IQinVision and Milestone Systems collaborate in Manufacturer Alliance Partnership.

IQinVision, leading manufacturer of megapixel IP video cameras, has joined Milestone Systems' Manufacturer Alliance Partnership. This best-of-breed relationship is strengthened through partner conferences and product support, and illustrated in successful customer installations.

IQinVision, manufacturer of IQeye megapixel network cameras, and Milestone Systems, developer of XProtect IP video surveillance software, have a natural synergy for partnering: their products combine to make a best-of-breed solution for people wanting to video-enable their organization. The superior coverage of megapixel cameras is a big impetus for the increase in IP video installations, and Milestone software has supported IQeye models for many years now, adding all their newest models as they become available.

Milestone Manufacturer Alliance Partners (MAPs) are part of a formalized program that escalates the technical and commercial collaboration between hardware partners and Milestone Systems. The priority program further builds on the rigorous testing and implementation of hardware drivers into the XProtect software, thus securing the utmost quality in the integrated solution. This ensures that customers get optimal functionality between the partner's IP hardware and Milestone's open platform IP video management software.

In September, Milestone Systems held a partner conference in Copenhagen called ‘Return On Investment with IP Video', at which IQinVision's European Sales Manager Martijn Kolenbrander presented the benefits of IQeye megapixel cameras. Distributors from 29 countries attended. In November, IQinVision hosted an international partner event in Amsterdam that attracted 70 professionals from over 20 countries. The theme was the ‘Resolution Revolution'. Kim Macallan from Milestone presented the software management role of XProtect in a keynote speech titled ‘10 Rules for the perfect IP video installation'. Milestone's Lawrence de Guzman served as moderator for the panel discussion on ‘The Death of the NVR', which engendered active debates on whether storage and intelligence would move to the edge of video systems with the increase of such powerful functions in camera offerings.

Many Milestone customer installations have started incorporating IQeye cameras, reporting that the megapixel capabilities provide significantly better visual coverage - such that only one of these cameras is necessary for optimal surveillance, instead of several traditional network cameras. Temple University in Pennsylvania, F&M Banks throughout California, and Loyola University Chicago all report high satisfaction with Milestone XProtect software and IQinVision cameras, for example. When F&M Bank had a robbery shortly after the installation, the system administrator was out of town, but using the software's intuitive interface, the management was able to quickly find the video and export it to the police. Both the police and the local newscasters who covered the event were very impressed with the extremely clear quality of the video evidence.

Milestone has just recently released their most comprehensive software offering to date: XProtect Enterprise 6.0 that is delivered with the Smart Client, Remote Client, PDA Client and Matrix functionality. The Smart Client among other things features digital zoom that is optimized for megapixel cameras like the IQeye 700/750 series.