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BRS RMR Reseller + BRS CEO Speaks To IPVM

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Shaun Castillo
Mar 20, 2014
IPVMU Certified

Here's a new campaign from BRS Labs. Are you going to join?

http://www.brslabs.com/resellers

BRS Reseller Invitation

JH
John Honovich
Mar 20, 2014
IPVM

Seriously, stop it!! :)

This is the 4th notice I've gotten for this in the last hour. Evidently, it's hot news!

BRS is out of control - first it was huge military projects, now they've flipped completely the other way. Everyone loves RMR!

U
Undisclosed #1
Mar 20, 2014

It learns, you earns!

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Brian Rhodes
Mar 20, 2014
IPVMU Certified

They already know who is going to sign up anyway.

MI
Matt Ion
Mar 20, 2014

"Why do they have to advertise for psychic fairs? Shouldn't you just KNOW?"

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Ari Erenthal
Mar 21, 2014
Chesapeake & Midlantic

This milk smells... off.

JH
Jim Hall
Mar 22, 2014

and in a dirty glass... ;)

RD
Ray Davis
Apr 21, 2014

You guys are true idiots. You hang out in these blogs and spout nonsense that makes you feel good about yourselves. If you are playing on these blogs you probably don't have a decent job. I'm here doing research and came across this silliness. Just writing this makes me sick for the waisted effort. I'd offer you meaningful employment but I don't want too, and as CEO I can hire the very best of the best, oh wait, I have!

JH
John Honovich
Apr 21, 2014
IPVM

Ray Davis, CEO of BRS Labs, thanks for commenting.

While you are here, use this as an opportunity to educate us. Serious question - if you were making hundreds of millions with huge government contracts, why this big new effort to sell to homes and small businesses?

Background for other readers - BRS Labs Financials and Future Examined and BRS Layoffs and New Strategic Direction

RD
Ray Davis
Apr 21, 2014

Have you ever seen an company that had monetized its investments in technology that DID NOT move that technology into other markets? This is Business 101. We own 12.5% of the Video Software Market, 60% of the Video Analytics Market (these number are based on gross dollar sales and indisputable based on your own past reports) and that is by selling our product as an Enterprise only platform which has never sold for less that $1.6 Million to any site. Now that we have increased or camera/server count from 24 per server to 800 per server we can sell the platform in other forms to hit the rest of the VA Market (i.e. SaaS and Cloud). But wait, there's more! Since cameras are only sensors to us (AISight) the BRS Platform now works on SCADA, InfoTech, Big data, and so on. It's called monetizing your investment. Some would call it world domination but those would be our competitors that did not attend tier one Universities like Dartmouth.

JH
John Honovich
Apr 21, 2014
IPVM

Thanks, Ray. What size are you estimating the video analytics market is?

RD
Ray Davis
Apr 21, 2014

Reports show $200mm in 2013, by applying the generally accepted Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) reported in most journals it will grow to $836mm by YE 2016. That’s the Video Surveillance SOFTWARE MARKET; in which we reside. That is too small to make any money off of! We have grown this market and will contribute to its future growth by selling VERY high-end surveillance systems as we have in the past (+$1mm deals only). But to really affect growth we have to apply our "reason based" model to other parts of the market (i.e. SaaS and Cloud) in which we will be able to attract the commodity sales figures everyone expected from this market but never realized due to its legacy issues.

Since we are asking serious questions, John, maybe you will answer one for me. I’ve met you and have had great conversations with you on the phone; members of my staff have met you and members of your staff. We have demoed the system at trade shows to you and yours. Each time you (or your staff) left those meeting giving the impression that you were satisfied and you “got it”. Unfortunately you then publish some kind of “hate mail” towards BRS. Why is it that you continue to denigrate BRS and AISight when we are simply trying to bring technology that works to an industry so poorly serviced? And you know what I mean by poorly serviced! We sold and deployed over $25mm worth of licenses last year. That’s more than any other VA has done in their entire existence. We must be doing something right in someone’s eyes. You and I know that NO ONE spends a million dollars on VA these days without a blood signature. We have never sold a system without first going through an extensive ‘Proof of Concept’ phase. Our clients all communicate with each other and yes, someone from time to time has a problem; but we never loose a client because we never allow an issue to go unresolved.

Maybe I’m asking too much but it seems like we all (everyone in video surveillance) will benefit from the commoditization of a system that has been purchased, installed and used by entire countries, much less our own three letter agencies.

JH
John Honovich
Apr 22, 2014
IPVM

"I’ve met you and have had great conversations with you on the phone; members of my staff have met you and members of your staff. We have demoed the system at trade shows to you and yours. Each time you (or your staff) left those meeting giving the impression that you were satisfied and you “got it”

First, let me say I appreciate you asking the question.

I am not sure, though, why you would get the impression that we were 'satisfied'. Literally, the last time we talked you threated to sue us for reporting on your financial information (e.g., 2011 annual revenue under $800,000). If you forgot, here is your attorney's Cease and Desist Letter from less than a year ago.

