Camera manufacturer Hanwha Techwin America and software development company Camcloud have partnered to offer cameras that push video directly to the cloud and offer automatic updates and setup from smartphone apps.  

Kyrillos Mossad, partner relation & integration manager, Hanwha Techwin America, explained that Camcloud approached Hanwha at ASIS last year, and from there they developed the idea for a partnership, which eventually evolved into this solution. 

“It first started as a simple development: port forwarding and leveraging our API as a phase one,” Mossad said, “and then afterward we got into this new revolutionary development using the open platform environment of our cameras.”

Mossad said of the two companies, “Both Camcloud and our organization are really forward thinking organizations, and I think both of us try to bring new, innovative solutions that provide a value add for our customers, so there’s a good synergy and likeness of mindset.”

The solution is a plug-and-play solution that allows the camera to stream video to the cloud without the need of port forwarding, Mossad described, adding, “It’s all server-less recording; it just requires a camera, Internet, and then the revolutionary plug-and-play mobile deployment that we co-developed together using the mobile phone to get everything going.”

Mossad said the best part is that the solution is deployed completely from the mobile phone. “The mobile phone automatically scans network for cameras, finds them, and intelligently knows whether cameras are on the latest firmware. If they’re not, you can upgrade cameras just with a touch of a button — you can upgrade the cameras, download the latest firmware, download the latest open platform application upgrade. The camera installs the application and allows you to point, shoot and configure the cameras with certain options. And you’re basically done.”

Mossad said that while cloud surveillance has traditionally required network-savvy technicians, with this technology the same technician who goes out to install a camera can also set up and deploy a system.

More important than time saving and ease of installation, Mossad said, is the fact that Camcloud itself has a unique strategy with cloud, in which dealers are not selling Camcloud; they’re selling their own brand. “They can white label this solution and resell it as if it were their own. It’s skinned as their own; they offer the integrators the ability to have custom Web applications and mobile phone applications with their brand, and it allows these companies to tap into the RMR market where they can create a monthly recurring revenue stream and grow their business.”

Andre Fontana, director, sales, Camcloud, added, “As cloud continues to grow year over year, we’re going to find that more dealers and providers are learning about it and are being able to provide customers with an easy, deployable solution that removes all the pain points of a traditional VMS.”

Part of what made this partnership so attractive was the open platform mentality of both companies. “The interest of Camcloud with the two companies is that Camcloud is an open platform solution provider for dealers,” Fontana said. “We allow our dealers to completely brand the solution for themselves. We don’t care if anybody knows who Camcloud is. As long as the dealers get a platform that they can sell and earn RMR under their own brand — that is what is important to us. And not only that, but our mission is to become the No. 1 open platform in the market, and we can’t do this without partnerships like this one with Hanwha.”

Camcloud has two different programs: an entry level VIP program which allows dealers to brand the solution themselves through a generic app and a generic subdomain, and then they also have for larger dealers a complete white-labeled solution in which they will build the dealers mobile apps and publish them in the App Store and will customize features.

Camcloud will be displaying and demonstrating its technology in a section within Hanwha’s booth at ISC West at booth #14079.

For information, visit www.hanwhatechwin.com or www.camcloud.com.