Milestone Systems Sets Standards in Open Platform IP Video Surveillance
Milestone Systems was founded in 1998 to improve business through managing and distributing digital video data regardless of time or location. Despite its relatively short history, Milestone has aggressively made inroads into foreign markets, globally driving the convergence of video surveillance and IP-based business systems. As IP technology casts the light of its many benefits into more and more businesses around the world, Milestone will continue to lead the way as a core element in this journey.
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Photo by Milestone Systems |
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HISTORY
Milestone Systems was founded in 1998 upon a dream to build a software development company that could improve business through managing and distributing digital video data regardless of time or location. Co-founders Henrik Friborg and John Blem saw that their experience in developing IP technology for real-time data systems in the European financial sector could also be applied to the handling of video images.
At that time, digital video technology was not in use in the security surveillance industry. Milestone had to overcome much scepticism in the market about their pioneering ideas: people doubted their vision would revolutionize the industry. These people were in for a big surprise.
The security market back then was mainly operating with proprietary analogue equipment, and the digital share of sales grew slowly at first. This gradual pace allowed Milestone to grow organically, without the need for external funding. From the beginning and throughout its maturing phases, the company has stayed independent and entirely self-funded with very healthy growth rates.
To fuel the commercial development of the organization, more like-minded professionals were hired: CEO Lars Thinggaard and a sales team of account managers, top software system architects, expert support staff, marketing and technical documentation talent. Everyone in the Milestone universe shares the same entrepreneurial spirit and shared belief in the benefits to be gained from IP technology.
Today, Milestone Systems has established itself as the world-leading provider of open platform IP video software. Business operations are monitored from the headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, with subsidiaries and sales offices in Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, the UK, and the U.S.A. as the first in an ambitious expansion plan.
Lars Thinggaard, CEO at Milestone Systems, says, “Milestone wants to tell the world about the business we are in and where we are headed. Our mission and vision state the reason that we are here and where we are going. The same is true for our company values. Together, these become the lifeblood of the company and the reason for the way things get done. We believe that our entire global network shares our enthusiasm and commitment: we are all doing our part to help make the world safer with new technology.”
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John Blem, CTO, and Henrik Friborg, VP Strategic Alliances: both co-founders of Milestone Systems (Photo by Milestone Systems) |
MISSION
Milestone Systems enable their customers to optimize their business processes by delivering an open and independent IP video software platform.
VISION
Milestone Systems wants to globally drive the convergence of video surveillance and IP-based business systems.
VAULES
Values are the shared set of beliefs and ethics that everyone lives by on a daily basis. In defining the Milestone values, the company makes it clear to all people they come in contact with how they want to act and what should drive their business decisions, making sure that the organization’s culture contributes to the desired objectives.
Reliability: This is an important parameter for success through dependability as hard-working professionals the stakeholders can count on. They provide solid support to each other, their partners and customers. Milestone strives to deliver high quality, dependable software, tested and proven in years of operation, developing reliable technology that sets standards to last into the future.
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Milestone XProtect Enterprise in action: digital zoom, Timeline Browser, Floating Windows and 64 camera view on multiple monitors (Photo by Milestone Systems)
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Openness: Being open is productive in their thinking and collaboration with each other, the partners and the customers. Communications must be open, honest and often. An open platform is also the nucleus of Milestone solutions and the possibilities they provide: (1) The ability to integrate with other systems, and (2) Collaborations with many partners.
Innovation: This is essential in the Milestone approach to work and in their software solutions. It is motivated by the pioneer spirit, passion, enthusiasm, and ambitions. It is inspired by continually increasing the knowledge of their partners, their customers, and new technological opportunities. This applies to the Milestone ways of doing business, as well as to their products.
Flexibility: This is the key to responsiveness as time progresses and situations change. For the company, it means being able to grow and expand with new people, new markets, and new solutions. For Milestone products, it means giving partners and customers the ability to choose levels of product offerings, the ability to scale installations for future needs, and the ability to integrate with other systems.
