i-PRO EMEA is to claim its independence from Panasonic from October 1st, 2021. The Japanese and American divisions will follow this step in April next year.
Gerard Figols (pictured), head of Business Unit, Total Security Solutions, will head the new company’s security market expansion.
Figols told Benchmark, “We want to lead the AI-fication of the security industry, whilst respecting data security and GDPR. It is in our roadmap to be more open-source. This move will allow new applications for i-PRO to be developed by other companies.”
Figols pointed out, “A smaller and more agile organisation will allow us to quickly respond to market developments – delivering more high-quality products, in shorter development times, at good value for money. The objective is to make innovative i-PRO products more available and accessible and increase overall competitiveness.”
This month i-PRO has expanded its line-up with four new AI-capable outdoor models with 2MP resolution in bullet and dome shape. The current AI-capable portfolio includes cameras starting at 2MP resolution up to 4K to give all businesses access to the advantages of AI.
i-PRO plans to triple the number of cameras in the range over t
he next 6-12 months. Besides the advantages of cost savings, system reliability and flexibility at the same level of accuracy as server-based systems, i-PRO AI-driven cameras are open systems enabling developers to work on their apps to run on the cameras.
“To underline our new direction and the evolution the company is going through, combining the expertise of more than 60 years of industry know-how with innovative open technology like AI, we will also begin to use i-PRO as the standalone product identity from April 1st, 2022. It will be the same quality products, introducing additional innovation from the i-PRO brand and its value to bring the product to the next stage in this new era,” said Gerard Figols, currently Head of Panasonic’s European Total Security business unit.
i-PRO EMEA will have 50 per cent of people transferring from Panasonic, and new people will be recruited.