Expecting More Growth This Year
- By Ralph C. Jensen
- May 01, 2012
Every so often, I get lucky and
find myself at the right place
at the right time, hopefully doing
the right things. For many
years I’ve experienced this within the security
industry. Being able to talk one-onone
with a company CEO is an example
of three right opportunities.
I had the chance to visit with Michael
Kaplinsky, CEO and co-founder of Arecont Vision, and found him willing to
talk about the industry, his products, the ISC West experience and what he expects
will happen in the near future.
I sat down with Kaplinsky and Scott Schafer, Arecont’s executive vice president
of sales, marketing and services, to get the latest updates.
JENSEN: Megapixel cameras and the technologies that drive them are evolving at a
rapid pace. What do you see as the next big development relative to megapixel cameras,
with specific reference to image resolution, storage capacity and processing?
KAPLINSKY: In general, the new megapixel products evolve from users’ needs to
address existing problems. What we continue to hear from the market is the need
to capture more detail, and Arecont Vision continues to respond with new products,
like our 20-megapixel camera that meet this prevalent demand.
Today’s megapixel cameras provide more details that you can see [with the naked
eye]. There are some compromises because the current resolutions come with lowersize
pixels, so sensitivity is not that great; but, with the current resolutions, you can
zoom in more and you can see more of the forensic details. As megapixel imaging
technology continues to evolve, new cameras will provide even higher resolutions.
Today, Arecont Vision offers many megapixel cameras that have a single sensor
and 20-megapixel panoramic cameras that have multiple sensors. There are
already 18-megapixel cameras on the market, so obviously this is one direction we
will take. Another direction is multi-sensor products like our own megapixel camera
because they require no motion to observe a complete 360-degree panoramic
view and essentially replace pan, tilt and zoom. This product is easy to install
versus multiple cameras because it’s still one camera, one IP address, one cable,
one solution and one license for the coordinate software. There also could be other
features added, such as high dynamic range. HDR offers dark and bright details at
the same time, such as in a bank lobby, where you want to see what’s in the room,
which is illuminated by the lower light, and you also want to see what is outside
that is illuminated by the sunlight.
JENSEN: More discussion is taking place as to whether system intelligence should reside
on the server level or on the edge. We are hearing different schools of thought from
VMS suppliers and camera manufacturers. What is your vision on intelligence residency?
KAPLINSKY: Our position has consistently been that sophisticated analytics
doesn’t really belong on the camera. I’ve been saying that for many years now. The
way I see it is that you are multiplying the cost of the intelligence by embedding it
in all your edge devices rather than in a central server-driven system. In addition,
not all cameras require intelligence or require the same level of attention.
I also do not believe that users will delegate the decision as to what a camera
transmitter doesn’t transmit. I think as you address the mainstream surveillance
market, this is just premature.
JENSEN: Arecont Vision is one of the few U.S.-based camera companies. How has
this impacted your business?
KAPLINSKY: It actually has provided us with quite a few advantages. One of the
great advantages is the introduction of new products because our contract camera
board manufacturer is within driving distance from our facility. Assembly of the
product is completed at our Los Angeles facility. When we need to make adjustments
on our products, we can react quickly. In fact, we can send our own personnel
there to monitor the process and participate in the fine-tuning.
This allows us to control the supply chain. If there are shortages, we can become
involved and monitor the progress of getting product to our assembly unit; and
from a government customer’s perspective, “Made in the U.S.A.” is not a bad thing.
JENSEN: Is the demand for megapixel cameras gaining traction globally, and are there
specific geographical regions outside the United States where they are in most demand?
KAPLINSKY: Quite frankly, we see megapixel usage growing around the world.
We have an office in China, an office in Frankfurt, Germany, and an office in Russia;
and we see roughly equal growth. We see seasonal changes, and Europe is a little
slower lately, presumably because of the financial crisis attached to that region.
SCHAFER: I think that if you look at the global opportunity, roughly one-third is
in the Americas; one-third in Europe, Middle East and Africa; and one third right
now in Asia/Pacific.
The Asia/Pacific market is growing right now at a faster rate. For us, the market
opportunities may be equivalent to all three regions. The upside for us is the
stronger market in EMEA and Latin America. These are the areas we are making
investments in and putting more people on the ground.
JENSEN: How successful have Arecont Vision’s surround 360-degree cameras been to
date? Are there any specific applications or markets where they have been most successful?
KAPLINSKY: We don’t really differentiate between 360- and 180-degree cameras.
I know they are different products, but they have similar applications. We call them
multi-sensor panoramic cameras; so when we look at that segment of our product
as a whole, they now roughly count for 25 percent of our business. They have been
very successful.
