Milestone Systems has offered consultancy expertise for most of the past decade, and this service has grown considerably in size in recent years. The primary purpose of the Consultancy Department is to provide integrations to third party systems and applications, with an eye to deliver more value to the end users. In addition, the constant input from customers gives useful input to feed innovations in continual product developments.

Whenever possible, the integrated solutions are built on top of the Milestone Software Development Kit (SDK), which uses Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for integrating other software or systems data with the XProtect open platform IP video management software. This activity provides constant improvement, extensions and testing of the Milestone SDK, which was launched in its first version almost five years ago.

Milestone Systems continues to be at the forefront of the convergence of IT and traditional security. With the realization of IP-based surveillance's inevitability, many other companies have jumped on the bandwagon to offer some of its many benefits. Customers are learning, however, that certain criteria must be met in order to deliver a true open platform IP video solution that is non-proprietary: external APIs with a documented SDK and consultancy expertise, as well as training to support it. All of these are delivered by Milestone Systems, who are claiming to be "The True Open Platform Company" in today's security market.

The Milestone Consultancy Department has been involved in many interesting projects that have created some of the following integrations:

- Access control systems like Paxton, Gunnebo, Honeywell and others working together with Milestone IP video;

- Analytics software like Agent VI, Bosch, Dacolian, and an extended LPR solution where a License Plate blacklist can be redistributed automatically;

- Cash Register provider integrations for XProtect Transact like Wincor-Nixdorf and IBM, NordStore, InStore 2000, CheckPoint's CheckView solution, and more;

- XProtect Retail customizable solutions that integrate third party ERP systems with Milestone surveillance for retail customers like IKEA

- Remote integrations to the Milestone Smart Client for more access to and control of the surveillance from other systems;

- Camera drivers for specific projects and Manufacturer Alliance Partners who represent leading equipment producers worldwide

"My experience with the Milestone SDK has been very positive. The solution is flexible and extremely easy to use. We are able to use our preferred development environments and operate on platforms that some other vendors do not support. In addition, remote support was top notch and our requests for enhancements to SDK components were turned around quickly," says Frank Yeh, Sr. security architect at IBM Global Technology Services.

"As the Milestone software is very robust and mature, and with a continuous influx of ever larger installation projects, there is an increasing need for specific adaptations," explains Paolo Blem, manager of the Milestone Consultancy team. "We also provide training in the use of our SDK, to ensure the highest quality functionality and integrations with our video platform."