Industry acuity

(A small depression in the retina of the eye where vision is sharpest
OED)  Viewpoint from Mike Newton, Founder of Dedicated Micros and
CEO of AD Group.

Users should take a close look at the real, vs. imagined, merits of the differing approaches to
CCTV in an IP environment. In recent years security and IT managers across the globe have been bombarded by enticing claims from vendors regarding the ROI (Return On Investment) that they could expect to realise if they chose to adopt a centralised Network Video Recorder (NVR) based CCTV solution.

On the surface the inflated claims of some IP camera/NVR (Network Video Recorder) proponents, left unchallenged, have invariably played a key role in influencing buying decisions. The reality, we would contend, for those swayed by such arguments has not always been as straightforward as the widely promoted figures may at first have suggested.

Uncovering the Infrastructure Challenges In fact with IP-only systems there are often hidden costs associated with the need for an expensive network upgrade to cope with the new demands placed
on an organisation’s IP infrastructure. Without such enhancements many solutions struggle to reach anywhere near the quoted performance levels. On the ground some end users have become so disillusioned with the whole process that they are even contemplating replacing installed IP cameras with traditional analogue models to overcome their ongoing network problems.

Alongside this, given the current economic conditions, the preferred or practical route for end users is not necessarily going to be the wholesale replacement of a large legacy population of analogue cameras and control equipment with solely IP systems. Rather we suspect, moving forward, what is likely to prove more realistic, deliverable, and offer a better long-term ROI is a hybrid route for CCTV by allowing systems, both analogue and digital, to grow seamlessly in line with the end user’s future surveillance needs.

Continued...

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