as nasdaq stockholm axis industry video surveillance physical security research and development founded 1984 1 founders mikael karlsson martin gren keith bloodworth headquarters lund sweden area served worldwide key people ray mauritsson ceo jonas hansson cio johan paulsson cto fredrik sj strand cfo products network cameras network video encoders network video recorders video management systems video analytics physical access control revenue sek 6.635 million 2015 2 operating income sek 881 million 2015 2 number of employees 2 139 2 website www.axis.com axis communications ab is a swedish manufacturer of network cameras for the physical security and video surveillance industries . 3 4 5 it operates in the market segments transport infrastructure retail banking education government and industrial . 6 7 8 axis communications originally started out as an it company selling print servers . 9 10 it then applied its knowledge in networks and embedded computing to develop network cameras for the security industry . 11 12 13 most of its products contain an embedded computer with some flash memory and run a custom version of linux . 14 one of its major breakthroughs in technology was the development of jffs which extended the lifetime of the devices flash memory . 15 16 contents 1 history 1.1 origins 1.2 expansion 1.3 focus on network cameras 1.4 founding of industry standards body 1.5 today 2 technology 2.1 network cameras 2.1.1 p iris 2.1.2 corridor format 2.1.3 lightfinder 2.2 video encoders 2.3 video management software 2.4 video analytics software 2.5 physical access control 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit origins edit axis communications was founded in 1984 by martin gren mikael karlsson and keith bloodworth in lund sweden . 1 17 the company developed and sold protocol converters and printer interfaces for the connection of pc printers in ibm mainframe and mini computer environments . 18 19 20 by the end of the 1980s axis communications had opened its first u.s. sales office in boston massachusetts and in the early 1990s started shifting its focus away from ibm mainframes towards networking and the tcp ip protocol . 19 21 expansion edit in 1991 axis communications introduced a multi protocol print server supporting both tcp ip and netware . 10 22 in 1995 the company introduced a file server independent multi protocol cd rom server supporting tcp ip nfs and windows smb for ethernet networks the axis 850 . 22 23 also by 1995 axis communications had opened sales offices in hong kong singapore and tokyo japan . 22 focus on network cameras edit in 1996 axis communications introduced the industry s first network camera the axis 200 . 6 9 24 25 26 27 this was followed in 1999 by the axis 2100 which was the first volume product using an embedded linux . 22 in 2004 the company introduced the axis 206 the then smallest network camera . 22 28 founding of industry standards body edit in 2008 axis communications announced together with bosch and sony that the companies will cooperate in order to standardize the interface of network video products and form a new industry standards body called onvif open network video interface forum . 29 30 31 32 axis communications introduced its first product with onvif support in 2009 the axis p3301 . there are now over 600 onvif conformant products available . 33 34 today edit axis communications operates offices in more than 40 countries and employs over 1 600 people . 35 5 36 according to a 2013 market research report by industry analyst house ihs research axis communications is the global market leader in the network camera and video encoder markets . 37 38 39 installations include the city of houston 40 sydney airport 41 moscow metro 42 and madrid buses . 43 in 2014 axis communications published a sustainability report disclosing it had reduced its carbon dioxide emissions by 13 percent and that 65 percent of the company s network cameras and video encoders are pvc free . on february 10 2015 japanese multinational corporation canon which specializes in the manufacture of imaging and optical products announced a cash bid of 23.6 billion swedish kronor 2.83 billion to acquire axis communications . 44 45 technology edit network cameras edit axis communications develops and sells network cameras for many applications . products include ptz 46 vandal resistant 47 48 thermal 49 outdoor 50 hdtv 51 wireless 52 motion detection 53 and progressive scan 54 cameras . it introduced the industry s first thermal network camera the axis q1910 in january 2010 55 56 and the industry s first hdtv network camera the axis q1755 in december 2008 . 57 58 59 an old axis 2100 network camera a current model network camera from axis communications p iris edit p iris precise iris control is a type of network camera lens that together with specialized software installed in the camera itself regulates the iris opening through the use of a stepper motor for contrast clarity resolution and depth of field . 60 61 62 p iris maintains image quality by continuously adjusting the iris position . 63 64 this position also referred to as a specific f number is where the lens works best and optical errors are reduced . 63 p iris was developed by axis communications and the japanese lens maker kowa . 65 66 if the iris closes too much in bright situations this causes diffraction in the image . 65 p iris is used for megapixel and hdtv network cameras because of the compounding effect caused by the smaller size of the pixels in the image sensor 65 66 67 megapixel and hdtv network cameras are based on a megapixel image sensor 1 million or more pixels and have significantly more pixels than standard resolution network cameras . a smaller pixel can t gather as much light as a larger pixel as it has less surface . 