Pricing Special to Steal Customers from Milestone and OnSSI

•Published Dec 26, 2009 00:00 AM

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Video Insight, a US based VMS provider, has launched an interesting program to steal customers from larger rivals, including Milestone and OnSSI who they reference by name.

Their "Competitive Upgrade [link no longer available]" programs offer camera licenses for $50 per channel "when [they] replace [their] existing IP camera software with Video Insight." After the first year, their software maintenance fee [link no longer available] of $40 per year per camera will apply.

That's the most aggressive public pricing attack I have seen amongst VMS rivals.

I am not sure how many users will switch, even if the customer is unhappy simply because of the logistical burden of switching systems. However, at $50 for a camera license, VideoInsight has priced it at roughly the level of annual VMS support which certainly reduces up front expenditure as a factor. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and if price competition accelerates as the VMS market matures.