At Integrated Systems Europe in Amsterdam, Control4 is focusing on its systems’ enhanced interoperability with surveillance cameras, resulting from the increased implementation of its Simple Device Discovery Protocol (SDDP) by five of the top security monitoring manufacturers.
In addition to new SDDP driver support for two brands of networked video recorders and more than 1,500 models of surveillance cameras, Control4 has developed new IP camera driver-creation tools that will simplify dealer installation and provide new features to deliver a robust and accessible remote security monitoring experience for homeowners and commercial facility managers.
“We’ve seen a big uptick in the integration of security and surveillance into Control4 systems in recent years; in fact, nearly one-third of projects with Control4 systems now include some form of security,” said Paul Williams, Control4 vice president of security & communications. “With the vast number of surveillance cameras and two brands of NVRs now supported by our SDDP technology, which automatically identifies and loads drivers for supported IP-connected devices, we expect security automation in Control4 projects to grow even more. Our dealers will be able to integrate a broader range of security monitoring options into homes, multi-dwelling units and commercial projects.”
To make deployment and integration of surveillance systems less time consuming and more feature-rich, Control4 also has provided top security camera manufacturers with access to a newly published camera proxy API, which is available in the Control4 DriverWorks SDK. This API will enable security manufacturers like Channel Vision, Lilin, Planet, QNAP, and Snap AV to develop Control4-certified drivers that will take full advantage of the unique capabilities of each of the individual models that they manufacture. And since SDDP will be deployed in these new cameras, integrating popular features into the Control4 ecosystem—like facial and license plate recognition and advanced motion detection—will be no more complicated than dragging and dropping the driver into place within Composer Pro. Network setup will also be more efficient because Control4-certified cameras will no longer require a static IP address.
In addition, all of Control4’s mobile apps will fully support the h.264 video streaming capabilities, which is utilized by the best surveillance cameras to deliver superior video quality at 80 percent or more bandwidth savings, making it ideal for use in remote monitoring while increasing efficiency and reliability. All of the enhanced functionality, new tools and interoperability with cameras via SDDP will be available with the release of Control4 OS 2.5.3, which is scheduled for later this month.
