I-View Now, Axis team up on hosted video solution

LAS VEGAS and CHELMSFORD, Mass.—The belief that video verification and hosted video are ready for broader adoption is behind a new cloud-based service created by I-View Now and Axis Communications.

The offering, called the I-View Cloud service, brings cloud-hosted video powered by Axis Communications' network cameras into I-View Now's central station interface. The service blends video verification technology with several other functionalities, including VSaaS, virtual guard tours and device monitoring.

Scott Dunn, director of business development at Axis Communications, believes the time is ripe for this kind of offering. With both municipalities and central stations incurring financial hits for unverified responses, and with written video verification standards in the offing, he says 2014 may be the year video verification makes major mainstream headway.

“It's been a hot topic for some time in the central station world, and it's always been a question of getting the right technology at the right price point at the right time,” Dunn said. “We believe this is that year where all those things come together.”

Dunn added that the service is designed to overcome some of the challenges central stations have faced with video verification in the past. With the service, “all alarms are integrated into the standard system, which cuts down the learning curve dramatically, as well as the response time,” he said.

Larry Folsom, CEO of I-View Now, said the device monitoring component played a critical role in shaping the vision of the service. Prior to the partnership, one of Folsom's deepest concerns was how to develop a reliable method for monitoring the status of cameras. “If we don't know the status of the camera then we can't know the status of the recording,” Folsom said. “So why would that be better than a DVR?”

The status monitoring function embedded in the service informs central station personnel and end users if cameras are online, offline or have been tampered with. This offering, Folsom said, together with the other functionalities included on the interface from the same install, will fuel the RMR possibilities for wholesale monitoring centers and third-party centrals.

“It's more than just VSaaS,” he said. “It's monitored VSaaS from the status perspective, and you can leverage that investment to clients by being able to offer video verification and guard tours. That's ultimately why I embraced this.”