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| Milestone system installers, integrators and consultants checked out cutting-edge solutions and sales opportunities |
Milestone Systems, the open platform company in IP video management software (VMS), held its biggest ever annual partner event February 18-19 at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Management, sales and development experts combined in a heady mix to share knowledge and ramp up future initiatives with the market's leading video surveillance solutions based on Milestone XProtect® VMS.
The Milestone Integration Platform Symposium (MIPS) has grown in size every year and this conference continued that dynamic: a record-breaking 380 people attended, with 46 exhibiting companies. Camera manufacturers Arecont Vision and Axis Communications were the Platinum Sponsors, joined by Gold Sponsors Optex/The Hawkeye Effect, Razberi Technologies, Seneca and Sony. Milestone system installers, integrators and consultants checked out cutting-edge solutions and sales opportunities for new distribution, video synopsis and analytics, access control, storage and server hardware, cameras, perimeter and tracking/locator devices, wireless and other network infrastructure options.
Lars Thinggaard, President and CEO of Milestone Systems, gave the opening presentation. He reflected upon Milestone's 15-year anniversary and how they have been "Thinking Bigger":
"Milestone's idea was the open platform. We introduced this into the industry and we have grown an international business ecosystem around it. The effect has been to redefine the industry's expectations about the way surveillance video is used. Our partners in the MIPS Technology Showcase are proof-points of this with some of the latest technical innovations enabled by our open platform."
Eric Fullerton, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Milestone, followed with a motivating call to action for continuing the forward momentum, to "Think Bigger" in all facets of the industry to get the most out of the Milestone open platform approach by tapping into the wide ecosystem of solution partners across the globe. All attendees at the conference received the book "The Magic of Thinking Big" by David J. Schwartz, to further ignite Milestone partners to be on the forefront.
Illustrations of integrated Milestone implementations were presented by end users and installing partners: the Church of Latter Day Saints by Stone Security, Clark County School District, Life Time Fitness by Affinitech, and Pier 1 Imports by Direct Source. Milestone also celebrated partners' top performances of the past year with a series of awards presented on the final evening:
- Milestone Camera Partner of the Year: Sony
- Milestone Solution Partner of the Year: AMAG Technology
- Milestone Technology Partner of the Year: BCDVideo
- Milestone National Partner of the Year: Johnson Controls, Inc.
- Milestone Regional Partner of the Year: Direct Source Inc.
- Milestone Integration of the Year: Mango DSP
- Milestone Installation of the Year: La Fortaleza for Liverpool
- Milestone Distributor of the Year: Anixter, Inc.
"The Milestone Integration Platform Symposium (MIPS) has grown in size every year and this conference continued that dynamic record"
With a greater focus on segmenting the market and delivering products optimized for customer needs of all types, Milestone also announced that new versions of the entire XProtect VMS product line will soon be released. The Milestone XProtect 2013 portfolio will focus on ease of deployment in the low end, as well as flexibility and centralized management in the mid- to high end of the market.
As part of this, Milestone will launch the brand-new XProtect® Expert for medium and large installations, with features for sophisticated live monitoring, centralized management and high-performance video recording. Scheduled and event-driven rules will make it is easy to automate security actions and control external systems, reducing the number of manual tasks.
With the release of XProtect® Corporate 2013, Milestone will introduce a new system concept called Milestone Interconnect, a cost-effective way to connect different XProtect VMS products with XProtect Corporate to manage centralized surveillance across geographically dispersed sites. Milestone Interconnect is designed to enable efficient branch rollouts with easy installation and system cloning possibilities, combined with optimized daily operation where proactive alarm detection and remote management reduce the need for costly on-site visits.
Milestone will be showcasing XProtect Expert 2013, XProtect Corporate 2013 and the Milestone Interconnect concept at the ISC West show in Las Vegas April 10-12. The complete XProtect 2013 portfolio will be shown at the IFSEC conference in Birmingham, UK, May 13-16, among other industry events around the world.
