Axis Acquires Intercom Manufacturer 2N

Smart move to be honest. 2N make good kit, we have used a lot of Helios IP intercoms. They are well made and last.

do you have any information on how much Axis paid for them?

These statements indicate the two companies' products and sales/marketing teams will merge together into a single management structure, where 2N will likely become an Axis product line.

Do as I say, not as I do...

Does it support audio as well?

since it's onvif compliant, I guess Avigilon can run it...?

We're seeing pretty phenomenal growth in the IP intercom field locally. My guess is that Axis is taking a run at competing against Commend (and to a lesser extent Zenitel). I have been speculating for a while that their entry level intercom units they have been introducing were exploration of the market viability. If they can make a full featured intercom system that is easier to configure than Commend they may be very successful.

By the way, we buy 2N from CSC. It may be a limited regional thing, though.

I believe 2N was weakest in the US, having built the company from their Czech headquarters and into Europe, with only a cursory presence in the US until 9 months ago.

At that time they found a US VP of Sales (previous US VP was out of Czech Republic) in Craig Szmania...who was Interlogix-->Napco-->2N VP of Sales. He found some US Regional Sales Managers and began to get some name recognition. Maybe he helped gain the attention of Axis? Who knows?

Solid product in a growing market. Closer to Commend than Aiphone both in technology and quality. Market isn't growing quickly, but not as slowly as PSIM...(chuckle). Maybe one 2N Intercom is sold for every 1000 IP cams sold--just an educated guess.

Over here in Belgium, 2N is distributed through ADI just as Axis is...

Here's a quick rundown of Axis A8004-VE video intercom and 2N Helios IP Vario video intercom:

In general, 2N is more configurable as an intercom with up to 54 call buttons and options for added access readers, but the Axis unit is more useful as a video unit with higher resolution and more easy integration into viewing/recording systems.

Price: 2N wins here. In basic configuration, the 2N is ~$600, while the Axis is ~$1200.

Intercom: 2N wins here too. Unlike Axis' single call button, 2N features the functions to ring up to 54 routes directly. Both units support SIP and PBX integrations.

Camera: Axis wins on the video piece. 2N features a 640X480 SD board camera with a 55 degree FoV and no IR. Viewing is done via 2N's apps or a few vendors like Bosch VMS. On the other side, Axis features a 1.3MP, 97 degree FoV with built in IRs. Axis also supports ONVIF S or the very popular VAPIX API common to most mainstream recording platforms.

Power: Both are roughly equal, and support either seperate DC power or use PoE.

Housing: Axis edges here. 2N offers IP50 standard or IP53 using a cover bracketing, while Axis is IP67 rated by default.

Integration: Axis wins here for typical surveillance systems. Both offer SIP and PBX, but Axis uses VAPIX already widely supported, while 2N primarily uses it's own software and clients for viewing with limited ONVIF S support on a few models.

@Brian not sure if it has changed but the last time I worked on the 2N units you needed to pay for an "advanced license" to get 3rd party VMS platforms to connect to the camera in the 2N units. Not sure if this has changed or what the cost is anymore.

I think it was to turn on ONVIF support so any VMS would apply. We used Avigilon with the 2N units the customer purchased. This was well over a year ago so maybe things a have changed.

Edit found this:

We've used 2N intercoms with Genetec (Sipelia) very successfully. For the price point, it's a solid product.

2N is a awesome product and with solid US support since Craig took over. We have been installing them for almost three years with no issues and the price point is very solid for what they do. We are quoting out 4 more units this week already. It's a growing market, but you'll find a lot of camera guys don't understand them as you have to have competency in the VOIP world as well as video and network. We've been buying through ABP Tech for years. I had great hopes for 2N moving forward, but 35 years in this business has shown that acquisition by a global player is inevitably not going to benefit the product.

My opinion, 2N was a great purchase. Large legacy companies such as Aiphone, Stentafon and Commend will go away over time, they are being jumped over/leap frogged by these little IP based edge devices. For example with Genetec's SIP solution we can do many of the core features of a Commend or Stentafon end to end solution. Also based upon the fact that there are free or practically free SIP server software solutions available such as Brekeke out there. I am not saying that a "real" end to end solution is not significantly superior but when core features are free, just that we have all seen this pattern before i.e. VMS software, same model. Ask why Aiphone doesn't make a SIP AV intercom end point? They can't get out of their own way, too much baggage to realize the market has gone past them. At the last ACCCCCC, they were clearly going in this direction - intercom/paging but when they saw 2N, I am sure it made sense to purchase them then to continue to develop internally. Opening up these products to their existing distribution channel and workforce I think will make them alot of money.

I think it is a growth market. As the product matures, we are seeing more users want them at gates and main entries as they can connect to their main sip exchange for call routing. Upgrades are continual as the systems evolve. A camera with two-way audio is far from an intercom and typically won't integrate to the exchange for call routing.

I think this is something that requires you to educate the customer first. In my experience most customers have no idea that a VOIP video call box exists as most commercial buildings still have VOIP phones used a intercom stations. I could easily see one intercom per building getting installed for commercial customers. For the healthcare customers I could see a lot of interest IMHO.

I think IP intercoms will gradually replace a lot the traditional units from Aiphone, Linear, Doorking etc. It's a pain and a challenge to run analog interfaces on VOIP systems as most techs don't understand the 40 pages of setup for even a simple Cisco box and it adds another part. They are still valid product, but they don't integrate. It is a small market, but the Chinese are entering wellcam-ipcamera.com. I am seeing growing adoption for larger enterprise clients. The interesting thing is that the traditional VOIP companies don't have one for their systems and folks like Polycom don't make them either. That's were 2N was making inroads I believe. We are using them on Interactive Intelligence exchanges for gates and main building entry. You send audio and in some cases video into their exchange and then let it route and they have remote door/gate control. Then you can also send the video stream to your VMS as well. Granted, 2N's cameras are not that great, but it's a solid unit with good support now that Craig took over in the US and they are priced much better than Stentaphone which has a heavy dealer requirement.

@Toni Alvarez Avigilon connects to the 2N unit and sees it as a camera. You then connect the SIP side of the intercom to your VOIP solution or do direct connection to a VOIP phone.

@ Brian: 2N camera resolution was limited to SD resolution until last year, but now they have camera with HD resolution, 120 FoV and built-in IR. Still, it is only IP 54 rated.

The model I am talking about is called Verso and I specified it for covered multi-storeyed car parking. But they have another model called Force, which is fully rated for outdoor use.