Independence: In the Milestone software, this is evident in its support for the widest choice in hardware and devices. For the customers and partners, it means freedom of choice. For Milestone employees, it is freedom in the working environment and thinking -- the ability to speak out and take initiatives.
INDIRECT BUSINESS MODEL
Coming from such a small country as Denmark, Milestone set up its business from the outset with an international scope. In order to efficiently reach customers in distant markets, they organized the selling of their software through regional and local partners who believed in their dream and welcomed the technological advances. The business took off around the globe. The partner channel consists of national and international distributors, security systems installers, and IT systems integrators, who now span 60 countries.
A key success factor for supporting the partner channel and ensuring customer satisfaction is the Milestone Partner Program which includes training that certifies partners to sell the top products in the line of XProtect software offerings. This certification signals to prospects those partners with demonstrated expertise, helping to differentiate them in the marketplace.
OPEN PLATFORM IP VIDEO SOFTWARE
Milestone Systems is the worldwide leader for open platform IP video surveillance software, according to IMS Research two years in a row. The XProtect product line is dependable and proven through the years of ongoing development and stable operation at thousands of customer installations.
Milestone software is first and foremost an independent choice because it is pure IP-based, open software -- not tied to a particular type of hardware. Why be held hostage to a particular suppliers line of models when a variety of cameras can handle more needs? XProtect supports the widest choice of video hardware connecting to a LAN, WAN or the Internet, and no other video surveillance offering on the market today can provide such a deep library to select from. Best of all, the open architecture of Milestone software allows integration with other systems and devices via APIs (Application Program Interfaces).
Installations are fast and customers like the elegant, user-friendly interface. They can count on robust performance, advanced management, flexible scheduling, quick searching and export of evidence, with functionality like:
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Milesotne customer installation in US school (Photo by Milestone Systems) |
- Video motion detection
- Speedup on activity
- Pan-Tilt-Zoom controls
- Active operator alerts
- Remote access and wireless operations
- Multi-channel audio recording
- Network archiving of recordings and optimized use of system capacities
- Multi-vendor IP camera support
The Milestone product line includes XProtect Enterprise for flexible management of unlimited cameras, servers and sites, and is delivered with a Smart Client, Remote Client, PDA Client, and Matrix plug-in. XProtect Professional has an advanced feature set for managing 1-36 cameras per server and comes with the Remote Client and option for PDA Client. XProtect Basis and XProtect Basis+ offer scaled-down versions with essential or expanded features and built-in web servers for remote viewing. XProtect Central ensures optimal operations by providing complete overview of surveillance system status and alarms. XProtect Retail and XProtect Transact handle loss prevention and fraud detection through video evidence combined with time-linked ?oint of Sale?or ATM transaction data, and a choice of central or local management. All Milestone software runs on a standard PC with Microsoft Windows.
GLOBA L PLAYER
Besides having an established partner channel that includes every world region, Milestone software is available in many languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Danish and Japanese. The software is delivered with full manuals, Getting Started Guides, and online help. Technical Support teams also are available to assist partners and customers with any questions they may have.
Milestone offers Product Maintenance Agreements (PMAs) that allow customers to get free upgrades of the software when new versions regularly become available. The new versions include support for additional network video hardware so installations that are growing can expand with the latest camera technology.
To keep up with the latest hardware support, Milestone fosters strong alliances with the leading manufacturers of cameras like Axis, IQinvision, JVC, Panasonic, and about 30 others, with new ones being added all the time. A partner program called MAP (Manufacturers Alliance Program) assures these companies that their hardware will be supported by Milestone software, and that their newest models are always shared with Milestone for their driver development team.
Another important area of collaboration is with partners who integrate the XProtect IP video software with vertical industry solutions like retail, waste management, and parking solutions, just to name a few. A special partner program for this is called MSP (Milestone Solution Partners) for such companies, who sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement with Milestone in order to receive the SDK, or Software Development Kit, that includes the source codes for developing such integrated solutions.
