I guess it’s only fitting that, in the year of the tablet, I am writing an article completely on my iPad for the first time ever while in coach on a full flight to Vancouver from Toronto.

As convergence moves forward, it’s important to take time to look back so as not to get lost in innovation. The end of the year is the perfect time to reflect on four hot topics we saw in 2011.

Education

I have been in the network video world now 10 years, so it often surprises me that the need for education is greater than ever. But considering convergence is only 25 per cent worldwide today, that means that 75 per cent of the market still needs quite a bit of education. 

At a recent meeting with top integrators across Canada, I asked, “What is your biggest obstacle when spec’ing IP?” The answer that came up most often was distance. Again, this goes back to the need for education because there are no distance limitations for network video. In fact, it’s with analogue video when there are distance limitations.

But aside from general IP training, the one noticeable desire for education is on how to sell IP. I have been in sales for more than 20 years and feel that selling is selling, regardless of the product – but the product and its applications must be fully understood before having success. When analyzing what people are asking for on how to sell IP, it’s actually the information to overcome IP-specific objections. Thus, I plan to cover how to overcome the most common IP surveillance objections more often in 2012.

Standards

Based on the size and number of organizations that have become members, ONVIF is the clear frontrunner of the standards "war” (full disclosure: Axis is a founding member of ONVIF). The winner was likely to be the one with the greatest number of products supporting it, and by the looks of the numbers at ASIS International – 330 members and more than 1,000 conforming devices – manufacturers have voted for ONVIF. The Security Industry Association (SIA) has also recently shown support for ONVIF.

And although end users haven't been clamoring for standards, this progress is good news for them. Buying a network system component that is globally standards-compliant makes a better long term buy. Unlike in a closed, proprietary system, you will have more success in mixing and matching best-in-class devices as well as scaling for the future because not all components of that security solution will become obsolete at the same time.