end users can be understandably confused by conflicting claims in the market from proponents of cloud-based or server-based systems. A number of major security companies are offering cloud video surveillance solutions apart from the traditional server-based systems. At the end of the day, how do you choose? What factors should be considered? We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What factors should a customer...

As the security industry continues to evolve and come up with innovative technologies, it has also thrown open the doors for competition among manufacturers of security systems and products. Price wars are emerging in the physical security market, while manufacturers and integrators are looking for new ways to offer greater value and better service. It’s one thing to fight it out for a new customer, but nobody wants to lose an existing customer based on price, or any other factor for that...

One of the benefits of newer IP systems is the ability to store video inside the camera or in a nearby digital video recorder (DVR) at the edge of the network. Edge-based storage is unlikely to take the place of centralized storage, but it is complementary and provides some interesting new options related to system design. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable: What is the value of edge-based storage and in what specific applications?

In the past year, ONVIF prepared the release of two new profiles, Profiles Q and A, which are currently in Release Candidate status, being fine-tuned by developers from member organizations. They are ONVIF’s fourth and fifth profiles, with Profile Q addressing easy set-up and advanced security features and Profile A encompassing daily tasks for access control. ONVIF also hit major milestones in 2015, reaching the 5,000-conformant product mark and maintaining a membership of more than 500 m...

For several years now, the video surveillance market has been involved in the “megapixel race,” with manufacturers touting ever-higher pixel counts on their shiny new models. The implication, though not necessarily stated overtly, is that a higher pixel count is equivalent to a better picture. Too simple, says this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable participants, or more to the point: Not true. But where does that leave customers? We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable:...

SourceSecurity.com’s Expert Panel had a lot to say in 2015 on a variety of topics in our Roundtable discussions.   Not surprisingly, the discussion topics that have generated the most interest (in terms of how much visitor traffic they generated) are the same hot topics we hear about every day in the industry. Our very most-clicked-on Roundtable discussion in 2015 was about the impact of video on privacy rights. Other hot topics that made the Top-10 list of Roundtable d...

MicroPower seeks to assist schools through a partnership that partially addresses today’s common financial limitations MicroPower Technologies Inc., an award-winning provider of surveillance solutions optimized for rapid, cost-effective deployment, announced recently that it will offer its SOLVEIL integrated solar, wireless surveillance platform to K-12 schools through a newly developed grant program designed to help schools better address threats and further strengthen...

The connected workplace, increase in “bring you own device” environments and even the rise in telecommuting have served to blur the lines between an employee’s private life and his employment. The idea of an executive’s obsessive need to check his Blackberry while on vacation has crept into the popular culture and is now a familiar cliché that is as old as, well, Blackberries. The blurring of lines has also created a blurring of expectations. Now employees expect t...

Video cameras are smarter than ever. Video analytics functionality is available inside most cameras now on the market. Smarter cameras enable a system with distributed intelligence and also help to manage bandwidth and storage – on-camera intelligence can determine what video is important enough to tie up network resources and to eventually be retained or viewed. But on-camera video analytics have their limitations, and additional video intelligence at the server can add a new range of fun...

On behalf of ONVIF Steering Committee, Per Björkdahl shared the goals and strategies for the upcoming year ONVIF, the leading global standardization initiative for IP-based physical security products, hosted its annual membership meeting and elections in late October, providing an update to members on ONVIF activities and accomplishments over the past year. Attendees around the world heard presentations on such activities as the development and publication of two new prof...

The IP surveillance market is taking anunusually long time to reach maturity, partiallydue to lack of industry standards  Video surveillance has been a growth industry ever since the release of the first IP security camera in the mid-1990s. Generally, high-growth industries are immature, meaning they have not yet reached a state of equilibrium. This is particularly true in the IP video surveillance market where many new companies enter the market takin...