Examples of some solution partners who have integrated their product offerings with Milestone XProtect IP video software are Paxton Access Control, S2 Security Corporation, and ObjectVideo (intelligent video analysis). About 100 partners have worked with the Milestone SDK at this time.
CONSUMER FEEDBACK
As of January 2007, Milestone IP video software solutions have been installed in over 24,000 customer installations worldwide, spanning all industries. The ability to scale the networked approach easily with new cameras and locations has helped many existing customers stay loyal to the dependable performance of the Milestone systems, too. Over 100 customers have been personally interviewed about their installations, which gives good feedback to Milestone Systems for development of future products, and testimonial references for prospective customers to learn about different ways to use IP video technology. These articles are published on the Milestone website for all to read.
VIDEO-ENABLING BUSINESS
Many customer implementations are motivated initially by a security issue like theft or vandalism, but once the surveillance system is in place, they find it to be very useful as a management tool to have total overview of an organization? activities. The video can be used for many other value-adding purposes like training, quality assurance in production control or logistics, checking deliveries, insurance claims, employee procedures, environmental hazards, etc. In the retail sector it can also help with people counting to ensure better customer service, for example.
“We were very pleased with the Milestone system, so when we had the new bus depot at Scotstoun built, we insisted that they put it in there. The local managers use it, and we can also view the images remotely from the Larkfield depot. The networked solution means that the images are a lot more accessible: any of us can access the surveillance with a password to see what’s going on -- not just for security, but also how busy it is in the offices, the repair workshop or outside, monitoring productivity and traffic. The real advantage of this system is that it’s scalable. You can put in one PC server and a few cameras then just add new ones quickly and easily,” said Andy Buchanan, Regional I.S. Manager for First Group Scotland.
FUTURE PRODUCT LINE
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The Milestone Camera Test Room (Photo by Milestone Systems) |
The Milestone Systems organization consists of more than 50% of its personnel working in product development: systems architects, programming engineers, device support developers, testing professionals and technical support staff. The Camera Test Room at the headquarters location is very impressive with its rows of hundreds of hardware models lined up like troops of watchful soldiers on duty.
The Milestone Product Management group plans the strategic vision for the XProtect product line and its future generations. A major new product will be launched in the first half of 2007 that has been several years in creation, based solely on .Net technology and the newest IT standards. The new product is targeted to the very high-end corporate market for installations that have many servers and sites, with very complex and sophisticated needs. The administration features of this new surveillance system will be comprehensive and impressive, in response to requests that have been collected in the market from some of the largest security projects being planned for the future.
DIFFERENTIATED GLOBAL STRATEGY
The international scope and reach of the Milestone Systems business model has established a clear positioning in the IP video market. New partners in additional countries are continually signing up to work with XProtect software as its good reputation spreads. The open platform allows savvy system integrators to add real value through vertical expertise integrations, or through their own extensive knowledge of hardware: the widest camera support choice means that just the right device can be chosen for each customer situation, mixing and matching for the perfect surveillance solution every time.
Besides the dependable product performance with XProtect, partners and customers consistently praise the excellent support provided by Milestone. This starts with the continuous upgrades to new versions of the software that keep everyone on top of the newest technology at all times, but also includes the training and full documentation available.
All in all, this success story is far from finished. As IP technology casts the light of its many benefits into more and more businesses around the world, Milestone will continue to lead the way as a core element in this journey.
Interview
“Our business
has really taken off around the globe.”
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Lars Thinggaard, CEO of Milestone Systems (Photo by Milestone Systems) |
According to the latest IMS Research, the average annual growth in open platform IP surveillance software will be 38% the next four years reaching a total value of around US$481 million in 2010. Milestone, the world? leading provider of the open platform IP video software, has been proactively driving the trend towards open platform IP video surveillance and believes a huge expansion will occur in this area over the coming year. Lars Thinggaard, CEO of Milestone Systems, explains how the company has quickly risen to the top with the largest worldwide market share in open platform IP video software in the interview with Sunny Kim, Editor of SecurityWorld INT’L.
