SeeTec Now Qognify: VMS, Video Analysis, Incident Management - and an "Umbrella" as a New Top Management Platform

SeeTec is now called Qognify: The merger process between the two companies has now been completed, and Qognify is now one of the largest providers of VMS, video analysis and incident management worldwide. An EMEA launch event in Karlsruhe, Germany, gave an insight into the new company constellation - which suggests some innovations. - Qognify launches a web-based system reducing operational costs and simplifying management of large-scale distributed surveillance camera networks.

After a greeting and keynote speech by CEO Steve Shine in the venerable "Palazzo Hall" in Karlsruhe, Andreas Beerbaum, now VP Sales International for all products at the new company, reported on the new organization and strategic direction of Qognify in EMEA. From software to solutions: Stephan Rasp, now VP Business Transformation at Qognify, explained how Qognify's new strategy will change security and event management. Gili Rom, Vice President, spoke about products - especially the current Incident Management solutions as well as "Vision Hub" and the evolution of VMS to a complete security management solution.

In an interview with Steve Shine and Andreas Beerbaum, GIT SICHERHEIT and GIT SECURITY EMEA readers will soon learn more about the background of the new company constellation, upcoming products and the cooperation with partners.

Cayuga will also remain one of the central systems under Qognify. Carsten Eckstein, Head of Product Management VMS, told the more than hundred partners present about Cayuga and Business Video Intelligence as well as the generation of added value for security management and for processes with modular VMS.

The highlight of the day was the presentation of a completely new platform: according to Carsten Eckstein, "Umbrella", the product's name, is intended to make the maintenance and monitoring of many distributed Cayuga systems more convenient than ever before.

Umbrella: New Top Management Platform

The new web-based management platform Umbrall leverages significant cost savings by managing large distributed video surveillance systems centrally in the cloud.

In recent years, video surveillance projects have become larger and more complex, demanding more resources and increasing operational costs. Altering the configuration of multiple sites is time-consuming and monitoring the health status of all servers and cameras across every location is a challenge. As a consequence, organizations frequently over-spend on technical expertise and unnecessary licenses, as well as potentially exposing themselves to regulatory risk.

Qognify solves these challenges with the launch of Umbrella – a management solution, which is fully integrated with Qognify’s video management software (VMS) Cayuga.

The web-based Umbrella can be hosted in the cloud (including Microsoft Azure and AWS) as well as on premise. Once installed, Umbrella provides a consolidated view of all servers and cameras across every connected installation, highlighting those, which require attention. Furthermore, if any company-wide changes are required to be made to how the video system operates (e.g. caused by changes in regulations such as GDPR), they can be configured and rolled-out remotely and immediately.

Umbrella is a perfectly suited for organizations in the banking, retail, logistics and transportation industry, which operate large-scale branch networks with hundreds of sites and thousands of cameras to be managed and place a premium on their physical security strategy.

Vice President of Research & Development at Qognify, Chen Porat, comments on value the new technology delivers: “Centralizing system monitoring, administration and license management through Umbrella, enables organizations to be more proactive and effective in the way they operate and maintain their surveillance camera networks, regardless of scale or complexity.”

CEO Steve Shine adds: “Qognify is one of the leading solution providers for video surveillance and Umbrella is born out of our commitment to delivery truly enterprise-class video solutions. Launching Umbrella, we want to fundamentally change the way organizations deploy, use and manage technology to protect people, customers, assets and infrastructure.”

Umbrella is now available to organizations using Qognify’s Cayuga video management system.