Mirasys sees opportunity in Thai market | Bangkok Post: tech

SURVEILLANCE SOFTWARE

Turning an unstable situation into an opportunity has led a top Finnish surveillance software company to select Thailand as a base to build a research centre and pave the way for Thai software developers to reach a global market.

Jukka Riivari, Chief Executive Officer of Mirasys, one of the leading providers of high-resolution IP video and audio surveillance solutions, said the company selected Thailand as the first country outside its headquarters to establish a research and development centre to develop vertical applications that run with its surveillance solution.

Moreover, the company has also transferred development of software driver for connecting with some camera models to its base in Thailand as well as providing a Thai-language user interface.

Riivari also had discussions with Software Park Thailand about providing workshops and collaborative training to learn to use its Software Development Kit (SDK) to interface their applications with its solution. This will help Thai companies to reach a global market through its footprint expansion.

There are various applications that can be used for video-surveillance systems such as preventing shoplifting in stores or to analyse customer behaviour in shops in non-security areas. Healthcare, city surveillance, hotels and tourist businesses are other areas of possible use.

The system can also be used in logistics and inventory management to monitor cargo activities and map the data with freight documents. Another application is for monitoring traffic flow and helping to plan traffic, especially in big cities.

One interesting application that is related to video content analytics is car-plate-recognition that can be used in carpark systems to facilitate easy and convenient charges with the system acknowledging cars from their plate numbers. This can also help to prevent car theft.

"In Thailand, we will co-operate with Mahanakorn University of Technology, which has a research project in face-recognition to integrate into its solution for customers. And if its successful, it will help Thai brands.

"Thailand is a great travel location and has a friendly business environment and a large demand for our services. In our business, unstable situations or the need for security allow us to help the government of that country to be more secure. This brings big project opportunities here," Riivari said.

He added that investment in Thailand is a part of its Asian expansion strategy, which is expected to gain around 30 percent of overall revenue from the Asia Pacific region within two years, up from the current 15 percent.

"We see Asia as a big opportunity for us because the market still has a lot of analogue cameras and the migration to IP cameras will allow us to provide a hybrid environment, which is our differentiation advantage that can support both systems.

"The IP surveillance system is gaining momentum compared to the analogue system because it is more flexible to implement as a wireless system and easier to maintain. But there is the barrier that the price of high resolution cameras has not fallen as fast as the price of digital cameras for consumers," the CEO said.

Riivari added that the IP system, especially Mirasys software, already runs on an open platform, which means it can work on commodity PCs compared with competitors that use video servers to store content. Running on an open platform reduces the investment cost by 50 percent per camera.

Noppadaol Sukhmol, Managing Director Mirasys Thailand, said that the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration has already implemented its software for around 3,000 CCTV cameras.