Milestone Systems offers software solutions in the high-growth IP video industry that are claimed to differ substantially from traditional analogue CCTV. IP-based video, for example, aims to ensure that cameras can connect via an organisations existing data network, with video footage recorded directly onto a standard PC or server.
 
There is a strong indication of the continued growth in IP-based video solutions, says Marnix de Lorm, chief technology officer at the Surveillance Factory. Just a few years ago, digital solutions represented only about two percent of the total market. In a recent report, IMS Research (a market research provider for the global electronics industry) stated that by 2009, analogue recording systems are forecast to account for less than five percent of the market.
 
The report highlighted the global movement from analogue to digital, concluding that more advanced users are likely to opt for software-based recorders, which offer a greater degree of flexibility, as well as easier integration with other security systems, such as access control.
 
The benefits of IP-based solutions over CCTV include vastly improved functionality at camera level, better resolutions via megapixel cameras, use of a common IT infrastructure and the ability to take advantage of Power over Ethernet, among others, says De Lorm.
 
Milestone Systems strategy has been to form key industry partnerships and cultivate its VAR and Systems Integrator channels. Our open systems and Software Development Kit enable our partners to integrate the video surveillance installations with access control, cash registers or similar. This capability will prove to be the key requirement in future acting as the core surveillance management tool and federating all the elements in an IP security installation, says Lars Thinggaard, CEO at Milestone Systems.