The amount of data humans generate is doubling approximately every two years, making it increasingly difficult to process that data and derive wisdom and insights that can be applied to decision-making. This is difficult for structured and unstructured text and numerical information, but it is even more difficult to apply to video.
Video cameras have become ubiquitous as organizations seek to understand crowd movements, manage safety, and detect criminal activity. But that data is difficult to analyze. A security officer sitting in a control room can probably monitor three out of four cameras, but monitoring a network of dozens or even hundreds of cameras requires an automated approach.
“This is where AI can move the needle,” said Lars Larsen, chief financial officer of Danish technology company Milestone Systems. “These are the scenarios where our customers will see the most benefit, and these are the use cases where we prioritize our investments.”
Milestone Systems collaborated with NVDIA to develop the Vision Language Model. Lars said the licensed and ethically sourced data will be used to power the company’s XProtect platform to ingest data from a wide range of cameras and enable security operations with a single interface that connects cameras, sensors, analytics and sites.
“There is a huge shift away from CCTV to AI-enabled, cloud-connected, data-driven video technologies,” Lars explains. “Expectations for real-time insights across airports, hospitality areas, critical infrastructure and public spaces are increasing. We are focused on how we can ensure we offer a flexible offering that can also adapt to the specific needs of the Asia Pacific region.”
This is just the first step, says Lars. He sees video systems becoming multimodal platforms that combine video audio and other data from a variety of sources. The collaboration with NVIDIA, named Project Hafnia (meaning “port” in the Latin name for Denmark’s capital Copenhagen), will ultimately integrate data from multiple sources, including cloud platforms. This enables Milestone Systems partners to build unique solutions that combine data from a variety of sources.
“We curate that library to understand what’s in the video, what’s in the photo, and build a video language model. It’s kind of ChatGPT, but for video data. We can extract what’s happening in a video sequence and display it as a text description, for example,” he explains.
By sharing a description of the situation with emergency vehicles on the way, operators can better understand and be better prepared for what they will face. This increases safety and maximizes your chances of success.
“This is where we see real efficiency gains,” said Lars. “The next feature launching in the XProtect product is the XProtect app platform, which will make it easier for customers to integrate different solutions into the platform and take advantage of Project Hafnia.”
That product innovation is just part of what’s behind Milestone Systems’ growth. The APAC region has grown by 26%, making it one of the company’s fastest growing markets, driven by growing demand for operational intelligence. Mr Lars pointed out that Australia is a very mature and growing market.
Some of that innovation is driven by strategic acquisitions. By bringing Brighter AI in-house, the company has access to state-of-the-art anonymization and is able to use Project Hafnia to deliver GDPR- or privacy-grade products faster than otherwise.
AI is now on everyone’s technology bingo card, so it’s important to have a clear strategy for implementing it. For Milestone Systems, the strategy is to drive business growth by focusing on areas that provide the most value to end users.
“We have to focus on business outcomes, not technology. That’s where we start. AI has to solve measurable problems, and that means using data that is trusted, compliant, and secure. We started working on it a few years ago, and we’re seeing the market increasingly demanding it,” says Lars.
Milestone Systems provides a secure and solid foundation by investing in data quality and governance. Combined with an open platform that can integrate with hardware and software from many vendors, you can create a secure and reliable platform that enhances security.
Milestone Systems turns large amounts of video data into strategic assets that deliver tangible business results. The company’s video language model and Project Hafnia’s open platform vision can transform raw footage and other data into real-time, multimodal insights that can be instantly shared with responders and integrated across various hardware ecosystems.
This blend of advanced analytics, robust data governance, and privacy-first design not only meets the rising expectations of airports, hospitals, and critical infrastructure. As the industry moves to intelligent, cloud-connected video, Milestone Systems, coupled with strategic acquisitions like Brighter, is focused on business-driven value. AI is positioned to set the standard for secure, scalable, and actionable video intelligence.
