FEATURE SECURITY
Network-based Security Solutions Safety Net By James Smith, European Marketing Manager, Samsung Techwin Europe Ltd
In the last edition of NETCOMMS Europe, James Smith, European Marketing Manager for Samsung Techwin Europe Ltd, took a look at what is happening in the world of physical security. In
particular James focused on the benefits of HD megapixel cameras.
In this article, James highlights some of the areas to consider when advising clients on the benefits of deploying a
surveillance system which operates over a network and he also explains the benefits of using Network Video Recorders to store images.
The security industry has long been synonymous with the term Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), but in fact the CCTV industry has been anything but ‘closed circuit’ for many years. Analogue systems that use coaxial or twisted pair cable for transmission have benefitted from the ability to connect to networks via control equipment for a long time now. Even with the most cost effective equipment, full viewing, control and administration of such a security system is possible via a PC connected to the internet. However, the trend of plugging a surveillance camera directly into the network is one that continues to gather pace. As a result, IP and network security products are now the single largest contributors to the growth of the physical security market as new installations take full advantage of the benefits that operating over the network brings. Not only can companies save money on cabling infrastructure, but the products themselves offer numerous benefits over traditional analogue systems that are hard to ignore. A major investment in a surveillance
system is not something a client would wish to repeat on a regular basis. They will therefore want to purchase a solution that is not just fit for today’s needs but is also future proof in terms of its expandability. Equally important is the ability to get the best out of all existing systems such as access control, door entry, intruder and fire alarms, BMS and perimeter protection systems by having them interact with each other. The opportunity to pass video, data or alarm information between these systems, each of which can be located anywhere on a network, has obvious
operational benefits. There are several key advantages
of an IP-based surveillance system, such as the potential for substantial savings on cabling installation costs in that an existing network can be used instead of installing totally new cables. A single network cable is also able to carry video, audio and data, as well as provide telemetry and PoE (Power over Ethernet). The also offer the opportunity to
control and monitor the system from anywhere on the network, as well as connectivity to anywhere in the world. Resilience is another important factor
in their favour. Mission-critical video recording can be stored at any location on the network and retrieved from any PC by an authorised user. A high level of redundancy can therefore be introduced by choosing simultaneously to record and store video at multiple locations. IP-based surveillance systems allow
users to gain maximum benefit from the latest generation of high resolution cameras that can deliver so much more than conventional analogue CCTV cameras which typically generate images comprising of just 0.4m pixels. For example, a 1.3 megapixel camera, depending on the field of view, can do the job of several analogue cameras as it can cover a wide area and then zoom in very close when required, to a distant object without ‘pixilation’ appearing in the image. The recent availability of multi-megapixel cameras offers the possibility of even higher resolution images, but the much higher recording requirements of these impressive cameras needs to be taken into consideration at the system design stage.
The interoperability of cameras
and recording equipment produced by different manufacturers has been made possible by the introduction of PC-based video management software. However, to ensure the option to include or introduce compatible products in the future, it is advisable to consider purchasing products which are ONVIF compliant. ONVIF is an open industry forum for the development of a global standard for the interface of network video products.
NVR solutions
Using an efficient compression method, such as H.264, modern network cameras are able to transmit very high quality images at much reduced bandwidth. This plays an important part in reducing storage requirements at the recording device. Nevertheless, users wishing to record images from any network camera will need to look carefully at where and how they store the recorded video. Digital Video Recorders (DRVs),
despite their name, are actually based on analogue technology and they process analogue streams of video. A Network Video Recorder (NVR), on the other hand, records video which has been encoded by the camera. Both its input and output is therefore IP data comprising compressed and encoded video. Until recently, the most common form of compression used would have been MPEG 4, but the more network friendly H.264 compression method is increasingly being utilised. A major benefit that an NVR
recording solution offers over DVRs
22 NETCOMMS Volume I, Issue 4 2011
www.netcommseurope.com
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