ONVIF, the leading global standardization initiative for IP-based physical security products, hosted its annual membership meeting in late October, providing an update to members on the accomplishments of ONVIF in 2017 and its outlook for the year ahead. Attendees heard presentations on the final release of Profile A in 2017 and the ongoing development of Profile T for advanced video streaming, activities which are enabling the growing prevalence of the nearly 9,000 ONVIF conformant products in bid and specification processes in projects around the world.

In the webinar’s opening remarks, ONVIF Steering Committee Chairman Per Björkdahl highlighted collective achievements of ONVIF since its founding in 2008, including the continued inclusion of ONVIF in international standards from organizations such as the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), on its IEC TC 79 standard for video surveillance and physical access control standards. Björkdahl also cited the progress of ONVIF on a system-to-system approach for interoperability between various management systems, work which is happening in tandem with continued development of additional profiles to keep pace with the changes of the industry. 

Björkdahl also recognized the extensive contributions of three individuals to various ONVIF technical committees. Arsenio Vilallonga, vice president, Networked Systems, FLIR Systems, Inc.  and Nicholas Brochu of Genetec, one of the most active participants in the development of Profile T, were recipients of the 2017 ONVIF Award, which recognizes individuals and companies who have made significant contributions to ONVIF. Sriram Prasad Bhetanabottla of Canon Inc., was recognized with the 2017 ONVIF Distinguished Service Award for his role as an active, contributing core member to the Device Testing activities of the Technical Services Working Group’s and Profile T.

“Arsenio, Nicholas and Sriram have made significant contributions to the development of Profile T, our newest release candidate for advanced video streaming, as well as to the ongoing work of ONVIF,” said Björkdahl. “As a member-driven organization, it’s important to recognize members who contribute many hours of service to the work of ONVIF, and contribute to fulfilling our mission. Thank you for your service and congratulations.”

Hans Busch of Bosch, Chairman of the ONVIF Technical Committee, spoke to members about the specification development roadmap and its alignment to the standardization activities within the IEC TC 79 working groups for video surveillance and physical access control standards. Technical Services Committee (TSC) Chair Andreas Schneider of Sony gave an overview of the committee’s work on profiles, test tools, the conformance process and Developers’ Plugfests, and highlighted the new conformant product database launched earlier this year. ONVIF Communication Committee Chair Jonathan Lewit of Pelco by Schneider Electric followed the TSC with a recap of the internal and external communications of ONVIF in 2017, activities designed to promote the adoption of ONVIF Profiles.

The results of the annual elections for committees of ONVIF were announced by Stan Moyer, ONVIF Executive Director. Re-elected to the ONVIF Steering Committee were Mayur Salgar of Honeywell and Stuart Rawling of Pelco by Schneider Electric. For the Technical Committee, Hanwha Techwin’s Sujith Raman, Pelco by Schneider Electric’s Steve Wolf, Panasonic’s Hasan Ozdemir were re-elected, while Tyco Security Product’s Stephen Serplus joined the committee as a new member. Bob Dolan of Anixter, Andrew Downs of Pelco by Schneider Electric and Giri Guntipalli of Honeywell were re-elected to the Technical Services Committee. Tim Shen of Dahua, Mike Mao of Honeywell and Jonathan Lewit of Pelco by Schneider Electric were re-elected to the ONVIF Communication Committee, while Hikvision’s Jens Berthelsen joined the committee as a new member. Founding members Axis, Bosch and Sony automatically retain seats on the Steering, Technical and Technical Services Committees. 

Founded in 2008, ONVIF is a leading and well-recognized industry forum driving interoperability for IP-based physical security products. The organization has a global member base of established camera, video management system and access control companies and nearly 9,000 Profile conformant products. With Profile S for streaming video; Profile G for recording and storage; Profile C for physical access control; Profile Q for improved out-of-the-box functionality, Profile A for broader access control configuration and the new Profile T Release Candidate for advanced streaming, ONVIF continues to work with its members to expand the number of IP interoperability solutions ONVIF conformant products can provide.

Further information about ONVIF conformant products, including the vendors and the conformant models, is available on the ONVIF website: www.onvif.org.