Migrating to all-IP video Surveillance

Other IP video benefits include the ability to access remote locations via your LAN or WAN and centralize security monitoring instead of stationing guards at each site. Furthermore, with VMS software running on industry-standard servers, an all-IP system can be managed easily by your existing IT staff.

An IP video environment also lets you leverage video for uses other than security. An IP video system can be used to support marketing activities and operational management. For example, in an airport terminal, supervisors can employ a queue length monitoring analytic to identify when passenger lineups exceed a predetermined threshold and open another check-in station to better serve customers.

Another advantage of hybrid and all-IP video surveillance systems is the ability to streamline the management of user profiles and permissions across the enterprise. Integrating VMS software with applications such as Microsoft Active Directory allows you to set up user permissions for your video surveillance system and other IT security applications. If someone leaves the organization, takes a sabbatical or gets married and changes their name, you don’t have to remember to delete or update user profiles and permissions in multiple databases. This, in turn, eliminates errors and tightens security.

Potential concerns about the impact of all this high-resolution video on the corporate network is addressed by modern IP video solutions. Advanced compression technologies, such as H.264, reduce bandwidth and storage requirements considerably.

Administrators can also configure an IP video system to capture and store video at a lower frame rate and then bump up that frame rate automatically on alarm. Taking advantage of intelligent features available with most systems allows you to transmit video only upon a specific event, such as motion detected in an office building after normal business hours. In addition, some video surveillance systems let you set bandwidth usage, limiting the video streaming along the network to a fixed bit rate to ensure core business data is never compromised. Finally, bandwidth usage can be managed through the selection of IP cameras and encoders with internal SDHC flash memory cards that enable video capture at the network’s edge.