Milestone Systems is known for its long-term commitment to the concept of an open platform video management application that allows third parties to plug in their own software to the core Milestone management system to extend its applicability across almost every IP video installation in various industries. The open approach has proved successful for Milestone over the years and the company, headquartered in Denmark, has spread its wings the world over as thousands of people have adopted its management platform.
South Africa is no exception and there are a number of Milestone partners in the country as well as developers focused on adding to the platform. To keep its Middle East and African partners up to speed on what will be happening in the Milestone ecosystem over the next year or so, the company recently held its Milestone Partner Open Platform (MPOP) Days Middle East & Africa 2013 in Abu Dhabi in the UAE.
Hi-Tech Security Solutions was invited to attend the event which saw a host of system integration and software partners in attendance to hear what Milestone had to say, as well as attend the display area where many partners demonstrated how their products take advantage of the Milestone platform and extend it to the benefit of customers.
A few of the partners with products to display were Axis Communications, Arecont Vision, IBM, Pivot 3, Allied Telesys, Bosch, Sony, Ganetec and Razberi Solutions (with its ServerSwitch, which combines the functions of a network video recorder and Ethernet SmartSwitch in to one appliance running Milestone’s Arcus software), among many others.
There were a host of speakers over the three-day event, both form Milestone as well as external parties. Some of the Milestone speakers, who emphasised the company’s commitment to its channel partners, were Eric Fullerton, chief sales and marketing officer; Peter Biltsted, director, Middle East and Africa; Christian Bohn, VP corporate marketing and alliances; and Juliette Gustavsson, head of corporate marketing.
External speakers included many partners, among them Christian Schnedler from IBM Global Technology Services, Scott Schafer from Arecont Vision and Tom Galvin from Razberi Technologies. Other speakers included Oliver Philoppou, an analyst at IMS Research who had some good news for partners with respect to the prospects for the next year in the video surveillance market. The Middle East is a fast growing market for video surveillance and with all the development happening in the region, this growth does not seem to be in danger of slowing anytime soon. Africa will not be as positive, but the prospects for growth are still good.
South Africa also had good representation on the podium with Deon Sloane, senior security manager at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town delivering an excellent presentation on how the V&A has and is using Milestone to assist in its move to an Axis IP camera base, with over 1000 IP cameras already on the system.
But that was not the only praise for South Africa at MPOP. At the final banquet, Milestone handed out partner awards to companies that had made an impact in the MEA region and five South African companies walked away with trophies. The companies were Camsecure, IPVS, ITS Group, Axis Communications and the V&A Waterfront, which won the award for project of the year along with its integrator ITS Group.
Due to time constraints we were not able to write a full report of the event before our deadline, however, in the next issue we will go into a few of the highlights of the presentations to provide a better understanding of Milestone’s plans for the year, some already in progress and others about to launch. We will also have some comment from its South African partners.
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