The AIA has announced the names of the first AIA Certified System Integrator companies during an event held at the Vision show in Stuttgart, Germany on 7 November. They are: i4 Solutions (St. Paul, Minnesota USA); Leoni Vision Solutions (Lake Orion, Michigan USA); Ponfac (Porto Alegre, RS Brazil); and Vista Solutions (Windsor, Ontario Canada). Their certification will be effective for three years at which time they can re-certify.
To qualify as AIA Certified System Integrators, companies must meet AIA’s specific criteria for years of vision system integration experience, skill level of employees (with a minimum number of advanced level Certified Vision Professionals), number of successful integration projects completed each year, and verifiable experience in the industries they wish to show specialisation.
‘This programme was years in the making and was something that both the end user and system integrator communities asked us to develop; their input was crucial to its success. The certification is just one more tool that companies can use to evaluate their system integration partners,’ said Dana Whalls, AIA vice president, adding she expects the group of certified companies to grow significantly in 2013.
One of the elements of the programme is the Certified Vision Professional-Advanced level achievement by an integrator’s personnel. This global individual knowledge certification was launched in 2010 and there are now 120 CVP-Basic level and 43 CVP-Advanced level certifications awarded. The advanced level programme includes five days of training and a written exam. The next offering of both the basic and advanced classes and exams will be during Automate 2013, 21-25 January at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois USA.
