Interview: Jean Mazel, B2C Product Management Manager for Canon Central and Eastern Europe

The acquisitions of Axis and Milestone by Canon have allowed us to offer a comprehensive portfolio of security products, software, and services. Collaboration and integration between these companies provide customers with a seamless and advanced security solution, combining the strengths of each entity

By: Damir Muharemovic; E-mail: editorial@asadria.com

a&s Adria: Mr. Mazel, you are a highly accomplished professional in the imaging industry, with a career that spans continents and countries. What roles have you held throughout your career?

Mazel: Thank you for the opportunity to address to your readers. As you said, I have a strong background in sales, engineering, project management, and team leadership in the field of professional imaging. I’m working for Canon where I oversee B2C Product Management & Professional imaging solutions business sales in Central & Eastern Europe. As a Canon employee, I’m dedicated to deliver innovative solutions to serve our customers from the 4 key vertical sectors, Government, Industry, Education and Media. I think my ability to understand market dynamics, identify opportunities, and build strong relationships with clients has been instrumental in my carreer.

a&s Adria: Before we move on to your security portfolio, tell us about Canon’s security business in markets you cover, especially Southeast Europe. Which countries and verticals do you focus on, how many people and offices do you have, from which offices are covering the Western Balkans region, are you satisfied with the results or do you feel there is room for improvement, etc.?

Mazel: Canon’s security business in the markets I cover, including Eastern Europe, focuses on countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, and of course the Adria region, with a particular emphasis on verticals like government & industry. We have a dedicated sales & marketing team in each country and a strong network of regional sales engineering product specialists who oversee pre and post sales. Our offices cover the Central and Easter Europe region effectively. We are constantly improving our market presence to ensure a very high standard of customer satisfaction.

a&s Adria: Canon made a huge impact on the security industry back in 2014 and 2015 by acquiring Axis and Milestone. Up to this day, I haven’t read a detailed explanation of how your portfolios of products, software, and services complement each other, nor of the way you collaborate and gain market value. Can you explain these issues, with emphasis on the added value customers gain by having three large companies under one umbrella?

Mazel: The acquisitions of Axis and Milestone by Canon have allowed us to offer a comprehensive portfolio of security products, software, and services. Our collaboration and integration between these companies provide customers with a seamless and advanced security solution, combining the strengths of each entity to deliver added value and innovation to our customers.

a&s Adria: Aside from the Consumer portfolio, which is now branded under the Axis., Canon offers a Professional type of video surveillance and monitoring products. What is it consisted of and what latest surveillance products and solutions would you stand out?

Mazel: Canon offers various types of software and hardware video surveillance and monitoring products. Professional portfolio is intended for a dedicated, niche audience. Our latest surveillance products and solutions feature advanced technologies such as the Canon Ultra-High Sensitivity Camera MS-500, one of the most powerfull cameras in the world, which enables you to see in color at night like during the day without infrared due to our advanced technology with 4,000,000 ISO. You can use very powerful tele-objective and see somebody in the dark up to one or two kilometers. It is intended for army, police, surveillance, boats, big factories. With a 1-inch type Single-Photon Avalanche Diode (SPAD) sensor, designed and made by Canon, it outputs full-colour, Full HD footage with low noise in a wide variety of low-light environments for long range security and monitoring applications. MS500 was nominated by Times Magazine as one of the best inventions of 2023 – The Most Powerful Camera.

On top of MS500, our portfolio includes ME20F-SH, ME20F-SHN, and ML105EF mostly dedicated to industry, due to their small size and different range of connectors, that allows really easy integration in industry surveillance. They offer low-light performance, remote control compatibility, and lens mount options to support EF, M58 and B4 mount lenses. That’s why these ultra-low-light video cameras are perfect for short or long-range monitoring applications.

Multi-Purpose Network Camera ME20F-SHN is a professional Full HD network camera offering superb low light performance from a 2.26MP CMOS sensor and an ISO up to 4 million. It can record Full HD colour video in almost total darkness (min. illumination 0.0005 lux) plus networking and remote control capability for critical surveillance applications.

The ML-105 EF is a modular Full HD video camera, designed for government, defence and security use. Featuring a 35mm Full Frame CMOS sensor with an ISO range of up to 4 million, it is also a camera that can see in the dark. At 76 mm x 76 mm x 112 mm, the ML-105 EF boasts a compact design and weighs just 775g, making it highly flexible for drone use and other various applications.

a&s Adria: You mentioned that your flagship MS500 camera uses 1.0-Type SPAD sensor. How can it achieve such a high sensitivity?

