the interview Mahesh Saptharishi, Avigilon CTO: “Licensing does not al Avigilon continues to grow rapidly and believes that video analytics and artificial intelligence will be an important part of the surveillance industry’s future. Detektor met up with Mahesh Saptharishi, Avigilon’s CTO, to discuss technical trends and Avigilon’s patent licensing programme. “we have an aggressive roadmap when it comes to video analytics, so the acquisition of the Object Video patent portfolio was an important aspect of that,” he says. By Henrik Söderlund Avigilon CTO,Mahesh Saptharishi co-founded VideoIQ, but joined Avigilon in 2014 when Avigilon acquired VideoIQ. Alexander Fernandes founded Avigilon in 2004 and he is still its President, CEO and Chairman of the Board. The company designs, develops, and manufactures video analytics, network video management software and hardware, surveillance cameras, and access control solutions, and in 2015, the turnover was 369 million dollars – a 36 per cent increase compared to 2014. Mahesh Saptharishi co-founded VideoIQ, but joined Avigilon in 2014 when Avigilon acquired VideoIQ. He argues that the introduction of Appearance search, it is really taking this to the next step and making it more of a complete solution and that is what is propelling us forward.” How do you plan to sustain your high growth rate? “The phase that we are entering right now is really the platform going forward. We believe that the number of cameras that are being deployed is increasing. As a result of this increase, the conversation is suddenly changing from how many cameras you deploy and alignment between the expectations of what video analytics can do and what the industry at large can deliver. We have gone through ups and downs on that as I mentioned previously and, in terms of it taking off, I think video analytics is going to become a required component of most large security system sales at this point.” At the end of 2014, you acquired Object Video with all its patents. What is your aim with your patent licensing programme and how can it be a part of your business model? “We have an aggressive roadmap when it comes to video analytics, so the acquisition of the Object Video patent portfolio was an important aspect of that. We believe analytics and artificial intelligence are the future of the industry. That said, we are introducing a huge array of products that are geared towards really bringing video analytics and artificial intelligence to the industry in new ways. We also believe that the industry at large could benefit from the intellectual property that we have in our portfolio today. There are going to be others in the industry who will be interested in seeing this in their own products and we want to encourage that, and so our patent licensing programme will be a key part of that as well.” What impact would a more competitive view on patents have on the security industry and for integrators and end users? “I think it should have a positive impact because we hold the largest number of foundational patents in video analytics in this industry at this point. I believe our patent licensing programme complements and encourages industry growth in video analytics, so from that standpoint I think we see this being a positive step for the industry at large.” Many companies were concerned about what you would do as Object Video was behaving so aggressively. “Licensing does not always have the smoothest of starts and I think Object Video experienced some of that. But at the end of the day, our interest in video analytics is really driving our strategy in holding the key patents necessary for us to build our own products, and develop video analytics, but also to allow others to do so as well.” What is the top trend in the physical security industry today? “I would say probably two things; the first is smart codecs and I would link it to video analytics. One of the features that we have in our products is called Idle scene mode, where we can control compression based upon what the cameras actually see. It is using video analytics not only for alarms, but also to really look at the value of the information that you are compressing, transmitting I think we are entering the third phase right now with our introduction of Appearance search. video surveillance industry has gone through three large growth phases. The first was the transition from analogue to IP, where HD resolution was a big driver. “The second phase was taking advantage of high resolution and bringing video analytics to the mix. Video analytics has had an up and down cycle, but when Avigilon introduced video analytics it was all self-learning and not something that required a great deal of calibration, providing the customer with the value of having a full end-to-end solution”, he says. And the third phase? “I think we are entering the third phase right now with our how much coverage you have across your facility, to dealing with information overload. It becomes a question of how many operators you have to actually look at that live video across the many cameras you have installed. And in order for us to make that a scalable solution, we have to change this from operators looking at video to where operators are instead being asked by the system to focus on certain areas where there might be activity. That is really where the artificial intelligence and video analytics come in, helping drive further growth.” Is video analytics finally taking off? “I believe there is finally an Security News Every Day – www. securityworldhotel.com 22 • d etektor internati onal