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the
interview
ONVIF toughens stance
on false compliance claims
ONVIF's investment in access control has not yet be-
come a success. However, a new standard for access
control will be released in June and the open industry
forum has opened up for the possibility to report
companies that make false claims of ONVIF confor-
mance.
"Unfortunately, most of them are Asian manufac-
turers", says Per Björkdahl, Chairman of the ONVIF
steering committee.
By Henrik Söderlund
Per Björkdahl has been Chairman of the ONVIF steering committee since September
2012 and was re-elected for another year in December 2015.
ONVIF was founded in 2008
with the target of developing a
standard for the interface of IP-
based physical security products
and today it has about 500
members. Per Björkdahl has been
Chairman of the ONVIF steering
committee since September 2012
and was re-elected for another year
in December 2015.
You had hoped that the success
of the standard for network
video would spread to access
control. Why do you think that
it has not happened?
"The profile for access control
is somewhat limited when it
comes to features and has not
been very popular in the market.
I thought there would be a greater
will for integration between VMS
and access control players. Perhaps
some are pleased with what they
have and are not in a position
where they need a standard."
Did you overestimate the market
potential?
"To some extent we overesti-
mated the demand for integrated
systems in the market in general.
It is not growing as fast as people
think. I thought it would grow
bigger faster."
Do the traditional access control
manufacturers consider rapid
development as a problem as
they make money on their cur-
rent proprietary solutions?
"Perhaps it is more a matter
of natural evolution. I believe the
access control sector is in a similar
position to that of the video
surveillance market when network
cameras arrived and challenged
analogue cameras. There are huge
proprietary systems up and run-
ning and companies are able to
service those systems and live on
those sales, but this will certainly
change. We have a very changea-
ble market where companies are
merging and it follows that access
control systems may also merge."
How do you move on?
"We are working on a new
standard for access control called
Profile A, which contains more
features. It is currently in release
candidate mode, meaning that it
is almost finished and members
can now try it, integrate and check
that it works. It will be launched
in June 2016."
Have you thought about how to
encourage smaller manufacturers
to embrace Profile A?
"Yes, we have them in mind
in our marketing and we have
thought about them in terms of
modernisation and how to manage
time schedules, which is quite cen-
tral for access control applications.
I am absolutely convinced that
access control will eventually be in
the same position as video surveil-
lance, but it is hard to say exactly
how long it will take. However,
we see already that the big VMS
manufacturers are starting to look
at access control."
Are you working on more
profiles?
"Yes, a video profile named
Profile Q. It addresses what we call
"out of the box". Today, you usu-
ally have to create an ONVIF user
before you can launch the product
in an ONVIF system, just like
one must start up a product from
any manufacturer with a password
before one can start to use it. We
have tried to simplify the process a
bit and allow better management
of the security and self-signed
certificates that are deployed more
and more in the VMS applications
in order to increase safety. It will
also be released in 2016."
In the autumn you launched a
web-based reporting tool for
reporting false claims of ONVIF
conformance. Why?
"Both the media and the
market have observed that there
are products marketed as ONVIF
conformant but that are not listed
by ONVIF. We have an obliga-
tion towards our members and we
want to give them the opportunity
to report false claims."
How does it work?
"We have added a reporting
tool on our website which
contains the only true list of
interoperable products. Those
who wish to check can go to the
website and search for a product in
our database, which also contains
test reports. If the product is not
there, then you can report it
anonymously or not and our
helpdesk will take care of it."
And then?
"If the report is correct, we
will notify the company by letter
stating that they are violating
our trademark since ONVIF is a
registered trademark and we will
encourage them to stop, or to
become a member and officially
claim conformance. Otherwise, we
reserve the right to take action."
What kind of answers do you
get?
"The most common response
is: "Oops, we did not know"
and they will become a member,
or "Oops, we did not know, we
bought this product as an OEM
and the data sheet says that it is
ONVIF-interoperable."
How many warnings have you
sent?
"I can not give you a number
but it is not a troubling amount.
What is important is that we find
it and do something about it."
What sort of companies are
involved?
"They are mostly Asian ma-
nufacturers and particularly from
China. The trademark tradition is
different in China and that goes
for all industries, not just the secu-
rity industry. We aim to increase
our presence in China and, for
example, we held a presentation in
Chinese at the major CPSE secu-
rity trade show in Shenzhen."
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2016-04-12 15:04