A chapter in the life of a video security startup

If you are reading this blog, you’re probably aware that Ava (formerly know as Vaion) is a provider of video security solutions. You might also know that our offering includes IP cameras, a video management system, appliances, a hybrid cloud solution, and built-in video and audio analytics powered by artificial intelligence. However, you might not know what drove us to start the company, what differentiates us from the competition, and what’s in store for us for the next couple of months, including our North American launch at GSX 2019.

Security professionals are constantly faced with new challenges to protect premises, assets, and people. The rise of cyber threats has made camera networks vulnerable to attacks, and operator efficiencies continue to be a challenge.

Security operators rely on video feeds to monitor buildings and employees, but research has shown that their attention span decreases after 20 to 30 minutes of sustained intense monitoring. They risk losing vital details that could increase their chance to act proactively. Additionally, post-event investigations involve the manual review of hundreds of hours of recordings using systems that are not intuitive or intelligent enough to allow security officers to be truly efficient.

A new challenge that security strategists must take into account is the vulnerabilities in traditional video surveillance deployments, which are being easily exploited by intruders in already documented cases of wiretapping or video tampering.

Adding to the list of pain points, the product life cycle is too complicated, which makes solutions difficult to install, configure, manage, operate, and upgrade.

Enter Ava. We created the company because we saw the need for a proactive security approach, one that is smart, effective, simple, secure, and future-proof.

From startups that create technology for analytics to those that manufacture cameras, the video security landscape has seen an influx of new-joiners. Why should you care about Ava?

We created an end-to-end security solution with a security portfolio of IP cameras, the Ava Dome and Ava 360, the Ava Aware video management system, security appliances, and a hybrid cloud offering. We are an open ecosystem, as the Aware integrates with a wide variety of third-party cameras.

Our solution has built-in video and audio AI analytics from all the cameras, all the time, and in real-time. Organizations can detect threats in their earliest stages and perform effective investigations faster and with fewer resources. Operators can search by similarity, event, image, and appearance, and can look through rich timelines that highlight people, vehicles, and overall motion from all the cameras installed.

Security by default is intrinsic to our solution. Organizations stay secure through camera passwords set at initialization, encrypted media in transit and at rest, encrypted stored recordings, and detailed audit trails of all operator and admin actions. We facilitate GDPR compliance via our upcoming privacy-masking feature for real-time and exported video recordings, and ensure our complete solution is cyber-hardened out-of-the-box to prevent attacks or data breaches. What’s more, our products are designed in Norway, with software developed in the UK, and cameras assembled in Taiwan.

Our extensive video, hardware, and software expertise, along with our vision and passion, have enabled our rapid momentum. We officially launched the company at IFSEC International in June 2019 and got immediate interest, which allowed us to start deploying proofs of Concept (PoCs) into a range of verticals with clear results.

• Commercial building operators are using intelligent maps to have access to operational insights that increase workplace productivity and energy management.
• K-12 administrators are finding anomaly detection in real-time vital to take immediate action in stopping imminent threats from escalating.
• Healthcare facility operators are using interactive maps to safely monitor patients, visitors, and employees.
• Retailers appreciate the granular awareness of the people present in their store. They are accessing video analytics to get insights on customer buying patterns and behavior to improve the in-store experience and increase sales.

At GSX 2019, our team will provide an up-close look at how integrated AI analytics are set to fundamentally disrupt traditional video surveillance systems. There’s still time to schedule a meeting. See you there!

Originally published Sept 05, 2019, updated Sept 01, 2020.