Gerard Figols: "We Don’t Stop at the Hardware"
07.09.2023
- Gerard Figols, President of i-PRO EMEA talks about changing the game by providing strong, powerful and reliable edge-AI hardware in an open platform. For our 20 year jubilee, GIT SECURITY has asked leaders in the industry to give an outlook.
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Gerard Figols, President of i-PRO EMEA. © i-PRO
What do you think was the greatest game-changing technology for the security industry in the last 20 years if you had to choose one?
Gerard Figols: The last 20 years, from my point of view, are split into two major technology changes: the shift from analogue to IP, which was more an evolutionary process, bringing significant advancements to the industry. However, it was the arrival of AI that truly changed the game: AI showcased the immense power hidden within the data CCTV can generate, and hence the insights that could be extracted from video footage. AI is bringing limitless possibilities for making security smarter and operations more efficient, and the future will bring so much more AI-based innovation potential that we cannot foresee yet. It is in the responsibility and good faith of the companies to treat it in a transparent, ethic and compliant way.
“The next ten years will be dominated by AI applications.” Why would you agree or disagree?
Gerard Figols: The dominance of AI over the next 10 years is inevitable. However, it’s important to recognize that this supremacy won’t rest solely on the applications itself. It’s the combination of the AI hardware, complemented by innovative applications, that will generate the most accurate analytics and therefore insights. At i-PRO, we believe in changing the game by providing strong, powerful and reliable edge-AI hardware in an open platform. It will bring AI to the forefront and allow flexibility in applications to be developed individually depending on the required case.
However, what is important is that the data generated can also be handled and is trustworthy. An efficient and reliable management of this information will make the difference. For this reason, we have developed our Active Guard plug-in, offering an easy, intuitive and quick way to segment and handle all the meta data generated, and use it to support your security and business operations with peace of mind.
Your company will have a great impact on the industry in the next ten years because…?
Gerard Figols: i-PRO is ready to act at the forefront of the security industry: As the only Japanese manufacturer in the global market, we are proud to provide the best camera technology on the market to run AI, using the latest Ambarella chipsets to make sure our customers experience stable and unmatched performance in an open platform. But we don’t stop at the hardware and our open flexible approach for applications to run on the cameras: Alongside our Active Guard plug-in, we present an entire AI ecosystem that seamlessly integrates into industry-leading VMS providers like Milestone and Genetec to make sure users can access the full power of AI in their existing or new installations. Acting at the forefront of innovation and as pioneers in AI, i-PRO is set to shape the future.
