ONVIF Publishes Profile Q Release Candidate for Easy Configuration, Advanced Security

ONVIF, the leading global standardization initiative for IP-based physical security products, announced today the Release Candidate for Profile Q, the specification that provides quick and easy interoperability in addition to advanced security features. This new Profile is now available for review on the ONVIF website.

Profile Q gives end users and systems integrators the tools that they need to connect systems and devices as seamlessly as possible. Offering out-of-the-box functionality using the ONVIF specification, Profile Q caters to the security-specific needs of an easy set-up mechanism and basic device level configuration. This new profile also ensures that every Profile Q conformant product will have ONVIF enabled automatically as the default setting. Profile Q works across brands and profiles with quick configuration and installation, providing innate discoverability and strong device monitoring and event management capabilities.

"ONVIF developed Profile Q in direct response to the industry's request for out-of-the-box functionality and easier and secure configuration," said Per Björkdahl, Chairman of ONVIF's Steering Committee. "With Profile Q, systems designers and installers will be able to more easily realize the full potential of interoperability using ONVIF."

Profile Q also supports Transport Layer Security (TLS), a protocol designed to provide secure communication between devices and clients, with an authentication process involving the exchange of certificates and keys over a network. The profile manages certificates and keys on ONVIF devices themselves, which can then communicate with clients across the network in a way that protects against tampering and eavesdropping.

ONVIF circulates a new profile first as a 'Release Candidate' for six months, allowing members and stakeholders a final implementation review. When that process is complete, the final profile is published and technology providers will be able to test their products for conformance to the final version of Profile Q. This process is intended to allow members to more quickly introduce conformant products when the final version of Profile Q is released in mid 2015.

With more than 500 members and approximately 4,000 conformant products, ONVIF is the largest organization of its kind in the world. Since its inception in 2008, the organization has seen its membership grow by 25-50% each year, with the number of conformant products increasing by 250% in the last three years alone.