DVTel offers hosted VaaS solution

RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J.—DVTel, a provider of intelligent security solutions over IP networks, on March 30 announced it will offer its new Latitude Video Management System as a hosted, managed video surveillance offering in select markets in Latin America through a partnership with major Mexican telephone provider Telmex. According to DVTel, the offering will allow systems integrators, ISPs, and telcos to offer their enterprise customers hosted video-as-a-service. Paul Smith, EVP of DVTel, said the company is in talks with other potential partners to bring the solution to the United States, but no deals have yet been solidified.

Smith said development of a dealer channel to bring the offering to enterprise customers in the States was not a simple process. The partnership with Telmex has the Telmex sales force bringing the solution to the public. “Currently, we're doing something pretty unique. Telmex has the front and DVTel Mexico is behind the scenes. I don't know if this would be the case in other countries,” Smith said. “In the United States, if someone in Chicago is going to do this, you want it to be the same as someone in San Francisco, as the same in Dallas, as the same in Boston. It has to be consistent across the country—all the processes and all the systems have to be set up and aligned. It's 10 percent about our software and our cameras and it's 90 percent about our processes.”

Smith said the solution takes VaaS to a new level, branching out from video at a single location to video across multiple locales. “There are a number of companies that have some sort of video SaaS solution … One thing about those services is that they're targeted at the mass market, at high-end residential, at small office or home office applications. What DVTel has gone into is an enterprise management video service solution,” Smith said. “That's where we step up to another level—a bank customer can see all of its branches as if it were one system.”

According to Smith, the benefits of a hosted, managed network video surveillance solution include better access to the application for remote workers, decreased risk of a failed or delayed deployment and instant access to the latest product enhancements. Also, the service is rented on a monthly basis and therefore spreads system cost over a period of years.

Smith said monitoring of the system is up to the customer. “Telmex is strictly providing the infrastructure—they're not doing any video monitoring—so instead of the customer owning their own cameras or DVRs or storage Telmex will own those and run them for the customer. So in that way it's similar to the video SaaS solution … Each of the customers we've been talking to since we launched this service have had their own monitoring locations. Right now we're coming across customers that have their own security monitoring center.”