Industry trio works on new standard

The security industry will soon have a new standard for the interface of network video products with Axis Communications, Bosch Security Systems and Sony Corporation working together in order to standardise the field.

"We are very pleased to announce this cooperation between our companies," said Axis president Ray Mauritsson. "An open standard will make it even easier for integrators and end-users to benefit from the many possibilities offered by IP-based video surveillance technology."

According to a statement released by the three companies, there is no current global standard defining how network video products such as cameras, video encoders and video management systems should communicate with each other.

The main goal of the new standard they are working on would be to facilitate the integration of various brands of network video equipment and to help manufacturers, together with software developers and independent software vendors, ensure product interoperability.

The trio of companies sees the unified open standard offering end-users greater flexibility of choice, enabling them to select and use products from different vendors in order to develop systems that fully meet their needs. "We entered this discussion based on our common belief that an open standard will provide great benefits for users and everyone involved in the security industry," said Yoshinori Onoue the senior vice-president in charge of corporate executive for Sony.

The new standard is expected to comprise interfaces for specifications such as video streaming, device discovery and intelligent metadata among others.

The companies state that the framework of the standard, incorporating the key elements of network video product interoperability, will be released in October 2008 in Germany.