In the past year, ONVIF prepared the release of two new profiles, Profiles Q and A, which are currently in Release Candidate status, being fine-tuned by developers from member organisations. They are ONVIF’s fourth and fifth profiles, with Profile Q addressing easy set-up and advanced security features and Profile A encompassing daily tasks for access control. ONVIF also hit major milestones in 2015, reaching the 5,000-conformant product mark and maintaining a membership of more than 500 members, which include manufacturers, consultants, integrators and media members.
In addition, ONVIF held two successful Plugfests in 2015: one in June hosted by Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. in Durham, N.C. and a second hosted by Dahua Technology in Hangzhou, China, in November. Both events included multiple testings of ONVIF conformant video, access control and edge devices
ONVIF Profiles Q and A 2016 final release
In looking ahead to 2016, ONVIF is excited about its work on developing a new video profile that will incorporate recent technological developments. The final release for Profiles Q and A are also slated for 2016. ONVIF will be an exhibitor at trade shows such as Intersec 2016 in Dubai, ISC West and at specifier- and consultant-centric gatherings such as the International Association of Security Professionals 2016 conference in April. We will continue to work hard at engaging our existing members and will reach out to potential members who can offer valuable contributions to the development of future ONVIF profiles.
Interoperability demand to rise in 2016
At a broader level, 2016 will likely see a rise of the smart city, which will bring interoperability to new heights. We may also see other industries enter the physical security industry, as our industry’s potential role in IoT becomes more apparent across markets. Though I am obviously biased, I think interoperability will be the major trend of 2016 in the security industry. There is so much unrealised potential in integrated systems that I think the power of multiple integrations will be exploited more fully in the coming year. The call for all physical security systems to share one interface will remain strong in the coming year, which is an idea that is at the very centre of ONVIF’s mission and work.
In the world of international standards, this year the ONVIF specification was officially adopted by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). The IEC is a non-profit, non-governmental international standards organisation that creates and publishes international standards for all electrical, electronic and related technologies. That means the ONVIF specification is now part of a world-wide, internationally recognised global standard, which likely will be significant as the Internet of Things grows in strength and industries use IEC standards in their manufacturing to facilitate interoperability across industries. This is “kind of a big deal,” as the saying goes.
See the full coverage of 2015/2016 Review and Forecast articles here