(Bloomberg Businessweek) -- Form and functionSecurity cameras may be ubiquitous, but they still miss a lot. And humans have to monitor their feeds for unusual activity. The Movidius Myriad 2 vision-processing chip is designed to help newer-model cameras interpret images themselves.
Innovators Sean Mitchell and David MoloneyAges 48 and 54Titles Chief operating officer and chief technology officer of Movidius, a 180-employee company in San Mateo, Calif.
Origin Mitchell and Moloney, who’d worked as engineers for several Irish chipmakers, founded Movidius in 2005 after sketching out the idea for a smart-camera network in a Dublin pub.
FundingThe company raised about $87 million in venture capital before Intel announced plans to buy it late last year.
InterpretA camera equipped with Myriad 2 uses the chip’s AI software and processing power to distinguish people and vehicles from other objects. The chip can also identify trespassers and traffic infractions.
AlertMultiple cameras, connected by the internet, can combine their analyses and send alerts to police or security guards.
MarketMovidius is pitching Myriad 2 chips to highway departments and other government agencies, as well as companies and individuals looking for set-and-forget security.
Next StepsDronemaker DJI’s Phantom 4 drones use the Myriad 2 to help steer around obstacles. Hangzhou Hikvision, the leading maker of internet-connected cameras, says it’s incorporating the chip into some of its cameras. “Smart cameras are the future of security cameras,” says Anand Joshi, principal analyst at consulting company Tractica. Now that Hikvision is onboard, he says, “others are likely to follow suit.”
To contact the author of this story: Michael Belfiore in at michael@michaelbelfiore.com.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jeff Muskus at jmuskus@bloomberg.net, Cristina Lindblad
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