Milestone / OnSSI Break Up, Go To War

In the long run (2-4 years), Milestone is likely to win. However, I do not think OnSSI will lose many customers through this transition to Ocularis 5.0.

In order for a significant loss of OnSSI business to occur quickly, that would require Milestone and Milestone Integrators/Resellers to work in unison (and immediately) to target OnSSI with a full court press.

I just don't see the leadership for that level of coordination to happen in the current Milestone climate.

The Ocularis 5.x seems to be a new VMS all together from 4.X. Event linking, etc. We have Milestone servers and transitioning to a new structure because clients hear there is a NEW version of Ocularis is daunting.

Is the motivation for these companies to develop a product that makes logical sense and user friendly or is motivation to make "their" VMS unique from other companies purely to be unique without any real world application?

Is there a "compare feature chart" of new features from previous releases.

OnSSI will lose this battle, they already are, I see it first hand. The 5.0 software is horrific when it comes to motion detection and we have found several issues that are now considered "bugs" that they are "working on". Issues such as motion events not being captured and cameras that simply do not show up in 5.0 when they worked fine in 4.x. Add to this very poor customer service over the past 12 months or so and you have a recipe for clients to defect.

Let me ask you, do you know what it takes to go to 5.0? You do realize it is a total reconfiguration of the platform, not a simple "upgrade", right? Tell a client with 400 cameras on 6 servers that you need a 160 or so hours in labor to convert them and watch the look on their face. Then tell them they need to have enough space on the storage to hold the amount of video for their retention policy plus the new video from 5.0 until the retention policy video expires. Finally tell them when you are all done that thier motion detection will likely not work until 5.1 is out and even then I would be skeptical based on past experience.

They all say the same thing. If I have to have the pain and expense of a reconfiguration I should look at the other options that are out there to ensure I am making the right decision. I can't see OnSSI weathering the storm.

Good catch John, that is what they say, but we have not actually ran that scenario. We have had enough issues converting small systems that we are very gun shy on just taking their word. We would have to run that scenario in the lab not on a production systems and have not had the resources free to do it (thats why we love IPVM).

Also we have OnSSI reps telling our clients not to go to 5.0, as it has issues, and now my clients are asking me "do ONSSI people talk to each other" as they now hear that they have to go to 5.0 for anything new. I have lost alot of faith in OnSSI and I was one of their biggest flag wavers over the past few years.

We are the largest OnSSi dealer in our state and have done a few 5.0 conversions already. Here is the deal... In short term, Onssi 5.0 is bad... Real bad. BUT, If they can make the fixes with 5.1, in my opinion it has great potential.

Pros:

No need for live drives decreasing storage costs

Cost

Easier to quote

Doesn't link mac address to camera.

Cons:

No audio support

No mobile app

Motion as stated above

OnSSi has one shot to get it right with 5.1. They are at a fork in the road right now where they can flop or shine.

My $.02