Q&A with ONVIF’s Leo Levit: A new standard for interoperable physical security technology

SecurityInfoWatch sat down with Mr. Levit, Chairman of ONVIF’s Steering Committee, to share his expertise about the physical security industry's evolution and standardization's strengths.

SIW: How has the physical security industry evolved to drive interoperability since ONVIF’s establishment in 2008?

Levit: The desire to combine products from different vendors into a security system that best fits an end user’s needs has been growing since 2008, and I would say that it has become a requirement today. Most end users want the flexibility to choose the camera of their choice or the video management system that best fits the needs of their organization, along with the freedom to use these components seamlessly within one system. Standards like ONVIF allow end users to have this freedom of selection and product interoperability without having to choose products that already have specific proprietary integrations to make them work together.

SIW: What benefits does standardization provide end users, manufacturers, and integrators?

Levit: Along with freedom of choice for end users, standardization enables integrators to recommend best-of-breed components more easily to create and build a system tailored to customer requirements. The interoperability specifications from ONVIF also streamline the integration process, which can minimize the costly integration work that systems integrators must do in the field.

Manufacturers whose products conform to ONVIF, for example, a video management system provider, can spend more resources on innovation and product differentiation instead of writing proprietary software to hundreds of different cameras into their VMS, as this connection is already standardized using ONVIF.

SIW: ONVIF’s press release presented statistics showing that the number of ONVIF conformant and interoperable products has doubled in the last three years and tripled since 2018. What was the catalyst for this sudden growth?

Levit: Over the years, the growth rate in the number of products that meet our interoperability specifications has increased exponentially, as the use of ONVIF has expanded into the de facto standard for interoperability in the market. Our member companies, mostly manufacturers, need to produce products that meet end-user demands for this interoperability. We believe this demand will only increase as end-users continue to expand their security systems with new types of components for different uses and also want to have connectivity between systems for deeper data sharing, analysis, and functionality within their organizations.

SIW: Have any particular technological advancements incentivized further adoption of interoperable systems for organizations?

Levit: Over the past few years, the use of video analytics has really exploded, and we think we are just scratching the surface of how we can use video metadata. Our specification that supports metadata, Profile M, is one of our most quickly adopted profiles. Its rapid adoption shows us the level of interest in standardizing the way metadata is interpreted by the different manufacturers, which has major value for end users, integrators, and manufacturers alike. Standardizing the “language” of metadata will allow for increased innovation in this area and bring huge advantages to end users and service providers in terms of the actionable intelligence that this metadata can provide in the future.

The other significant area where this innovation is occurring is in the area of cloud, which is having a huge influence on the way security systems are deployed by systems integrators and how the end customer uses them. ONVIF is developing standards in this area as well to ensure that there is a common method for security devices (along with other products) to connect to a cloud-based system, regardless of the manufacturer and their proprietary ways of connecting to the cloud. This will also ensure that end users can continue having the freedom of choice in products using standards like ONVIF as they transition to the cloud.

SIW: How has this increased demand impacted security teams?

Levit: Overall, this demand for interoperability means that end users have more than 30,000 different product models from which to choose to build their security system or add in components over time. This number continues to grow at a very high rate.

SIW: What does ONVIF’s roadmap look like following this announcement?

Levit: We are already working on several initiatives to standardize new technology areas, particularly cloud connectivity and IP audio devices. As we’ve seen over the past few years, the cloud has begun to transform the way we do many things in security, including how we transmit, store, analyze, and consume video data, access control, and nearly any other technology. Our initiative is to standardize how devices and software connect to the cloud to streamline product selection and expand the freedom of choice for cloud-connected products.

We are also working to standardize IP audio, such as speakers and intercom devices are commonly used in various facilities and increasingly are integrated with a camera for sound and video of a person looking to gain access.

Note: This interview was edited for clarity and length.