The Open Security & Safety Alliance (OSSA), an industry body comprised of stakeholders from all facets within the security, safety and building automation space, will participate in the ISC West 2022 conference in Las Vegas.

Through the Open Security & Safety Alliance, manufacturers, software developers, system-on-chip (SOC) companies, system integrators and other stakeholders worked together over recent years to lay the groundwork for an open, data-driven ecosystem. Members built the foundation, starting with a technology stack for video-sensing devices, and the first OSSA technology specifications that collectively enable third-party software analytics to run on cameras agnostically. In parallel, OSSA member Azena created a corresponding and agnostic operating system (OS) that connects with the industry’s biggest online analytics app store in support of this collaborative approach.

Everyone in the industry can participate in this open, data-driven ecosystem that’s analogous to the smart phone industry, where users pick and choose apps to download to their devices. To date, there are more than 15 “Driven by OSSA” video-sensing hardware products available (from OSSA members Ability Enterprise, Bosch, Hanwha Techwin, Topview and VIVOTEK) to mix and match with more than 100 software apps based on OSSA specifications — many of which involve sophisticated AI algorithms, with new apps being added regularly.

Next steps focus on further facilitating data flows from devices and applications, while applying this approach outward to other IoT domains. For this, OSSA is currently working on a set of generic (vendor-independent) application programming interfaces (APIs) for a uniform yet abstracted representation of objects of interest. 

“Driven by OSSA” devices can be seamlessly used in combination with third-party software applications through an online app store by OSSA member company Security & Safety Things. This forum is one of several building blocks of IoT infrastructure specified by OSSA in support of uniting demand and supply in this open market.

On Tuesday March 22, OSSA President Johan Jubbega will participate in an industry panel discussion titled, “Redefining Cameras: How to Use Business Intelligence Metrics to Drive Additional Value from Surveillance.” This ISC West session will be moderated by OSSA member company Azena and held at the Venetian 302, Level 1 from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.

OSSA is a collaboration initiative that brings together like-minded organizations in order to create a framework providing standards and specifications for common components including an operating system, IoT infrastructure, collective approach for data security and privacy, and a drive for improved levels of performance for security and safety solutions. This will help the market and parties involved to focus on the aspects that really add value for their customers and open up new application possibilities, even beyond security and safety. For more information, visit https://www.opensecurityandsafetyalliance.org/