Choose ONVIF
Prescribe ONVIF
As an eSecurity
Professional I always prefer to use ONVIF. ONVIF allows me to be truly
independent of brands and recommend a way forward for customers that is not
going to tie them in to a single, specific manufacturer. As I work as a System
integrator in last 12yr found purchasers have probably all heard of ONVIF, but
in my experience, the high level of competition in the CCTV market drives many
manufacturers to attempt to differentiate themselves to understandably stay
ahead of the pack. Unfortunately, I have seen many cases where the manufacturer
tells the customer they make ONVIF-conformant products, but they then upsell
additional features for their product and in many cases will say how that method
is better than ONVIF. This doesn’t help many buyers of CCTV products today as
they are not always experts in the field of CCTV or in the business of
security, so they don’t see the strategic benefits of employing an ONVIF
approach. We also see that the end users do not yet see the wider benefits of
using an open standard and what that can offer them in the longer term.
They are instead more focused on the short term project, so there are
many strategic influencers who are not yet aware of ONVIF.
Many projects I work which
under government-funded customers that have long approval cycles and need to be
able to have longer term plans. ONVIF allows this, as it has a stable roadmap
and retains backwards compatibility in most things, so I am able to set a roadmap
and a vision for a customers that they can plan around whilst having access to
a large range of vendors and innovative new products. Government-funded long
term projects will benefit the most from using ONVIF-conformant componentry. In
India very few consultant prescribe ONVIF product, basically they still not
clear about spec of ONVIF profiles. In UK, USA, Australia whether it is rail,
roads, national or local projects, ONVIF has to be a key consideration in
government-funded projects.
More systems will be ONVIF
conformant and people buying products will be able to choose new and innovative
solutions – like thermal cameras – as they become available, based purely on
quality and cost instead of the manufacturer. That is a much simpler decision
for them to make and the best products will rise to the top and remain in the
market. There will also be more opportunities for systems to interoperate so
that systems can be shared.
Each ONVIF profile has a
fixed set of features that must be supported by a conformant device or client.
Realizing a need for the standardization of communications between IP-based
physical security products, Axis Communications, Bosch Security Systems and
Sony Corp. in 2008 formed the Open Network Video Interface Forum (ONVIF).
ONVIF has surpassed 10,000
conformant products that meet its global interoperability standards, further
broadening the organization’s offering and relevance in the IP-based physical
security marketplace.
Membership is open to manufacturers, software developers, consultants,
systems integrators, end users and other interested groups. The organization’s
membership base covers six continents and offers more than 9,000
profile-conformant products.
How important is it for devices to be able to openly communicate, with some
sort of standardization in effect? The technology researchers at the Gartner
Group predict that by 2020 there will be 50 billion devices connected over IP
networks, or what’s known now as the Internet of Things (IoT).
As ONVIF standards have evolved they have been designed around a list of
performance profiles. Each ONVIF profile has a fixed set of features that must
be supported by a conformant device or client. An example would be that an
ONVIF Profile S device must work with other ONVIF Profile S devices.
Within each profile are product features listed by ONVIF and classified
as mandatory (M), conditional (C) or optional (O). You can check online at
the ONVIF Conformant Product List page and search for compliance
confirmation. Do remember smarter video systems play a clear role in generating
data.
To get an idea
where products for your next project stand, here’s a look at current ONVIF
profile specifications.
ONVIF Profile Specifications
For electronic access control
systems:-
- Profile C conformant devices and clients support
site information, IP door access control and event and alarm management.
- Profile A devices can retrieve information, status
and event, and configure entities such as access rules, credentials and
schedules. Conformant clients can provide configurations of access rules,
credentials and schedules. The client can also retrieve and receive
standardized access control-related events.
For IP-based video systems:-
- Profile S could be a camera or video encoder that
can send video data over an IP network to a Profile S client. A client
might be video management software (VMS). This profile also covers
pan/tilt/zoom control, audio, multicasting and relay outputs for
conformant devices and clients that support such features. So it addresses
common functionalities of IP video systems, such as video and audio
streaming, PTZ controls, and relay activation.
- Profile G products such as a camera or video
encoder device can record video over an IP network or on the device
itself. A Profile G VMS client is one that configure, request and control
recording of video data over an IP network. Profile G also includes
support for receiving audio and metadata streams. So it addresses video
storage, recording, search, and retrieval.
- Profile Q aims to provide quick discovery and
basic configuration for Profile Q-conformant products. Profile Q also
covers specs for TLS (transport layer security) configuration. TLS is a
secure communication protocol to protect against tampering and
eavesdropping.
- Profile T is a release candidate for IP-based
video systems. It supports video streaming such as the use of H.264 and
H.265 encoding formats, imaging settings, and alarm events such as motion
and tampering detection. This profile is designed to work with Profile S
and not replace it.
The most majority IP-based
security products claim to compliant with ONVIF standard. However, when
end-users try to install these devices marked with this standard might
encounter some problems, such as network video recorder can't discover the IP
cameras in the same LAN network, motion detection doesn't work. Why is this
happening?
First, you need to verify
that your installed devices are truly compliant with ONVIF standard. Some
manufacturers often mark their products as compatible with ONVIF, although this
is not true. It's better to buy/use the IP-based security products from members
of ONVIF. You can find the full list of members/manufacturers who are verified
to offer ONVIF compliant products.
Second, it's not possible
to be ONVIF compliant only; the IP-based security products need to be compliant
to a Profile as well. You can be ONVIF conformant only, but if you
are it is not guaranteed that you would get interoperability between other
ONVIF devices and clients. To truly reap the benefits of ONVIF, you need to
be Profile S compliant as it dramatically increases the chance of
things like video and audio streaming or video configuration and multicast
actually working well together.
ONVIF has suspended Dahua & HikVision on October 9, 2019.
ONVIF Benefits to End Users:
- Greater flexibility
- Increased product choice
- Future proof
ONVIF gives you the flexibility
to pick and choose optimal products for your needs without being locked into a
specific brand. An ONVIF conformant video management software, for instance,
will allow you to integrate ONVIF conformant devices from different hardware
manufacturers. With software that supports both ONVIF and proprietary
application programming interfaces (APIs), you can choose to use the ONVIF
interfaces for certain functionalities and the proprietary API for other
features at the same time. Having ONVIF conformant products is like having an
insurance policy that future-proofs your system for a more secure investment.
ONVIF offers thousands of conformant
products from different vendors that support one or more.
ONVIF Benefits for System
Integrators/Specifiers:
- Greater product choice
- Assured interoperability
- Easier integration
ONVIF conformant products allow
you to create a flexible, cost-effective and future-proof system. ONVIF enables
you to choose optimal products from different vendors. The conformant products
allow you to be confident in their interoperability and makes integration of
products from different vendors easier. The interoperable functionalities are
determined by a conformant product’s ONVIF profile(s).
Please share this handy
guide to all consultant, System integrator & customers. After reading this guide
if you ask any of them, what would make your life easier? They’ll likely
reply with open source integration of systems. Well, it’s been some time coming,
but it looks like that wish is becoming more of a reality these days.