Surveillance systems are becoming more and more important as businesses try to manage theft, vandalism and all sorts of fowl deeds. Surveillance systems consist of IP cameras strategically placed inside and outside of businesses to watch certain areas in both the daytime and night time.
There are however, many questions that need to be addressed like what kind of cameras, how will they be powered, where will the recordings be saved, what image quality, is it motion detection activated? and how much does it cost?
These are good questions and there is no exact right answer because every circumstance is different and preferences may vary from person to person but the good news is that these technologies have improved dramatically and the price can be very affordable - depending on the vendor.
We use power over ethernet (POE) to power IP cameras with only a Cat5 ethernet cable (computer cable) so that you do not have to spend money to get expensive electrical outlets placed in odd places. Also, it is not unusual to want to change the location of a camera and POE will allow you to do that very easily. Hard wiring your cameras, assures you of high quality video without disruption and while there are WiFi options, care must taken as this would open up coverage and possible security problems.
In our systems we save to a network attached storage (NAS) device which can accommodate any amount of video and provide redundancy plus we back the NAS up to the cloud, as well. The NAS has a surveillance APP that provides viewing from browser or from mobile devices, indexing and searching of events, snapshots, scheduling and much more. The beauty of the NAS is that it can also serve as a business file server thus satisfying other requirements, as well.
Cameras are made by many manufacturers but you must choose hardware that you can trust and that are supported by your surveillance system. If using POE, there are compatibility issues in POE technology and power needed for the device.
Additionally, all the video will impact your network so it must be set-up so as not to be disruptive, it must be secure and since it is part of your hardware and network infrastructure, it is important to think through the design, understand the impact and make sure you can maintain it.
While prices have come down, it is best advised to hire a professional as you can easily order incompatible parts and spend way more time and money by yourself than by letting someone do it right the first time.
If you or someone you know is interested in surveillance cameras and systems, contact EDM automation at 888-336-6540 - located in the Virginia Beach area.
Lee Nelson
Senior Solutions Architect
EDM Automation
Lee Nelson