Axis Cameras are Powerful for running Analytics , SudhindraHolla, Axis Communications

Sudhindra Holla, Country Manager – India, Axis Communications, talks about the video surveillance market in India. He throws light on the current trends, including deriving analytics and BI from video; and about the channel partner ecosystem in this space.

What trends do you see in the video surveillance and physical security market in India?

There has been a lot of development in the physical security market over the last three years. A lot of technology adoption is happening, not just in the camera component but also in integration of access control, identifying employees based on access control and camera footage, etc.

Awareness is increasing among organizations; they are looking at moving away from their historical analogue solutions (historically called CCTV), and on to network video. They are looking at monitoring multiple locations from a single site.

Organizations now look to analyze the information available in the footage – from a compliance perspective, and from a forensic perspective. From a deterrent approach to video surveillance, the next step is to move towards an approach where proactive action can be taken based on video surveillance technology.

What benefits does analytics bring to video surveillance?

A lot is happening with analytics. One of the most common uses of analytics from video surveillance is in traffic policing. Earlier, the number plates of offenders was recorded manually. There are many implementations across the country where number plate automation is happening even as we speak. The technology can ‘see’ the moving vehicle as it jumps a signal, capture the number plate and automatically link to a database to find the owner details, and then a challan can issued to the owner, with proof. This is one of the most commonly used analytics in the marketplace today.

Another example is in recording only when there a movement in the scene. In places where there is not much movement, there is no need to keep the recording going. Recording can be enabled based on the motion that is present in the scene. This too falls under analytics.

The third most common application of analytics is in people counting. For example, malls would like to know the footfall on a daily basis. Video surveillance cameras can be used to automatically get a count of the number of people entering the mall and this data can be used for business intelligence.

In warehouses, applications built on video surveillance hardware can monitor the amount of stock and raise a flag when stock piles up, or when stock is moved internally.

Which industries present the best opportunities for video surveillance in India?

The new government has announced a lot of smart cities. Smart cities start with safe cities. In the next two-to-three years, 100 cities will start implementing projects. I see this as the fastest growing segment.  Government is going to be a key investor in critical infrastructure – ports, airports, highways – there’s a lot that needs to go under surveillance in these projects. I see the government investing a lot in these technologies.

I see the commercial sector also growing. Other sectors include banking, retail, and education.

What are the bottlenecks for adoption of video surveillance technologies?

Most of our customers are on analogue – about 60% of the installations. The biggest challenge is in the change in cabling when moving from analogue to IP.

Then there is the issue of arriving at TCO over a five to seven year timeframe, considering how a network camera can integrate with the current solution.

How prepared are the channel partners in overcoming these challenges ?

The challenge in the partner community is the overall knowledge. Video surveillance is not just about the camera. The camera component is only about 20%-30% of the overall solution, as a thumb rule. Then comes the network and cabling infrastructure behind it, storage, software, analytics and how well it integrates.

The system integrator may not be fully aware of ‘solutioning’ the whole package in the most optimum way. There are not many (partners) in the ecosystem who are well qualified and knowledgeable.  Therefore, the required knowledge does not percolate down to the end-customer. Subject matter expertsare very few in number. That becomes a challenge in addressing customer requirements.

What is Axis’s approach to working with channel partners?

We have global system integrators who we engage for large opportunities which are complex in their nature of implementation. These partners have experience in integrating not just the cameras but entire solutions for customers. This is one type of system integrator we engage, not just locally, but globally.

Then comes the national system integrators and regional system integrators who typically address large and medium sized opportunities,who are experts in the industry as well.

For the small systems sale, we are looking at a lot of IT channel partners and security channel partners who are now trying to get into this particular space. The IT channel partners see an opportunity because it is a growing industry – a healthy 20% growth is projected over the next two to three years. These IT channels see an opportunity to augment the solutions that they already have. They just need to add on the video surveillance component, which gives them additional revenue stream.

System integrators who dealt with security systems – analogue cameras, intrusion detection system, fire alarms, etc – now see an opportunity to get into network video.  We see convergence happening with these types of partners moving into network video. Similarly, we see smaller partners in the IT domain – those who sold PCs and network equipment –also getting into this industry. I see a convergence happening in the medium and small systems sale with partners from IT and security entering this space.

What training programmes does Axis provide for its channels?

We do different types of education. The simplest we do is webinars, in which we introduce our channel partners to our processes, new solutions, basic installation procedures, trouble shooting, and ways to reach out to Axis when they face challenges.

We also have a business academy which delivers knowledge on network video and the solutions that Axis has to address different industry segments. These are mainly targeted at sales and pre-sales persons.

The third type of training is more customized channel training, mainly on the products, which we do on a regular basis for loyal partners. We also have an Axis Academy with a certification progammes. This year, we took education so seriously that every sales and pre-sales person within Axis requires to be certified. If there are certified Axis professionals, then we have partners who are more knowledgeable on the solution; more importantly, knowledgeable on network video itself, and they can propagate this (knowledge) to the market.

Opportunities by making camera intelligent

Axis cameras are very powerful in terms of running analytics. We can solve a lot of business problems for the end-customers. We keep our cameras ‘open’, in the sense that applications can be written for our cameras, with the ability to run these applications ‘on the edge’ (on the camera itself), without powerful serves being needed to run these applications. This gives our channel partners an opportunity to understand what the customer’s business challenges are and write scripts (applications) to address those challenges.