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Business Development Manager UK & Ireland, Genetec UK

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Simon Barnes is Business Develoment Manager UK & Ireland for Genetec, pioneers in the physical security and public safety industry and a world-class leader in IP video surveillance, access control and other security solutions. For over 15 years, Genetec has led the development of world-class unified IP security solutions. They began in 1997 by pioneering the first-ever IP video management software, giving customers at the time never-seen-before system flexibility, hardware freedom and ease of system growth through a powerful, open solution that was easy to use.
September 9, 2014

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Three Things You Can Do Today to Get the Most of Our Your VMS

Genetec vmsTalk to any business owner with one or many locations and they’ll readily tell you that video surveillance is a necessary investment.

Businesses rely on video footage to protect their assets and employees; see what is happening in real-time; conduct after-the-fact investigations; defend against and dispute liability claims or even improve operations and processes.

While the value of video surveillance is evident, the costs of implementing and maintaining a video management system (VMS) can require a considerable portion of a company’s operating budget.

To maximise the return-on-investment (ROI) for a VMS, businesses are discovering that they can leverage and extend IP-based VMS capabilities and features.

Although there are many approaches to getting the most out of a video surveillance system, three crucial strategies will get you started: unifying video with other critical security and business systems; implementing features for better network and storage efficiency; and connecting distributed sites under one virtual system.

1. Make faster, more informed security decisions with consolidated information

Whereas analogue video surveillance systems provide limited functionality with other security applications, today’s modern, network-based video surveillance offers customers deeper levels of integration.

Typically, businesses start with IP video and then slowly unify their other important systems such as access control, intrusion detection, video analytics etc to enhance response time and efficiency as well as allowing operators to make more informed decisions.

Unlike straightforward integration that limits cross-system functionality, unification allows operators to streamline workflows within a single platform and synchronise common security operations such as monitoring, reporting, alarm management, configuration, authentication, permissions etc. All this leads to less training, more efficient day-to-day operations and easier investigations.

2. Optimise storage and bandwidth to reduce costs

Storage and bandwidth are often some of the most expensive components in a video surveillance system installation, so implementing features that minimise impact on infrastructure will help any business.

One such feature is multi-streaming, which allows organisations to configure video settings for different usages (eg live viewing, remote live viewing, recording, etc.), lowering the bandwidth and extending the storage length of recordings.

Similarly, businesses can leverage the edge-recording capabilities of IP video cameras and use a VMS feature called video trickling to transfer video stored on devices to an archiver, but only when needed.

Other features, such as on-motion or on-schedule recording, can also help businesses optimise storage. Along with many others these features all lower bandwidth usage, increase storage length of recordings and reduce costs.

3. Connecting distributed systems for more efficient monitoring

Instead of connecting to each site individually or manually synching data between them, businesses can standardise on an IP video management system to draw video from numerous independent systems to a central server.

Known as ‘federation’ the concept allows organisations to monitor remote independent sites as if they were part of a single virtual system. This improves overall operations and enhances cooperation and information flow across all sites.

Federation provides a global view of a company’s facilities from a centralised monitoring, reporting and alarm management location, while still preserving local or remote autonomy. With real-time synchronisation between sites, businesses can significantly cut costs by removing the need for security personnel stationed at, and travelling between, each location during off-peak hours.

For remote locations with only a few cameras, businesses can leverage network video recorders or cloud-based surveillance solutions to set up a hybrid enterprise system. Costs are thus further reduced because installation and maintenance aren’t needed, nor security staff in locations where it is hard to justify the expense.

What next? Taking optimisation efforts into your own hands

There are now many different ways in which organisations can leverage or improve existing video surveillance installations. Businesses should investigate resources and seek information from their suppliers to learn about the various options that allow them to get the most from their open-platform VMS.

Not only will these tactics help save time and reduce costs but they will also help businesses leverage their video surveillance investments to keep them up-to-date and effective well into the future.

 

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toddrockoff
toddrockoff
September 10, 2014 8:30 pm

Good article, thanks!

Can trickling techniques can be used in conjunction with DVRs, or only with IP cameras?

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