Ioimage enters N.A. market, hires CEO

HACKENSACK, N.J.--Israeli intelligent video appliance manufacturer ioimage opened its United States headquarters here, signaling a new focus on the North American market that was cemented at the end of September with the hire of Garry Clark as chief executive officer. Clark, who has 27 years of experience in the physical security and IT security markets, is a former vice president of Raytheon's SilentRunner and former vice president of sales for Netguard. "Video surveillance is an untapped market. From the [ASIS] show, I see we have a lot of opportunities to talk to integrators, even OEMs," said Clark. His plans to grow the company in North America include focusing on the small-to-medium business sector and looking at critical infrastructure projects. "I want to look at command centers that are being built by every major city today," he said. Clark intends to tap into his experience working with local, state and federal government officials throughout his career. Ioimage's central offering, the ioi box, is a single appliance that acts as both video encoder and video analytics solution. "It's very unique, no one else has done this before," said Clark. "This is a first. We've set up an ease of use that is very different. Normally in video surveillance, it could take several hours to install a camera. But with this product, it actually is a five-minute set-up." The company was established in Israel in 2000, said Sagy Amit, director of marketing and sales for the United States market, and initial applications were tested in the Israeli Parliament and with the Israeli Army, before the product was brought to the commercial market in 2003. Now, "We decided to launch ioimage U.S. because we see a great potential," he said. "We're going to be aiming at more of a mid-level distribution channel, looking to expand our market and the general market for analytics into the mainstream." Tom Wiess, chief operating officer at integrator HighGround, specified the ioimage box for an electronic surveillance contract, essentially video motion detection, with the United States State Department in Kabul, Afghanistan, because it was quick and easy. That was important considering he was only given 29 days to complete the job. "We were assured of interoperability," he said. "We only had to deal with one guy versus several different companies. What was good about this system was that it was fairly easy to use."