Honeywell has launched the Open Technology Alliance, which it describes as an organization made up of global security manufacturers that will collaborate to increase interoperability between third-party IP systems and help businesses more easily secure and protect their facilities.
As part of the group's launch, Honeywell says it intends to work with other manufacturers to integrate their IP cameras into Honeywell's Maxpro video management system, as well as make its other devices more compatible with other vendors' software platforms.
Other members of the Open Technology Alliance include Milestone, OnSSI, Heitel and IproNet Sistemas S.A.
According to Don Roberts, Strategic Corporate Accounts at Honeywell Security Group, the alliance will widen the choices for companies and create more flexibility in security system design.
"Due to the fact that security needs are becoming more complex and unique, we're seeing more companies and organizations using technology from multiple manufacturers to create the solutions they require," said Roberts. "The goal of the Honeywell Open Technology Alliance is to give these companies and their integrators more choices when designing their security systems, and to make the process that much easier."
Roberts says that Honeywell will be participating in larger efforts to expand interoperability in the IP video world.
"We are very active in Physical Security Interoperability Alliance (PSIA) and Open Network Video Interface Forum (ONVIF) standards efforts," said Roberts. "We have engineering resources dedicated to that right now... I won't throw out dates, but we'll have ONVIF and PSIA appliances released in 2010 and we'll be driving our video management system to those standards as well. This whole situation we're in right now, where everyone is having to share software development kits (SDKs), we think some of this will only be a short-term thing until the industry catches up with the standards. We'd like to get back to the old analog days where everyone's cameras would work with anyone's system."
