The Danish IP video management software (VMS) company, Milestone Systems, held its biggest ever annual partner event in February, at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Management, sales and development people met.
The Milestone Integration Platform Symposium (MIPS) has grown in size every year and this conference saw 380 people attend with 46 exhibiting companies. Camera manufacturers Arecont Vision and Axis Communications were the Platinum Sponsors, joined by Gold Sponsors Optex/The Hawkeye Effect, Razberi Technologies, Seneca and Sony. Milestone system installers, integrators and consultants checked out cutting-edge solutions and sales opportunities for new distribution, video synopsis and analytics, access control, storage and server hardware, cameras, perimeter and tracking/locator devices, wireless and other network infrastructure options.
Lars Thinggaard, President and CEO of Milestone Systems, pictured, gave the opening presentation. He said: “Milestone’s idea was the open platform. We introduced this into the industry and we have grown an international business ecosystem around it. The effect has been to redefine the industry’s expectations about the way surveillance video is used. Our partners in the MIPS Technology Showcase are proof-points of this with some of the latest technical innovations enabled by our open platform.”
Eric Fullerton, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Milestone, followed with a motivating call to action for continuing the forward momentum, to “Think Bigger”. All attendees at the conference received the book “The Magic of Thinking Big” by David J Schwartz.
Illustrations of integrated Milestone implementations were presented by end users and installing partners: the Church of Latter Day Saints by Stone Security, Clark County School District, Life Time Fitness by Affinitech and Pier 1 Imports by Direct Source. Milestone also gave awards, presented on the final evening:
•Milestone Camera Partner of the Year: Sony
• Milestone Solution Partner of the Year: AMAG Technology
•Milestone Technology Partner of the Year: BCDVideo
•Milestone National Partner of the Year: Johnson Controls, Inc.
•Milestone Regional Partner of the Year: Direct Source Inc.
• Milestone Integration of the Year: Mango DSP
•Milestone Installation of the Year: La Fortaleza for Liverpool
•Milestone Distributor of the Year: Anixter, Inc.
Milestone also announced that new versions of the entire XProtect VMS product line will soon be released. The firm said the XProtect 2013 portfolio will focus on ease of deployment in the low-end as well as flexibility and central management in the mid- to high-end of the market.
As part of this, Milestone will launch the new XProtect Expert for medium and large installations, with features for live monitoring, central management and video recording. Scheduled and event-driven rules will let users automate security actions and control external systems, reducing the amount of manual tasks.
Milestone will be showcasing XProtect Expert 2013, XProtect Corporate 2013 and the Milestone Interconnect concept at the ISC West show in Las Vegas, April 10-12. XProtect 2013 will be shown at IFSEC in Birmingham, May 13-16, among other industry events.
