Since acquiring SeeTec AG, On-Net Surveillance Systems, Inc. (OnSSI) is bringing production of its entire software platform in house. The SeeTec recorder will replace OnSSI’s legacy recorder, previously OEM’d by Milestone, beginning with the introduction of Ocularis 5.x.
Familiar in Europe, SeeTec is a privately held German-based company providing VMS solutions and was among the first providers of network-based video management applications. With SeeTec now part of OnSSI, the combined company will produce every element of the Ocularis solution. Additional benefits include lower hardware requirements and simpler installation, according to Ken LaMarca, OnSSI’s vice president of sales and marketing. At ISC West, OnSSI was showing Professional, Enterprise and Ultimate versions of Ocularis 5.0.
Other benefits of the combined companies include a global presence, multi-national support, better customer service and extended tech support hours, adds LaMarca.
In Europe, where OnSSI has previously not had a large presence, SeeTec will continue to sells its systems just as before the acquisition.
In the near term, OnSSI will also continue to support the OEM’d recorders, not forcing any customers to change over, says LaMarca. In fact, enhancements to the Ocularis 4.2 legacy recorder announced at ISC West include dewarping for Samsung and Axis cameras.
Related to the new H.265 compression standard, LaMarca expects OnSSI to tackle the challenge of implementing the standard later this year. “We don’t see the demand for it right now,” he says. “We’re putting our resources into doing different things; we have more important items in the queue.” LaMarca would not elaborate on the other priorities. He also says that H.265 is “important, just not that important yet.”
A challenge of using H.265 for better compression is the more intensive, power-hungry hardware requirements, according to LaMarca. “We will integrate it into Ocularis when we see the need for it because of 4K cameras and cloud storage,” he says.
“We’re always looking to make the installation easier,” says LaMarca. “Anytime you make integrators’ lives easier, it translates into dollars.” However, LaMarca sees simplicity of installation as a double-edged sword. While simplicity is desirable, it also tends to increase competition among integrators by lowering barriers of entry, he says.