Per Björkdahl / Director Business Industrial relations / Axis Communications / Full member & Founder

– What does Axis do?
Axis offers intelligent security solutions through innovative network products that enable a smarter and safer world

– How long has Axis been in the physical security market?
Since 1996

– Why did you join ONVIF and how long has your company been a member of ONVIF?

When IP-based security cameras were new to the market, they competed with traditional analog CCTV where the standards had been established for many years. Analog security cameras were much easier to commission in most types of system environments. IP-based security cameras, on the other hand, all had proprietary interfaces, which made it complicated to mix and match from various manufacturers. The reason for establishing ONVIF was to help the industry develop a common API (application programming interface) that would make the deployment of networked video products in multi-vendor systems more efficient—very much like how it used to be with CCTV. Axis is one of the founding members.

– Is Axis involved in any particular working groups?
As a founding member, Axis participates in all working groups and all committees.

– To what specific profiles does your company’s products conform and why is that beneficial to your business?
Axis has products that conform to all ONVIF profiles except Profile Q. ONVIF conformance ensures easy integration in multi-vendor systems. This puts the end users’ needs first and avoids lock in. As described above, IP-based security cameras needed to compete with analog CCTV and ONVIF bridged that issue.

– What does it mean to you to be member of ONVIF and what kinds of business impacts have you seen as a result?
We have seen trust gradually building up within the industry and now ONVIF is the de-facto standard for effective integration. It ensures continuity in the development of standards. For Axis, it is important to be part of the industry development, and by participating in ONVIF, we make sure we stay at the forefront.

– Are there any specific benefits it brings to your business?
It definitely brings Axis a lot of benefits. Among them, it enables Axis to stay in touch with standardization work. We can help drive efforts for the wider use of standardization globally, which in turns fuels the development of the market.

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