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Axis Communications
Axis Communications Integrator
Evolution is an Axis Solutions Gold partner, with over 60 trained CCTV engineers across the group.
Axis Firmware: LTS vs Active Track
Axis publishes its software support model more clearly than most manufacturers, which means the decisions are there to be made deliberately. Most estates make them by drift instead.
There are two tracks. The active track releases a new version every two to three months, and only the most recent version is supported. It carries new features, new default behaviours and patched vulnerabilities together. The long-term support track is created every two years and maintained for roughly five, and it carries security patches and bug fixes without adding functionality.
For an estate integrated with a third-party VMS, access control platform or analytics stack, that difference is the whole question. Active track means accepting behaviour changes you did not ask for, on a cadence set by someone else. LTS means the integration you tested is the integration you keep.
Where a site runs Axis cameras integrated with a third-party VMS, access control platform or analytics application, we recommend LTS unless there is a specific reason not to. A tested integration should not change underneath the people relying on it, and the LTS track exists precisely so it does not have to.
We move clients onto the active track by exception rather than by default, where a particular feature or analytic is needed, or where the estate is Axis end to end and can absorb change on a two-to-three-month cadence.
The point is less which track a site ends up on and more that somebody chose it. Most estates we inherit are running whatever firmware the last engineer on site happened to install, which is a decision nobody made or can defend when it is questioned. We record the track per site, review it at each LTS transition, and tell you before anything changes.
AXIS OS 13 Upgrade: What Security Estates Need to Know
AXIS OS 13 is scheduled for release in September 2026. When it arrives, the AXIS OS 12 line becomes the LTS 2026 track.
It is a deliberately disruptive release. Axis introduces its pre-announced breaking changes at the start of a new active track, once a new LTS track exists, so that sites unable to absorb the changes have somewhere to stand. The changes in this release include:
Enforcement of ACAP signing
From AXIS OS 13.0, unsigned applications are no longer accepted. Only signed ACAP applications will install, and the signature is re-validated after an OS upgrade.
A 64-bit time change
AXIS OS moves to 64-bit time_t and 64-bit time APIs. This is an ABI break, which means ACAP applications and internal services must be recompiled to run on AXIS OS 13. The reason is the 2038 rollover on 32-bit time counters – a long way off, but inside the service life of cameras being specified now.
API removals
Deprecated VAPIX parameters and recording API endpoints are removed, and the Message-Broker component is replaced by Nexus. Applications built on the old endpoints stop working.
The upgrade path Axis recommends is not a direct jump. It runs through AXIS OS 12 LTS, then a re-install of existing applications including reconfiguration, then the upgrade to 13. Devices can be rolled back if something fails.
A preview build carrying every breaking change has been available since April 2026, which is the point: the failures are findable in advance on a bench, rather than at 2am on a live site.
AXIS OS 13: Inventory, Compatibility and Lifecycle Planning
The work is unglamorous and specific. Inventory which cameras run ACAP applications and which of those are third-party. Confirm whether those vendors have shipped recompiled versions. Find the integrations still using removed API endpoints. Decide, per site rather than per estate, whether the answer is LTS 2026 or the new active track.
None of that is possible without knowing what is installed, which is where most estates come unstuck. A system that has grown over ten years, through several contractors, rarely has an accurate record of what is on it.
We produce a lifecycle planning report to close that gap. It sets out the hardware across your estate by category, gives a status against each item, and states what we think should happen and when. It is not tied to Axis (the same report covers access control, intruder, intercom and the servers everything runs on) and there is no obligation to act on any of it. Plenty of clients use it as a budgeting document and nothing else.
For an Axis estate in 2026, that report is the difference between planning the September upgrade and finding out about it afterwards.
Axis Secure Boot, Signed Firmware and Device Identity
Axis devices support secure boot, signed firmware and device-level identity certificates. Until recently that was a specification detail few buyers asked about. It is becoming a procurement question, because a camera is a networked computer and increasingly gets treated as one.
The practical question for an estate owner is not whether the devices support it but whether it is switched on, documented, and verifiable across every device rather than the ones installed most recently. That is the same inventory problem as the firmware question, and it is answered by the same lifecycle report.
Axis Installation, Integration and Support
Design and specification
Installation
VMS integration
Device management and firmware governance
Maintenance
Health checks
FAQs About Axis Communications
It depends on what the cameras are integrated with. Active track brings new features and the fastest security patching, but also behaviour changes on a two-to-three-month cadence, and only the newest version is supported. LTS gives security patches and bug fixes without functional change, and each LTS track is maintained for around five years. Estates with tested third-party integrations usually belong on LTS, and that is our default recommendation. We move sites to the active track by exception, where a specific feature justifies it.
Yes. We have migrated enterprise OnGuard estates to Microsoft Azure, including the network architecture, WAN routing and firewall design the new hosting environment requires. Whether it is right for you depends on your controller estate, your latency tolerance and your internal IT policy.
Not the cameras. It can break what runs on them. Devices with custom or third-party ACAP applications, or integrations built on removed VAPIX endpoints, need checking before the upgrade. Axis has published the full list of breaking changes and made a preview build available for testing.
Axis publishes a software support end date for every device from launch. Where we hold a maintenance contract, we track those dates across your estate and flag them in your lifecycle planning report before they become urgent.
Yes. We regularly take over sites for maintenance, expansion and upgrades.