Do you currently have Video Surveillance at your company?
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The Move from CCTV Video to IP Video Technology The advent of new digital technology has cast the video surveillance industry into a state of transition. Until recently, CCTV video surveillance relied on analog technology, with video footage shot by analog cameras, and stored on VCR cassette tapes. While analog CCTV has proven to be effective in many areas, it clearly has its pitfalls. Storage is relegated to bulky tapes which not only take up space, but also have limited search capabilities. Analog systems are troublesome when it comes to integration, and they fail to offer remote access. There’s also a maintenance issue. (Tapes deteriorate, and there is ever-present wear and tear on the system.)
IP video surveillance brings a host of benefits that can make the shortcomings of CCTV a distant memory. One of the greatest advantages is remote access. IP systems are designed so that footage from network cameras can be accessed online from any location with an Internet connection. Password-protected accounts can be established to monitor this access. Those granted remote access can even adjust the panning and zoom functions of individual IP cameras from afar.
Another key advancement is storage. IP video footage and images are stored on a network digital video recorder, so the amount of storage is unlimited, depending on hard-disk capacity, and there are no bulky cassette tapes involved. Advanced searching capabilities allow for easy scouring of the footage. And since all of the footage is stored digitally, there’s no deterioration in the image quality.
IP video surveillance systems can also be set up to alert specific parties, via email, when motion or suspicious activity is caught on camera. Email alerts can include still images taken by a network camera so recipients can determine the gravity of the situation before taking action.
The switch from traditional CCTV to IP surveillance is clearly a smart one for many reasons, and the transition is not as complicated or expensive as you might think. In fact, by using a video server, you can even incorporate your existing analog cameras into an IP surveillance network and still reap its many rewards. The ability to incorporate existing equipment helps cut down startup costs, but even if you have to build a new IP video surveillance system from the ground up, it’s still a cost-effective decision in the long run. Maintenance costs go down. There’s no need for tapes. There’s less wear and tear on the equipment, and once the system is set up, it will last long into the future without requiring any additional purchases.
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