ONVIF, a global standardisation initiative for IP-based physical security products, hosted a panel discussion at Security Essen 2012, an event that drew a diverse crowd of more than 80 people, demonstrating that the issue of standardisation and interoperability in the security industry is still a subject of great interest and debate.
The panel discussion, held as part of an ONVIF networking event during Essen, featured a panel of industry experts from the security and standards industries. The panelists agreed that the deployment of standards in the industry would allow system integrators and end users to more easily compare and select products for IP video deployments and enable interoperability between existing and future components of a system.
“For the most part, we do not typically build a system from scratch,” said panelist Jürgen Alz, product management, Bosch Security Systems, business area building security. As ONVIF matures and becomes more widespread in installations, he said, this will provide the ability to automatically interface with existing ONVIF conformant surveillance equipment at a customer site and would be a major advantage when upgrading a system for a client.
Panelists discussed such issues as ONVIF test tools, the impacts of competing standards initiatives in the market and whether technological innovation would be stifled as the result of standardisation.
Audience members queried the panel on topics ranging from the timeline of ONVIF’s introductions of the access control specification and future plans for an intrusion spec. Questions were also raised about the potential use of third-party testing houses as a standard method for ensuring full product compliance.
“In the end, ONVIF will create more easily interoperable products, which will increase the number of applications for the end user and grow the market for manufacturers and integrators,” stated Renè Kiefer.
Another ideal outcome of standards initiatives in the security market would be to spread the message to other industries that IP video is a valuable tool outside of surveillance, such as queue management, traffic flow and other functions.
“Standards will enable the security industry to talk with one voice to the rest of the world,” said Frank Rottmann. “Whether it is the logistics industry or a company like SAP, those organisations will think that video is easy because of standards and they should be doing more with that technology within their own businesses.”
Also featured at the networking event was a display of the history of major milestones of ONVIF, which included the group’s formation at Security Essen in October 2008, the release of Version 2.0 of the ONVIF Core Specification in late 2010, and the release of Profile S one year later. An interoperability demonstration of Profile S, which encompasses video and audio streaming, PTZ and relay output control as well as video encoder configuration and multicast, was displayed at the event.
Further information is available on www.onvif.org
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