Keeping pace with the global convergence trend, Milestone Systems internationally drives the convergence of video surveillance and IP-based business. Please let us know more about it.
Milestone’s vision is to proactively drive the trend towards open platform IP video surveillance as it gains momentum. We are convinced that a huge expansion will occur in this area over the coming years, and this is confirmed by independent analysts like IMS Research, JP Freeman and Frost & Sullivan. According to them, Milestone Systems has the largest worldwide market share when it comes to open platform IP video software. Our mission is to help businesses video-enable their processes and systems, federating data and devices in an integrated way for optimal efficiency and effectiveness. We are talking about more than just security here: surveillance can help companies perform better, whether the video is used to protect people, property and assets or to train staff, monitor quality control, production and logistics, environmental issues, to count customers, manage traffic, etc.
Our international model has brought sales in 60 countries to almost 25,000 customers, with Milestone subsidiaries in the U.S.A., Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and Singapore. Driving the convergence is the Milestone vision.
Starting business in Denmark, Milestone Systems has quickly grown to become a global leader. Please introduce your current sales networks around the world and also the marketing strategy that Milestone Systems is uniquely adopting for success.
Coming from such a small country as Denmark, Milestone set up its business from the outset with an international focus. In order to efficiently reach customers in distant markets, we organized the selling of our software through regional and local partners who believe in our vision and welcome the technological advances. The business has really taken off around the globe. We have national and regional distributors like Anixter, Gardiner Security, Securitas, and Alloys International, and direct relationships with Systems Integrators and Resellers. We also have alliances with the leading manufacturers that include sales through their dealer channels, like ACTi, Axis, JVC, IQinvision, Panasonic, Sony and many more.
Please tell us if there has been any technical breakthroughs your company has made recently and thus contributed to the security industry.
Milestone was the very first open platform IP video solution to scale up to unlimited numbers of sites and cameras -- allowing mixed brands and models -- with powerful, reliable performance. The platform in itself is the solution cornerstone, and a dramatic change from analog systems. Milestone essentially video enables digital systems and allows integration with access control systems, ATMs, biometric tools, and so much more. We were the first software company to support simultaneous handling and viewing of both JPEG and MPEG4. Our premier support of newest technologies like PTZ and megapixel cameras has been exemplary, too.
The ability to archive to separate network drives was a leap forward in the use of system bandwidth, as was compression of the images, frame rate adjustability, etc.
Scheduling recordings by motion detection was hailed as “Intelligent video” only 4 years ago! Our Remote Client has been praised for its elegant user-friendliness, followed by the Smart Client with such great features as digital zoom, timeline browser, and floating windows that allow potentially huge numbers of cameras to be monitored at once. And this ongoing innovation is not over by any means: for several years our vast R&D resources have had a special team of experts developing the exciting new product we will launch in 2007 -- more on that later!
What do you think is the next challenge facing you?
A. According to the latest IMS Research, the average annual growth in open platform IP surveillance software will be 38% the next four years reaching a total value of around US$481 million in 2010. To stay ahead in this, we are planning expansions of our company from just over 100 staff as of January 2007 to about 300 employees by 2008/2009. By then, we are likely to have acquired a few distribution and software developing companies, while opening affiliates in Spain, France, Germany, China and Australia. Such fast growth is always a challenge to execute well. Externally, there’s always the risk as in any industry of introducing a new product too early or too late. In the long run, financial and organizational risks can have impact, too, like the state of the stock market in a few years for an IPO, or the challenges of finding more systems engineers in a country with full employment. However, if we look at the combined risks and the positive market trends plus our demonstrated track record, things look very favorable.
For more information, please send your e-mails to swm@infothe.com.
ⓒ2007 www.SecurityWorldMag.com. All rights reserved.
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