Canon Europa NV will acquire Denmark’s Milestone Systems A/S, provider of open platform video management software.
Milestone Systems earned the number one global market share position in the VMS category in 2013, recording 32% year-over-year USD revenue growth, according to IHS Technology.
This indicates the growing importance of software as the value-added core of a video solution: Milestone’s open platform architecture allows it to integrate with other systems and devices. Milestone says it has documented the accelerating use of network video surveillance for more than just security: interoperability with other business systems brings the technology to support operational improvements in areas such as production, logistics, warehousing, marketing and customer service, education and patient healthcare.
By combining Canon’s imaging technology with Milestone’s video management software expertise, Canon hopes to create a formidable player in the fast growing network video surveillance market.
Canon’s proclaimed ambition is to drive future growth through diversification; the company identified network video surveillance as one of their strategic new business areas. The latest IHS Technology analysis estimates that the world market for video surveillance equipment will grow from USD 13.5 billion in 2013 to USD 24b in 2018.
Rokus van Iperen, President & CEO, Canon EMEA, [shown in photo]explains: “Canon is aiming to take a leadership position in network video surveillance and we are making an important strategic investment today to realize our objective to expand in this market. Together with Milestone, we can accelerate our growth by delivering new advanced products and solutions for new sectors, through new channels, to offer greater customer value. We are very excited about working with such a talented and innovative company and we welcome Milestone into the Canon Group.”
Lars Thinggaard, President & CEO, Milestone Systems: “Milestone is extremely excited about the huge potential that being part of a global group will provide. Canon respects how we built our business with our partners and supports our strategy of providing open platform solutions and therefore the need to remain a standalone company within the Canon Group. We feel this step is right for taking both our business and support for suppliers and partners to a new level.”
Milestone’s management will remain in place. Milestone will continue to provide Open Platform solutions to the market while operating as a standalone company within the Canon Group. Canon says it “fully supports Milestone’s Open Platform strategy and respects their strong partnerships.”
But two very important questions remain: first, Milestone already has distributors and resellers; they now will be brought into competition with their Canon brethren. How will these two groups of third party distribution be affected?
We also wondered how will this acquisition affect Canon’s relationship with other software providers? For example, only a few weeks ago, in May 2014, Canon had announced a partnership with Austria’s NETAVIS software. For every market action, there are reactions.
“At the moment the acquisition has no impact on our partnership,” NETAVIS CEO Wolfgang Baumgartner told rAVe EUROPE. “Canon and NETAVIS Software will still invest in our cooperation.”
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