Free eLearning Courses to Develop Solutions with Milestone SDK

Milestone Systems, a global industry leader in open platform IP video management software (VMS), offers online courses at no charge on how to create integrated solutions. Third-party solution developers can expand expertise at their own pace to create innovations developed with the Milestone Software Development Kit (SDK). The tools provided show how to:

• Integrate Milestone XProtect VMS components into their applications, and/or interact with XProtect
• Make their application available as a plug-in with the XProtect Event Server and the XProtect Smart Client

The Milestone Integration Platform (MIP) has a set of Application Program Interfaces (APIs) that allow partner, customer, or third-party vendor applications to communicate with and control Milestone XProtect VMS, and for XProtect to communicate with and control other applications. For example, events/alarms from an access control system can be displayed or handled in the XProtect client or the video can be triggered to view in the access control interface. The goal is to offer operational flexibility and efficiency for the end user by making separate systems work together.

Milestone also provides a Software Development Kit (SDK)—the MIP SDK—which provides a toolset of code samples, libraries, documentation, and processes that help developers when they interact with XProtect.

Milestone offers three free, online courses that help to get started defining an integration to accomplish specific goals, as well as how to use Visual Studio, .NET, and C# to create plug-in and component integrations:

A MIP plug-in is able to execute in a number of Milestone products, making it easy to support multiple products with a single developed plug-in. For example:

Add simple ways of system control, such as handling devices with PTZ, events and outputs
Store Milestone Partner-developed configurations and share Milestone Partner configurations between applications
Add specific user controls to the Live, Playback, and Setup tabs in the Smart Client
Add customized options in menu configuration for common parameters, such as using private and shared views between all users
Make customized graphical overlays superimposed on live or recorded video, such as for video content analysis (analytics) applications

The SDK classes are available from the Milestone Partner Learning Portal as well as on YouTube (where the same content is presented in shorter, smaller sections).

Milestone also provides an in-person, instructor-led SDK course that takes place over three days in different world regions (U.S. and Denmark in 2018, more this year as demand determines).

A World of Innovation Possibilities

Create Powerful Solutions – Use the MIP SDK to build on Milestone’s rich VMS capabilities to deliver new and innovative offerings, such as integrating business management systems directly into the software.
Open and Flexible Integration Architecture – MIP SDK supports three types of integration: basic protocol integration, component-based integration via .NET library and plug-in integration to embed plug-ins directly into the software.
The MIP SDK Mobile – provides an easy way for creating new Mobile or Web applications or extending an existing one by wrapping the existing Milestone Mobile Server communication protocol. It is available for four different platforms: iOS, Android, Web, and Windows.
Video Access– Easily make solutions that access the video for viewing or processing purposes and show metadata-based overlays on top of the video using built-in tools.
Configuration – The MIP SDK provides access to not only append other data types to the VMS, but also access and modify the configuration of the VMS itself.
Events – Use the APIs or MIP SDK to send external events into the VMS, and to monitor and react to events coming from the VMS.

MIP SDK Works on the Free XProtect Essential+ VMS

XProtect Essential+ supports the Milestone Integration Platform (MIP), meaning developers can integrate and embed third-party applications and business systems directly into the software. Download XProtect Essential+ and get started! The free license supports up to 8 devices, an unlimited number of users and unlimited video retention time.

Quotable Quips

My phone in my pocket is my office no matter where I am in the wild. Milestone Mobile makes me powerful. Policing has been reactive but this integrative technology moves it to proactive.

Sgt. O’Hare Hartford Police Dept. 2018

Artificial Intelligence is the next evolution of video analytics, but instead of building algorithms around something that we’re looking at, we’re building systems that actually learn what’s happening, on the fly.

Mike Sherwood Dir. of Technical Operations, Milestone Systems

Trust in technology is a pressing issue of our time.

Satya Nadella on WSJ.com Oct 2016

Milestone is driven to see one another in our community succeed. We cannot develop new innovations in a vacuum. The best understand it takes more than just one company alone. Those who share the same mission can collaborate. Instead of making one small step for mankind, together we can take many small steps for a bigger leap!

Mike Sherwood Dir. Technical Services, Milestone

What most customers are looking for is interoperability; openness to work with multiple cameras; switches; servers; integration with access control and other third-party products; and to do all of that reliably. It allows the customer to feel like they aren’t being cornered, they aren’t being put into a proprietary-type situation that they might regret later.

Brent Edmunds President and Co-Founder, Stone Security

While the total solution should be the focus of any installation, there is risk in deploying a complete end-to-end solution from a single manufacturer as you may not be leveraging the best technology for each functional requirement. In addition, tackling a full solution as a single project adds complexity and introduces installation challenges which can ultimately lead to issues with customer satisfaction.

Mike Sherwood Milestone Systems Americas Director of Technical Operations

The Internet has been one of the most important inventions of modern life and has provided a foundation for innovations that we now rely on. Interestingly, this level of reliance on the Internet has only come about within the last 10 years with the introduction of the full screen smart phone. Indeed, standards can move slowly, even once they have seen full adoption it still takes time for innovation. But once innovation starts, it is exponential in growth, and to support this growth you must have a solid foundational standard.

Mike Sherwood Milestone Systems Americas Director of Technical Operations

The world is changing quickly — and with change comes opportunity. The power of multiple partnerships offers customers a fully integrated solution. With close co-development and teamwork, we provide countless solutions for integrated video management.

Benjamin Low VP of Sales for Asia Pacific at Milestone Systems

My goal is moving from Hartford as a Safe City to helping it become a Smart City. With the Milestone open platform we are moving beyond crime to improving the city’s economy, bringing in more business via marketing intelligence, traffic management, better snow removal, etc.

Sgt Jonmichael O’Hare Capital City Crime Center (C4)

Milestone sees the artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies as creating hyper growth markets by enabling IoT software companies to aggregate large numbers of connected devices and integrate them to form a new smart systems automation market. Milestone is prioritizing our technology roadmaps to capture these hyper growth opportunities. Several innovative technology investment areas will be delivered over the coming years.

Kenneth Hune Petersen Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at Milestone Systems

Press Releases

The Cloud, The Edge, and The Future — Hot Topics at this Year’s MIPS 2020, Dallas

March 10, 2020

Milestone Systems’ annual MIPS event this year brought together a rich community of video, security, and technology solution partners focused on advancing innovation.

Milestone Systems Appoints New Director of Regional Marketing

January 22, 2020

James Eastwood will work closely with upper-level managers and the sales team in the Americas to identify channel and customer specific marketing opportunities that drive sales and brand awareness across North, Central, and South America.

Milestone Systems announces executive channel hire to drive growth in the ANZ

December 13, 2019

Brian Cross has been appointed to the role of Channel Business Manager in Milestone Systems’ Brisbane office