The top 10 myths about IP Surveillance

Reality: In addition to people perceiving digital video recorders to be latest and best technology of CCTV , many people also believe that the DVR is an all-digital networked technology - it is not.

A DVR does have a lot of advantages compared to a VCR (video cassette recorder): no need to change tapes, consistent image quality, and quicker search capabilities. But you still have all those analog cables, which first of all can distort image quality, but are also very expensive to run throughout a facility. IP-Surveillance has all the advantages of a DVR and many more:

Scalability:

IP-Surveillance can have 1 up to thousands of cameras with increments of a single camera. There are no jumps of 4/8/16 cameras like in the world of DVRs. IP-Surveillance offers any number of frames of any camera at any time - there are no limitations like DVRs where you should divide the number of frames between the cameras.

More cost efficient infrastructure:

Many facilities today already has an infrastructure of cables in twisted pair, then the IP Surveillance requires no additional wiring (the biggest spending of instalations CCTV ). Only one network is needed for the business travel data, voice and images, making company's management more efficient and cheaper.

Remote accessibility:

Any video stream, live or recorded, can be securely accessed and controlled from any worldwide location via wired or wireless networks.

Intelligence at camera level:

Motion Detection, Event Management, Alarm inputs and outputs, time and date and other capabilities allows IP cameras take intelligent decisions about when to send alarms and to whom, when sending a video and even control the frame rate or resolution to send videos.

Lower total cost of the system:

For many installations, IP-Surveillance has proven to have the lowest cost. Open or closed networks, servers and storage devices allow a great competition between choices against a closed solution of a DVR manufacturer,and it's just hardware - Lower cost of installation, maintenance and all the benefits of performance, show that the IP Surveillance technology can save substantial sums.

Unlike many popular opinion, the DVR is not the ultimate solution, but only a mark in the continuing development of CCTV .As the market evaluates the DVR solution more carefully, with the emergence of IP Surveillance, DVRs represent an outdated solution and closed. The IP technology has quickly proven to be superior to DVR technology. There is a big difference between the two technologies and the market is beginning to understand this critical point.

Reality: This myth raises some very relevant questions that have more to do with security market structure and buying practices than with the performance and reliability of the IP-Surveillance solution.

IP-Surveillance is a relatively new technology and many existing, powerful players have a competing solution, the DVR. It's only natural that these players want to protect their investment in DVR-oriented solutions. Related to this, a new technology and a new mind-set require building up the knowledge and infrastructure among the integrators, consultants, and industry influencers in order to overcome normal, status-quo thinking and procedures. How many of us remember when we told typewriters provided all the technology required, who needs these new-fangled word processors? Too long ago? What about cassette players or that VCR you haven't exchanged for a DVD just yet? Entrenched technology and entrenched interests require time to overcome.

The fact is, the number of IP-Surveillance installs out there is growing quickly, and the number of integrators and distributors is growing daily. It won't be long before the market recognizes IP-Surveillance's superiority, and then we'll see a rapid increase in the installed base and infrastructure to support it.

If these arguments were not sufficient, we don't need more future proof as the most recent entry of giant IBM in the security market, as well interests from other companies like Cisco and Proxim to guide and educate the market.

Reality: The larger the installation, and the higher level of performance desired, the more competitive-and impressive-the IP-Surveillance concept proves to be..

In fact, of the many advantages of IP-Surveillance outlined above, scalability is the one that high end users often point to as the most impressive. Axis regularly sees requests for 200 and 300 plus camera installations-our largest to date is 1,300 cameras-some of which have been in high security installations such as international airports and prisons. This myth is an easy one to correct: IP-Surveillance has proven that there is no problem to meeting enterprise-level demands. In fact, we see major government and airport surveillance deals that are now specifying IP as the preferred architecture, which was not the case just 12 months ago.

Reality: Good quality network cameras have the same high quality image sensors ( CCDs ) and optics as analog security cameras. Furthermore, by employing video servers, an analog specialty camera or those that are already installed can be incorporated into an IP-Surveillance system. In comparing network and analog cameras, we must emphasize good quality network cameras built for professional use. These high quality professional network cameras should not be confused with lower-end network or PC Webcam cameras used for Web attraction. These cameras cannot deliver the same capabilities as a full-function network camera.

Network cameras and IP-Surveillance technology deliver superior image quality by means of mega-pixel resolution. Analog cameras are limited by the 0.4 Mpixel resolution of NTSC/PAL standards. NTSC / PAL .

