Since it was launched in 2000, DVTEL has enjoyed phenomenal success, writes Chris Garden, pictured, company UK MD.
In less than 15 years it has grown into one of the most respected video surveillance businesses in the world, with thousands of installations spanning five continents. But it doesn’t stand still.
Our mission is to be the trusted provider of full featured, standards based, integrated open platform video surveillance solutions that will improve end users’ operational efficiencies and improve systems integrator-VAR [value-added re-seller] profitability. So to what extent are we succeeding in this mission? What are the systems and solutions that we are creating? And how are we improving the respective efficiency and profitability of our customers and installers?
A change to the senior management team three years ago was the catalyst to a new stage of the company’s development. Until that time, DVTEL was focused almost uniquely on Latitude, the open standards, network-based video management software platform for enterprise organisations. Latitude was, and is, an outstanding success; the challenge was how that success could be translated to an even wider audience.
With its ability to manage thousands of cameras across multiple sites, Latitude had proven its quality/capability message. What was recognised by the senior team, however, was that a good percentage of Latitude sales were for installations requiring 40 channels or less. This prompted a strategic review, led by the CEO, to look at how DVTEL could take its technology, and its thinking, to a wider market. Now it was a question of providing the right technology at the right price. And for DVTEL, it was also about creating an untapped income stream that could, in turn, fund an even greater investment in new research and development.
The review identified the need for new products that were more specifically designed for the smaller and mid-sized installations. DVTEL had not forgotten its roots, but rather it was maximising the investment it had already made and bringing that investment to benefit a wider audience. This led directly to the launch of Horizon, an easy to deploy and highly reliable video management system for installations of up to 100 cameras, and the Meridian integrated network video recorder (NVR) with the advantages of automated plug and play.
As well as its ‘core’ products, DVTEL also increased the range and scale of products ‘at the edge’, to include broadcast quality cameras with incredibly low bit rates, and best-in-class encoders. Its new Ariel range, for example, includes a new IR illuminated camera that guarantees frame rates in high motion, complex light scenes, lowering utility costs and considerably reducing an user’s carbon footprint. Ariel complements the SMB NVRs by delivering a lower cost of ownership and/or helping enterprise customers to more easily migrate from analogue to IP. Complementing Ariel, its Quasar family has also recently been extended to include an HD 1080p 30x PTZ camera with POE ++ capability, image stabilisation and H264 compression.
But it has gone further. The acquisition of Ioimage significantly strengthened DVTEL’s capabilities in video analytics. It has also specifically led to the launch of a new family of Thermal cameras, powered by DRS Technologies, and at a price that makes them affordable for even small installations. The cameras use an advanced, military grade analytics algorithm that is proven to deliver exceptional levels of reliable performance in all lighting conditions in some of the most challenging environments in the world.
Other innovations have also been forthcoming, all born out of the original Latitude R&D, including the ShotSpotter Gunshot detection and the ability to integrate DVTEL’s NVMS with Google Earth.
DVTEL has been true to its mission in terms of the systems and solutions it has developed. So to what extent do these help improve end user efficiency and improve installers’ profitability?
Central to the DVTEL philosophy is to be a single source for complete systems, when complete systems are needed. As such its products are scaleable, and on a common platform that provides full integration, with the option to customise when required. Customers therefore have all of the flexibility and functionality they require, with the ability to grow seamlessly from a small NVR appliance to sites with hundreds of cameras. It means legacy investments are protected, and new investments can grow in line with demand.
For installers and systems integrators, the benefits are perhaps even more immediate. DVTEL’s technologies are all easy to configure and install, and require little or no training or instruction, or any previous familiarity with the product. Because they can be installed ‘out of the box’, time on site is kept to a minimum, thus dramatically saving on costs.
DVTEL has come a long way in a comparatively short period of time, but its mission is far from completed. It continues to invest in new technology, new people and new markets, and has a number of exciting developments to announce later in the year.
