Significance of standardized, interoperable, proven and integration ready stacks for mass adoption of next generation smart surveillance systems

Srividya Natarajan, Product Manager, Digital Video Surveillance, MindTree Ltd.

Digitization drive in the video surveillance industry in the recent years has created innumerable opportunities for several suppliers of network video equipment to hit the market with their offerings. While digitization has many positives like efficient storage, remote access to data, better scalability and networking, the flipside are a variety of integration issues that crop up due to interoperability of equipment from different manufacturers.

The industry focus on standardization and interoperability of interfaces in video surveillance products aims to make integration ready or “plug and play” solutions possible, thereby cutting deployment times and associated costs.  ONVIF (Open Network Video Interface Forum) is the market's leading standardization initiative that promises to serve this purpose. ONVIF was founded in May 2008 with a clear focus to create a standard for IP video surveillance products to communicate with each other. The primary objective of ONVIF is to provide an open platform which is non-proprietary, i.e. the user is not locked to a single manufacturer/brand to build / upgrade a security installation. The user can select security components such as IP camera and VMS from two different vendors, and still get the system working at ease, because an ‘ONVIF-compliant VMS’ can automatically integrate with an ‘ONVIF-compliant camera’. Standards compliant products provide end users with increased flexibility, greater choice, future-proof systems and lower ownership costs when compared to proprietary products.

MindTree Limited, a global IT and Product Engineering Services company provides ONVIF 2.0 software stack for licensing to its customers. The MindTree stack enables manufacturers of IP surveillance systems to accelerate time-to-market ONVIF 2.0-compliant products, while reducing the integration complexities and costs. The ONVIF 2.0 stack is comprised of customizable components including a Network Video Transmitter (NVT) stack and a Network Video Client (NVC) library that can be easily ported onto cameras, video encoders, Network Video Recorders and Video Management Servers. The ONVIF 2.0 stacks are available on Windows and Linux operating systems. The low footprint NVT stack is very lightweight and can be easily integrated with existing platforms and systems.  Platform dependent services and libraries are supported through Platform abstraction layers and well defined interfaces.  MindTree’s ONVIF 2.0 software stack has already been successfully licensed to key players worldwide to build surveillance products and they are extremely satisfied with the software and support excellence.

MindTree has been a member of the ONVIF forum since 2009. In addition to providing the ONVIF 2.0 software stack, MindTree also provides design services to enable manufacturers to integrate the stack onto their products.

MindTree's portfolio of ready-to-brand intelligent video surveillance solutions comprises of:

• ManageMind- Surveillance manager
• Video analytics software
• Embedded surveillance manager on network storage devices

 The ManageMind –surveillance manager enables centralized and intelligent management of all video, audio and network equipment. The video analytics suite consists of algorithms that address areas related to display enhancements, video content analysis and video search and summarization.  The embedded surveillance manager application seamlessly integrates with Iomega® StorCenter™ network storage device to provide cost effective video surveillance solution.

About MindTree Limited

MindTree Limited is a global IT and Product Engineering Services Company with deep knowledge in specific domains. MindTree is acknowledged as the best mid-size software services company in India for its capability to build, test and deploy solutions. The Company also places significant emphasis on culture, customer centricity and corporate governance. MindTree is ranked No. 1 among the Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise (MAKE) India Award winners in 2010, 13th in NASSCOM’s listing of Top IT Software and Services Exporters in India (excluding BPO). In 2009, MindTree was ranked No. 2 in Asia and declared the overall winner in India in the Asiamoney Corporate Governance Poll. Please visit us at www.mindtree.com.