Avigilon Analytic Cameras Released

Just weeks after discontinuing VideoIQ's products, Avigilon has released their own analytic embedded cameras.

In this note, we answer:

• How do the new Avigilon cameras compare to VideoIQ's?
• How does this impact Avigilon's competitive positioning?
• How does this compare to rival analytic offerings?

VideoIQ Camera

Previously, if you wanted a VideoIQ camera, you could get whatever you wanted as long as you accepted a huge, ugly dome camera. VideoIQ, despite its favorite status, had just one camera - the ICVR HD [link no longer available].

The VideoIQ camera was designed to support an integrated hard drive. Though that sounds bizarre to most, it reflected VideoIQ's VC play that they could deliver an 'integrated camera recorder' that would eliminate traditional NVRs / recorders. Obviously, that has not happened.

Avigilon New Analytic Cameras

Avigilon H3 analytic cameras will have 6 models - 3 boxes and 3 domes, with 1MP, 2MP and 3MP options. None of the cameras will have built in hard drives.

This is much better lineup that what VideoIQ had, since it reduces the size of the cameras, and offers many more options.

Pricing

MSRP pricing is estimated at $900 to $1200, far less than the street pricing of VideoIQ ICVR HD which cost a steep ~$2,000.

3rd Party Integration

Whether, and how these cameras will be supported by 3rd party VMSes is a key question. The announcement focuses on tight integration with Avigilon's own VMS, which is to be expected. It also mentions that configuration and management will need to be done through Avigilon's VMS.

If Avigilon blocks or hinders 3rd party integration (like they do with their PRO series), we see this as a valuable driver for the company to win larger scale, enterprise projects that value analytics.

Competitive Comparison

The new Avigilon analytic cameras are a significant improvement over the dated and limited VideoIQ offering. Given the lack of new analytic developments, VideoIQ's strong reputation (despite their previous limitations) and these new developments, we believe this is a significant advantage for Avigilon.

'Smart Cameras' where the analytics are pre-loaded, tested and sold as a system reduce cost, complexity and risk. Furthermore, there are few options as most are add-ons (Agent VI, Via:sys, Axis camera applications, etc.) or are server side. The most notable 'smart cameras' are Sightlogix, high end but expensive, and ioimage, who also is releasing new HD models now.