The Sony cameras with the Milestone Xprotect support are SNC-CS50P and SNC-DF80P.

"These Sony models are the first commercially available network cameras with H.264 capability, and Milestone joins them on the forefront with support for such important innovations," says Henrik Friborg, VP strategic partner alliances and co-founder of Milestone Systems. "We have established a strong relationship with Sony over the last decade, working together to ensure synergy for best-of-breed surveillance solutions."

"We are delighted that Milestone Systems as a leading software vendor in the security market is supporting Sony's wide range of H.264 IP cameras which includes CS-mount, mini-dome and H.264 models," added Simon Nash, senior european marketing manager for Network Video Monitoring and CCTV in Sony's Professional Solutions division. "With the launch of two new PTZ cameras to be announced at IFSEC next week, Sony will have seven Multi Codec / Dual Stream cameras with H.264 support in the market."

Demands in the video surveillance world are increasing for more storage and bandwidth without compromising the high frame rates and high resolutions that are desired for improved security. More effective compression methods are therefore required and H.264 is coming to the rescue.

"An H.264 encoder can reduce the size of a digital video file by more than 80 percent against the Motion JPEG standard while maintaining the same visual quality. Compared to the MPEG-4 Part 2 Simple Profile standard, H.264 typically achieves a 40-50 percent reduction in the size of a video file," explains John Blem, CTO and co-founder of Milestone Systems.

The market uptake of high resolution network video cameras is growing quickly but there have been issues with the larger storage requirements that these improved images can generate. The use of the new compression standard H.264 will therefore have a significant impact on this by providing more powerful surveillance performance and much more efficient use of system resources.

"H.264 also brings with it many coding technology advancements that make it out-perform all previous video coding standards. It is therefore the current state-of-the-art offering," adds Blem. "Video compression standards are changing with its advent: being able to maintain or even lower storage requirements while maintaining a high resolution stream is very valuable for customers."