Held in February, software solutions provider Milestone Systems set up a Solutions and Developers Forum in Miami, Florida, to discuss the emerging trends and critical issues in the area of integrated security systems and IP video. Among the topics covered by the forum, which included representatives from Axis Communications, Panasonic and S2 Security Corporation, as well as Milestone, the issue of standards was identified as an area for improvement.
According to the forum, the security industry will not see the speed of innovation usually experienced by IT, owing to a lack of open standards. It was also suggested that software for managing video surveillance should also be underpinned by standards, while allowing the independence to choose which hardware is used in an installation.
Other subjects which raised much discussion included the need for higher levels of sophistication from security integrators and installers. The forum concluded that IT/networking and traditional security skills need to be available from any provider. In the future, when selling, scoping, designing, installing and servicing converged security systems, organisations will need to be able to address a client’s needs on several levels and drive even more complex projects from concept to completion.
Integration with more core operations of a business has also raised physical security to a more critical status. It’s not only a budget item between a security officer and a chief financial officer, suggested the forum, but a higher strategic issue that that involves each element of an organisation’s management – including IT.
The participants of the forum included Fredrik Nilsson, general manager of Axis Communications; Eric Fullerton, president of Milestone Systems; Steve Surfaros, senior manager at Panasonic; and John Moss, CEO of S2 Security Corporation.
