Milestone Ends Development of "Enterprise" VMS

Published Sep 22, 2016 14:19 PM

Milestone 'Enterprise' was one of the first enterprise video management software offerings, selected by many early adopters of IP video.

However, now Milestone is ending development of 'Enterprise' as it shifts its development efforts.

We examined, based on speaking with Milestone, details on what this means for XProtect Enterprise customers, options for migration and how this impacts the overall VMS market.

Two *********

******** ********** (***** **** ******** ** ************, Express *** **********) *** ***** ** *** '********' Milestone *** ********. ****** * ****** ago, ********* ********* * *** ******** (Corporate / ******), ***** *** **** the ******** ** *** ************.

Enterprise *** ***********

**** ********** ***** ********* ** **** ago, many ** *** ******** / ************** decisions ** ****** *** ***********. *** example, ********** **** * ******/***** *********** for ********** ******* ********, ***** ** **** flexible **** ******** ********* **** ********* ************. ********* **** ****** *** ******** servers, ***** ********** **** ***. ** addition, new ******** **** ************ **** **** **** the *********/****** **** (*.*., *** *** *********'* **** *******'* *** ********).

Push ** ********* / ******

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Phase *** ****

*********** **** ******** ********** *** * large ********* ****, *** **** ********* may ** ****** ** ********* ** switch ** * ********* ******** ******* quickly, ********* *** * ***** *** plan **** **** ** **** ** 2022.

******** ********** **** ***** ** **** until **** * ****, ******** ********* to *** ********** ******** ** **** deploy *** ******* ** ***** **** time. ********* **** ** **** ** purchase ******** ********* **** ******** ***** June ** ****, *** **** ** able ** ********* ********** ******* ***** beyond **** **** ** **** **** still *** ******** ** ******* *******.

Bug ***** *** *******

******** *** ******** **** *** ** added, *** ***** *** ******* *** critical ****** **** ** ******** ** necessary ***** ********** ** ***** ***** supported.

Migration ******* *** ******

********* **** **** ************ ******* ******* ********** ** ***** of ********, *** ****** ****** * slight **** ** ** ******** *** functionality, *** **** ********** ***** ****** one ** ***** *** ********* *** a ********* ****. ***** ************ *** offer ******* *************, ***** *********** *** process ** * ********* ***** ****** be ****** ****** ****** ** ******, which ** **** ** *********'* *** codebase.

********* **** * **** **** ************ have *** ********* *******:

  • **** ******* ** ****** **** ******** of * ********** ***** ** **** Plus ** **% ***
  • ******** ***** ***** *********, *** ******** at **% ********

********* ******* **** ****:

  • **** ******* ** ******, **** ******** of * ***** ** **** **** at ******** *****
  • ******** ***** ***** *********, *** ******** at **% ********

***** ****** *** ***** ******* *** end ** ****, ***** ***** ********* can ***** ****** ** *******/*******, *** would ** ** ** ******** *******.

Logical **** *** *********

***** **** ******* *** **********, ********* has **** ***** ***** ******** ** offering, ****** ********* *** *** **** ***. **** ***** **** **** * versions ** ******** ** *, **** 4 ** ***** (*******, ************, ******, Corporate) ***** ** ****** *********. **** is * **** ********** ******* ****** and ****** **** ** ****** *** customers ** **** *** ***** ******* and *** **** *********** **** *******.

 

Competitive ********

********* *** **** ******** ** ***** higher ****** ******, ****** *** *********, for *** **** ******* *****.  **** the ***** *** ** ******* ($**/*******) there ** * *** *** ******* Express *** ****** ($***/*******), ******* ********* exposed ** *** ***-**** ******. **** could ***** ********* *** ***** *** with ********* ** ******* *********** ***** platforms ** **** ******* ***** ******* but ****** ******* *** ***** **** to ******.

 

Comments (14)
UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Sep 22, 2016

What happens if you start with the free GO offering and have 8 camera. When you get camera #9, do you have to buy 9 licences?

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Sep 22, 2016

That should read, what happens when you go from 8 channel "essential" to camera #9. Gotta buy 9 licenses or 1?

