There’s simply no question about it. End users want the increased benefits of digital/IP video. However, they (whether end user or integrator) can run into big roadblocks on their journey from analogue to digital.
With digital surveillance, it’s no longer simple to mix and match analogue cameras and DVR brands. With digital, the basic components of a network video system (including the IP camera, NVR and video management software) are often non-standard.
Integrators have been tearing their hair out because, seemingly, every digital camera vendor has created a separate camera interface.
Yes, there are standards in the networked surveillance industry – for compression (H.264, MPEG-4) and streaming (RTSP), etc – but as yet control and command interfaces are not standard.
That being the case, software and NVR manufacturers must create camera-specific interfaces to their solutions.
Good old days of analogue plug-and-play
The good old days of analogue plug-and-play are now a thing of the past. Today, there’s the challenge of interoperability among hardware to hardware and hardware to software implementations.
As a result, many integrators are hesitant to promote digital surveillance solutions even though their customers want them.
To help out, leading video management system vendors (among them Milestone and Video Insight) have integrated hundreds of cameras and encoders into their platforms.
Even so, integration between devices is lacking. For instance, the software supports some features on one camera but not on another.
Again, it’s the integrator’s success that’s on the line, having to determine if and how much interoperability there is between the selected software, cameras and recorders.
This is the very crux of why ONVIF (or Open Network Video Interface Forum for short) has become so important.
Intregration is standardised
If a product carries ONVIF certification, integration is standardised. ONVIF-certified products work with other ONVIF-certified products.
If the integrator and end user agree on using only ONVIF-certified security solutions, we’re on our way back to the plug-and-play world of analogue.
Why ONVIF? ONVIF is real. It provides a standard to address interoperability problems in network video, including such important needs as defining interfaces for device configuration, event handling, PTZ control and similar issues.
Most importantly, it has been embraced by the majority of digital/IP manufacturers, software and hardware. This will be verified by a quick stroll through most of the leading industry events such as IFSEC.
Booth after booth will tout ONVIF certification… and with good reason.
Mark Wilson is vice-president of marketing at Infinova
