Read a good blog post today over at Sandhill.com on Meaningful Information by Harold Hambros.  While the post had nothing to do with SaaS, video or MVaaS, his main thesis is squarely in synch with our philosophy at Envysion.

To paraphrase, it states that without a way to provide meaningful data to end-users in a manner that is easy for them to consume, having incredibly rich features and extensive access to data will not create significant value.

Some of my favorite excerpt are:

“what business needs is an interface to its enterprise system that sparks excitement in its target community of human users – excitement in the fact that their work is easier, more enjoyable, that they are more effective, and that the employer is supplying tools that reinforce their belief that they are part of a winning team”

“the true measure of a system’s performance isn’t its raw power, but its efficiency and effectiveness”

“The unfortunate reality is that unless it’s designed to be easy to use, most human beings aren’t capable of figuring out how to make that request in an acceptable amount of time”

One of the biggest differentiators of Envysion’s service versus traditional video surveillance solutions is that our entire business model is focused exactly on this goal: to make meaningful information (in our case relevant video tied to business system data) easily and efficiently available to as many people both within and outside the organization that the company wants to have access.

It’s not about the technology, it’s about empowering people to use technology to create value.

When I hear talk about the virtues of “Software Only” video systems, I kinda think, huh?  Since when is a camera made of software?  I think what is really being talked about are the virtues of a multi-vendor solution as opposed to a single vendor solution.

Multivendor network video systems are a great direction and the wave of the future because they deliver more value to the customer.  They give customers more options to put together solutions which better fit their needs and better prices

Today’s IP video solutions which promote “software only” are really saying, buy your choice of cameras (mix and match for your needs) and your choice of recording hardware (PC’s made by Dell, HP, etc..), and buy your software from us.  That’s a huge leap forward from the analog video surveillance market which has really only had competition on the camera front and locked in customers to buying recording hardware from the same suppliers as the software.

What seems to be taking some time however is the increased cost of the IP cameras is worth the benefits of a multivendor recording solution. It would be great if there were some open standards DVR’s out there, but alas, they don’t seem to exist.  If and when this happens, I can see a lot of value being created for customers as very cost effective DVR’s can be sold as part of a multivendor solution.  Imagine being able to buy whatever DVR suits your needs and cost requirements and being able to link that DVR with the advanced software platforms out there today, such as Milestone, OnSSI and of course, Envysion Video.

Having worked in telecom and enterprise networks for 15 years I strongly believe multivendor networks are often the right thing for the customer.  There are so many things a network needs to deliver that to deliver the “best of breed”, multiple vendors often have to be used.  Of course, there’s the healthy pricing competition that comes along with having more than one vendor bid a solution, and continue to bid upgrades and growth of that system going forward.  As a customer and builder of network solutions, it’s no fun to be locked into a single vendor’s solution.  Price is a huge concern here when the vendor knows how much it will cost the customer to switch vendors.

I am such a geek. To prove it to our sales folks, I used the following “tripartite motto” for the development of Envysion’s products: Easy, Enamor, Stun.

Okay, so I am not a great wordsmith.  At least it kept our sales folks interested, or at least laughing, for a few minutes.  While the terms are tongue in cheek this motto is perhaps the most important theme for all our product development.

Easy - Everything we build has to be EASY to use. REALLY easy. So easy the store manager for a fast food place and use the application without a user manual.

Enamor - Our customers should LOVE using our application. Customers love it because it does the job, and it works every time they use it. And all importantly in today’s complex world, customers don’t have to mess with it anymore than is necessary to do their job.

Stun - Envysion will stun the marketplace with how huge it can scale. Petabytes of storage, 10’s of thousands of remote locations and users: No problem!

These are the attributes we want our technology to have and that we must constantly strive for.  After all, customer’s requirements change over time.  Technology changes over time as well.  Software as a service solutions like Envysion Video are uniquely positioned to continually meet customer requirements to deliver increased productivity, reduced cost and ever larger scale.

Sandi Mays of Zayo has a series of recent posts on leadership (A leadership lesson from Dan Caruso, A paycheck player, and Identify a great leader with this tool).  There are important lessons and reminders in the posts, so it is well worth the read.

Another slant on the topic of leadership is the recognition of the courage that is required to make decisions.

Great leaders are not indecisive.  They don’t waffle.  They don’t over-analyze.  They know that perfect information rarely exists, and if it does it is not readily available.  Leaders act with what they know now.  After the decision has been made, they defend it against those who now have the benefit of hindsight.  Leaders know the abuse that awaits, and yet have the fortitude to make tough calls.

I’ll further this theme tomorrow, but ask you to consider this through the prism of MVaaS.

There seems to be confusion over what to call network video components.  There are a number industry terms and lots of jargon in this area.  It’s a relatively new field and is to be expected. As the market figures out which technologies get used where, names will come and go.  But there are a few terms that are used pretty consistently, but are really not all documented in one place.

Here are the basic network video component technology terms that I think most people in the industry would agree on.

DVR: A digital video recorder with analog cameras attached to it.

Hybrid DVR: A DVR which also implements the NVR function.

IP Camera: A video capture device that can transmit video images over an IP network.

IP Video Decoder: A rare device, this component receives IP video and converts it to analog video.

IP Video Encoder: Often called a video server, the IP Video Encoder receives analog video and converts it to an IP video stream.