Avatar
Brian Karas
Sep 22, 2016
IPVM

The first 8 licenses in Essential are always free. The 9th camera in Essential would cause you to have to purchase a $399/yr subscription, making that 9th camera fairly expensive. Or, you can look at it as $44/camera/year, which still is not a bargain compared to other entry-level VMSes.

CW
Chase Whitten
Sep 22, 2016

The other way to look at it is with 9 cameras with essential it's 399/year but if you were to upgrade to Express for $758 ($69/cam $20/server 13/Care) and $117/year after that, Express becomes cheaper after 2-3 years:

3 years with Essential: $1197
3 year with Express with Care Plus: $992 (9 cameras)

Ess.16 cams / Expr. 9 cams / Expr. 16 cams
--------------------------------------------------------
1yr - $399 / $758 / $1332
2yr - $798 / $875 / $1540
3yr - $1197 / $992 / $1748
4yr - $1596 / $1109 / $1956
5yr - $1995 / $1226 / $2164
6yr - $2394 / $1343 / $2372

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U
Undisclosed #2
Sep 22, 2016
IPVMU Certified

So then what will become of Xprotect Pro?

If its the old codebase, all the same arguments would apply for migration, no?

Corporate outsells Enterprise but how does that compare with Pro?

DD
Dan Droker
Sep 23, 2016
LONG Building Technologies • IPVMU Certified

But, at lower cost than Enterprise and much lower cost that Corporate or Expert, Professional has now inherited most of the differentiating features from Enterprise, such as unlimited server count. And new features continue to be added despite the older codebase.

JH
John Honovich
Sep 23, 2016
IPVM

And new features continue to be added despite the older codebase.

Dan, what features is Professional getting these days? It seems most of th Milestone's new features are Corporate / Expert only (like Milestone VMS Adds H.265, SVQR, RAM Video Optimization and Milestone XProtect 2016 Released).

DD
Dan Droker
Sep 23, 2016
LONG Building Technologies • IPVMU Certified

Many of the new features IPVM has covered are available in Professional as well as the Advanced products. Client hardware decoding, server side hardware usage improvements, ONVIF out, Mobile push notifications, Smart Connect. Release notes here. Since the same client software is used for all versions, I think this helps encourage propagation of client side features to multiple versions.

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Sep 22, 2016

Wow $500 USD per year for a 9 camera system. That's insane. Can you run two Milestone servers with 8 channels each and connect to them at once?

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #3
Sep 22, 2016

Hang on? Its per year licensing for Essential?! What about express?

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #4
Sep 23, 2016

Good info Brian, and this is also a much needed strategy from Milestone. The "Enterprise" product is now increasingly a distraction in that product range, especially with the somewhat misleading name, as either of their Advanced series products (Expert or particularly Corporate) are massively superior for any actual "Enterprise" customer.

As a vendor partner who integrates with Milestone, we tend to avoid sites with large camera networks running an XProtect Enterprise multi-server solution, lots of challenges and lack of supported higher level functions compared with their newer generation Advanced products.

From our selfish perspective, hopefully most of the Enterprise customers take the advantage of the Expert/ Corporate migration offers... good value for what they'll get and much more future-proofed.

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U
Undisclosed #2
Sep 23, 2016
IPVMU Certified

So can anyone take a guess at what the top-selling version of Xprotect is in either # of licenses, # of customers or # of dollars is?

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #5
Sep 27, 2016

I think they should remove the Expert version too and make the video transcoding function available for all paid versions.

Avatar
Gert Molkens
Sep 27, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Small interesting detail for those that have Enterprise and are thinking about upgrading to Expert taking advantage of the promotional offer on that:

You can not keep your Enterprise configuration and import that into Expert is some way. You'll have to rebuild from scratch.

For the integrators: if you convert your customers to Expert and are not advanced certified yet, you'll need to be since Expert and Corporate can only be sold by advanced certified Milestone dealers

Don't get me wrong, i think Expert is the way to go if you currently have Enterprise and the promo offer is a good one. Just felt that these two points should get somle attention as well

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