Alex Walthers, Team Lead – Technology Integration Partners, Axis Communications writes that open ecosystems give developers the freedom to build differentiated solutions while offering integrators and end users genuine choice.
Physical security systems have been evolving. They are increasingly being designed to work within a broader, integrated ecosystem while being used less often in standalone formation.
Today, security is called upon to co-perform with information technology (IT) systems on a single platform in a converged model.
In addition to IT applications like cybersecurity and business intelligence (BI), a user’s ecosystem might also include several types of operational technology (OT).
The ownership of all of these various applications is becoming more unclear, as the expansion of the use cases of these devices is increasing daily.
By definition, an ecosystem is all of the different pieces that need to come together in a connected capacity to deliver an expected result for an end user.
This interconnectedness of systems is having a profound effect on how solutions are purchased. End users have been adopting the approach used by IT – selecting a platform first, followed by software and hardware that are compatible.
This ‘ecosystem-first’ approach relies on using technology built on open standards and a platform designed with open architecture.
Selection of an ecosystem has a trickle-down effect that influences every subsequent decision an end user will make.
There are more sensors and security devices available today than ever before and they need to be configured, managed and scalable.
This is inefficient to do in an architecture made of multiple siloed systems. Having one connected system with one interface provides the end user with a more efficient functional operation.
In an ecosystem-first approach, some users will need more choice and more flexibility in what they want to connect, while others still might want relatively simple choices and basic levels of connectivity.
There’s an abundance of technology choices in the market today and the responsibility of steering customers towards vendors that have vibrant partner networks is more frequently falling to the integrator.
This helps them ensure that everything needed for their customers’ ecosystems is open and compatible, and that they can help support this broad system.
The primary platform in any ecosystem is dependent on the user’s business. For some users, everything is run on an IT-centric platform, while still providing the security director with video through the VMS.
For others, the VMS is the primary platform and IT uses it to see and manage the devices. It’s ultimately about integrators supporting what works best for their customers’ level of maturity and then meeting them where they are on the convergence journey.
One opinion is that integration is a spectrum. ONVIF helps make security devices more accessible and easier to pull video streams from and do basic event alerts, but it’s the deeper integrations that allow full feature sets to be unlocked.
Even among manufacturers that sell a wide array of security products, not every product offers every available feature on the market.
The marketplace needs companies that are extraordinarily proficient at developing very specific technologies or feature sets.
Leveraging strengths among technology partners enables the concept of 1 + 1 = 3. By collaborating on the development of integrated systems, vendors can build something better together.
And since there are increasingly more integrators, as well as end users, who have their own developers on staff, manufacturers that support open platforms by having their development resources ungated are helping to enable the developer experience.
There are myriad benefits for end users of an open and deeply connected ecosystem. First, it maximizes their investments.
If an end user’s ecosystem can’t take advantage of all the features and functions they’ve paid for, then it’s a wasted investment.
A deeper level of integration actually reduces the total cost of ownership, because it gives the user more from their system.
Another benefit, even of smaller systems, is that when a company is ready to grow, open systems can help them scale while keeping everything within the same ecosystem.
Even end-to-end bundled systems from the same manufacturer – as long as they are open – still have the flexibility of allowing products from different manufacturers to be added and unifying all of those devices in a single interface.
Open systems also make convergence between OT and IT systems far easier. For example, network cameras used in a BI system – with their cybersecurity functions – operate on the same platform that the IT team manages.
An IT infrastructure dashboard might oversee all of the network hardware. Security cameras should be part of the same system, not separate from it.
IT also needs to manage video, access control and other network-based security from a single pane of glass. That requires a connectivity layer between these devices.
The security systems would typically operate through a VMS, but now they need to connect into the IT infrastructure, which is a much different level of complexity that requires an open platform.
With an open ecosystem, the end user doesn’t need to know everything they want right up front; their system can evolve as their business evolves over time.
That means when their needs change, the end user’s ecosystem can change with them and grow in technological maturity.
And finally, some end users operate at an advanced level of maturity, with highly customized ecosystems due to the nature of their industry or service. Open platforms give them the flexibility to add new functions to existing custom systems.
One of the benefits to integrators of open ecosystems is that the increased demand for BI is giving them an opportunity to differentiate themselves.
Components such as network cameras and analytics are used cross-functionally across both BI and security, creating an opportunity for integrators to become valued managed service providers to manage the lifecycle of these products. Integrators’ service agreements will ensure that end users never feel a hiccup in their system.
The ecosystem-first approach is becoming a norm. End users are expecting systems to work together and are practically making it a requirement.
It gives them choice, freedom and flexibility to customize and build solutions specifically for their business. The benefits are also clear for integrators, who can become a more valued partner by offering a greater variety of systems and services.
Open ecosystems put more responsibility on integrators, however. They must judiciously select manufacturers based on, among other things, the presence of a rich environment of partners.
Some manufacturers have hundreds to thousands of technology partners.
The technology terrain will likely get more complicated before it gets easier. Integrators don’t need to be an expert in every single technology.
They just need the knowledge to be able to expertly guide end users through the potential solutions. Some initial questions they can ask are:
An open ecosystem should have – and does have – a greater return than just a collection of systems that aren’t open or interconnected.
When companies come together for deeper levels of integration it enables more creative solutions that an end user would want, which an integrator can provide.
The best partnerships deliver results greater than the sum of its parts – enabling integrators to provide end users solutions based on their specific needs, which they couldn’t achieve alone.
This article was originally published in the September edition of Security Journal Americas. To read your FREE digital edition, click here.