Taser Aims To Be Emerging VSaaS Powerhouse
Author: Brian Karas, Published on Mar 01, 2016
Login to read this IPVM report.
Why do I need to log in?
IPVM conducts unique testing and research funded by member's payments enabling us to offer the most independent, accurate and in-depth information.
Related Reports
The Fastest Growing Video Surveillance Sales Organization Ever - Verkada
on Apr 17, 2019
Verkada has the fastest growing video surveillance sales organization ever.
In less than 2 years, they already have more salespeople in the US...
Strong ISC West 2019 For Manufacturers But Concerns For 2020 March Move
on Apr 16, 2019
ISC West 2019 was strong for manufacturers, according to new IPVM survey results of 100+ manufacturers, consistent with 2018 results.
However,...
Alarm.com Favorability Results 2019
on Apr 15, 2019
The once dot com startup has evolved to become a core provider for home security and is now expanding into commercial.
In their first entry in...
UK Camera Commissioner Calls for Regulating Facial Recognition
on Apr 15, 2019
IPVM interviewed Tony Porter, the UK’s surveillance camera commissioner after he recently called for regulations on facial recognition in the...
ISC West 2019 Report
on Apr 12, 2019
The IPVM team has finished at the Sands looking at what companies are offering and how they are changing their positioning.
See below for 50+...
UK Installer CCTV Aware - Flat Pricing, No Salespeople
on Apr 10, 2019
This is a different kind of company.
They do flat pricing, they do not have any salespeople and 50% of their sales are sold and booked...
Startup iryx Launches, Led by Ex-Arecont and FLIR Executives
on Apr 04, 2019
Suddenly, the video surveillance industry is witnessing a new wave of startups.
Now launching is iryx, a startup led by veterans of 2 of the...
Airship VMS Profile
on Apr 03, 2019
Airship has been developing VMS software for over 10 years, however, with no outside investment, and minimal marketing, the company is not well...
Dahua Favorability Results 2019
on Apr 01, 2019
Dahua favorability declined, in IPVM's 2019 integrator favorability series, driven by their backdoors, resulting in mass hacking and US government...
Bezos-Funded Deep Sentinel Tested
on Mar 28, 2019
Backed by Jeff Bezos, the Silicon Valley startup, Deep Sentinel, has declared:
No One Does Home Security Like We Do
Our Surveillance Team has...
Most Recent Industry Reports
Access Control Course Spring 2019 - Last Chance
on Apr 19, 2019
This is the last chance to register for the Spring Access Control Course.
IPVM offers the most comprehensive access control course in the...
Riser vs Plenum Cabling Explained
on Apr 18, 2019
You could be spending twice as much for cable as you need. The difference between 'plenum' rated cable and 'riser' rated cable is subtle, but the...
Verint Victimized By Ransomware
on Apr 18, 2019
Verint, which is best known in the physical security industry for video surveillance but has built a sizeable cybersecurity business as well, was...
Milestone Drops IFSEC
on Apr 18, 2019
Milestone has dropped out of Europe's largest annual security trade show (IFSEC 2019), telling IPVM that they "have found that IFSEC in EMEA no...
The Fastest Growing Video Surveillance Sales Organization Ever - Verkada
on Apr 17, 2019
Verkada has the fastest growing video surveillance sales organization ever.
In less than 2 years, they already have more salespeople in the US...
Door Operators Access Control Tutorial
on Apr 17, 2019
Doors equipped with door operators, specialty devices that automate opening and closing, tend to be quite complex.
The mechanisms needed to...
Securadyne CEO: IPVM 'Entertaining For An Ignorant Few'
on Apr 16, 2019
Securadyne's CEO Carey Boethel is unhappy with IPVM's report - Failed Integrator Rollup, Securadyne Sells to Guard Giant Allied.
Indeed, he...
Dahua Repositionable IR Multi-Imager Camera Tested
on Apr 16, 2019
Dahua has released their first repositionable multi-imager camera, the Multi-Flex 4x2MP, claiming integrated IR, true WDR, and flexible...
Strong ISC West 2019 For Manufacturers But Concerns For 2020 March Move
on Apr 16, 2019
ISC West 2019 was strong for manufacturers, according to new IPVM survey results of 100+ manufacturers, consistent with 2018 results.
However,...
Axis Supports HD Analog
on Apr 15, 2019
In 2017, Axis declared 'Everything is IP':
Now, in 2019, Axis has released support for HD analog, with their new encoders.
Why the change?...
The world's leading video surveillance information source, IPVM provides the best reporting, testing and training for 10,000+ members globally. Dedicated to independent and objective information, we uniquely refuse any and all advertisements, sponsorship and consulting from manufacturers.
Comments (26)
Konstantin Avramenko
Thank you for the interesting article. Are there any gov regulations (i.e. restrictions) in US regarding the usage of "cloud" services for the storing sensitive information? Does the vendor have to comply to specified requirements from the point of security, encryption etc.?
