The first reaction of many people in China to security may be devices such as cameras, hard disk recorders, video servers, or TV walls, and security software equipment is often overlooked. Under the traditional thinking mode, security software appears as a hardware product accessory. However, from the perspective of industry development, hardware is the foundation of the security industry, while software determines the future development trend of the security industry.
In video security monitoring systems, front-end devices are responsible for collecting, transmitting equipment, transmitting information, and back-end devices storing and managing information. The role of security integration software is no different from that of a human brain. It is not only a device management platform, but also an information exchange platform, and a support platform for security management business. It combines the workflow of security management business with the information flow of security systems, and provides users with advanced security management models, process optimization tools, scientific business decisions, and innovative management mechanisms through the management, organization, and scheduling of equipment, personnel, and various security information resources.
The security software market is showing rapid development
During the 11th and 12th Five Year Plans, the construction of government security projects centered on "safe cities" accelerated, accompanied by a rapid growth trend in the security software market. On the one hand, with the increasing scale of the "Safe City" system, it is particularly urgent to establish a video security monitoring network sharing platform; On the other hand, the business and management requirements related to the "Safe City" sharing platform are becoming increasingly complex. Subsystems such as video surveillance, anti-theft alarm, access control, fire protection, traffic control, police comprehensive command, three in one, GIS map analysis, etc. are being integrated into the platform, and the division of labor in the security industry chain is becoming more and more detailed. In this context, software plays an increasingly important role in the entire system, and software products have evolved from simple programming and processing, that is, traditional general-purpose platform software, to comprehensive solutions today.
With the entry into the 13th Five Year Plan, the IP based development of security has deepened, and the development focus of the security industry is similar to that of the IT industry, gradually shifting from hardware to software. In particular, in 2015, the nine departments of the State Council issued the "Several Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of Network Applications for Public Safety Video Surveillance", proposing to basically achieve the goal of "full coverage, full network sharing, full-time availability, and full controllability" of public safety video surveillance construction network applications by 2020, realizing the intensification, standardization, and intelligent application of public safety video surveillance construction, constructing and improving a comprehensive application platform for public security video image information, and the new version of the "Technical Requirements for Information Transmission, Exchange, and Control of Security and Preventive Video Surveillance Network Systems" (GB/T28181) has also been completed. It will be officially implemented in June this year. Both policy and market factors have played a huge driving role in the development of security software, and comprehensive management platform software with video surveillance as the core is gradually becoming the core of the security software market.
Driven by market demand, the security software market has experienced significant expansion in the past two years, with an annual growth rate of over 30% in the domestic market. According to a research report by IMSResearch, it is predicted that the demand for domestic security software market will continue to increase at a rate of 30% -50% in the next five years. Taking the "2017 IHS Markit Global Video Surveillance Equipment Market Research Report" released by IHS as an example, the report released the market share rankings of the global video surveillance market and segmented fields in 2016. A well-known domestic security company ranks first in the domestic market share of VMS (Video Surveillance Management Platform) and third in the global market share, which proves the huge potential of the domestic video surveillance management software platform market.
Security software intellectual property is facing challenges
Although the importance of security software is gradually recognized by the market and its market value is also increasing, the protection of intellectual property rights for security software is still influenced by existing thinking, and there is a phenomenon of "appropriation" and even piracy and infringement. Unlike other industries, due to the relatively weak awareness and ability of security companies to protect intellectual property rights for a long time, their independent research and development capabilities are very limited. Some companies are in a state of no "property rights" to protect, and naturally do not attach importance to the security of others' "property rights". This also leads to unintentional infringement of intellectual property rights by companies. In the "13th Five Year Plan (2016-2020) Development Plan for China's Security Industry" released by the China Security Association, it is pointed out that the order of the security market needs to be further standardized, and the protection of enterprise intellectual property rights needs to be further strengthened.
The rapid development of the security industry has led to increasingly fierce competition in the industry. The competitive advantage of differentiation has become the key for enterprises to win market competition. Building their own differentiated advantages through technological innovation has become an important means for security companies to seek further development. However, in the process of technological innovation, enterprises are affected by fierce market competition, and products with independent intellectual property advantages always face blatant infringement such as counterfeiting and imitation, which seriously damages the interests of innovators. Therefore, the effective protection, management, and utilization of intellectual property rights of enterprises will directly affect their survival. Especially in the field of security software, there is a significant difference between intellectual property and physical products, and infringement has strong concealment, making it difficult for enterprises to protect their rights. How to use more effective means to timely avoid or fundamentally eliminate the infringement behavior of competitors, safeguard their legitimate rights and interests, and achieve the maximum profit rate of software products has become the focus of security software enterprises.
New ways are urgently needed for intellectual property protection of security software
From the current perspective, protecting software intellectual property rights for enterprises involves nothing more than filing patent applications and resorting to legal means to sue for infringement. But these methods cannot fundamentally avoid infringement behavior, and the fact and impact of infringement damage already exist. In addition, taking legal proceedings often requires a lot of energy and financial resources for enterprises, which is not worth the loss. This is also one of the important factors currently leading to weak protection of software intellectual property rights in the security industry.
How to establish a defense line for intellectual property protection at the beginning of enterprise security software project initiation, ensuring full participation throughout the entire lifecycle from design, research and development, production, sales, usage tracking to order management, and fundamentally eliminating the existence of intellectual property leakage or infringement.
The emergence of software monetization solves this problem. Software monetization is currently the best solution for intellectual property protection and software value mining in the IT industry, but it is not well known in the security industry. Software monetization not only protects enterprise software intellectual property from infringement, but also enhances the profitability of enterprise software assets, maximizing the operational efficiency of users monetizing software products.
Software monetization was first proposed by SafeNet. In 2015, Gemalto acquired SafeNet, and its software monetization product line became an important product for Gemalto to provide comprehensive solutions for security, encryption, licensing, usage status, and authorization management for software and cloud service providers. It helps them develop, deploy, and adjust in cloud environments, and cope with the opportunities and challenges brought by new IT environments with ease. At present, top brands around the world have great trust in Gemalto's SafeNet identity recognition and data protection solutions, using SafeNet products to provide protection for their data, identity information, and intellectual property.
Software monetization maximizes the value of security software
From protecting the commercial interests of software developers to expanding their business development and operational efficiency, software monetization runs through the entire process of designing, developing, producing, selling, tracking usage, and order management of software centered system products.
Taking the video surveillance management platform software as an example, during the product development phase: implementing encryption protection through software monetization solutions; In the product pricing and packaging stage, software monetization solutions are used to achieve encapsulation and authorization pricing based on functional modules; In the product sales stage: deliver products/services on demand (based on payment status) according to the functions required by customers, or based on the customer's usage period, frequency, etc; During the order execution and management phase, software monetization solutions can be used to deliver licenses to users. Based on customer payment and renewal status, the use of products/services can be extended, suspended, or upgraded. In addition, customer usage tracking and overall software operation feedback can also be provided.
From the current perspective, the application fields of security software products are constantly expanding, playing an irreplaceable role in large-scale projects such as smart cities, intelligent transportation, and smart communities. With the continuous deepening of the construction and application of national level public safety video surveillance networks, the application value of security software itself will be continuously enhanced, and the protection of software intellectual property rights and the maximization of value have become the most important focus of the industry. The introduction of software monetization will provide the most reliable solution for protecting software intellectual property rights, enhancing the value of software itself, and protecting system information security in the future security industry.
