To provide readers with a new perspective on Axis Communications' innovation and creation, on the forces that are set in motion and the frustrations that need to be overcome before a winning idea comes to fruition, a&s Italy talks to three Axis visionaries who spearheaded the creation of the HDTV, the Lightfinder and the Axis Camera Companion.
To provide readers with a new perspective on Axis Communications' innovation and creation, on the forces that are set in motion and the frustrations that need to be overcome before a winning idea comes to fruition, a&s Italy talks to three Axis visionaries who spearheaded the creation of the HDTV, the Lightfinder and the Axis Camera Companion.
Some people in Axis call Kent Fransson, PM for the HDTV and arctic temperature control, Mr. Q (as in James Bond) because he has translated a couple of good ideas — often borrowed from other sectors — into products. The first was the HDTV launched in 2009; back then, people only talked about megapixels. “We, who love standards, looked around us and wondered what standard could be applied to video surveillance, to make it compatible with the enormous HDTV production in circulation. And lo and behold, the answer was HDTV-grade video surveillance. A stroke of luck, certainly. But, as I see it, luck is just a place where opportunity and technical preparation go hand in hand. That's where innovations start. In any case, innovation has to go at the same pace as marketing, so you always have to think within your reach and, even more, think usefully. Innovation, too, calls for a number of figures: You need the visionary, but you also need the man who strictly carries it out just as much. And, you also need someone who says ‘this one really won't do' because that's often what pushes you to getting round an obstacle and inventing something else.”
Take another example. “A few years ago I was in Dubai, where the thermometer reached 50 degrees Celsius in the shade, and obviously everyone was obsessed with the problem of extreme heat. So, I came back to Sweden with the idea of producing a camera that would resist temperatures of more than 60 degrees,” Fransson recalled. The guys at the technical department told him it could not be done at reasonable prices. “I was at the point of giving up when one day while I was at a car dealer, I caught a glimpse of a refrigerator bag that had been connected to a car to help lower the temperature by 20 degrees. I went back to Axis and suggested putting refrigerating equipment in our cameras. And that's how a camera was born that works at 75 degrees Celsius.”
Obviously, innovation isn't all a bed of roses. “The most frustrating thing, though, is when at the end of the work, you realize you can't explain to the world what you've done. We've launched the only dome for outdoors that, as well as working at –40 degrees, can restart itself immediately even if the power supply is broken off. This function, called arctic temperature control, is terribly difficult to explain, oh my goodness!”
In the Darkest of Times
“There aren't any universal recipes for innovation: Each case is a tale of its own. But I think the larger part of each innovative process arises from analysis of a concrete problem,” said Johan Paulsson, CTO. “Identifying, defining and analyzing the problem is a very significant part of the entire process. The problem may be an exquisitely technical one, but it may also be economic or market-related. In the case of Lightfinder, the problem was light. Once the problem had been defined, we were halfway toward solving it.”
Obviously, innovation means having a management that is not tied to immediate results and is able to understand that error, to paraphrase Thomas Edison, is a matter of finding 10,000 ways that did not work the first time. Because if innovation — by definition — means proposing something never tried before, then costs, times and results are all imponderables, too. “Risk, though, is the key element if you're going to be able to innovate. The skill lies in knowing how to balance risks and results wisely. No easy matter, considering that every innovation goes through periods of alternating fortune, with swings from great frustrations to real flashes of lightning. From this point of view, it's useful to have a leader guiding the inspiration and a team of technicians, creative people, visionaries and dreamers who give their most strenuous support to the idea and the project. That's how it was with Lightfinder: We'd spent at least 12 years trying to find a way to give the image quality in all conditions of light. Step by step, we identified the various obstacles and solved them one by one,” Paulsson shared. “Did we expect it would be such a success? Not at all.”
Changing the Vision
“In the case of Camera Companion, the input came from the market we were aiming at, which was certainly nothing new. It was a market mainly focused on analog, though,” said G?ran Haraldsson, PM for video management systems. “Our goal was, therefore, to lead the IP revolution in a field still dominated by traditional technologies. In order to do this, we made use of several marketing analyses which enabled us to understand what the real drivers were for system integrators and our customers. The answers were price and extreme simplicity. Starting from that, we worked out a complete solution. Providing this total solution, though, was the main technical challenge we had to overcome; making all the elements of a system interact and cooperate isn't as easy as it sounds. During the two or three years' work needed to create the Axis Camera Companion (including a rearrangement of the prototypes on the basis of the specifications that later emerged from the market), our team worked like beavers, and we are now convinced that the solution meets the needs of the target we were aiming at. We know, though, that the security market is very slow at adapting to innovation. We will be patient in our turn, therefore, and apply the same long-term strategy that has allowed us to become, over the years, global leader in IP video.”
For the moment, Axis is counting on early adopters: sales and retail points that are already familiar with IT and, in the medium term, the residential market. “But this familiarity with IP is no longer really necessary with the Axis Camera Companion, since it's a genuine plug-and-play system,” Haraldsson highlighted.
Innovation Brought to Life
Axis is not smart just on the IT side; it is streetwise, too. When it comes to outdoor installations, the Axis “cabinet” simplifies installers' lives. Instead of working at the top of a pole, at the mercy of bad weather and being giddy from the height, installers can shorten their working time by doing 80 percent of the average installation comfortably down on the ground.
The Axis camera case (in light but tough polycarbonate) means one can optimize the time winched up on high and cut down on costs. “Once you've found the easiest way, there's no turning back,” remarked Andrea Sorri, Business Development Director for government, city surveillance and critical infrastructure projects.