IFSEC report: March Networks unveils Cieffe strategy

May 13, 2008
Integration of two companies starts with VideoSphere VMS solution

March Networks, which acquired Cieffe this spring, is well on its way to integrate the two companies products. The acquisition was a strategic move for March Networks, which had a product line largely based upon DVR solutions; the acquisition of Cieffe brought aboard a full IP video products line.

Now, at IFSEC, Peter Strom, president and CEO of March Networks, explained the company's migration strategy at a press conference held on Tuesday at IFSEC. Simply put, Strom said the message here is that "March Networks is beyond the DVR."

At the same time, said Strom, the move to IP video isn't going to be flash-bang type of affair. Corporations, he said, aren't willing to do expensive entire "forklift" upgrades from their DVR systems to IP video.

"No company is going to rip out there infrastructure overnight," said Strom. "It's not a revolution; it's an evolution."

As part of the strategy to migrate the company across the gulf between analog and IP video, March Networks has delivered network video recorders, but even more central is the VideoSphere open platform video management system. It's designed to bring DVR, NVR and full IP video systems under singular control, and is the first stage of full integration between March Networks and Cieffe, according to Cieffe's Fabrizio Colciago.