Oncam Grows

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This is another article in Security.World’s Company Grows series.

When you think about 180°, 360°, and ‘fisheye’ IP-cameras you may or may not know that Grandeye was the first to market with such a surveillance cameras starting back in 2004. In 2012, Oncam acquired Grandeye becoming Oncam Grandeye and their expertise in 180º and 360º IP-cameras has risen sharply over that time. Late last year, we were lucky to catch up with Jumbi Edulbehram, Regional President Americas for Oncam to discuss the growth of the company and what changes he has seen since he joined the company.

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“A lot has changed since I started with the company about three years ago. First, we’ve added a significant number of engineers to the development team to accelerate new product development. We’ve also grown the sales team, added select manufacturers’ reps and expanded our geographic reach across the globe,” Edulbehram said. “We started a new technology partner program and have significantly grown the number of integration partners as well as partner-related activities.”

When pressed as to the success and growth of Oncam over the years, Edulbehram attributed much of that success to the need and want for 180° and 360° IP-cameras. “Until a few years ago, omnidirectional cameras like fisheyes used to be very niche products. In the last few years, based on technology advancements and the need for greater situational awareness in many industry segments, the omnidirectional camera market has seen phenomenal growth,” Edulbehram shared.

He went on to add, “With its singular focus on perfecting 360° fisheye video technology, Oncam happened to be in the right place at the right time. Being successful in the marketplace with a best-of-breed product has also been greatly facilitated by a general move in the industry towards open platforms, where the integration of products is made easier through standardized interfaces such as ONVIF.”

Edulbehram also talked about the company’s focus on customer needs. “Oncam has also been responsive to customer demands; for example, we developed a totally unique NSF-approved stainless steel 360-degree fisheye in response to demand from customers that deal with harsh environments, such as food manufacturing and production facilities, or maritime customers. Finally, Oncam has invested significantly in quality management (e.g. ISO9001), which has enabled it to successfully compete in the face of commoditization and price erosion.”

The entire Oncam team is especially proud of the fact that Oncam developed the world’s first commercial 360° fisheye camera called the Halocam; the camera was generally shipped with an attached external storage device since the storage requirements were significant in the days of DVRs. Many people may not be aware of this piece of trivia but Edulbehram knows this starting point gave Oncam a competitive advantage in omnidirectional panoramic IP-cameras.

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When we asked Edulbehram what makes Oncam a vendor others want to partner with he was quick to reply. “Oncam is open to discussing new and innovative ways to use video, which makes the company a great partner to other vendors. Our technology is also ONVIF compliant, making it easier for vendors to incorporate our technology into their solutions to create new and innovative ways to analyze video data using software such as people-counting, heat mapping and more. Oncam is also interested in partnering with other vendors to solve problems using intelligent technologies that give end users a more competitive edge in business.”

“I’d say the No. 1 achievement in getting Oncam where it is today is the hiring and retention of some of the best talent in the industry. Being a relatively small company, we often compete with larger players for the best talent, but we’ve been able to successfully build a global team with A-players.”

Oncam is a market player in a number of vertical markets, including hospitality, casinos and gaming, retail, transportation, and maritime and ports. We posed the question to Edulbehram on what does Oncam have to do to make sure it doesn’t go the way of the fax machine – to remain relevant?

“In an industry that is constantly changing and growing, it’s critical for existing companies to be agile enough to scale accordingly while balancing the needs of their customers. Oncam is interested in developing quality products that deliver results to customers, and sometimes that means we introduce technology only when it has met our rigorous hardware and software testing phases,” said Edulbehram. “It is also critically important to be customer-centric when delivering solutions, and we strive to not lose sight of the end goal: to solve a customer’s problems to the best of our ability while working with our technology partners to troubleshoot and meet their needs.”

With all the growth and success of Oncam over the years, we wanted to know what Oncam was like in the beginning with its manufacturing process –and what is it like today?

“One thing Oncam has strived to accomplish in a changing manufacturing process is an element of corporate responsibility that concentrates on socially responsible behavior within the organization. Oncam works on a daily basis to apply the ISO 26000 standard, which includes a concentration on human rights, fair labor practices, the enviornment, fair operating practices, consumer issues and community involvement and development,” stated Edulbehram.

When asked with the question is Oncam a quality manufacturer and what do you see as your number one achievement in reaching that status Edulbehram offered, “getting Oncam to be a quality product manufacturer is the attainment of the ISO9001certification, which means that the entire organization (facilities, people, training, services, equipment) is committed to the highest standards of quality management. Every year the company undergoes a rigorous audit to make sure that all quality standards are being met.”

We wanted to know what markets Edulbehram saw Oncam looking at that could help grow the company moving forward.

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He answered, “Oncam’s technology can be best leveraged in applications that require extensive video coverage. Traditional market segments like retail and gaming continue to be growth areas because the deployment model is changing to one in which the entire area – that is, a store or casino floor – is covered with 360-degree cameras, with traditional cameras only at the choke points. Segments such as smart cities, distribution, logistics and data centers that have traditionally not had extensive video coverage because of the large areas needing to be covered, are high growth segments for Oncam’s products.

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And for the future, Edulbehram sees the future of Oncam working with partners to create solutions targeted at vertical markets and applications where 360-degree video technology can be best leveraged. The creation of such solutions will incorporate interesting technologies such as analytics, artificial intelligence virtual reality, and the Cloud.

So the next time you see “fisheye” video or 360º video, think of the company that started that and realize how far the technology has come since 2004.

Source: oncamgrandeye.com
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