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Thomas Lausten, who was ap-
pointed as CEO for Mobotix
four years ago, stresses that the
company now is investing heavily
in AI, not least by expanding the
R&D team and intensifying its
cooperation with Konica Minolta.
Mobotix is starting to integrate
Konica Minolta's Forxai an ad-
vanced imaging IoT (AI) technol-
ogy to "gain competitive advantage
by combining intelligent sensor
devices, imaging AI (deep learn-
ing) and imaging IoT platform".
New possibilities
"There are many products and
services used mainly for security
applications. But AI and video sur-
veillance open up new possibilities
for using cameras much more",
says Thomas Lausten.
He stresses there can be
anything from environmental
factors for windmill surveillance to
marketing purposes in retail where
cameras can be used to detect and
analyse behaviour for commercial
purposes or for healthcare applica-
tions. In these places, there are
generally already security cameras,
but they have mainly been used
for security reasons.
"I think that AI will provide
some of the biggest new market
opportunities for us as an industry
in the next years. This really opens
up new markets because the soft-
ware can now be used efficiently",
says Thomas Lausten.
Business intelligence
Mobotix has identified six vertical
markets: industry & production,
energy, utilities and mining, retail,
education & science, healthcare
and government. In all these,
Mobotix is figuring out which
problems people and businesses
are facing and which of these can
be solved by security cameras with
AI.
Today almost all retail shops
have security cameras, but many of
them are very basic and have been
installed in order to provide evi-
dence when there is theft. Thomas
Lausten sees many opportunities
for video analytics in retail. For
example, which kind of people are
coming to the shop and during
which hours? Perhaps people in
suits tend to show up around 5
pm when office hours end. And
what do people in suits buy on a
Friday afternoon? The store might
for example want to market some
nice food and wine when they
show up.
"If you detect what kinds
of people are coming into your
supermarket and when, you can
change commercial offerings on
your screens, based on customer
data, gathered from your cameras",
says Thomas Lausten.
The same thing goes for hotels,
restaurants, or other commercial
buildings.
More specialisation
This focus on new values that
video surveillance can bring to
different verticals is both changing
how companies like Mobotix and
their partners and system integra-
tors work: more specialisation is
needed.
"Yes, this is what we are facing
in the years to come. We have for
example already certain partners
that are specialised in health care
and its needs. I also believe that
we as manufacturers need to adapt
towards that and think more about
what the customers need rather
than what the technology and apps
can do. Being a salesperson selling
video surveillance today compared
to five years ago is fundamentally
two completely different jobs",
Thomas Lausten says.
NDAA more important
Mobotix considers cyber secu-
rity as one of the company's core
competences. Today, a lot of the
intelligence and data management
is done in the cameras, which
requires strong cyber security.
The latest Mobotix cameras have
received the Syss IT security cer-
tificate, and the company also has
a number of local certifications.
"We are asking third party
companies to basically carry
through cyber-attacks on Mobotix
cameras on a regular basis to make
sure there are no cyber security
vulnerabilities", Thomas Lausten
says.
However, he also thinks
that NDAA (National Defense
Authorization Act) compliance has
become more important, not just
in the US but in Europe and also
in Asian countries. NDAA compli-
ance means there are no Chinese
components in the cameras.
"The EU parliament took
down their cameras a few months
ago, replacing them with western
manufactured cameras. This trend
is increasing and might be both po-
litical but also about cyber security."
The new normal
Another trend that he sees is the
change towards more subscription-
based business models, although
the old more product-oriented
business model is still dominating.
"If we look at our business,
the US market is the leader in
the subscription-based business
models, and it is driven by the
general market there. You cannot
buy a car with cash, everything is
subscription-based."
Many things are also moving
fast in the industry and video
analytic apps are being developed
quickly.
"One and a half years ago,
no one could scan faces with
masks. Today you cannot find any
kind of face detection software
that is not able to detect people
wearing masks", Thomas Lausten
concludes.
Mobotix is increasing its focus on AI and has estab-
lished a new AI development office in Madrid.
"With AI, the value added of using video surveil-
lance will increase significantly and so does the
importance of cyber security, says Thomas Lausten",
CEO of Mobotix.
Special Feature: Intelligent Security Systems
"AI will provide some of the biggest
new market opportunities"
We as manufacturers need to adapt
towards that and think more about
what the customers need rather than what
the technology and apps can do."
Thomas Lausten; CEO; Mobotix:
Thomas Lausten, CEO for Mobotix, states that the company now is investing heavily
in AI.