Until recently, connecting IP video surveillance equipment of different manufacturers was problematic. Each brand used their own proprietary communication protocol.

An international forum wants to change this situation by defining a standard specification for connecting those equipment. There are multiple advantages of the ONVIF standard, including:

• Easier connection between the various security equipment by using a unified protocol;
• Greater flexibility when choosing the system components by reducing compatibility requirements.

Even if the ONVIF specification is quite recent, this standard has all the potential of bringing a lot to the security industry.