Ex-Avigilon Exec Backs Network Outage Prediction Startup (Optigo)

By Brian Karas, Published Apr 01, 2016, 12:43pm EDT (Info+)

Ex Avigilon VP of Engineering Danny Kam [link no longer available] is putting his support behind networking startup Optigo.

Networking monitoring and analytics tools that can plot trends or send alerts on failed devices have been around for decades.  Optigo Networks is building upon this concept by adding a neural network element to not just alert when a device is down, but notify operators before the device actually fails.

We spoke with Danny Kam, and Optigo's CEO Ping Yao [link no longer available] about this idea and examine it's merit for security and IoT devices.

Optigo **********

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Target *********

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Comments (15)

Undisclosed #1

IPVMU Certified | 04/01/16 07:50pm

Optigo Networks is building upon this concept by adding a neural network element to not just alert when a device is down, but notify operators before the device actually fails.

This sounds cool.

Besides the power draw thing, did they give any other examples of when they predict the failure of a device that is still working?

Sounds a bit tricky. Sure you can take a look at it but if it's working then what? Return it to vendor with a predictive failure tag?

btw, others have grappled with this conundrum, for instance who can forget when HAL predicted the impending failure of a gyro in 2001:

...Hal reported that, "I've just picked up a fault in the AE-35 unit. It is going to go 100 percent failure within 72 hours." .... Bowman replaced the malfunctioning unit, and returned where he carried out extensive diagnostics. Despite this, they could not find anything wrong with the supposedly faulty unit. Hal, however, stated that this was because of human error. He suggested that the malfunctioning unit be put back in operation and allow it to fail.

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Itamar Kerbel

04/02/16 05:42am

Interesting. But as I understand they are not just aiming to the VMS market but to any market that has a big network to manage and as you wrote there is a LOT of competition out there.

I like the idea of integrating into the ACC and was actually surprised to read it since AFAIK there is no Avigilon SDK that allows the developer to integrate into the ACC.

Upon closer look in OPTIGO website I saw that the integration is done via browser window, which suggests that the picture here is a mock up.

Still a nice idea and implementation.

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Undisclosed #1

IPVMU Certified | 04/02/16 07:12am

...AFAIK there is no Avigilon SDK that allows the developer to integrate into the ACC.

Danny Kam is no ordinary developer.

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Michael Miller

04/02/16 03:18pm

@Itamar Kerbel Avigilon does have a SDK and you can find out more about it in the partner portal.

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Undisclosed #1

IPVMU Certified | In reply to Michael Miller | 04/02/16 05:29pm

Does this look up-to-date, Michael?

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Itamar Kerbel

04/03/16 04:33am

I've been working with the latest sdk and it does look updated.

Still you cannot manipulate the inside of the acc. And the part of the events is not accurate.

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Undisclosed #1

IPVMU Certified | In reply to Itamar Kerbel | 04/03/16 05:00am

Does this not work?

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Itamar Kerbel

04/03/16 05:17am

The only way to do that is to use the embedded Web browser in the acc.

This means that you have to develop a Web based software and open a window to it from the acc.

This is exactly what optigo did...

If someone knows I'm wrong please correct me.

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Undisclosed #1

IPVMU Certified | In reply to Itamar Kerbel | 04/03/16 06:05am

... I saw that the integration is done via browser window, which suggests that the picture here is a mock up.

So by mock up, do you mean photoshopped, or?

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Itamar Kerbel

04/03/16 06:24am

Yes. Since I don't see the browser controls.

See here:

http://www.optigo.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Avigilon.png

You can see the browser controls in optigo pane.

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Undisclosed #1

IPVMU Certified | In reply to Itamar Kerbel | 04/03/16 03:56pm

You have a point, Itamar. I also see the browser controls in the videos. Also, I can't find the still image in question on their site or on the Internet in general. Perhaps it was provided to IPVM directly?

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Itamar Kerbel

In reply to Undisclosed #1 | 04/03/16 07:03pm

If you go to the article and look at the image. Then right click on it and select "view image" (at least in firefox) you'll get the image in full resolution. Enlarge it to 100% and look carefully behind the Optigo panels, you'll be able to see the regular Avigilon panels with images in them. Meaning the Optigo panes were pasted over a screenshot of Avigilon.

That said. I don't want this to imply that I criticize this method since its only meant to pass a point and not prove anything. Also the end result is pretty close and only SDK geeks (hence me) would notice the difference :)

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Undisclosed #2

In reply to Itamar Kerbel | 04/03/16 07:15pm

Itamar,

The way I see it

They pull info from server and display inside browser

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Pook-Ping Yao

In reply to Undisclosed #2 | 04/04/16 03:36am

Shalom and hello Itamar. And hello everyone,

My name is Ping, CEO of Optigo Networks. First, thank you very much for the interest and the great comments.

I confirm that we are using the ACC SDK for integration with the ACC server, and using the built-in webpage feature to display in the ACC client. You are also correct that the picture in the original article is a mock up. This must have been pulled out of an old document. As you pointed out, the image on our website is up-to-date and real with absolutely no touch ups. We would love to do more advanced integration with the ACC client, but as you said, this is not possible... for now.

Now, regarding "lots of competition", this is true from a monitoring technology and concept point-of-view. However, I will dare to say that Optigo is much more than just health monitoring. We offer a solution to really bridge the gap between IP networking and physical security. What I mean is that we are not just looking at features, but also how the product is to be used. We strongly believe that the key is simplicity, visibility and integration. That is, we aim to provide a product that is
- simple to use (who wants to setup 1000 rules?),
- provides end-to-end visibility in the system (what's happening in the middle?),
- and needs to be part of the existing workflow (who wants another dashboard?).

I hope this helps. Please do not hesitate to contact us at sales@optigo.net for more information, especially if you'll be at ISC West.

Again, thank you.

Ping

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Brian Karas

IPVM | 04/20/17 12:53pm

UPDATE:

Optigo has moved this project to low priority status. In a conversation with the CEO, he said that while customers liked the idea, they had trouble finding a price point that made it valuable to customers, and worth investing continual time on. They claim their network switch business has gained greater interest and revenue, and that is where the company is focusing engineering and sales efforts. They may return to developing Insight in the future, and are moving some of the top features of Insight into their managed switches.

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