Pelco's New VMS - VideoXpert

By John Honovich, Published Feb 02, 2015, 12:00am EST

Pelco has had multiple VMSes / recorders but none of them have been close to market leaders

Now, Pelco is launching a new VMS, called VideoXpert.

In this note, we share what we learned from an interview with Pelco and our assessment of how this impacts their competitive positioning.

Pelco's ******** *****

** *** ** ****, Pelco's * **** ******* recording ********* **** ******************** ******.

****** *** ******** ** be * ******* ********** end-to-end ********* **** ******. That *************, **** ** the ***** **** ** IP *****, *** ****** to ** * *** approach, ** **** ****, software **** ******* **** gained **** ** *** enterprise ******. ********, ****** has **** ** *** own *********** ********, ** ongoing ****** **** **** even ** *** ***** community (***********, ****, *********) have ********* ** ** repeatedly **** *** *****.

******* ********* **** *** ***** team ****** **** *** Exacq (********). ****** ** had ********* (*******'* **** ******* ** Digital ********** ***** ***), ***** *** not ************ ****** ** enhancing / ********* ** in *** ****** ** so ***** **** ****** it. ******* ** ****, it *** *** **** ** with *** *********** ********* of ***** *** ********* over ****.

New - **********

***, ***** ** ********* an ******** *** ***, called **********, ********* **** they ********* ** ******** [link ** ****** *********] but *** *** ******** announcing ***** *** **** 2015.

***** ** * ******* of **********'* **:

Endura *** ** ** **********

*****'* **** ** * "****** [***] ******* ********" and **** **** "***** *** *** *** previous ****** ** ** retired." *******, ***** **** that **** *** ** a "********** **** *** ** and ******", ********* *** fixes *** *********** **********, and **** ****** *** DS ********* ************. ** *** other ****, *** "******** ** *********** ****** will ** ** *** new ********** ********".

*** ******** ** / Endura *****, ***** ***** for ********* ** ********** over ****, “********** ** an ******* ****.”

VideoXpert's *** ******

********** ** * ******* based *** **** **** be ******* **** ** software **** ******** *** as *** **********.

** ** ******** ** be ** **** ******** and **** ******* *****, etc.

***** **** ** * versions:

  • ************ - ***** ** DS **** ************
  • ********** - ***** ** Endura **** ************
  • ******** - ***** ** '***********', *****'* ******** ** federation ** ******** ******* including ** *** ****** systemsPel

***** **** *** ******* availability ** ***** ****.

Challenges ** *** *****

******** * ******** *** is * ******* **********, given *** ********* ******** of ******** ******* *** features **** ****** ******* have. **** ***** ******** VideoXpert ** **** **** a ****** ************* ** what ** ******** *** does ***.

***** ********** ** ** that ***** *** ********* priority *** * '****** foundation *****' *** **** to *** **** ******** over ****.

*** *** ******* ** that ***** *** *** market ** ** ******, many ***** ****** *** require ******* ******** ******** that *** **** ** break * ******** *** will ******** ** ********* on newly ********** *****.

Other ************* **** *** *****

******** *** ************* ********** new ***** ********* *** precedent. *** *******, ********* Corporate ** * ******** and ***** ******** **** the ******** ********* ********** software, *******, ***** ******* with ******** *** *** has******** ******, *********** ******** **************, ***.

*******, **** **** *** relative ********* ** **** of ***** *****, **** still **** *********** *********** and ******** ***** ** reach *** ***** ** maturity. ** ***** ******, best **** ********, *** same *** *****.

Outlook *** *****'* *** ***

***** ****** *** ** many ******** *** ******* ****** seemed ** ** *********, the ****** ** **** Pelco ** ******* ****** to ******* *** *** offering. *** ********* ** how **** **** ** take *** *** ******** can *** ***** *** VideoXpert ***?

Comments (14)

Undisclosed #1

02/02/15 08:28pm

Did they hint as to whether it was open platform or proprietary?

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Undisclosed #1 | 02/02/15 09:54pm

Yes, it is open platform and will support ONVIF. Pelco also has been very active in the development of ONVIF.

How well and deeply it supports 3rd party cameras remains to be seen when released.