Mazel: When a photon strikes the sensor, an electron is generated, this triggers a chain reaction or “avalanche” of electron production. This photon is converted to an electric charge, the SPAD sensor then amplifies the charge by a million times with a phenomenon called the ‘avalanche multiplication’, causing a large current to flow instantaneously. This large current is read out as a voltage signal in the form of a train of pulses corresponding to individual photons. This SPAD sensor’s unique light sensing technology can achieve incredible low-light performance.

a&s Adria: Real-time image adjustment, multi-streaming, and sophisticated video analytics are a suite of capabilities that Canon surveillance cameras offer. How do these technologies help to diligently process, monitor, and flag potential security breaches that translate into powerful evidence?

Mazel: Canon surveillance cameras offer real-time image adjustment, multi-streaming, and sophisticated video analytics capabilities that help to enhance security monitoring and detection of potential breaches. These technologies enable efficient processing, monitoring, and alerting of security incidents, providing powerful evidence for investigation and response. Real-time image adjustment is a kind of automatic reframing of video feed. Video analytics capabilities reffer to the algorithms for object detection, line crossing detection, counting people and activating alarms if the threshold is crossed, etc. Multistreaming means having multiple feeds and combining them into one to calculate the percentage of risk.

a&s Adria: “The pandemic has pushed the industry to advance its virtual and remote production capabilities to support smaller crews or even stand-alone operators,” said Ryan Kamata, European Senior Product Marketing Manager at Canon Europe. Since a lot of customers are looking for solutions that can decrease their workload, you offered a multi-cam setup using your PTZ cameras and XC protocol. Tell us more about it, and how it works, and give us an example of its use.

Mazel: Our multi-cam setup using PTZ cameras and XC protocol offers a flexible and scalable solution for remote production and monitoring. This setup allows users to control multiple cameras from a central location, enabling efficient operation with reduced manpower. With the launch of our PTZ cameras back in 2019 and the development of the XC IP procotol we have a full ecosystem of IP technologies, providing infrastructure for government, industry, media, and corporate organizations.

I will give you an example of multi-cam setup in Serbian parliament. Since the pandemic, the need to broadcast democratic processes increased. Before, we used cameras only for securing government organisations but now the public demands streaming of the parliament sessions. So we are providing solution with multiple PTZ cameras and a very small number of operators because they are automated. Also, students can join e-learning, then meeting rooms have PTZ cameras for easier collaboration.

a&s Adria: Today’s businesses store and share information across platforms and locations, making it harder to safeguard. Canon’s holistic approach to information security ensures that information is safe whenever they are accessed, managed, and processed. What does this holistic approach entail?

Mazel: Canon is a leader in the IDC marketscape for print and document security solutions and services, as well as in the Quocirca print security landscape. Our solutions and services help to secure all documents and sensitive data, regardless of format, throughout their lifecycle. Our technologies are built to be secure by design and have been checked against the highest industry standards. Canon’s holistic approach to information security ensures that wherever information is accessed, managed and processed, it’s still protected.

a&s Adria: When addressing information security, Canon uses the term “360-degree device security”. What latest security features is your print and scan portfolio equipped with to safeguard critical data in every stage of document workflow?

Mazel: Canon’s print and scan portfolio is equipped with the latest security features to safeguard critical data in every stage of document workflow. The devices offer categories of features including secure authentication, encryption options, anti-tampering and inbuilt monitoring which work together to provide 360-degree protection against security threats.

a&s Adria: Canon’s Digital Transformation Services is an ecosystem of hardware, software, and services that can support a business’s digital transformation journey. Information security is at the heart of your approach. Are your devices, software, and services equipped with features that help meet security and compliance requirements?

Mazel: We incorporate the necessary security features into our products and services from the development stage, based on the trends in technology led by government entities, industry groups and software vendors on a global basis. We utilize methods such as review-based checks and vulnerability tests to mitigate related risks, with a secure development process positioned as a vital part of development.

a&s Adria: Can you name some important projects you worked on lately?

Mazel: Security projects are a bit difficult to discuss, but I can tell you that various police departments and government agencies are using Canon hardware and software solutions, including ME cameras, binoculars, and PTZ cameras, across the Adriatic region. We are also proud to have among our customers numerous companies, including factories.

a&s Adria: What can we expect from Canon shortly? What technologies and services are you currently working on? Mazel: Canon aims to create new technologies in its four business groups of Printing, Imaging, Medical and Industrial Equipment. Recently our company has been focusing on the development of fundamental technologies such as cutting-edge SPAD sensors, photon counting CT, image processing technology that utilizes deep learning, next-generation technology for commercial printing, and nanoimprint lithography, that can be the source of business creation, being applied and utilized for various purposes.

a&s Adria: You exhibited at recently held Adria Security Summit in Sarajevo. Do you think it was a good opportunity to reach out to new partners and customers?

Mazel: We are exhibiting at the Adria Security Summit for the third consecutive year now, as we feel it is very important to connect with key decision makers from small, medium and large enterprises who act as planners of development of security and protection of corporate assets and employees, as well as representatives of government security agencies and local and regional administrative authorities.