Seven companies demonstrate a fully interoperable security system during PSIA’s interoperability reception at ISC West.

What do Honeywell, Tyco, UTC Fire & Security, IQinVision, Object Video, Hikvision and Arecont Vision have in common? They all speak excellent “Standards” as a second language. The analogy PSIA executive director Dave Bunzel makes is clear: when it comes to interoperability it is important that all of the components can communicate efficiently with each other, which translates into a “simple” shared language that everyone can easily learn and adopt. Each component maintains an individual identity, but can easily communicate with others when necessary.

On Wednesday, PSIA hosted an interoperability demonstration of a fully interoperable security system with monitoring station, IP video, DVR/NVR, storage device, video analytics, intrusion and access control components — no two of them from the same vendor. Representatives from the companies mentioned above demonstrated the system in action, noting that for most, the specification development period was only about four to six weeks.

While interoperability is fairly easy from a technical standpoint, Bunzel noted, some still hold on to concern that standards might make it difficult to differentiate in the marketplace. “Keep the language simple and efficient and that will allow people to differentiate,” Bunzel commented. Furthermore, companies that can spend 15 percent of their resources on writing and supporting unique drivers, he said, could be putting those resources to use in developing functionality and features that will give them a more solid edge in the marketplace as opposed to a circumstantial differentiation.