Here I examine the state of flux that is convergence in the electronic security industry. In doing so, I recently moderated a discussion with Dave Underwood and Dan Moceri and asked them to provide some insight. Underwood is CEO of Indianapolis-based Exacq Technologies, a manufacturer of VMS solutions. VMS manufacturers are clearly affected by IT standards because of their need for network bandwidth. Moceri brings the integrator’s perspective to the discussion. As CEO of Chicago-based Convergint Technologies, a national systems integrator, he is on the frontline of making systems interoperate in the new environment.
Do you agree that security manufacturers and their products have become more open?
Dave Underwood: I do believe this to be true. In many ways the physical security industry is mirroring the IT industry. The IT market and even the consumer computer market have been embracing open platforms and open standards for years now, contributing to their tremendous growth.
Today our customers and end users in the physical security industry want to build best-of-breed solutions just like they do in the IT market. End users want to choose the best hardware, the best components and even the best operating system for their installation and they expect it to all work together.
Dan Moceri: The trend is clearly toward more openness. Most new product platforms are open and much easier to integrate. There are, however, many legacy systems still installed today that do not have the same degree of openness and they become a challenge to integrate to third-party systems. Many manufacturers have provided an upgrade path and tools to facilitate easier integration for their legacy systems.What impact has the absence of industry-wide standards had on growth and development?
Underwood: An absence of industry-wide standards requires manufacturers to invest more engineering time and money to grow their business. As an example, our company has invested an enormous amount of time and money developing IP camera drivers to support our VMS software through native APIs [application programming interfaces].
Some of the camera manufacturers have different APIs for different cameras. When new cameras are introduced with new or advanced features it’s not uncommon for the manufacturer to introduce a different API. All of which requires development time and money.
The ONVIF [Open Network Video Interface Forum] and PSIA [Physical Security Interoperability Alliance] standards are the industry’s attempt to reduce or eliminate development for new or updated IP cameras and other components of the physical security industry entering the market. Having standards allows companies to focus on making solutions and making those solutions better, which benefits everyone. (Editor’s note: Click here to view more on ONVIF.)
Moceri: As the industry moves more toward integrated solutions, lack of standards will slow some growth opportunities. However, many systems today are using standard IT components and software, i.e. Sequel databases, IP protocols, wireless backbones, etc.
