ONVIF announced the addition of a new membership level, to its membership structure, called the Observer level, which encompasses consultants, systems architects and engineers and members of the media.

The addition of the Observer level membership grants these individuals certain benefits within ONVIF, key among them the opportunity to access Network Interface Specification test tools to become more familiar with the ONVIF interface without participating at the same level as a manufacturer. Observer members will be able to independently test products to determine their conformance with ONVIF Profiles to better enable consultants, engineers and media to impartially evaluate different products.

"We recognize the importance of making ONVIF as inclusive as possible to those wishing to participate in the conformance verification process," said Per Bjorkdahl, Chairman of ONVIF's Steering Committee. "Through the addition of this fourth membership level, we are granting more individuals access to ONVIF's test tools and empowering them to independently authenticate Profile conformance on products they wish to present to their clients or readers."

There are more than 2,700 ONVIF-conformant products on the market covering Profile S for video and audio streaming, and the recent release of Profile C for physical access control enables manufacturers to claim conformance for Profile C conformant products.

ONVIF currently has three other membership levels to accommodate individual levels of participation: user member, contributing member and full member. Full and contributing members can actively influence the development of the standard by participating in the work of the forum. The user member level is open to organizations who wish only to use the network interface specification and have access to specification proposals.