OSSA will celebrate its one-year anniversary while in Chicago and demonstrate the rapid progress underway as competing and complementary institutions work together through the Alliance to reduce market fragmentation and friction while increasing interoperability, trust and prosperity across the physical and cloud-based security markets.

The IoT evolution is based on connecting humans and the things around us – and for the security and safety industry, our products must connect and interoperate. As the IoT continues to progress, users expect products to pair and work alongside each other. We can no longer design in silos and single-brand settings.

OSSA’s mission is to work with market players so we all start from the same ‘recipe’ when it comes to product genesis. The vision is everyone working with a common, vendor-agnostic Operating System (OS) to enhance trust, usability and choice – and from there companies can innovate and differentiate through apps and inventive offerings by way of a digital marketplace, eventually even beyond security and safety. This concept mirrors the approach taken by well-established digital categories such as the smartphone.

OSSA member companies are already creating the first common Technology Stack specification and defining a common Operating System (OS) for the security and safety market. This platform revolution provides a level-set field for all market players and spurs innovation as companies design and deliver value propositions through a digital marketplace, where friction no longer exists. This marketplace is in motion and planned for early 2020. It will allow us all to work in a manner that’s familiar – downloading apps to devices/systems for newfound functionality, convenience, safety and satisfaction.

At GSX 2019, member companies will showcase the first prototype cameras based on OSSA’s commonly defined Technology Stack and OS – and share a glimpse into what’s coming as the digital marketplace prepares to launch next year. Visitors will be able to discover what’s new and what’s next on the stands of OSSA-member companies including Bosch, Dahua, Johnson Controls, Hanwha Techwin, Lilin, Milestone Systems, Netapp, Security & Safety Things--SAST, and Vivotek.