IP video made easy?

MELLVILLE, N.Y.—Citing a “drag” in the much-discussed move to IP video solutions from traditional analog systems, Verint is using this year’s ISC West show to announces its IP Video Made Easy initiative, a combination of turnkey technology packages and marketing support that aims to make IP video more accessible to mid-market integration firms. “Four years ago,” said Mariann McDonough, vice president of global marketing, “we sat down at ISC and said, ‘Convergence is real, it’s big, and it’s here. But there’s still not enough momentum to really drive security video surveillance systems from analog to IP.” Verint is banking on the momentum coming from simplicity. Three new Nextiva-branded packages will include all required hardware, software, cables and instructions needed for specifying, selling, installing and support of an IP video system. The EZ will be sold through distribution as a 36-channel starter kit designed for retail, branch office, banking, education and small campus environments; the Basic package is 64-channel and would require slightly more customization for critical infrastructure or larger retail and campus environments; and the Foundation offering is 100-channel-plus and aimed at mass transit, municipalities and enterprise-class commercial applications. Armida and Bluewave unveiled a similar “Security in a Box” concept in late-2007, though it has yet to come to market. “This is a giant stake in the ground for us,” said McDonough. Verint has been developing the strategy for nine months, and the concept is at least 18 months old, she said. Chris Taylor, director of product marketing, is heading up the project. Further, Verint’s integrator advisory council has been active in the project’s development. “The premise behind the strategy,” McDonough said, “is that integrators have said, ‘We need an easier way to do business with you.’ At the major decision points we brought this back to them, or sent them a beta in a box and timed how long it took to install it. We made sure these things are really relevant in the real world.” McDonough said Verint looked at how integrators buy and install its products, and 85 percent of jobs could be fit into these basic three packages. “Plus,” she said, “this doesn’t stop us from selling a là carte.” Further, she said, while she’s all for people choosing best-of-breed products (and she thinks Verint supplies them anyway) for every piece of a solution, “most people aren’t out there saying, ‘I want this software, and this analytics, and this camera.’ We don’t think those choices are being made actively.” SSN