68 this results in a need to be able to precisely adjust the levels of light coming into megapixel and hdtv network cameras . 62 69 70 the first product incorporating p iris technology was the axis p1346 network camera . 62 67 corridor format edit corridor format is a video surveillance format for hdtv network cameras making full use of the 16 9 aspect ratio when monitoring narrow view areas such as staircases hallways aisles or tunnels . 71 72 when using the regular landscape video surveillance format for narrow view areas the full resolution of a hdtv network camera is not utilized as large parts of the field of view are redundant . 73 corridor format technology turns the 16 9 aspect ratio into 9 16 while hdtv standards such as full frame rate and resolution are maintained . 74 either the hdtv network camera is installed sideways or the 3 axis lens is rotated 90 degrees when mounting the camera . 75 then the video image is rotated back 90 degrees by the internal camera software . 74 corridor format can be accessed by software vendors through an open api . 76 77 lightfinder edit lightfinder is a technology that allows network cameras to maintain details and colors in very dark and low light conditions compared to conventional day night technologies that provide a black and white image . 78 79 it consists of a high performance low light cmos image sensor an optimized lens and a custom designed asic chip running specialized software for image processing . 80 algorithms fine tuned to the characteristics of the lens and image sensor allow for better image quality in near darkness . 81 lightfinder technology helps identify people or vehicles in demanding video surveillance applications such as construction sites or parking lots . 79 82 ir illuminators are often no longer required . 77 79 the first product incorporating lightfinder technology was the axis q1602 network camera . 77 83 video encoders edit axis communications develops and sells video encoders allowing for video from analog systems to be converted into digital format for ip networks . 84 85 these are based on the h. 264 video compression format lowering bandwidth and storage requirements without impacting image clarity . 86 87 the company sells 1 port 4 port 6 port and 16 port video encoders as well as rack solutions for large installations . 88 89 90 91 92 video management software edit axis communications sells a video management software which it markets under the name axis camera station . 93 94 the software provides remote video monitoring recording and event management functionality . 95 96 its api allows the integration with other systems such as point of sale and access control . 93 96 video analytics software edit axis camera application platform an open api enables development of applications by third parties that can be downloaded and installed on axis products . 97 98 this allows software companies to offer video analytics applications for axis network cameras providing functionalities such as recognition counting detection and tracking . 99 100 physical access control edit axis communications started offering physical access control solutions in late 2013 . 101 102 the first product was the axis a1001 network door controller . 103 104 it had an open interface for integration with other ip based security system components and third party software . 101 105 the axis a1001 network door controller was the first onvif conformant physical access control solution available on the market . 106 107 see also edit ip video surveillance megapixel image sensor professional video over ip closed circuit television cctv closed circuit television camera video analytics onvif physical security depth of field references edit a b diane ritchey security magazine . security s 25 most influential . december 1 2006 . retrieved november 9 2011 . a b c 2015 annual report axis communications ab . retrieved may 11 2016 . timothy compston security middle east . the man behind i.p. january 10 2014 . retrieved nov 23 2015 . silicon india . axis communications aggressive to tap indian market . jul 23 2009 . retrieved aug 17 2011 . a b nasdaq omx nordic . company profile . retrieved 2011 03 14 . a b john adams security electronics and networks . axis communications success sells . apr 14 2011 . retrieved jun 28 2011 . trade arabia . axis communications to take part in intersec . jan 12 2011 . retrieved sep 12 2011 . git security . axis communications a strong year . feb 3 2011 . retrieved aug 17 2011 . a b git security . the development of video technology over the last 20 years . jun 30 2011 . retrieved aug 25 2011 . a b caryn gillooly network world . print server market heats up with new less costly products . dec 13 1993 . retrieved sep 20 2011 . sdm magazine . interview with martin gren inventor of the network camera . oct 18 2011 . retrieved may 29 2015 . scott goldfine security sales & integration . 2014 ssi hall of fame inductee martin gren . april 1 2014 . retrieved apr 28 2014 . john adams security electronics and networks . martin gren ip cctv s founding father . dec 8 2015 . dec 9 2015 . jan bosch . design and use of software architectures adopting and evolving a product line approach . new york ny pearson education 2000 . isbn 0 201 67494 7 . pp 176 180 . woodhouse david . jffs the journalling flash file system . red hat inc. citeseerx 10.1.1.128.6156 . missing or empty url help ; access date requires url help karim yaghmour . building embedded linux systems . sebastopol ca o reilly media 2003 . isbn 0 596 52968 6 . p 90 . by lennart alexandrie security world hotel . his idea and passion was turned into a world leading industry . sep 5 2008 . nov 25 2015 . leonor barroca