SCHAFER: We see more applications for the 180-degree panoramic camera, but
for the 360-degree camera, we see a ceiling mount in a lobby or big room as the
primary applications. A factory floor or warehouse are also very good applications
for the 360-degree panoramic camera.
We just did an install at a trade show floor in the Middle East. They had four
halls and wanted every square foot covered. The original design was for 24 standard-
definition cameras per hall. We had the project re-architected and found we
could do it with eight 360-degree cameras and five megapixel single-shot cameras.
So instead of 24 cameras, we were able to meet the user’s surveillance objective
using only 13 cameras.
The resolution was much better, and the cost is much lower. The user saves
money by using fewer cameras, reduces installation costs, spends less in NVR licenses,
has fewer network runs, less cabling for power and everything else.
JENSEN: What new megapixel imaging and/or processing technologies will Arecont
Vision be introducing in the near future, or even this year?
KAPLINSKY: In the near term, we will be releasing a low-cost high dynamic range
camera, plus the addition of a remote-focus camera. Later in the year we will consider
the release of a higher resolution, single-sensor camera. There are some other
strategic developments, but I guess we’ll talk about that the next time we meet.
JENSEN: Are these the products that you will be introducing at ISC West?
KAPLINSKY: At ISC West, we will be introducing a wide dynamic range camera.
The new sensors that we use have dual capabilities. It’s going to be unique in thesense that it’s going to have a cost point significantly lower than the existing camera
or competing products on the market.
We’re going to introduce a new generation of our MegaDome camera, which
is one of our dome products. It will have infrared capability and remote focus and
some other bells and whistles.
JENSEN: What steps or programs has Arecont Vision initiated to ensure the growth
of the company?
KAPLINSKY: We are a very profitable company. We have experienced a 25 percent
revenue growth in 2011, so we continue to engage the process of expanding our
product lines and increasing our presence in international markets. We are hiring
more people in Asia/Pacific, and we have hired more people and continue to hire
more people in Europe.
We are increasing our educational programs and our advanced educational
classes, which we call CPCP Advanced.
SCHAFER: We are involved in distance learning classes, so we’re investing in that
technology, as well. We have redeveloped our website, which will provide more
and better access to data for our customers—not only spec sheet, data and price
information, but also presentations and video clips, case studies and business cases
for solutions.
We are investing a lot in our quality programs and in our support infrastructure,
as well. We are a small company getting bigger, and we’re making the appropriate
investments in our future.
JENSEN: Why do you not see Arecont Vision branching out beyond megapixel cameras?
KAPLINSKY: We don’t in the immediate future. There is still a lot of potential in
our immediate area, which is megapixel surveillance products. The market is growing
and deploying megapixel surveillance solutions at a record rate. I personally
believe that one should grow with what one does best.
So, rather than trying to compete with others on peripheral products or other
product software, we are trying to expand our activities where our core product is.
JENSEN: If you had the opportunity to give your perspective on the future of video
surveillance to every security or surveillance key decision maker—in 30 seconds—
what would you say to them?
SCHAFER: First of all, there is a huge opportunity for customers to move to
megapixel technology. The images that are provided are fantastic. It is clearly a
better model for those people who are watching the security of their companies or
organizations.
For the first time, you can pick up a face or a license plate with clarity. Those
things that end users have wished for in years past are now within their grasp. That
is one of the things that is very important.
The challenges of the past relative to network bandwidth and storage have really
been overcome to a great degree by our compression technology, like H.264 that
limits the amount of network bandwidth required for storage on the other side.
That was one of the challenges: If you have 10 times the amount of images,
you’ll need 10 times the storage—but that challenge has been resolved
to some degree.
The other thing is the way customers can now deploy fewer cameras, using half
the number of cameras to cover the same scene with much better resolution. There
is a huge return on investment for the customer, not only in the camera but also the
savings in the network infrastructure, the systems and storage, as well as the way
people can monitor the systems.
Instead of looking at 24 cameras, now looking at 11 or 15 cameras is much
easier because you don’t have so many things in front of you to be worried about.
For all of those reasons, megapixel technology is ready now. We have seen a
number of the biggest companies on the planet moving to megapixel technology,
not just in experimental ways, but in full rollouts. The smart and tested integrators
in the market have also invested in the education of their salespeople, their design
people and their services people to make sure they can roll the megapixel camera
out with a great benefit to their customer base.
KAPLINSKY: At ISC West, we will be introducing a wide dynamic range camera.
The new sensors that we use have dual capabilities. It’s going to be unique in the
This article originally appeared in the May 2012 issue of Security Today.