Henrik Sydbo Hansen, Group Manager- Devices and Integrations / Milestone Systems

– What does Milestone do?
Milestone Systems is a leading provider of open platform video management software; technology that helps the world see how to ensure safety, protect assets and increase business efficiency. Milestone enables an open platform community that drives collaboration and innovation in the development and use of network video technology, with reliable and scalable solutions that are proven in more than 150,000 sites worldwide. Founded in 1998, Milestone is a stand-alone company in the Canon Group

– How long has Milestone been in the physical security market?
Since 1998; nine times reported by I.H.S. Market research as the worldwide top provider of open platform VMS.

– Why did you join ONVIF and how long has your company been a member of ONVIF?
Milestone Systems has been a member of ONVIF since it was founded. We believe in industry standards because adherence to standards makes life easier for users and customers. We know and understand the importance of industry standards as best practice methodology from the IT sector, to ensure compatibility between solution components for optimal operations.

– What does it mean to you to be member of ONVIF and what kinds of benefits have you seen as a result?
Milestone Systems supports ONVIF and the initiatives to have true market standards, as this is the way to ensure interoperability of devices. Our company is based on openness, and we have a vision to drive the global convergence of video surveillance systems and IP-based business systems. This is not possible without evolving standards like ONVIF. We see a very clear benefit from the work ONVIF is doing: it helps us in our goals for providing easy connectivity between our software and the widest choice in hardware. Going forward and using the latest ONVIF profiles we believe we can help the end-users to ease the workload of configuration and maintaining large portfolios of cameras and keep them to the latest firmware versions, security level etc.

– Are there any specific benefits it brings to your business?
Standards provide a critical foundation for interconnecting hardware devices and software in security systems. Standards are important, especially for an industry like ours that is splintered globally into so many different providers, each with their own firmware, for example. Milestone Systems’ business model and product architecture are based on an open platform, which supports the importance of industry standards.

The work ONVIF is doing is a real benefit for us, as we spend less time on getting specific cameras tested and certified to work with our software. We have developed tools for camera manufacturers to test and verify their compliance with our ONVIF driver. This makes for rapid product introductions, ease of mind for installers and customers, and fast increases in the number of certified cameras.

In addition to this, we use ONVIF for interconnectivity products like Milestone Systems’ ONVIF Bridge. This allows our XProtect software to connect to VMS systems from other vendors. They can then access the Milestone Systems connected cameras as ONVIF compatible cameras. We have several additional examples where ONVIF standards are helping us. Edge Storage is just one of them.

Interested in becoming an ONVIF member? There are several membership categories from which to choose.