Undisclosed Integrator #2

02/02/15 10:18pm

I'd love to see a company take the best of every VMS (Talk to the end-users) and go about making a VMS that is open to most cameras and one that is intuitive and actually 'fun' to use. I thought Pelco Endura had some good points like easy navigation and clear interface. I really like the system utilities feature also. NX Witness has some great features, and is easy to use right after installation. I've been exposed Honeywell Maxpro VMS, and it's wrought with issues, and Honeywell would do well to investigate other VMSes and see what features are possible, and also realize that basic system stability and playback are the foundation of a great VMS. Exacqvision does an excellent job at packing features into a user-friendly VMS, and Avigilon is fairly easy to use, and does well at viewing multiple sites on one GUI page.

Avatar

Carl Lindgren

02/03/15 07:40pm

Endura and DS will not be discontinued.

Now where have I heard that before?

Sean Patton

02/05/15 02:07am

I think they saw camera manufacturers buying up VMS platforms and figured if they came out with a VMS, some camera manufacturer might buy them too.

It reminds me of a Kodak Smartphone

#TooLittleTooLate

Avatar

Attila Szucs

06/09/16 08:21am

John, will you try the new releases? I'm interested about your opinion about a NON beta version. :)

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Attila Szucs | 06/09/16 11:42am

Yes, we will test it as soon as it is available as software only. Right now, it requires a Pelco NVR appliance / server. Pelco says software only will be available before the end of the year.

Avatar

Attila Szucs

In reply to John Honovich | 06/09/16 11:50am

And why you want test only the SW version?

Bests

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Attila Szucs | 06/09/16 11:52am

(1) Because otherwise that needs we need to get / buy a large Pelco 12 bay server and (2) because most enterprise buyers want software only

Avatar

Attila Szucs

In reply to John Honovich | 06/09/16 12:20pm

I thought for test you can get a free server/client... Sorry

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Attila Szucs | 06/10/16 12:02pm

We might be able to get Pelco to loan us a big server but I am not sure what the point would be considering that software only is not being offered in production. As soon as it is, we will test it.

Undisclosed Manufacturer #3

06/10/16 11:26pm

The challenge is how long will it take and how complete can the Pelco new VideoXpert get?

Do you anticipate that the recent round of layoffs will have a negative impact on time to market and feature comprehensiveness or that the focusing on core technologies will actually speed things up?

In my general experience, layoffs like Pelco's most recent have the net effect of: short term boost to profits; slightly negative impact on short term productivity; indeterminate longer term effect.

The big problem is that since the VMS market is so mature, many users expect and require various advanced features that can make or break a decision yet will unlikely be available on newly itnroduced VMSes.

Do you think there is a white-space opportunity in the VMS market given its maturity? Is there some novel approach or set of features that the existing VMSes have missed? If not, why even bother trying to build it when Pelco can license from or even buy one of the VMS companies?

John Honovich

IPVM | In reply to Undisclosed Manufacturer #3 | 06/11/16 09:57pm

Good questions.

a negative impact on time to market and feature comprehensiveness or that the focusing on core technologies will actually speed things up?

No, I think VideoXpert will not have a negative impact since they are clearly focusing on that. Other things, older products, accessories, etc. probably will and somewhat by design.

Do you think there is a white-space opportunity in the VMS market given its maturity? Is there some novel approach or set of features that the existing VMSes have missed?

Not really, especially since Pelco is pursuing a fairly standard VMS strategy.

If not, why even bother trying to build it when Pelco can license from or even buy one of the VMS companies?

I don't know what Pelco's mindset is here. Maybe they think they are developing something fundamentally novel.

That said, licensing a VMS undermines competitive advantage. It's one thing if you never had it (say DW / NO) but Pelco has had their own VMSes for years.

As for buying a VMS, that certainly is a real option. Again, I don't know Pelco / Schneider's approach here. It gets down to who you want to buy. Pelco would want a true enterprise VMS and there are not a lot of them out there and they would probably be paying a premium for a brand and channel they would not keep.

Avatar

Attila Szucs

In reply to John Honovich | 06/11/16 10:06pm

The reason VX started to be developed, is quiet different. Look on the previous range of VMSes. Yes they wanted some novel features, something fundamentally different. But the main reason was the several different GUI, on several different non-integrated systems, like Endura, DS, the analog recorders, and so on. Buying a Milestone iteration as Sony did, is not the case can happen, with Pelco.

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