Three Phases of IP Video Evolution

Planning ahead can prevent harm to people and the bottom line

• By Lars Thinggaard
• Apr 01, 2013

Milestone Systems’ sustained growth during its first 15 years is attributed to its introduction of the open-platform approach to the security industry. By allowing other companies and developers to add functionality to the software and supporting the widest choices of servers and cameras, Milestone’s open platform has radically affected the industry. This concept has attracted more than 6,500 partners from around the world, and within just five years, it has become the foundation for a thriving business ecosystem.

Open platform has created the freedom for both partners and customers to not only select their own video system components, but also to create, define and tweak solutions to suit their security needs. Milestone was aware of the need to shift analog to digital, and then introduced the open platform as a new avenue for using surveillance video.

For the surveillance industry, the decision to “go open” was the motivation for a series of developments that mark three distinct phases in its growth.

First Phase: IP Video Technology

When Milestone started in 1998, video surveillance was 100 percent analog. CCTV was synonymous with video surveillance, and even though the concept has changed a lot since then, most people still think of analog video when they think of video surveillance. Video surveillance is a tool to view and record video images, and the public generally considers it used in security only.

With the advent of the digital revolution and the drop in price of digital storage, the shift towards digital video surveillance became certain. Digital images were clearer, storage media were getting smaller and video compression improved dramatically. Digital files could be moved more easily, footage could be found more quickly—no more spooling tapes back and forth—and long-term storage had no effect on image quality. It was the way to the future. For many there were clear advantages in purchasing a digital video solution, but in practical terms it was not much different from analog in the way it was used. It was still basically a security tool.

Second Phase: Video Integration

The Internet brought with it a new electronic infrastructure that made IP applications like email, instant messaging, peer-to-peer file sharing and VoIP widely available. Digital video was soon added to this list, and saw application in video conferencing and, of course, video surveillance.

The main advantage of networked applications was that they were programmable, and this opened up a range of other benefits. These typically included better user experiences, network visibility and control, better access to data and development advantages, notably in the form of tailor-made video integrations.

One can program a simple IP network to give a building administrator an overview of controllable doors or gates in a building, so they can be locked and unlocked remotely. However, by integrating surveillance video with this existing network, access control can be given a higher level of sophistication and efficiency by combining it with possible security-related evidence or by ultimately automating the access procedure through the use of video content analysis—face recognition, in this case.

With Milestone’s introduction of the open platform standard, it was soon apparent that innovations in this area were going to be driven by the Milestone partner alliances. Its innovative partner ecosystem was the driver in identifying customer requirements and creating distinctive and revolutionary video integrations.

Third Phase: Video Enabling

It was clear that video integration with other IP-based systems was going to change the face of video surveillance. While new video integrations were a natural result of a growing and diversifying partner ecosystem, Milestone recognized the new definitions that networked video was beginning to offer to the world of video surveillance. Companies were starting to adapt their existing video solutions for other uses, for purposes that optimized and improved their business processes.

Video enabling is to video surveillance what the smartphone is to the telephone: it is an added set of functionalities that surpasses the original concept. We no longer use phones only to make calls. We use them to take photos, record video and audio, surf the Internet and play games. Third parties are constantly adding new applications to make the user’s smartphone experience more rewarding.

Video enabling simply means that video surveillance has shifted into a new paradigm of usability and application. This is because of the unique combination of network programmability and the extensive partner ecosystem made possible by the open platform standard.

For Milestone, the recognition of these new possibilities is not passive; it is a motivation to mobilize a greater awareness of video integration’s scope. It is a call to action to partners and customers alike that video enabling— the optimization of business processes through video—is the way forward. It is not a move away from security, but rather an addition of function to that of traditional asset protection and loss prevention. The amount of revenue generating potential inherent in video enabling is a “win-win-win” for vendors, partners and the customers.

There are a number of possible ways in which companies can video enable their businesses. Here are just a few:

• Workers can be monitored to enforce compliance with protective clothing and safety equipment or procedures, preventing loss due to fire, chemicals, accidents and injury.
• Prevent queuing at point-of-sale locations by notifying when extra staff is needed.
• Alert maintenance crews to impending structural failures in buildings and vehicles.
• Retailers can use video to track traffic patterns, measure the effectiveness of displays and other merchandising strategies, and devise ways to increase sales or visits.

One retail chain in Ireland initially installed a video solution to keep an eye on its parking lot. They realized by adapting it with video content analysis, they could be alerted when someone parked in the disabled person’s bay. A mobility chair could then be dispatched immediately, providing improved customer service.

In the same vein, a vegetable farm in the United States used its video installation for more than security by integrating an access control system to optimize the timing of harvesting trucks, decreasing queuing time, ensuring the shortest amount of time between picking and delivery, and thereby delivering a better quality product.

According to the Loss Prevention Research Council’s (LPRC) “CCTV in Retail 2012” report, in the category of Video for Sales, Marketing and Operational Efficiency, “of the retailers who use IP-based video systems for cross functional benefits outside of security and loss prevention, 93 percent have seen a positive impact on operations, while 40 percent have seen a positive impact on merchandising,” and “nearly one quarter named ‘integration with business intelligent video, such as analytics and POS integration’ as a main driver for adopting a network/IP system.” These are significant numbers, and an indication that the retail sector, for one, is making giant strides in adopting video-enabling solutions.

Milestone’s vision is to drive the convergence of video surveillance and IP-based systems. This is not only an open acknowledgement of the new direction that video surveillance is taking; it is an assumption of initiative and a rallying call to lead the security industry toward video enabling and optimized business processes.

This article originally appeared in the April 2013 issue of Security Today.