With Michael Hall, Product Manager

What does Synectics do? What services, or products, do you provide?
We are experts in the design, integration, control, and management of advanced surveillance technology and networked security systems, for environments around the world where security is operationally critical – from casinos and oil and gas facilities to public space, transport, and critical infrastructure settings.

We tailor solutions to exactly match customer needs, harnessing the latest innovations including cloud technology, analytics, and Artificial Intelligence. But whatever the sector and whatever the application, every Synectics’ system has a common denominator. We make sure the right people see the information that matters, when it matters, and have the means to action the necessary responses to protect people, secure assets, improve efficiencies, and enhance services.

How long has Synectics been in the physical security market?
Synectics was founded in 1987 as a surveillance technology R&D house, focusing on developing technologies that either didn’t exist or needed enhancing. We had a pioneering spirit that was driven by wanting to help customers monitor, manage, and store their video data more effectively and efficiently. We still do. From developing one of Europe’s first completely cloud-based safe city surveillance solutions, to enabling transport providers to seamlessly blend video, analytics, AI, and operational data to make passenger journeys safer and more efficient, we ensure organizations around the globe can secure their people, places and ultimately, their profits.

Why did you join ONVIF and how long has Synectics been a member?
We’ve been a member of ONVIF for over ten years now. In terms of why we joined, it’s because our goals and those of ONVIF are aligned. In standardizing interfaces for effective interoperability of IP-based physical security products, ONVIF aims to give organizations greater flexibility to choose the technologies best suited to their specific needs, safe in the knowledge that those technologies will ‘play nice’ together.

That’s absolutely our ethos. By ensuring our Synergy command and control software platform, Synectics IP cameras and our COEX range of hazardous and safe area cameras all conform, we can design and deploy surveillance solutions that are individually tailored to the customer’s specific objectives and operational environment. It also means that the integration process is simplified, and costs are potentially reduced.

To which specific profiles does your company’s products conform, and why is that beneficial to your business?
Synergy is fully interoperable with all third-party, ONVIF Profile S-conformant devices. Our COEX and Synectics IP cameras are all ONVIF Profile S and Profile T conformant, making them quick to configure, cost-effective to install, and highly suitable for advanced streaming applications. Vital to system resilience and redundancy, our cameras also meet Profile G requirements for edge storage and retrieval. Customers keen to harness the power of analytics also benefit from seamless integration thanks to our cameras that conform to Profile M.

What does it mean to you to be a member of ONVIF and what kinds of business impacts have you seen as a result?
Increasingly, what we do for customers is about much more than security. We develop end-to-end solutions that unify security, safety, and operations management under single pane of glass overview and control. While that takes us out of the scope of ONVIF in certain aspects, ONVIF conformance and working with other conformant technologies means there are key aspects we just know will work seamlessly, which frees us up to focus on other value-add areas that are essential for such holistic solutions.

Are there any other specific benefits membership brings to your business?
I think outside of the confidence and flexibility that ONVIF conformance delivers for our customers, another key aspect of membership is the opportunity to help shape the future of security interoperability standards. Our global footprint, sector spread, and customer-centric approach means we’re at the coal face of understanding upcoming needs and trends. ONVIF membership gives us the opportunity to feed that back into the standards development system, and to hear from other peers about their experiences. It’s a truly global community dedicated to delivering ‘better’.