The New Manufacturer Input System

Published May 13, 2013 00:00 AM
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We are rolling out a new system that makes it easier to get input from manufacturers on new releases and key features, helping the community find solutions and learn more.

What Is It

We have extended IPVM to do two new things:

  • Request for Information: We now can enter a 'request for information', select manufacturers to receive it, and automatically email it out to all. Manufacturers can then reply directly on IPVM, aggregating the results, and allowing us to ask follow up questions, etc. Examples include, "What is your lowest cost outdoor HD camera?" or "What recommendations do you provide for applying OS upgrades for machines running your VMS software?"
  • New Product Releases: Manufacturers can now go on IPVM, answer a series of questions and submit a new product release anytime they want. This will ensure that the submission provides the type of information we need, allowing us to clarify and centrally store the information.

You could certainly do this via email. However, with hundreds of manufacturers and many requests every week, email is neither scaleable nor manageable. Integrating this into IPVM provides a more systematic way to manage and process information.

The Benefits

We can cover a lot more companies and a lot more products by cutting down the complexity and time of simply getting information. This is good for everyone - members get more information, manufacturers get more coverage, we get more posts. We spend a lot of time simply trying to track down information. Automating the process allows us to focus more on analyzing and less on housekeeping.

For Manufacturers

Just send us an email (info@ipvm.com) with who will be your contact. These people will be set up in our databases as 'sources' and will receive emails for new RFIs as well as access to submit new product releases.

For Integrators and Users

If you are looking for a product or solution (like "What's the lowest cost outdoor IP cameras?" or "What decoders support ONVIF?" or "What VMSes support network based video walls?"), we can use the RFI feature to reach out to dozens of manufacturers at once to get a comprehensive review of what options are available.

Questions?

Just let us know in the comments.

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