Big Breakthrough of Cloudbased Camera Surveillance Platforms

During the interview with Eagle Eye Networks, it is noted that within three years, the majority of video images from camera surveillance systems are in the cloud. That prediction of EMEA MD Rishi Lodhia will astonish the reader who is not very familiar with this market, others may be encouraged to contact Lodhia and his colleagues.

To understand how Lodhia makes that assessment, it is good to know that Eagle Eye Networks has more than ten years of experience. The Amsterdam office is also the headquarters for European activities and has been in its current form for one and a half years. “There is a long story behind it, because with the predecessor I started together with my partner Tijmen Vos more than ten years ago,” says Lodhia. “We sold that company to Panasonic, bought it back later and then merged with the American Eagle Eye Networks. We are now a global player with nearly 200 employees across Europe, the US and Japan. ”

Eagle Eye Networks stands for a software platform

What Eagle Eye Networks delivers is, in the words of Lodhia and marketing director Max van Riel, something other than video surveillance solutions. Van Riel: “When people read that, they think of cameras, cabling and recorders; so hardware. That is not what we are concerned with. What we do do is deliver a camera-agnostic cloud-based platform, which is primarily software-as-a-service. ”Eagle Eye is an open system, the Cloud Video Management System (Cloud VMS) to which cameras are connected. The output thereof is transported to the cloud for storage, management and further processing. Van Riel: “Our system can handle more than 2,000 different camera models from camera suppliers such as Axis, Sony, Bosch, Panasonic, Hikvision, Dahua and many others. They are linked to a gateway. That is the only hardware that we provide; we call that the bridge. The bridge provides local buffering, bandwidth management and secure transport of the output to the cloud. ”

Recognizable cloud subscription

“With an additional converter, the bridge can also handle analog cameras,” adds Lodhia. “Everything after the bridge is cloud-based. That means a large number of services and options that the end customer settles on a monthly basis with his supplier. The supplier purchases the service from us on the same pay-per-use basis. ”Eagle Eye Networks works with the recognizable cloud subscription model that is delivered to end customers via resellers. “Direct delivery to end customers does not occur with us, everything goes through the channel.” “That currently consists of system integrators and security resellers, Van Riel clarifies. “Our ambition is to enlarge the channel in 2019 by recruiting new partners, whereby we look specifically at the readers of ChannelConnect. There is the group that knows everything about IP and cloud models.

“We are looking for cloud believers”

“We already talked about Eagle Eye Networks as a platform supplier. What we mean by that, “says Lodhia,” I can illustrate with this example. Eagle Eye Networks Cloud VMS is used for example at branches of retail and food chains. That type of end customer obviously wants video from a surveillance point of view, but does much more with that data. Analytics are released onto the images to optimize visitor flows and adjust the store layout. The images are also used to train the staff. ”

Eagle Eye provides a camera-diagnostic cloud-based platform

Video is more than an end product that must be able to be stored safely. It has now become an essential raw material for data-driven business operations. The video data can be accessed and enriched in many ways, because the products and services of Eagle Eye Networks use the restful API platform. Thanks to the bridge, this raw material is safely transported to and stored in the cloud, spread over several data centers. All hardware used for this is from Eagle Eye; this is necessary to guarantee quality and for compliance reasons.

The hardware is monitored 24/7 by Eagle Eye Networks and that covers the route from data center to the bridge. Everything behind the bridge, so the cameras, fall outside the scope. Updates and patches are pushed centrally, the end customer or the reseller has nothing to worry about. The cameras, which are known to be complex to maintain, fall outside the scope. Lodhia: “But that certainly does not mean that they are the weak point of an installation. The clever thing about Eagle Eye is that everything after the bridge is actually a DMZ. The devices can only send the signal and not communicate with the bridge, let alone with the rest of the infrastructure or the network. In this way, a notorious risk is eliminated. ”

Eagle Eye Networks is looking for cloud believers

Eagle Eye Networks is an interesting service and, as mentioned, people are looking for more partners. Van Riel: “We are looking for cloud believers. Entrepreneurs who are familiar with cloud services and want to expand the portfolio. Their role is installation and explanation of the operation and – in consultation with the customer – management, for which the reseller does not even have to be on-premise. The bridge that they purchase through us is the only one-off transaction, all services are in subscription form. We also offer a lifelong guarantee on the appliance. ”

Eagle Eye Networks offers training and support to cloud believers who want to become a reseller and of course goes to the end customer for introductions and demonstrations. Van Riel: “It is an easy-to-understand service for the reseller and the end customer. Seeing is believing. It is as flexible and scalable as a cloud service is supposed to be. We can even offer it as a 30-day demo to win over customers. ”

Within three years

“Because it is so easy and the business world is so eagerly awaiting those flexible solutions, we think the big breakthrough of cloud-based camera surveillance platforms is coming,” Lodhia adds. “We will probably be surprised in three years’ time that the market has used video surveillance as a stand-alone, analog or non-analogue solution for as long as possible.”

“We will probably look back with surprise in three years’ time

If, after reading this article, you want to know more about the Eagle Eye Networks cloud-based camera surveillance platform: a new partner program for the Dutch channel will be launched in March. Interested parties can already contact us via 020 261 0460.

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