Create New Topic
Undisclosed #1
Strange company.
Even in the gun business their cost of goods = sales expense.
Who wants a third of the money they use to buy a product to be spent on selling them more?
Create New Topic
Paul Grefenstette
I sat through a Taser presentation to the Midwest Chief's of Police at the show here in Chicago last year. They hire ex COP's and from what I have heard their body worn camera is solid but it seems it's all about getting that cloud storage offering (evidence.com) and they take a margin hit on the hardware. We approached them to sell the solution as we have done a lot of police stations here in Illinois and have our clients coming to us to help them with this technology but Taser seems happy with selling direct and not using dealers. Anyone else approach them to sell their solution?
Create New Topic
Scott Bradford
Having dealt with the technical and sales engineering side of Law Enforcement for a couple of years, I've found that overwhelmingly Law Enforcement won't go through dealers with ONE exception..... very small towns.
In a small town, where there is usually only one or two dealers in town and the PD is very small, they might not have the technical staff to deploy anything, so they basically 'outsource' it to a dealer. I'd say this is less than 10% of the time.
Most departments are large enough they have an IT staff so they will go direct for whatever they need. Also, it's easier to use GSA, DIR or any other sort of purchasing contract when you go direct, vs going through a dealer.
Law Enforcement is a very close knit community. They ALL talk to each other. Once you get in good with one, you're in with another. Word of mouth and reputation is EVERYTHING with them.
Taser is THE name in the field. They have been pushing the cloud stuff since the beginning. They are under some pressure from the Chinese knock offs, but that's mostly from the small to medium size PD's that don't have the funds. You won't see LAPD with a body cam from AEE most likely. Some smaller PD's are asking their officers to buy their own body cams, or they are doing it on their own.
Just like with anything else, it's a matter of scale. The change over process with the body cams gets logistically harder the more units that you have. If you've got 2,000 cops, you couldn't manually offload them all fast enough. The original Taser unit I saw was very slick... the USB port was built into the charger. You drop it in like it's a 2 way radio and it takes care of the rest. Slick idea.
I do wonder what sort of chain of custody and encryption there is on that transfer though... Interview room systems have very specific, technical requirements to be admissible.
You also have an issue of the end user interface for retrieving that data. If you just had 100 self contained recording units that you were manually offloading and putting into a NAS, how in the world are you going to go back to a specific unit to a specific officer (if everyone is sharing) to a specific date/time. In car systems have the same situation. The hardware might not be that special, but the back end needs to be able to handle a million different situations and be usable for it to be of any value. Sticking a $30 dash cam in a police car might 'work' but it's not 'usable'
Create New Topic
Paul Grefenstette
Scott,
I disagree with you about large departments not using security dealers but maybe you are just talking about body worn but maybe thats the only way they have been sold.
Create New Topic
Scott Bradford
Paul,
That's been my experience, but it's certainly not a given or a rule. I suppose it depend on what they are looking for. We all know that some products are only sold through distribution and some are sold direct.
Some of the body cameras I dealt with were not sold directly.. at least at first..
They ended up shifting to a direct sales model, which naturally annoyed the distributors.
Create New Topic
Undisclosed #1
Point of integration:
Using Taser the weapon can automatically trigger Taser the camera.
Create New Topic
Undisclosed Manufacturer #3
Taser clearly has the relationships because the solution makes no sense. Taser offers data packages which can cost more than $1,000 per year per device using evidence.com. Over a 3-5 year life that is $3,000 - $5,000 plus the cost of equipment and internet.
Brian is on target with how can you justify the cost of an under $300 hard drive vs. cloud ($3,000+). The costs are not only for the cloud but the cost of Internet service to upload the data to the cloud. A 10x higher cost for what perceived value?
The camera is a standard def camera with no display to see what you are recording. Another device such as a smartphone is required, which further increases costs as an officer needs to be outfitted with a smartphone and those recurring costs.
Credit has to be given to Taser who has managed to own the market. Think of what you get with a GoPro in terms of high definition and capabilities. In fact, the majority of the Body Cams are using Ambarella the GoPro provider.
There are lower cost alternatives with more functionality and usefulness which can work on local storage with no recurring revenues. The challenge is getting the attention of the end user who have long and intimate relationships with Taser and now Motorola.
The Motorola advantage is the integration with the radio which each and every officer carry. One device with one PTT.
Create New Topic
Undisclosed Manufacturer #3
The biggest problem for any company breaking in which comes back to the "appearances" is there is little to no chance. In researching many of these opportunities "all" of them require several years past performance with law enforcement agencies and minimum of 100s of cameras deployed, etc. Basically, no one can comply other than Taser and a couple of others.
There have been other solutions available which are better in terms of usability and video quality but no capability to break the old boys network.
Create New Topic