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?

Leo Levit: Without a doubt, artificial intelligence and machine learning will end up having the greatest technological impact on security. Not only is it truly beginning to transform the depth, power and accuracy of today’s video analytics but AI will continue to extend the influence and impact of our video technologies to uses far beyond traditional security and safety. As developers continue to innovate with AI and manufacturers continue to improve digital imaging technology, end users will reap the benefits of additional intelligence, usability and cost-effectiveness in video technology. Of course, we can’t forget that without the introduction of IP video - another notable milestone that came of age in the last 20 years - we would not have the rise in video analytics capabilities that we have today.

“The next ten years will be dominated by AI applications.” Why would you agree or disagree?

Leo Levit: The pace of innovation within AI seems unprecedented so it would seem unlikely that AI will not be the dominant force for at least the next decade! We often associate AI with video analytics to interpret behavioural patterns within a scene, but I think we will see the real utility of AI heavily impact other operational areas - for example, the status of a camera view, device and system recording capacities, overall device health, remote systems diagnostics, etc. Expanding this intelligence into other systems where video is integrated will also be huge in terms of correlating data from different systems and enabling the systems to diagnose anomalies and proactively adjust settings to correct or compensate.

Your company will have a great impact on the industry in the next ten years because…?

Leo Levit: Onvif creates interoperability standards that support the activities and interests of the security industry, providing stability and openness in product interoperability. I foresee that standards such as Onvif will only continue to grow in relevance as video analytics becomes more ubiquitous and the industry continues to migrate toward cloud storage, processing and management. Standardized approaches in this area are crucial. A common interface helps eliminate the development of numerous proprietary approaches for communicating and handling metadata and for interfacing with the cloud.

This is an article of our jubilee issue. Click on the button to find all of the interviews and the e-paper.