Cisco and IBM mashup -- how Fortune 500 companies are recognizing the potential of video surveillance platforms

L. Samuel Pfeifle, the editor of Security Systems News, noted in a recent blog posting. how IBM and CISCO colloborated on a video surveillance mashup (or is it mash-up). What's interesting is that it was IBM and CISCO working together in the eight-hour mashup. Typically, startup companies work together on this type of research and development. However, E-week's Clint Boulton quoted Guido Jouret, the chief technology of emergning markets for CISCO on the new app: "What's unusual about what we showcased is that you think about Web 2.0 and a lot of people are saying 'I can take my RSS feed and splice it into something else. It's possible to widgetize, or represent in a very graphical way, things that people don't ordinarily think of as being Web 2.0, and the most remote example we could come up with is a video surveillance camera, but you could take that logic and apply it to a digital sign, to any kind of physical object that's capable of receiving or sending rich media. "

For security industry professionals, the cross development between Cisco and IBM is significant as it helps develop new uses of security technology within business. As a security publicist and marketer, I have helped my clients develop the concept that surveillance tools can do more than keep a business secure. In the construction industry, surveillance tools can help with operational and safety management. When Fortune 500 companies like Cisco and IBM recognize the potential of video surveillance platforms, integrators and dealers will benefit with increase marketing exposure and sales.