Dubai World Trade Centre is hosting Intersec from 16 to 18 January 2024. This expo will witness state-of-the-art solutions from leading industry brands. And the expo will unite over 45,000 global security professionals. Axis CommunicationsIs also present in the expo to showcase the solutions. Enterprise IT Word MEA spoke to Rudie Opperman, Engineering and Training Manager EMEA at Axis Communications to understand their strategy.
How have Surveillance technology evolved over the years?
Surveillance traditionally was understood and widely adopted to be a tick box exercise. Organizations mostly agreed they needed to have at least some sort of system or process to monitor their premises and people for security risk. However, many realized that once they procured, installed, and commissioned the surveillance system, it had many shortcomings.
They soon found out that it could not “make coffee also” and solve all their needs automatically and it probably did not co-exist well with their other systems. Today, the new trends involve open, scalable systems, with embedded intelligence and smart AI, solving real world problems. Organizations now are starting to make purchase decisions with a long term, total cost of ownership approach. Systems are designed to co-exist, be scalable and future proof while being intuitive and extracting information out of the video to assist with mitigating risk and decision making.
“In our smart city section, we have a smart pole solution from one of our partners using our technology and our latest body worn, cloud-based solution is exhibited there.”
Rudie Opperman, Engineering and Training Manager EMEA at Axis Communications
As physical and digital have merged, how the surveillance technology has accommodated the requirement?
There will always be a need for walls and doors. The world is becoming more divided, and threats are real. These days many are starting to realize that it is not enough to just keep intruders out physically, and more likely cybercrime is the one to be aware of. Modern systems should be designed to be cyber hardened; not add to the problem but solve problems. This does not take away from the age-old walls and doors concept but becomes yet another feature or consideration. Systems are becoming smarter; this is exciting but also means the risk is higher if these systems are breached by hackers. Once this is understood, then you start looking for a surveillance partner that can walk and talk the same way and provide a complete system that is intelligent and robust.
Being a leading company, what new technologies Axis is bringing in 2024?
Axis is a leader in network-based technology and innovation. We continue to grow our portfolio and solution offerings in this space from AI enabled edge devices that generate intelligence using video, audio, radar and thermal, to devices controlling access to doors and gates using QR codes or license plate for no touch access control. We are also seeing more devices acting like detectors, assisting with operational requirements, and feeding useful data into databases to be able to respond and understand what is happening and what needs to change. Security systems are now also becoming operational systems at the same time. We also see a hybrid approach or edge intelligence and cloud-based systems becoming almost like one system because of integration capabilities.
What are you showcasing in this year’s Intersec?
With a focus on sustainability, cybersecurity, and partnerships, we will have intelligent cameras, radar and thermal sensors generating data for insight and decision making. All spaces are controlled and monitored by access control systems and co-exist with our IP based audio products for additional uses. We will use this opportunity to showcase newly launched products in the critical infrastructure space. In our smart city section, we have a smart pole solution from one of our partners using our technology and our latest body worn, cloud-based solution is exhibited there. These are just some of the solutions and products being showcased.
What is your expectation from the customer engagement point of view from this expo?
Intersec provides us with the opportunity to interact with our loyal and existing partners and customers, but it also offers new potential customers to see what Axis and partners offer. We will have thought leaders conducting sessions throughout the day in our VIP section and all our teams will be ready to engage in interesting discussions about how technology can improve the lives of people.
Are you announcing any special programme for any industry?
As an innovator, we are always sharing new ideas and launching new products but our partner programs and route to market remain the same as our tried and tested 2 tier model. We welcome interested parties to visit us at Intersec and see and hear more of what we do.
