ONVIF, a global standardization initiative for IP-based physical security products, has initiated three new working groups focused on standardizing cloud connectivity, audio solutions and advanced metadata. 

In addition to the ongoing efforts of current ONVIF working groups and committees, these new initiatives mark a significant increase in industry involvement in ONVIF’s standards development efforts, according to an announcement. The creation of the new working groups, which are made up of volunteers from ONVIF member companies, is in response to the growing prevalence of cloud solutions and the use of metadata for analytics in the physical security and video surveillance markets. 

“The rapid evolution in cloud, metadata and audio means that standards in these key areas are necessary to support the industry’s transition to these new technologies and approaches, both now and into the future,” said Leo Levit, chairman, ONVIF Steering Committee. “We encourage any member company to become involved and help to shape the future of standardization in the market, particularly as ONVIF considers future profile initiatives in cloud access control, cloud audio and other IoT applications.” 

ONVIF working groups are subsets of the ONVIF Technical Committee and Technical Services Committee. Any ONVIF member company at the full or contributing membership level is encouraged to participate in this work. More than 60 member representatives are volunteering their time to serve on the five ONVIF Working Groups: 

Cloud Profile Working Group: This group is focusing on the development of an ONVIF cloud profile that will allow interoperability of security devices and video management software in the cloud. The profile work is focused on creating test suites to address key use cases around streaming video to the cloud as well as recording to cloud storage. 

Semantic Metadata Working Group: This team’s purpose is to define an ONVIF standard for semantic analytics metadata,  which will provide a common framework for richly describing the context in which objects of interest appear in captured video across applications and devices. This work will enable the physical security industry to easily share and make use of data generated by analytics applications running on IoT devices, such as cameras, for security and analytical purposes. 

Audio Streaming Profile Working Group: The focus of this working group is to define an ONVIF profile for the interfaces and communications mechanisms for configuring and integrating audio speakers and other intercom devices. 

Video Enhancement Working Group: This working group develops technical specifications for video surveillance devices and applications, and addresses necessary topics for the ongoing development and maintenance of ONVIF specifications. This group also assists with technical requirements to support the profile development efforts of other working groups. 

Testing Working Group: This working group is dedicated to the ONVIF conformance and testing processes, and works directly with the software development team responsible for the ONVIF Device and Client Test Tools. 

Any ONVIF member company interested in participating in a working group is encouraged to sign into the ONVIF Member Portal for more details. Interested companies that are not members of ONVIF can contact the organization here.