First European student has graduated from Axis' worldwide certified consultant academy

22 Oct 2013

Axis Communications, the global leader in network video, can announce today Europe's first security consultant to graduate as an Axis Certified Professional from its worldwide academy.

The newly qualified Axis Certified Professional is based at CornerStone GRG, an independent global and UK-based security consultancy, and becomes the inaugural Axis architect and engineering partner to successfully complete all the rigorous requirements of the Axis Certification Program; the global industry standard to validate IP video expertise.

Commenting on the achievement, Jon Roadnight, director of CornerStone commented: "Axis certification has really helped us to set ourselves apart from our competitors by validating our expertise to prospective clients - not only with Axis cameras - but also with network video in general. It's the global industry standard in the network video world, very much like the Cisco certification of the IT world - a real unique selling point for us.

"The programme itself was fantastic and the lessons learned have really helped us when defining client requirements."

Axis has been key in the continued drive toward the convergence from analogue to digital video surveillance and has recognised that IP technology offers different challenges to consultants and installers in the surveillance and IT industries.

It recognises that there is a need for professionals with these skills to be able to validate their credentials across the industries, making it easier for specifiers to source the right expertise and reassuring end users. It has therefore added the Axis Certified Professional programme to its learning academy.

Atul Rajput, regional director, Northern Europe at Axis Communications explained: "According to the latest IHS CCTV and Video Surveillance Equipment report, the global video surveillance systems market is forecast to grow to over $23 billion by 2017. Therefore, the architecture of the systems and networks is a very important aspect and will be increasingly so as more IP solutions are adopted.

"In a similar model to Microsoft and Cisco’s certified professionals in the IT world, Axis is keen to help individuals and companies prove their competence and skills in network video surveillance and help them validate this advanced level of knowledge.

"The benefits are already evident and can be seen across the board and we believe that this type of industry standard validation is only going to get more important and even become a prerequisite as more and more installations specify IP video.

"With this new certification programme and its obvious success, we have set an industry standard by offering system designers and technical sales staff the first professional network video certification to validate expertise in IP video. By working with our independent testing and assessment partner, Prometric, Axis provides a globally standardised network video certification that is valid, reliable and fair."

Jon Roadnight agrees and has already seen tangible benefits from being an Axis Certified Professional: "It's also helped us win new business: when we pitched for a major design project for a large university in the Middle East, they had already earmarked Axis as one of its preferred suppliers. When we explained our certification and knowledge of the Axis product range, they not only selected CornerStone from a number of international security consultancy firms but also chose to use Axis cameras throughout the university's campus."

He concluded: "We have used Axis products on a range of projects over many years because of the excellent quality of its cameras, the fantastic support provided to the security industry and the range of solutions available. As a result, we had no hesitation to enrol a member of our technical design team on to the Axis Certification Programme."