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| The company’s presence at IFSEC SA highlights dedication to the Southern African market |
Milestone Systems, the open platform company in IP video management software (VMS), showcases advanced surveillance solutions at the IFSEC SA trade show being held 13-15 May at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg.
The company’s presence at IFSEC SA highlights dedication to the Southern African market, and is supported by the new Milestone South Africa sales office.
Milestone video software is based on open platform technology that easily adapts to the changing demands of business. Integrations incorporate new innovations, leveraging the initial investment for additional purposes. Customers that initially only address security functions are finding new ways to use the technology to optimise and enhance their business operations.
For example, in retail scenarios, as a business grows, the video monitoring can be expanded with analytics to improve customer experience in the stores. Retailers can use video to answer questions like the time of day when queues are greater than ten persons, by doing a simple search with the Milestone video software. Since the video and other store data are linked, shop owners can view and document the reason for the long queue.
Another example of innovation would be an intelligent building control system that can access data from infrared cameras and precisely determine the needs for heating or cooling according to the location of persons present in the building. Weather analytics and building energy consumption can be triggered to adjust, thus minimising the power usage.
The possibilities are endless with Milestone open platform technology. However Milestone is not doing it alone – there are more than 1,000 solution partners developing solutions based on the XProtect® software. For traditional security installations, it is also possible to re-use analogue security cameras and upgrade to digital technology as needed. It is also possible to go straight to 4K ‘smart’ video cameras – the software will adapt.
Peter Biltsted, Sales Director, Middle East & Africa, for Milestone Systems says: “When you calculate the cost of a video system, you have to calculate the full return on investment. The software component in an installation is typically below 15% of the total cost in relation to purchasing the hardware and cameras – but it is the software that provides the flexibility, the future-proof abilities, and the integration possibilities. These features should be taken into the initial calculation, as well.”
Beyond showcasing the many possibilities of video as a business tool, Milestone is showing the new Milestone Husky series of network video recorder (NVR) appliances. These customisable NVR appliances – preinstalled with Milestone XProtect video management software – will be available in Q2 of 2014 in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and in Q3 for Asia and Pacific regions. The Milestone Husky appliances are optimised and ready to use, featuring automatic device discovery with wizards for configuring the entire system, and the device license keys are pre-activated.
Based on appearances alone, the Milestone Husky NVRs are different from others in the market. The appliances are sleek and sophisticated – designed to fit any environment, even on a small retail shop’s shelf! Ensuring reliability and durability, the hardware is industrial-grade and works seamlessly with other Milestone software offerings.
Customers get instant and remote access to live and recorded video through a flexible choice of client interfaces: Milestone XProtect® Smart Client (available with the Milestone Husky M30 and M50 models), XProtect® Web Client or Milestone Mobile – all available in 27 languages.
The Milestone open platform supports more than 3,000 camera models from over 100 manufacturers, as well as compatibility with ONVIF and PSIA compliant devices.