IP Video Server:  See IP Video Encoder

NVR: The Network Video Recorder (NVR) uses IP protocols to stream video from IP Cameras and store it to disk.

Video Analytics: Algorithms to analyze video and produce data. These algorithms may be run on any number of components and might be implemented on specialized hardware or software.

Video Management Software: Software which allows one to view video and control the configuration of network video components.  This is sometimes also called Video Command and Control software. This software could reside on any of the above components or on a separate component, such as a PC based server.

There are very terse definitions on purpose so we are just covering the basics.  Any major components that I missed?

I linked to the Wikipedia pages I could find for these.  Some are well written,  others are not so good.  Maybe I’ll spend a bit of time trying to help make them a bit better.

Image via Wikipedia

Entropy is the measure of disorder in an isolated system.  Scientists have theorized that there is a natural tendency in the universe for systems to move from order to disorder, but not vice versa.

The theory is common to our human experience.  Time and again we are able to validate the tenants of the theorem through empirical observations.  Things don’t get more orderly on their own.  This is the very reason that we invented the concept of “spring cleaning”.

IT professionals know entropy as well.  IT managers spend a considerable amount of resources planning and implementing fixes and releases to software that their companies utilize.  On the other end, software vendors are continually fixing and improving their software offering.  Think of the multiple versions that are possible in this scenario.  Disorder is inevitable, and is fought by employing teams of professionals and PM’s to ensure order is maintained.  That is if they have the resources to handle this for all of their applications (see related post by Rob Hagens).

This is one of the most important features of SaaS or MVaaS software offerings.  Multiple versions are not maintained.  The software is upgraded by the vendor for all customers simultaneously.  New features are rolled out to customers seamlessly.  Customer IT budgets are controlled.  Entropy is combated, and disorder minimized – leaving more time for “spring cleaning” in other areas of your business.

(Note:  The fun-loving gentleman pictured is Rudolf Clausius, a German physicist and mathematician who first introduced the concept of entropy in 1865.)

While I’m on the topic of sharing…The episode began as a nice family birthday celebration.  Cupcakes for everyone.  It ended in anger and sadness.

My youngest son, age 4 at the time, and true cupcake aficionado, had consumed his prize very quickly.  His older brother, no less a connoisseur, was delicately enjoying his treat.  You may know where this is going…

With swift precision, my youngest son swiped the remaining portion of his brother’s cupcake and quickly devoured it.  My wife and I witnessed the entire episode, but were powerless to make things right.  The damage was done.  One child was crying, the other scolded, and everyone was upset.

After a lengthy time-out, I asked the offender why he took his brother’s cupcake.  After taking a moment to contemplate, he offered his excuse.  “But I was sharing.”  After smiling (and being somewhat proud of his deftness), all I could say was “sharing is not always appropriate.”

When and how to share is of high importance to MVaaS providers (see related post by Darren Loher on Secure Sharing).  In an environment driven by “sharing” and “social networking” (exluding MLB, of course), business customers of video surveillance technologies rightly demand security for their content.  Business customers want total control over what content is shared.  And MVaaS providers must provide the solutions that enable sharing, as the customers prescribe, in an easy-to-use, secure and scaleable manner.

If you are a video provider who fails to deliver this, be prepared to share your customers with MVaaS providers who do.

The headline quote has been attributed to baseball great Yogi Berra.  Although Yogi has said that “I never said half the things I really said”, this one sounds like pure 100% Yogi.

The plain truth is that Berra is probably better known for his colorful quotes than he is for his baseball prowess.  This is truly remarkable given his membership in the Baseball Hall of Fame!

The thing that made Yogi’s quotes remarkable was not that they were nonsensical.  If he merely spoke gibberish, his utterances would have been long ago forgotten.  So would he.  Instead it was his knack for misapplying common phrases that made him an original.

The headline quote is no exception.  Yogi was merely trying to use a cliche he’d heard before.  But he misapplied it as only he could.  Even so, you know what he intended to say, and he was right.

Business managers should listen to Yogi.  There is much to observe by just watching.  Make sure to take the time to do so.  And if you have dispersed locations, make sure you have the tools to do so, each day, every day.

Thank you for the reminder, Yogi!

I’ve been a die-hard Celtics fan for a long time.  I followed them religiously when they were horrible from the early 90’s until last year.  This year has finally been a year where I can actually root for them to win (in years past I wanted them to lose to get a better draft position)  If you are at all a sports fan and want to read some really humorous commentary on the Celtics and a bunch of other topics, check out my favorite sports writer, Bill Simmons (The Sports Guy) on ESPN.

As I watched them play through the playoffs and then beat the Lakers I realized there was an important lesson for MVaaS providers in the Celtics’ success.  Any idea what the lesson is?

I have a confession. For a while now, we’ve told our kids that there are video cameras in the house, so when they have an irreconcilable argument, we tell them we’ll review the video to find the real truth. Kind of a modern-day twist on “wait ‘til your father gets home.” At first, our threats evoked the desired response: either the kids dropped the argument or one child fessed up. I even caught them surreptitiously glancing upward to see if they could find the hidden cameras – usually right before they jabbed their sibling in the ribs. So how do you keep an eye on the kids without really being there? I believe the true demonstration of good parenting is the way your kids behave when you’re not watching. But wouldn’t it be great to catch that good behavior on video? Pop some popcorn, and make it a family event to replay the videos of all that good behavior to reinforce and encourage more.

Happy Father’s Day!