An end-to-end solution means that all of a customer’s software as well as hardware requirements are delivered by one vendor only. But is there really a single vendor that can provide a full end-to-end unified solution that meets every need and which components have all the features and functionalities required by the customer over time?
The simple answer is no, because user needs vary and change over time and no single vendor has the range, competency or resources to support “everything”. This is the reason why open platform “best-of-breed” solutions exist. Open platform systems employ components from various technology partners which creates a comprehensive solution to meet each customer’s evolving needs.
The role of technology
This is becoming increasingly evident as AI technologies accelerate and 5G is setting new standards for low latency, higher bandwidth, and speed which will enable businesses to connect all kinds of devices to the internet to digitise their processes and collect data insights.
The video surveillance industry has reached an important crossroads where manufacturers can choose to continue in one direction that solely focuses on their own products and profits, or to move forward in another direction that emphasises building partnerships for the greater good of businesses and society.
On one side lies the short road of end-to-end, proprietary solutions that lock customers into one vendor only. This road dead-ends when a customer wants to add new functionality to their system, and it has not yet been created by their single vendor (and may never be). This puts existing investments in jeopardy and places integrators in a very awkward situation.
On the other side lies an entire network of roads that stretch far and wide with open platform solutions designed by a collaborating community. This choice is filled with components from technology partners that work together to create a comprehensive solution to meet each customer’s evolving needs. At any time, solutions can be upgraded or added as partners develop new technologies and functionality while maintaining existing investments.
Today’s need
To be successful in selling and deploying today’s advanced solutions, integrators need equal doses of knowledge and creativity. Video management systems (VMS) have been evolving a lot, starting out as proprietary, closed solutions offered by manufacturers that would work only with their cameras and/or recorders.
For the most part, today’s solutions are open-platform, manufacturer-independent, feature-rich software that provides a high level of control and functionality designed to make end users’ lives easier with regard to video surveillance applications.
The basic features, functionality and capabilities of VMS haven’t really changed. What has changed is the maturity of the technology and how it is applied. As a result, integrated systems, analytic capabilities and other advancements are leading the growth in the VMS market, which is largely dominated by open-platform systems.
From integrators’ perspectives, this means expanding skills and knowledge to provide customers with the best possible system. For example, video tech is increasingly used not only to keep people, cities, and businesses safe, but to also generate information for marketing, environmental and efficiency purposes.
The pandemic pushed for new applications to keep businesses afloat
I am sure that many of the end-to-end solutions on the market today work just fine and fulfill a defined need of the end-user at that moment in time. The challenge lies in the future flexibility and adaptability of the solution.
A recent example is the current crisis of COVID-19 where hundreds if not thousands of businesses are looking at re-purposing their cameras to add new functionalities, including different kinds of purpose-built analytics such as mask-detection, distance measurement between people, crowd counting and more.
While an end-to-end solution will struggle to provide these new and very niche features in a sufficient time frame, the open platform can easily add a building block of analytics to an existing solution by leveraging existing or new technology partners who specialise in these new technologies.
Haider Muhammad, Community Manager MIddle East, Turkey & Africa Community Sales (EMEA), Milestone Systems
