A staple at ISC West for a decade, the annual Axis press breakfast is always entertaining while serving as a launchpad for the company to introduce its latest “magic” in the form of new and innovative products.
This year’s event once again delivered magic – in its literal form – as Haken Hansson, the company’s global product manager, audio (and self-proclaimed lover of magic), donned a top hat and dazzled those in attendance with a handful of tricks throughout the presentation.
In recent years, Axis has introduced several new products and solutions that expand upon and complement its IP cameras, demonstrating the company’s commitment to evolving along with the industry. In fact, there were no “traditional” cameras among the products Axis highlighted yesterday morning.
Instead, the company first unveiled its new networked speakers. The audio industry has traditionally been very analog-centered, and in order to create a networked solution required installers to deploy five separate solutions to get from the network switch to speakers. Available in ceiling- or cabinet-mount models, the new Axis speakers contain everything needed to provide this in a single box – a “magic” box, if you will. The speakers also consolidate music and announcement functions into one system, eliminating the need for parallel audio installations, and are built on open architecture to enable integration with other systems.
Representing the video side, Axis then introduced its TrueView People Counter, which forms the basis of the new P8804 Stereo Sensor Kit. The kit consists of an AXIS F345 main unit and an F8804 Stereo Sensor Kit. Designed for indoor environments, the solution enables higher precision with analytics software from partner Cognimatics. Stereoscopic imaging enables more accurate analytics performance.
Perhaps the most significant announcement was the AXIS D2050-VE Network Radar Detector, the idea for which was inspired by the automotive industry’s development of self-driving cars. The radar unit is designed to complement network camera surveillance with reliable detection that is comparable to thermal imaging at a lower price point. Use cases include trespassing, theft and vandalism in fenced areas during off hours, adverse conditions and medium-risk areas, and the unit can be used to control PTZ cameras.