As a general pattern, we are very skeptical of companies who make big claims and then under-deliver on them. We are also skeptical of companies who raise huge amounts of money in the video surveillance market. Both of these negative signs and have been demonstrated by BRS Labs.

We are also skeptical of companies where we get few, if any, positive reports from integrators on the technology itself. And as acknowledge yourself below ('I would like to thank you for the free press. Quite a few of the 285 new resellers that have signed up have come from your hyperlink"), a lot of industry people read and comment on IPVM.

There are other concerns as Shaun has already laid out below, including the sales team turnover (Alfredo, Hobby, Luis, Bruce, etc.). and the cost of the product.

Finally, as you can read across IPVM, we are bearish on VSaaS, across the board and especially when it requires integrates with existing 3rd party systems.

We can certainly be convinced others and we regularly give positive technical reviews to companies who we are not 'friendly' with, such as Avigilon.

You have a cloud offering, let's connect it to our PA office and give it a run.

Ray, are you up for IPVM testing AISight?

RW
Rukmini Wilson
Apr 22, 2014

Each time you (or your staff) left those meeting giving the impression that you were satisfied and you “got it”.

Just a simple observation Mr. Davis: As a CEO of a technology company in charge of a sizeable 'war chest', I'm sure you have been to countless demos of products, both with and without merit. Often one does not know which until the Q&A session begins. Think back to one where a claim was made that seemed 'over the top', you asked 'How?', you were told xyz, you said "No really, how?", you were then told wxyz. After a couple back and forth of these, you eventually 'get it' in the sense of you know what they are claiming and then move on. You don't just repeat 'But that's BS and you know it!". Not at least if you want to extract something meaningful out of the meeting. Also, when someone defending a specious claim, the argument inevitably lands on a fact that cannot be ascertained at that moment like, 'The DOD is actually ramping up spending on abc", you tenatively agree until later you confirm BS.

These and many other like scenarios play out everyday because as humans we like to have a modicum of civility when possible. Good salesmen on the other hand can spot when a prospect tires of reformulating the same question, and at the very least not be so sanguine after the encounter. Next time bring one of your 'very best of the very best' or at least one of the 'very, very best of the pretty good' to the meeting and just have them listen. Maybe they'll 'get it'.

RD
Ray Davis
Apr 21, 2014

BTW, I would like to thank you for the free press. Quite a few of the 285 new resellers that have signed up have come from your hyperlink at the top of this blog. They will take the Online Training Course and be 'certified' soon to start selling AISight to their existing customer base (what I like to call: 'The Masses'). RMR IS a very strong issue with them. They wake every day needing to cover their expenses day after day. Hanging cameras, running cable, selling DVRs is a one-time sale except for the occasional maintenance call. BRS allows them to sell AISight to any of their customers, regardless of size, and make recurring revenue on every camera they sell in the future and every camera they have sold to date. We sell each “channel license” to them at a wholesale price and they sell it to their customers at a price their individual vertical market will bare. We charge the reseller $xx per month per camera and they charge their customer $yy per month; the difference is their monthly profit.

I truly hope I’ve helped answer your questions; I can see by the delay in your response to my last post that you are uncomfortable with making a public statement. That’s all right with me. I’m a businessperson - have been longer than you’ve been alive; I can take the silly posts as uninformed members of your society. I do, however, wish it were otherwise!

JH
John Honovich
Apr 22, 2014
IPVM

"I can see by the delay in your response to my last post that you are uncomfortable with making a public statement."

Ray, it has been less than two hours. I was at lunch. I have some reports to edit/review now, but I will give you a full response later today.

Avatar
Shaun Castillo
Apr 22, 2014
IPVMU Certified

Ray,

I am no graduate of Dartmouth and have only drank a beer on Wall Street, but I did graduate from West Point and lead troops in combat. I have also owned and operated a security integration company for the last 9 years. Though I admit bias, I believe that my company and I are pretty darn good at what we do. I spend time on IPVM because the knowledge contained in these pages allows me to better serve our employees and our customers, not because I'm an idoit or an uninformed member of John's society. Some question John's methods, but you can't argue that his tactics often generate information that you aren't going to get from one of the traditional security industry periodicals. I hope that his tactics and my questions below generate some of that information from you.

I have spent a great deal of time with BRS Labs. We have an AISight server running in our server room down the hall from where I am typing this post. We signed on as a BRS channel partner back when Chris Peterson started the program. I personnally completed one of your first integrator training classes. I have worked extensively with several folks from your company to sell your products, to include co-hosting meetings in your Houston offices. I actaully believe that AISight can help organizations manage tons of video with fewer people. However, I don't believe--and our sales efforts have proven--that the bulk of the security consumers in our Houston, Texas market can afford your product as it has been sold over the past 4 years. I'd be surprised if you weren't well aware of the proofs of concept you have done here that haven't resulted in purchase orders.

