Milestone Systems, the open platform company in IP video management software (VMS), has just held its 9th annual MIPS partner conference in the Americas, on its 16th birthday. Security equipment manufacturers, distributors, channel partners and integrated solution partners gathered to learn, share and brainstorm about the latest in video technology.
Milestone Systems, the open platform company in IP video management software (VMS), has just held its 9th annual MIPS partner conference in the Americas, on its 16th birthday. The Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Orlando, Florida, was the location for this year's confluence of 350 video surveillance professionals. Security equipment manufacturers, distributors, channel partners and integrated solution partners gathered to learn, share and brainstorm about the latest in video technology.
Milestone Systems CEO Lars Thinggaard opened the event, stating: “Video enabling is happening now and becoming mission critical for value-added purposes in all vertical sectors, as a tool for daily business. It is being used for more than just security as integrations with analytics, biometrics, RFID and all kinds of business metadata are being incorporated into operations to realize innovative new efficiencies and more strategic approaches. This is something Milestone defined years ago in our mission and vision. With our international ecosystem of partners, we are well positioned to take advantage of this major business opportunity.”
Eric Fullerton, Milestone Systems Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, spoke on the topic Why Compromise? “Open platform IP video fosters deeper integrations that bring more value than any one company could do alone, and our ecosystem proves this concept. The scalability and flexibility appreciate over time - compared to proprietary systems that depreciate and require ‘forklift' upgrades to replace entire systems rather than building on a future-proof foundation. With Milestone there is no need to compromise.”
Top camera manufacturers revealed their perspectives. The first speaker was Samsung Techwin CEO Cheol Kyo Kim, who related a vision for ‘CHANGE'. His name, which means ‘Golden Bridge', describes the spirit of his leadership to help drive change in his organization, including a realignment and connection with new partners such as Milestone Systems. He also talked about bridging the market needs of those moving from analog to IP video technology, highlighting the increasing importance of video analytics, HD efficiencies, mobile access and encryption. He stated that open platform architecture enables integrations that create new markets.
Also presenting were Executive VP Bernhard Schuster from Bosch and Axis Communications Business Development Manager for Access Control, Johan Lembre. A camera panel discussion with these companies on the topic of future trends like the cloud and edge recording included Arecont Vision, Samsung Techwin and Sony, as well.
The MIPS Technology Showcase highlighted 48 examples of interoperability with the Milestone open platform from Manufacturer Alliance Partners and Solution Partners in every facet of security implementations available today: video analytics and synopsis, access control, storage, laser scanners, geospatial positioning, network management, command center display walls, and more.
Access control integration with VMS came into particular focus: video enabling physical security solutions is more cost efficient than operating separate systems. 8 Milestone Solution Partners were showing integrated access control solutions in the Technology Showcase. These solutions are based on the Milestone Integration Platform Software Development Kit (MIP SDK) that enables developers to easily create interoperable applications using the full power of Milestone's open platform – and in multiple ways. A 2 day training course in the newest version of the Milestone SDK for interested partners took place after the conference.
Video enabling access control was also the theme of another panel discussion, with participants from Axis, Isonas, Keyscan and Open Options. They looked at the advantages of easy IP-based access control integrations with VMS and optimal functions from both the end user and technical perspectives, defining multiple benefits for both customers and installing channel partners.
An extremely lively storage debate weighed the best options for handling the growing needs of video and big data – and it was clear that these can have very different requirements when it comes to the hardware for storing the evidence, sometimes needed long after an occurrence. RAID and direct-attached setups did not seem to win the battle for video data, but big or small installations do have different needs. As Dick Cecchini of Seneca Data pointed out: “Do you need a Ferrari just to go get milk and bread?” Other panelist companies waging the alternatives in this area of expertise included EMC Isilon, Hewlett Packard, IBM, and Veracity.