printer friendly version

20 years of network cameras

Axis Communications recently celebrated the 20-year anniversary of its first network camera. At a luxurious function at Summer Place in Johannesburg, Roy Alves took attendees through a brief history of Axis, from when Axis was making print servers through to today’s latest multi-megapixel, multi-sensor IP cameras.

Roy Alves reminiscing.

The first network camera from Axis was the Neteye 200. This marvel of 1996 captured images at the rate of 1 frame per 6 seconds. Another first for Axis was allowing IT administrators to access and configure their printers from a web interface over a network instead of having to be at the machine – quite normal today, but revolutionary in the days of the Netscape browser.

Going over what Axis did in South Africa over the years, Alves mentioned Africam, the first wildlife streaming camera, as well as jamcam, a camera that captured the traffic jams at places like the Buccleuch interchange in Johannesburg. In 2000, Axis in South Africa and Milestone Systems first worked together in a project in Kampala, Uganda. This collaboration continued for many years and the two companies still have a strong partnership.

Skipping ahead, some of the highlights of Axis’ evolution include:

• 2006: The first HD camera was launched.

• 2008: Axis attended its first Securex and has been a regular since.

• 2009: The MEA region (Middle East and Africa) had the highest percentage penetration of IP cameras than any other region in the world.

• 2010: Axis was the first company to launch more affordable thermal cameras in competition to FLIR and significantly disrupted this market.

• 2011: LightFinder technology made an appearance.

• 2012: Axis released its first foray into the VMS for the small installations world, while also launching its P-Iris and placing it in the public domain.

• 2013: Axis released its first access control product.

• 2014: The first 4K camera from Axis hit the streets.

• 2015: Zipstream became a reality to further reduce the bandwidth and storage required for H.264 video.

Axis has also made a number of acquisitions recently, including:

• Citilog, a traffic management software developer.

• Cognimatics, a developer of retail solutions.

• 2N, a developer of IP intercom and audio solutions.

Looking at the market today, Alves says the time to talk about megapixels and frame rates is over. It’s time to focus on quality, beyond the specification sheet. As customers move to solutions-based thinking, the industry will have to follow and deliver solutions that are fit for purpose. In other words, cameras the associated hardware and software must deliver real value customers can measure and use. And as always, Axis is looking to lead the charge.

20 years ahead

Following Alves’ presentation covering the past 20 years, Simon Carpenter, chief technology advisor at SAP Africa, spoke about the next 20 years. Carpenter’s premise was that technology can assist the human race in better control of its consumption of resources, helping both people and the planet. As far as Africa is concerned, he said the continent will be home to 2,4 billion people in 2050, and will be responsible for 45% of the world’s population in 2100 due to the high fertility rates.

The digital revolution, as he described it, will be key to managing the population explosion and the increasing requirement for resources. In this revolution, data will be key. More specifically, being able to collect, collate, manage and use data will be key. To give an indication of the data we generate today, he said that the data generated today – in one day – is equivalent to all the data created up to 2012.

And these numbers are set to grow exponentially. Today, estimates are that about 15 billion devices are connected to the Internet and providing data to someone, somewhere. Smartphones are one of the leading causes of data generation. Depending on which figures one decides to believe, by 2020 there will be between 50 billion and 200 billion connected devices, all producing data.

Being able to manage and use this data will determine our success as a species, as well as the success of organisations (and to a lesser degree, individuals). An important part of managing this data will be breaking the secrecy walls and partnering with other organisations and people to make full use of this data.

And if you think things are changing fast now, you are in for a surprise. In the past 16 years, 52% of the Fortune 500 companies listed in 2000 are gone. More change and transformation is going to happen, and faster, some good and some not so good, but it is already in progress and will demand significant changes in the way we work, our business processes and our business models. If you are not part of the change, you will be left behind.

Share this article:

Further reading: