Milestone Exceeds Benchmarks

Successful innovation is not just coming up with the next best thing, according to  Lars Thinggaard, president and CEO of Milestone Systems. He said success is made by working closely with the customer.

Thinggaard and other members of the Milestone management team hosted their annual Milestone Integrated Platform conference, this year in San Antonio. And for the first time corporate finance bankers participated in the security summit.

Among the new products announced by Milestone, which will be shown at ISC West in Las Vegas in April, will be XProtect Essential NVR. The XProtect Essential software will be sold pre-loaded on NVR hardware. Product rollout will start in Europe first in Q2 and roll out to the United States market thereafter.

It is designed for small businesses. Its out-of-the-box features manage the basic need of IP video surveillance operation for single-server installation of up to 26 cameras and five concurrent users. XProtect Essential provides the combination of strong surveillance capabilities with ease of use and a flexible licensing model that allows upgrades and seamless system expansions.

It also includes the newest XProtect Smart Client with a friendly user interface for daily operations: control cameras, view live or play back recordings simultaneously, investigate quickly with the Sequence Explorer, create and export evidence fast.

“It is brilliant simplicity,” Bohn said. “Designed for the basic needs of smaller businesses that want eacy-to-use yet advanced surveillance features at an unbeatable price and capability ratio.”

The Milestone Integration Platform SDK 1.0 also was announced, and provides Milestone partners with a world of innovative possibilities: the comprehensive development framework makes it easy to integrate security and business solutions (including multiple video analytics applications) with the open platform Milestone XProtect video management software (VMS) products.

The Milestone Integration Platform SDK 1.0 is flexible, supporting a multitude of integration methods. The unique plug-in architecture enables seamless integration of third-party applications with the Milestone management interface and XProtect Smart Client user interface.

Milestone officials also shared results of company growth -- 56 percent from 2009 to 2010, and 41 percent in 2010.

“2010 was a great year for us as a whole,” Thinggaard said. “We view our growth through 2014 at 28 percent. Milestone is the No. 1 provider of video management solutions.”

New and updated products are a key part of the Milestone platform as the company invested $38 million from 2007 to 2011, and plan to continue that emphasis in the product level. The company will invest $11 million in product development this year alone.

Training has become one of the renewable resources at Milestone, and the company announced a partner certification program with Connex International, headed up by Kevin Marier, CEO and founder.

According to IMS Research, the market for IP video recorders is expected to grow 38 percent through 2014, which is why Milestone was pleased to announce that it has 7,440 certified partners, and is anxious to provide training to each of the partners who want to become a Milestone professional certified partner.

Thinggaard also projected emerging technologies, which have high-growth potential in the next few years. They include biometrics, VMS, IP cameras, PSIM, high-resolution cameras and implementation and use of the cloud.

Christian Bohn, Milestone’s vice president of marketing, also addressed the group, outlining five key points the company will follow. The points include a common external interface (API), published documentation (SDK), training, consulting and support, and a promise to continue working with solutions providers.

During Thursday afternoon’s keynote address, Fredrik Nilsson, general manager of Axis Communication for the Americas, said that the well-worn prediction that analog would make a comeback because of the 2009 recession was actually just the opposite, with IP video surveillance systems continuing its strong surge in the marketplace.

Milestone concluded its annual integrators meeting Thursday, again emphasizing training and continued growth.

“Training benefits everyone in the security industry,” Thinggaard said. “We have more than 100,000 end users, training helps us live up to the model of the open platform.”

Featured

  • Data Driven, Proactive Response

    As cities face rising demands for smarter policing and faster emergency response, Real Time Crime Centers (RTCCs) are emerging as essential hubs for data-driven public safety. In this interview, two experts with deep field experience — Ross Bourgeois of New Orleans and Dean Cunningham of Axis Communications — draw on decades of operational, leadership and technology expertise to share how RTCCs are transforming public safety through innovation, interagency collaboration and a relentless focus on community impact. Read Now

  • Integration Imagination: The Future of Connected Operations

    Security teams that collaborate cross-functionally and apply imagination and creativity to envision and design their ideal integrated ecosystem will have the biggest upside to corporate security and operational benefits. Read Now

  • Smarter Access Starts with Flexibility

    Today’s workplaces are undergoing a rapid evolution, driven by hybrid work models, emerging smart technologies, and flexible work schedules. To keep pace with growing workplace demands, buildings are becoming more dynamic – capable of adapting to how people move, work, and interact in real-time. Read Now

  • Trends Keeping an Eye on Business Decisions

    Today, AI continues to transform the way data is used to make important business decisions. AI and the cloud together are redefining how video surveillance systems are being used to simulate human intelligence by combining data analysis, prediction, and process automation with minimal human intervention. Many organizations are upgrading their surveillance systems to reap the benefits of technologies like AI and cloud applications. Read Now

  • The Future is Happening Outside the Cloud

    For years, the cloud has captivated the physical security industry. And for good reason. Remote access, elastic scalability and simplified maintenance reshaped how we think about deploying and managing systems. But as the number of cameras grows and resolutions push from HD to 4K and beyond, the cloud’s limits are becoming unavoidable. Bandwidth bottlenecks. Latency lags. Rising storage costs. These are not abstract concerns. Read Now

New Products

  • Mobile Safe Shield

    Mobile Safe Shield

    SafeWood Designs, Inc., a manufacturer of patented bullet resistant products, is excited to announce the launch of the Mobile Safe Shield. The Mobile Safe Shield is a moveable bullet resistant shield that provides protection in the event of an assailant and supplies cover in the event of an active shooter. With a heavy-duty steel frame, quality castor wheels, and bullet resistant core, the Mobile Safe Shield is a perfect addition to any guard station, security desks, courthouses, police stations, schools, office spaces and more. The Mobile Safe Shield is incredibly customizable. Bullet resistant materials are available in UL 752 Levels 1 through 8 and include glass, white board, tack board, veneer, and plastic laminate. Flexibility in bullet resistant materials allows for the Mobile Safe Shield to blend more with current interior décor for a seamless design aesthetic. Optional custom paint colors are also available for the steel frame.

  • A8V MIND

    A8V MIND

    Hexagon’s Geosystems presents a portable version of its Accur8vision detection system. A rugged all-in-one solution, the A8V MIND (Mobile Intrusion Detection) is designed to provide flexible protection of critical outdoor infrastructure and objects. Hexagon’s Accur8vision is a volumetric detection system that employs LiDAR technology to safeguard entire areas. Whenever it detects movement in a specified zone, it automatically differentiates a threat from a nonthreat, and immediately notifies security staff if necessary. Person detection is carried out within a radius of 80 meters from this device. Connected remotely via a portable computer device, it enables remote surveillance and does not depend on security staff patrolling the area.

  • Luma x20

    Luma x20

    Snap One has announced its popular Luma x20 family of surveillance products now offers even greater security and privacy for home and business owners across the globe by giving them full control over integrators’ system access to view live and recorded video. According to Snap One Product Manager Derek Webb, the new “customer handoff” feature provides enhanced user control after initial installation, allowing the owners to have total privacy while also making it easy to reinstate integrator access when maintenance or assistance is required. This new feature is now available to all Luma x20 users globally. “The Luma x20 family of surveillance solutions provides excellent image and audio capture, and with the new customer handoff feature, it now offers absolute privacy for camera feeds and recordings,” Webb said. “With notifications and integrator access controlled through the powerful OvrC remote system management platform, it’s easy for integrators to give their clients full control of their footage and then to get temporary access from the client for any troubleshooting needs.”