Market that is open
About 90 percent
Most available equipment can be brought onto an open platform.
Buyers rarely regret this decision in year one. They regret it in year seven, when a camera line is discontinued, a platform raises its pricing, or an acquisition changes the product roadmap.
Roughly 90 percent of what is available in this market is open architecture, so there is a very good chance an existing installed base can be brought forward rather than thrown away. The platform we deploy works with hundreds of manufacturers.
Supported manufacturers
Hundreds
On the platform we deploy.
Current streaming baseline
Profile T
Published 2018, covers H.265 and analytics streaming.
Profile S conformance ends
March 31, 2027
Last date for new product conformance submissions.
What the words mean in practice
Open architecture means the video management or access control software is written to talk to many manufacturers' hardware, through standard protocols and through maintained native drivers. You keep two independent decisions: which cameras, and which platform.
Proprietary means those decisions are one decision. The cameras only work with that platform, and often the platform only works with those cameras. That can be a genuinely good experience while the relationship is good. It removes your negotiating position when it is not.
The ONVIF profiles, accurately
ONVIF is an interoperability standard organized into profiles. A device and a platform interoperate to the extent they share a conformant profile, which is why the profile matters more than the word ONVIF on a datasheet.
| Profile | Published | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Profile S | 2011 | Video streaming and configuration |
| Profile C | 2013 | Access control runtime events |
| Profile G | 2014 | Edge recording and playback |
| Profile A | 2017 | Access control configuration |
| Profile T | 2018 | Advanced streaming including H.265 and analytics, the current baseline for new deployments |
| Profile D | 2021 | Peripherals |
| Profile M | 2021 | Analytics metadata |
Profile S is being retired, and here is what that does and does not mean
March 31, 2027 is the last date for new product conformance submissions against Profile S. Be precise about this, because it gets overstated constantly in sales material. It is a date for new product conformance submissions. It is not a date on which existing Profile S cameras stop working.
It matters anyway. Profile S mandates an authentication method that no longer meets current security guidance, which is the reason the profile is being wound down. If you are specifying new equipment today, specify Profile T and treat Profile S conformance as a legacy attribute rather than a target.
Native drivers often beat ONVIF on older cameras
This surprises people. For an older camera, a maintained native manufacturer driver frequently exposes more capability than ONVIF does, because major platforms maintain large device packs reaching back much further than ONVIF conformance goes.
The practical consequence is that a camera which fails an ONVIF check is not automatically unsupported. Before replacing anything, check the platform's device pack for that exact model.
Common questions
What is open architecture in security?
It means the software layer supports hardware from many manufacturers, so cameras and platform are two separate decisions. You can replace one without replacing the other, which is what protects your budget at renewal.
What is ONVIF?
ONVIF is an interoperability standard for network video and access control devices, organized into profiles. What matters on a datasheet is which profile a device conforms to, not the word ONVIF by itself.
Is ONVIF Profile S going away?
March 31, 2027 is the last date for new product conformance submissions to Profile S. Existing cameras do not stop working on that date. The reason for the retirement is that Profile S mandates an authentication method that no longer meets current security guidance.
Will I be locked into one camera brand?
Not on an open platform. About 90 percent of the market is open architecture and the platform we deploy supports hundreds of manufacturers, so you can change camera brands over time without changing your software.
Keep reading
We would rather help you make a good decision than win a bad one.
Cloud vs on-premises video
Cloud video removes the server, the storage array, the software licensing stack and the port forwarding that creates most of the risk in traditional recorder deployments. On-premises keeps recurring cost lower at large camera counts, keeps data in the building and does not depend on upstream bandwidth. Most real answers are hybrid.
Read the full comparisonExisting camera assessment
Usually yes. If your cameras are IP and were made after about 2012, they most likely support ONVIF Profile S and will work with a modern platform. If they are older, they may still work through a native manufacturer driver. If they are analog, we can bring them in through an encoder for roughly 55 to 100 dollars per channel without pulling new cable. The real question is not whether they will connect. It is whether they still give you enough pixels on target to identify a person, and whether they can still receive security firmware updates.
Read the full comparisonWhy Confluence Security
Thirty years in the trade, deep expertise in the platform we deploy, and the same people designing, installing and servicing your system. We are vendor neutral, we work with what you already own, and we hand you the documentation and the credentials so you are never locked in.
Read the full comparisonTalk through the practical next step.
Send us a camera list and we will tell you which devices your platform already supports natively.
We'll get back to you ASAP
Kindly provide your contact info and a team member will get in touch shortly.
- Phone
- 303 596 7819
- Address
- 6105 S. Main St. Suite #200
Aurora, CO 80016