Axis Communications, the Swedish company known for a market-leading position in the IP video surveillance market, today unveiled two new thermal imaging IP cameras that could change the marketplace for this technology, said Axis Americas' General Manager Fredrik Nilsson in an interview with SecurityInfoWatch.com.

With the company already having in place a wide range of IP video cameras, from affordable consumer grade models to high-end professional models, Nilsson said that a want to provide full night vision cameras (as opposed to the standard day/night products that are common to this industry) drove today's launch of indoor and outdoor thermal cameras.

"Bad things tend to happen night because people think they are protected by the darkness, and they often are to some extent," explained Nilsson, who noted that most traditional day/night cameras face significant challenges in poorly lit environments.

He added that security camera users have typically had a few options for dealing with that challenge. The first option was to add more lighting in the environment (which he noted can be effective, but also can be expensive and not practical in some situations, and still can leave areas uncovered unless the illumination is well designed). Other options were to use light enhancing vision tools like night vision goggles, or to add infrared illuminators which provide a spectrum of light only visible to cameras. Both options, said Nilsson, have the challenge that they can be intentionally blinded, and infrared illuminators can also be detected by dedicated crooks.

Those challenges left the company interested in thermal cameras, which register temperature differentials between a person and the environment. While such cameras are more expensive than traditional cameras (Axis' new models have MSRPs of $2999 and $3499, depending on whether you are getting the indoor or outdoor version), he says they don't require additional equipment such as infrared illuminators or the installation of visible light sources.

Also on the plus side, thermal cameras have the ability to detect through poor conditions (fog, smoke, rain – although rain does decrease the imaging function of thermal cameras to some extent), and by not requiring additional light sources to be installed, he notes that this can be seen as a more "green" option.