Access and flexibility were the key messages at the Milestone Partner Open Platform event in London recently, which saw the launch of new products, an evolving partner programme, and awards presentations, reports Anthony Hildebrand.
Three client interfaces were unveiled at the event, providing flexible access and additional functionality for Milestone’s XProtect open platform video management software: XProtect Smart Client, XProtect Mobile and the all-new XProtect Web Client.
Milestone UK country manager Glenn Fletcher said: “The new Web Client is streamlined for more ease of use, and works on any browser. It also works with Apple and Linux systems. This is in addition to Windows. The newest version of our Mobile Client has new features, such as the ability to push video from your phone into XProtect, or control inputs, outputs, and activate events – all from your mobile device.”
Milestone says XProtect Smart Client’s benefits are flexible usability for intuitive management of installations, access to live and recorded video, instant control of cameras and connected security devices, comprehensive overview of recordings, fast searching and export of evidence. It is available in 26 languages.
All three client interfaces are delivered free with the latest versions of XProtect, or can be downloaded from the Milestone website.
The first day of the event was all about Milestone’s channel and alliance partners: vendors, solution partners, installers and distributors. Achievements were recognised at an evening dinner ceremony, where prizes were awarded to installers Boston Networks (northern region Installer of the Year), Check Your Security (central region Installer of the Year), and Gratte Brothers (southern/London region Installer of the Year). Distributor awards went to GVD (Ireland) and Mayflex (UK).
Fletcher said: “The awards are based on the past year’s achievements. So we looked at who has grown the most, who is selling the most, who has done a fantastic job with specification work to bring us into projects. Our two distributor awards went to companies who have had massive growth, and work very closely with the Milestone team.”
Fletcher also announced a new, streamlined partner programme, which puts emphasis on flexibility and rewards loyalty.
“We’re improving the partner programme to make it more loyalty based than just revenue-based,” he said. “So the key, top-level partners will be the ones that we work very closely with. They view us as an extension of their company, and they’re an extension of Milestone. But we’re allowing lots of freedom for smaller installers, who don’t necessarily want to be that much involved in a partner programme, but can still easily buy and install lower end products. We’re going to give distributors more power at that level.”
The Milestone Partner Open Platform (MPOP) event itself was focused on accessibility, with a new format allowing the installer and distributor attendees to visit in small groups each of the 12 Milestone vendor and solution partners present, to learn about their products or integrations and how they can be implemented within the Milestone open platform.
The Milestone Solution Partners and Manufacturer Alliance Partners at the event were Pivot3, Bosch, Allied Telesis, Sony, Matrox, Ganetec, Vivotek, BRS Labs, Arecont Vision, Optex, CDVI, and Pelco.
Fletcher said the new event format had “been received really well”, allowing partners to network – and avoid “death by PowerPoint”.
His sentiments were echoed by Luis Coello, European director of sales and marketing at BRS Labs: “Milestone’s MPOP is a strategic event that has been key to our efforts to accelerate our European operations It’s a terrific venue for educating the market about our behavioural recognition analytics and how it delivers a faster, better route to real-time alerting on complex video surveillance networks. It’s also a valuable resource for reaching the channel in a friendly, convenient, low-stress environment. We look forward to attending again in the future.”
Gary Sykes, UK & Nordics sales manager at Pivot3, said: “Pivot3 found the event to be of great use, providing further exposure to the Milestone partners, leading to a number of opportunities for us. We would not hesitate to attend more MPOP events.”
CDVI attended the event to demonstrate its Centaur Access Control and its integration with Milestone’s VMS solution.
Daniel Phillips, operations manager for CDVI UK, said: “We found the MPOP event to be a fantastic layout to meet a great mix of current and prospective customers for our access control solutions. As a Milestone Solutions Partner, MPOP gathers some of the best and most interested users and distributors of the Milestone platform, and having the opportunity to tell them about our solution was very rewarding. We have highlighted a few Milestone Partners that are interested in our solution and its future development, and we look forward to a bright and collaborative relationship with Milestone Systems, not just in the UK but worldwide.”