How it started
History
Irisys was founded in 1996 by a small group of scientists and engineers, who had previously worked at the Plessey Caswell research labs in Northamptonshire, predominantly on high-resolution military infrared imaging systems. Irisys originally aimed to adapt the technology to the requirements of the commercial fire and security markets. Military detectors typically cost tens of thousands of dollars, but Irisys aimed to produce much cheaper devices by trading a reduction in resolution for lower manufacturing costs, and so the company decided on a resolution of 256 pixels using a 16x16 sensor array.
Irisys began to manufacture a range of infrared cameras used in applications such as measuring heat loss from buildings, but quickly realized that the technology behind tracking people for security purposes could also be applied to other sectors. Counting people and queues in retail and other social environments were the first of these new areas to be commercially exploited by Irisys, and the company continues to research and develop novel application areas.
In 2006, Irisys' queue management product IRISYS SMARTLANE won the Retail Week Customer Service Initiative of the Year.
In June 2012, Irisys was acquired by Fluke Corporation.
In May 2023, Irisys issued an end-of-sale and end-of-life notice for their hardware products.
From Wikipedia’s article on Irisys, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2