Small Tech: All eyes on ipConfigure

NORFOLK

Chris Uiterwyk sat in a conference room last week with more than a dozen cameras trained on him.

Each lens was linked to an internal computer network. As Uiterwyk waved his arm, his image waved back at him on the screens of a mobile phone and a computer.

Uiterwyk is president and CEO of Norfolk-based ipConfigure, a small technology firm that develops software to help manage and monitor surveillance cameras.

Unlike traditional closed-circuit surveillance systems, which transmit video footage over copper wires, ipConfigure's software is built to manage cameras connected to a computer network. The software operates within a Web browser and stores footage on hard drives.

Rather than staring at tiny televisions, surveillance workers can access the software from any computer.

Its most notable customer is the U.S. Postal Service, which uses its software to operate more than 5,000 surveillance cameras. Old Dominion University and Norfolk State University also use the program.

Uiterwyk started the company eight years ago in Atlanta after working as a project manager with the city's public school system. He had been given the task of updating the schools' antiquated surveillance system. The school system initially wanted to switch from storing footage on tapes to a device similar to a consumer digital video recorder like TiVo.

"It wasn't a perfect solution," Uiterwyk said. "Every time there was a problem or something needing to be reviewed, you would still have to drive out to the school to view it."

Around that time, video cameras that broadcast footage over a computer network were becoming more widespread. Uiterwyk applied his background in computer network engineering to use a network to manage the schools' video feeds.

"A lot of my colleagues thought it was crazy, that I would never find a hard drive big enough to be able to store the video," he said.

After installing the software in Atlanta's public schools, Uiterwyk set out on his own, forming ipConfigure in 2003. An Old Dominion graduate with personal ties to Hampton Roads, he moved back to Norfolk and continued to slowly build his client base.

In 2008, his firm landed a contract to install its software for the Postal Service. "I think we grew from four people to 16 in a couple months," he said.

It now employs 14, including 11 in Norfolk at the Innovation Research Park @ ODU.

The software starts at about $250 per camera. Uiterwyk's firm continues to add features, such as license-plate recognition.

And developers are testing high-resolution cameras that could be used to take wide-angle photos - a feature the company wants to market to port facilities and sports arenas.

Josh Brown, (757) 446-2318, josh.brown@pilotonline.com