The above said, please answer the following questions:

  1. You have recently let go of your entire sales team (with one exception, I believe). I took the same action about 2 years ago. Why did you make your business decision to rebuild the sales team? I'm interested in whether or not you believed it was the sales force or the model or both.
  2. From your threads above, I get the impression that you will focus on only the major systems and small, RMR-type cloud solutions withinin the security market. Is this correct? Do you at all intend on targeting the mid-size businesses that own and manage their security systems and have too much video to send to the cloud?
  3. You are moving the technology to other markets, a move with which I agree (if you can handle video, you can handle SCADA information easily). Do you foresee the security component of your company becoming a much smaller segment than SCADA, big data, etc.?
  4. I know that your algorithms require quite a bit of horsepower to analyze the video streams. However, do you think AISight's machine learning engine will ever run as an application embedded on a camera, industrial mini-server, etc.?
  5. There are several companies that have entered the RMR/analytics market recently (e.g. Thrive Intelligence which was acquired by Universal Services of America). I have experience with some of those companies and know that their approach is to beat competitors on cost. How will you differentiate BRS's SaaS/Cloud solution from those low-cost alternatives?

Thank you for your time,

Shaun Castillo

shauncastillo@pref-tech.com

RD
Ray Davis
Apr 24, 2014

Shaun,

Thanks for your questions. As a reseller you have this information readily available but I appreciate the opportunity to post it here. However, this will be my last post as this has become a marketing link and BRS has strict policies against public discussions. Far be it from me to violate one of our cardinal rules. So, please, accept my apologies for not engaging further.

Q 1) You have recently let go of your entire sales team …

A 1) I won’t go in to the reasons we fire people. We made a change and I’m very happy with the results. There was no change in direction when this staff modification occurred. That being said; the new staff, the retained staff, and the future staff (we expect to hire 10 additional sales members by EOY) are and must be able to sell disruptive technology to governments, large corporate enterprise, SMBs, and residential through channel partners.

I will say this; there is no way a company can achieve exponential growth by selling direct. Resellers and channel partners are essential to the success of any company in this business. If there has been any noticeable change reflected by our modifications in staffing, it would be that current staff embraces that concept.

Q2) From your threads above, I get the impression that you will focus on only the major systems and small, RMR-type cloud solutions within the security market…

A2) We sell AISight to all size companies, individuals, and governments. AISight is not only a video product; it monitors and analyzes any and all sensory data from SCADA, InfoSec, big data, and Video. It is available in three sales models but the product is the same for everyone; Enterprise sales (all up front), SaaS (on-site but leased), and Cloud (no hardware or software costs, just a monthly fee per camera/sensor and an IP address for each). For those that have lower bandwidth; an edge appliance 1”x1”x4” is available.

Q3) You are moving the technology to other markets, a move with which I agree (if you can handle video, you can handle SCADA information easily). Do you foresee the security component of your company becoming a much smaller segment than SCADA, big data, etc.?

A3) I answered the first part of your question prematurely in A2 but as for the market size; Video software will be a $0.8b market in two years. SCADA Oil and Gas will reach$1.4b, SCADA power will reach $4b and SCADA water will reach $0.7b in the same period. We expect our market to grow correspondingly.

Q4) I know that your algorithms require quite a bit of horsepower to analyze the video streams. However, do you think AISight's machine learning engine will ever run as an application embedded on a camera, industrial mini-server, etc.?

A4) AISight can be configured (although out of the box it accommodates 99% of our users) to run on a distributed model. We can put the AE (Analysis Engine) in a very small appliance on the edge and the MLE (Machine Learning Engine) on the server. With everything on the server we have increased or camera counts per server from 24 cameras per server to 800 cameras per server. If the AE is moved to the edge, whether in the camera or the appliance; the camera/server ratio breaks 4k per server. SCADA can also handle many thousands of sensors per server. A server costs less that $10k and mounts in a standard 4u rack.

Q5) There are several companies that have entered the RMR/analytics … their approach is to beat competitors on cost. How will you differentiate BRS's SaaS/Cloud solution from those low-cost alternatives?

A5) Everyone in the VA market has attempted to compete based on cost. This is the primary reason the industry has done so poorly. AISight currently monitors entire countries, military installations, and soft and hard targets around the world. The Republican Convention, sporting events and venues like the upcoming World Cup rely on AISight’s extreme capabilities to prevent incidents from escalating. It would be a crime to offer the residential and SMB user less that we provide eastern, mid-eastern, Pan-American and EU entities. AISight comes in one strength only; FULL. The price is reflective, however with the new economies of scale both from new camera/server ratios and owning our own Cloud deployments; the price for AISight in the cloud is very competitive!

Thank you John for the opportunity and forum to post my thoughts and thanks to everyone for your interests. I hereby retract my original curt comment regarding "wasting time." It seems, given the proper atmosphere, constructive conversation can be informative. Find more info on our "just released" website: brslabs.com

Ray Davis, Chief Executive

Behavioral Recognition Systems, Inc. (BRS Labs)

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Shaun Castillo
Apr 24, 2014
IPVMU Certified

Ray,

I appreciate your informative answers. I'm sure others do as well. Thank you for taking the time...

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