MILAN--Italgo, a system integrator active in both physical and IT security, based here, has signed a marketing and distribution deal with the California-based Eptascape giving it exclusive distribution rights to Eptascape's MPEG-7 line of video analytics technology across Italy.

"Italgo was looking to add value for its clients" said Italgo COO Marco Cozzi. After carefully evaluating ways of doing that, the company settled on Eptascape and its MPEG-7 technology because it was something Italgo strongly believed in, according to Cozzi. "We found no other company that was offering such a solution," he said.

As system integration for both public and private sector work has been Italgo's main line of activity up to now, the company has set up a new unit that will be responsible for distributing Eptascape products, including its ADS series of video analysis units, which enable embedded, plug-and-play MPEG-7 video surveillance with real-time search, analysis and event detection.

Eptascape describes its MPEG-7 technology as "moving the security surveillance industry from pixel-based video to content-based video." In essence, it allows scene analysis in real time, rather than having to send video back to a central server for analysis.

Eptascape chose Italy as a launching point for its products in Europe in part because the market is less established for advanced technology compared to somewhere like the UK, according to the company's CEO, Marco Graziano. While definitely looking to establish a presence in other European markets as well, Graziano said that Italy would remain "the priority" for the near- to mid-term, through 2008.

For more on this story see the September/October issue of SSNE.