Reality: It's true a network camera is more expensive than a comparable analog camera because it includes considerably more functionality, such as digitization, image compression and intelligence. If we analyze the total cost of the hardware (cameras, cables, and recording), an IP-Surveillance system will usually compare quite favorably to a DVR-based system. If we then add the installation cost component, the advantages with the IP-Surveillance system become obvious since the IP-based infrastructure is considerably less expensive than analog coax cabling. In addition, systems using PTZ controls require extra cabling, something not needed with IP. Power over Ethernet is another cost-saving feature that saves on power lines and connects to uninterrupted power supplies at the IT center.

In 2002, Axis has completed installation of a high standard where 300 cameras were used in a network of critical security area, with a high level of frames per second. The total cost of the complete installation of IP surveillance was U.S. $ 800,000.00, or U.S. $ 2,700.00 per channel. For similar functionality, the systems were rated based DVRs, and the estimated cost was $ 1.8 million, or U.S. $ 6,000.00 per channel - more than twice of the value of IP-Surveillance system.

Reality: Perhaps DVR providers want us to believe this, but video server technology is riding to the rescue and smashing this myth. Leading IP-Surveillance vendors have video servers readily available at a reasonable investment level.

A video server converts the analog video signal into a digitized video stream over the network, basically converting any analog camera into a network camera. Most IP-Surveillance installations today have a combination of analog cameras, networked via video servers, and sections that are comprised completely of network cameras. An installation with fully functioning and already paid-for analog cameras is not a barrier to utilizing superior IP-Surveillance technology.

Reality: If you will only have a few cameras, then an existing Fast Ethernet (100 Mbit) office network will normally meet any transmission demands. For comparison, a typical single network camera video feed is 0.2 to 2.0 Mbps depending on compression, size and frame rate.

For any larger deployment of network cameras and video servers, we recommend a separate network for the video. Think of it as similar to rail transportation-once the existing track becomes too congested, you simply build another set of tracks. For enterprise size, your local network core would probably be running at Gigabit Ethernet. With today's network switches and routers, separating networks is easy. In addition, other specific steps can be taken to ensure that IP-Surveillance technology can be integrated into an organization's operations and will not tax the network.

Additionally, because of the local intelligence inside a network camera, the camera can actually decide which frame rate to send over the network based on events, motion, time of day, etc. So in many cases the camera will only send video over the network if the video is worth recording, which might only be 10% of the time. Ninety percent of the time nothing is being transferred over the network.

Reality: Although primarily used as a domain for public information, the Internet can also be used to transfer all types of sensitive information-provided the correct security measures, such as firewalls, VPNs and password protection, are implemented. With banks and financial institutions regularly using the Internet as a medium for global money transactions, it has emerged as a proven medium for other secure applications like surveillance and security monitoring.

In stark contrast to this new digital technology, analog surveillance systems have no encryption or authentication of information whatsoever, making it extremely easy for anyone to tap into the cables and illicitly view "secure" video transmissions, or even feed their own false video information into the network (like in the movie Oceans 11). This is impossible to do with secure IP networks.

Reality: When the basis for the IP networking architecture was developed in the 1960s and '70s, the ability to provide redundancy was the top requirement. In the same way today, transmission links, application servers, storage and switches can all have parallel layers of services and alternative routes of communications.

Storage can be consolidated to secure off-site locations, and servers can use redundant power supplies, RAID hot-swap RAID disks, error-correcting memory and dual network cards. This is all up to the network designer, and although a small network will not deploy all of the possible safety measures, choosing high-quality IT components in the network is in any case likely to be a more reliable solution than CCTV with VCRs or black box DVRs. And dont forget, by using standard server and network equipment, replacing faulty hardware takes much less time and is less costly than with proprietary DVR solutions.

Reality: This is the biggest myth of all! Consider that the first network cameras were introduced in 1996. Axis Communications has already installed more than 200,000 channels of this "future" solution to date, and the interest in and orders for IP-Surveillance technology continue to mount. Whether it's cost, performance, reliability, or any other measure, IP-Surveillance has proven it is a solution for today and one that will grow and improve to ensure it is a solution for the future as well.

We have effectively disproved a number of existing myths and we've established that IP-Surveillance is highly scalable, while effectively and efficiently utilizing a company´s network capacity. It provides significant cost and performance advantages over the DVR model that many think is the premier solution today. Weve also seen that IP-Surveillance is flexible, based on high-functioning and affordable network cameras, and is highly reliable.