Tokyo/Langmeil/Tokyo (March 23, 2023) – i-PRO Co., Ltd. (i-PRO), MOBOTIX AG (MOBOTIX), and Konica Minolta, Inc. (Konica Minolta) announce that they will strengthen their strategic collaboration by combining their products. This collaboration will allow the companies to mutually leverage the strengths of the portfolio offering of i-PRO and MOBOTIX, both specialists in imaging and sensing technologies, and combine their products with FORXAI, a cutting-edge imaging IoT platform of Konica Minolta.
Collaboration of i-PRO and MOBOTIX with their IP cameras
i-PRO offers a wide range of video surveillance products incorporating edge AI technology. Together with the renowned reliability and durability of Japanese products, that has enabled the company to increase its presence in the global market. On the other hand, MOBOTIX offers decentralized processing (edge computing) IP cameras worldwide, which satisfy the rigorous durability standards required for made-in-Germany products. With their high-end thermal imaging cameras, they have the critical ability to accurately detect temperature anomalies and variations.
MOBOTIX, i-PRO, and Konica Minolta jointly developed a system by visual and thermal cameras in 2020. The new strategic cooperation says that MOBOTIX will use selected high-performance i-PRO camera hardware. Combined with unique MOBOTIX DNA feature sets on an ODM/JDM (Original Design Manufacturing/Joint Development Manufacturing) basis, with the first product scheduled to be launched in 2023, the hardware will be compatible with the existing MOBOTIX and Konica Minolta system landscape.
The collaboration will strengthen solution offerings for the vertical markets – e.g. industry & production, government, healthcare, logistics - in a targeted manner with performant end-to-end solutions. It enables customers to meet their needs in terms of improved processes, higher profits, and support more social safety and security in society.
Combination of i-PRO and MOBOTIX products with Konica Minolta's FORXAI
The surveillance and video solutions market now demands much more than video monitoring and post-event verification. Detection, analysis, and prediction using AI, and the provision of data services that leverage it, are increasingly coming into focus as new growth areas.
Connecting i-PRO and MOBOTIX systems with Konica Minolta's FORXAI imaging IoT platform opens up integrating and using various other devices and systems through open partnerships. Thus, the companies hope to develop unique solutions based on Konica Minolta's state-of-the-art imaging AI technology, integrate the technologies of FORXAI partner companies, expand their customer base, and continuously utilize customer data.
Comments by Top Executives
Shohei Ozaki, COO of i-PRO Co., Ltd., said, "Since its establishment in 2019, i-PRO has been building collaborative relationships with partners around the world, and in 2020, entered into a partnership with Konica Minolta and MOBOTIX. Konica Minolta, MOBOTIX, and i-PRO are pioneers in image-based intelligent services and are reputed for the quality and reliability of their products. I believe that this partnership will help our extensive lineup of products incorporating edge AI technology contribute to solving a wider range of social issues.
"MOBOTIX and i-PRO share many common values and have matching quality standards, especially regarding performance and cybersecurity. Together with Konica Minolta, we can bundle our competencies and offer innovative solutions including thermal technology and AI for our central vertical markets," said Thomas Lausten, CEO of MOBOTIX AG. “The focus of video technology on data usage is a common starting point for the cooperation partners. Intelligent video technology is much more than delivering safety. It is about effective operations, increasing sales, and making people's lives easier."
Toshiya Eguchi, Konica Minolta’s Executive Vice President and Executive Officer Responsible for Technologies and Imaging-IoT Solution Business, commented as follows. "We are looking forward to this intensive partnership. Through this collaboration among Konica Minolta's imaging IoT platform FORXAI, MOBOTIX and i-PRO, we are confident that their competencies, high-quality standards, and strengths complement each other perfectly. The cooperation will be a win-win-win for the three companies. The biggest winners, by far, will be our customers and users."
About i-PRO
i-PRO is a global leader of advanced sensing technologies in the fields of Intelligent Surveillance, Public Safety, and Industrial/Medical Imaging. Established in 2019, i-PRO was built on a legacy of over 60 years of innovation with Panasonic.
The company’s products, software and services extend human senses to capture moments of truth with innovations that inform and protect. In order to help create a safer world, i-PRO supports the work of professionals who protect and save lives.
About Konica Minolta
Konica Minolta has set five material issues, including “ensuring social safety and security,” and addresses them through its digital workplace and industry businesses. In doing so, the company aims to help solve these social issues at customers’ locations through advanced on-site (on the edge side) real-time recognition and judgment services based on AI processing using the FORXAI imaging IoT platform.
Some FORXAI edge devices were developed using decentralized processing (edge computing) IP cameras of MOBOTIX, in which Konica Minolta acquired controlling stakes in 2016. MOBOTIX’s IP cameras incorporate edge-side image data compression and image data analysis technologies. Solutions that ensure highly reliable monitoring that Konica Minolta developed in collaboration with MOBOTIX have helped the company improve safety and security for customers.
