I2C Technologies of North Canton has leveraged the power of new-generation internet protocol cameras to build a growing business among government and industry customers who need to closely monitor their assets.
Unlike analog cameras, which have been around since the advent of the television, IP cameras house their own microprocessors and interface with a network. Video can be stored within the unit itself for either real-time or future retrieval -- while at the same time transmitting live video to the customer from remote locations.
Jeff Doak, I2C's CEO, says he and partner Bryon Taylor, a former Perry Township detective, built the business around proprietary video management software that allows a user to program camera systems to focus on prioritized events -- like a car driving into a restricted area -- when activity is triggered by a sensor.
Some 160 customers in Ohio and surrounding states have called on I2C to install remote surveillance systems and integrate the software. But Doak says the business is poised to grow with a new line launched a year and a half ago -- a portable, self-contained four-camera unit that can monitor in detail an area the size of a football field.
"The solution we came up with uses a combination of three high-definition fixed cameras and one high-definition pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera," Doak says. The PTZ camera moves and uses optics to avoid the pixilation that occurs with digital zoom cameras, he says.
I2C manufactures the housing in two flavors -- one a normal unit that can be placed on a pole, building or other location -- the other disguised as a transformer box.
The company has benefited from investments by
North Coast Angel Fund and
Ohio TechAngels, and Doak says "there's a pretty heavy capacity for growth."
Source: Jeff Doak, I2C
Writer: Gene Monteith