Iveda, mobiDEOS open up mobile video surveillance

MESA, Ariz. and SUNNYDALE, Calif.—Online surveillance technology and managed video services provider Iveda Solutions in late July announced a partnership with mobiDEOS, a provider of applications, technologies and services to help users realize the value and potential of live video streaming on their mobile devices. The partnership will open up the world of live video surveillance for Iveda customers to 95 percent of mobile device models, including but not limited to iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, LG, and Sony Ericsson.

Iveda CEO David Ly said even though the partnership with mobiDEOS is still very new, Iveda was already working with a government agency for a pilot program.

Although Iveda Solutions offered cell phone video access as part of its video hosting service prior to its partnership with mobiDEOS, the service was only available on a few cell phone models. With the MobileCamViewer application from mobiDEOS, about 95 percent of cell phones on the market today can be enabled for live video surveillance, an important, game-changing advancement, according to mobiDEOS CEO Sri Palasamudram.

“All of this already exists in separate pieces, or it's bundled with specific hardware. They give you a live picture or a piece of video, but you have to buy their equipment. Or you have to have a specific phone,” Palasamudram said. “We don't restrict the end user and say, 'You must use this phone and buy our equipment.' We don't believe in that … If you want to give true value, you want to give them freedom to choose, whatever phone you carry. That's where the value comes in.”

MobileCamViewer is custom built to the operating system of a mobile device, and includes features such as full control of PTZ cameras. According to Ly the Iveda/mobiDEOS solution is the first and only hosted platform where customer access is truly via cloud computing rather than through a direct connection to a camera, DVR or NVR. The advantage is that mobile customers can access all their Internet-connected cameras worldwide with one log-in. Multiple users can also simultaneously access the same cameras with no degradation of video quality.

Ly agrees the mobiDEOS partnership will increase the reach of video and place control of live, 24/7/365 video surveillance in the hands of the end user. “We're leveraging each other's core competence and putting more power in the hands of the end user,” Ly said, explaining the solution can work with newer IP systems, or—through the use of IP video encoders—older analog systems. “This allows the integrator to provide another functionality to their end users, whether it's something they installed five years ago or are installing now … they can say, 'Mr. Customer, let's leverage what you've already invested in CCTV.'”

What will opening up the world of video surveillance to the end user mean for companies doing video monitoring? Ly said central stations doing video monitoring would benefit from the opportunity. “I see this technology as a strong complement to existing central stations. If they're doing video, they can leverage cloud tech to increase their reach,” Ly said. “Before they were limited by the bandwidth of the facility they were calling … Now they're tapping video that's managed by another infrastructure … it takes the burden and cost off of them, and all they have to do is tap the video that the end user has already paid Iveda to manage.”