BICSI provides information, education and knowledge assessment for individuals and companies in the IT systems industry through courses, conferences, publications and professional registration programmes.

The BICSI accreditation applies to Milestone partners who take Advanced Certification training courses for Milestone Xprotect IP VMS. Milestone distributors, resellers, systems integrators, solution partners and A&Es will receive CECs for these courses, as determined by BICSI.

Milestone Systems is also implementing its Architecture & Engineering (A&E) Programme for assisting network architects, engineers and consultants whose projects include IP surveillance systems. The goal with the programme is to provide consultants with tools, information and expertise that bring benefits by adding value to project design through improved solutions for the customers.

The market for open platform IP VMS is increasing. According to IMS Research the growth of the network video surveillance market and the declining use of analogue technology will transition by 2014, with network video overtaking analogue in terms of sales revenue. Moreover, the high-end market for open platform VMS, where the A&Es are involved, is increasing immensely in revenue: from $50 million in 2010 to more than $200 million in 2015. Milestone is partnering with consultants to assist in making this shift from analogue to IP and to provide the necessary tools and training for easier project design.

"It is my experience that when there is construction in large areas such as the Green Triangle in Copenhagen where we work with their housing complex needs, Milestone is the best solution. It supports many different cameras, and the technology is very flexible and easy to operate. We take the role as advisor very seriously," says Kim Hjorthfelt, director and engineer from the consulting company Gert Carstensen.