8 Best Practices for Modernizing Your Video Surveillance System

BEST PRACTICES GUIDE

Expert insight to upgrade and prepare your business video surveillance solution for today’s enterprise needs

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Demand for Video How Did We Get Here? Surveillance Expands to A quick history on the industry reveals much about its rapid transformation over a mere 50 years. Video New Applications Every Year surveillance has gone from closed circuit televisions Never before has video surveillance been so (CCTV) for municipal monitoring by law enforcement in the late 1960’s, to video cassette recorders of the important to so many business types 70’s and 80’s used to add security to public areas, around the globe. Applications are endless transportation, theft-prone businesses and traffic —from theft and vandalism deterrence to control. By the mid-1990’s, most ATMs in the U.S. 1. traffic optimization, weather detection, and around the world had cameras to record physical security monitoring and more—it is transactions. a new staple of the business world to Following the 1993 World Trade Center attack, monitor and optimize the operations while federal agencies installed cameras throughout the mitigating internal and external threats. area, and CCTV or video tape systems were installed at major event facilities and other potential ‘hot According to VideoSurveillance.com, the most spots.’ As digital technology advanced and the costs popular video surveillance applications include: of compression and storage declined, businesses could record longer video at less 1. Preventing copper theft cost, and get clearer pictures for 2. Remote video monitoring 3. Facility protection improved identification, and 4. Operations monitoring suddenly video surveillance 5. Loss prevention applications were emerging 6. Vandalism deterrence everywhere. 7. Employee safety 8. Parking lot monitoring The events of 9/11 reinforced an 9. Event surveillance even more ubiquitous need for 10. Public safety video surveillance, and as 11. Traffic monitoring technology continued advancing via 12. Internet security systems IP-based systems with the ability to 13. Outdoor perimeter security ! send and receive data via a The industry as a whole is experiencing significant computer network and the Internet, such systems growth—by some estimates projected to reach began giving analog-based technology a run. $42.81 billion by 2019 (a CAGR of 19.1% between Despite the benefits of IP-based technology, analog- 2013 and 2019)—due to increasingly affordable and based video surveillance products continue to hold advancing Internet-protocol (IP), or network-based, on. For many businesses, it is still the technology of technology. choice based due to restricted budgets. That said, there’s a growing case for making the move to IP-

8 Best Practices for Modernizing Your Video Surveillance System BEST PRACTICES GUIDE | $1 based systems, including increasing storage capacity you’re likely to face with your existing for an ever-growing mass of video asset files,, higher infrastructure. video resolution quality, and advancing compression technologies which allow for faster retrieval. From cameras and storage to managing large video files, you’ll want examine functionality and So as you consider your own business and a needs across all of these critical areas. Be sure potential partial or full migration from analog to to take into account any necessary network digital—whether imminent or down the road—take infrastructure upgrades as well. Without that a look at our best practices tips to help guide you view, your project could not only hit roadblocks along the way. and delays, it could hit a slew of unexpected, and 8 Best Practices for potentially significant, added costs. Modernizing Your Video (3) Get a firm grasp on the entire full Surveillance System spectrum of your business requirements and legal challenges. (1) Shore up expertise in the networking As with your network and infrastructure, your and data center areas. Moving from company has its own unique business analog to digital is not just about changing requirements as well as legal and/or compliance cameras. Storage, networking, and data regulations. Before you begin a migration, management are an integral understand the ins-and-outs of how the system changes part of the migration process Understand Your Unique (hardware, software, storage, and expertise in these areas Requirements will go a long way in backup, archive, retrieval, etc.) will simplifying and speeding your From cameras and storage be impacted by your companies analog to IP video surveillance to managing large video specific requirements on such system migration—whether files, examine functionality fronts. you make a partial or full and needs across all of these critical areas. Be conversion to IP. Most Understanding how the changes sure to take into account businesses have so many will impact these areas helps any necessary network interdependencies that it will reduce your exposure to liability infrastructure upgrades as be critical to take them into throughout the deployment of an well, in addition to legal account during a migration intelligent video surveillance and compliance solution—whether you’re project, otherwise you may be requirements. injecting more risk, outages migrating and upgrading all, or and downtime than you can partial systems. (or should have to) bear. (4) Make your video management (2) Conduct a thorough site assessment software (VMS) selection process and identify your unique challenges. priority number one. It’s easy to get caught There are many hardware and software vendors up in all of the technical hardware and storage that can help with this if necessary, but they may aspects of a system migration project, and think have limited perspectives around their own that the VMS provider part of the decision systems and technologies. Every single system process is the ‘last easy step.’ In fact, selecting and business is completely different, even two the right VMS is really the most important firms in the same company, so it’s important decision you need to make. Be sure to look for a assess your unique needs and challenges that VMS with an open architecture so you do not get

8 Best Practices for Modernizing Your Video Surveillance System BEST PRACTICES GUIDE | $2 locked into a proprietary solution/vendor. demand while lowering the overall TCO of your Although such vendors will espouse the huge long-term retention assets. benefits of their proprietary systems, being locked into these ‘closed door’ situations can (6) Consider deploying a centralized dramatically reduce your ability to evolve and hyper-converged video optimized integrate systems with new (and necessary) server and scalable storage. One of the technologies over time. most important factors in your migration project is ensuring you maintain—and significantly And be sure you get detailed, live software improve—your availability, reliability and demonstrations to see it in action along with redundancy capabilities. That means your critical seeing relevant use cases too—not mere slide video assets are not only available when you shows—which can often be games of ‘smoke need them most, but available very quickly. and mirrors.’ Vaporware will get you nowhere. Whether it’s for regulatory reporting (5) Take a holistic, turnkey approach to requirements, legal cases, a security incident, the migration project. With the longevity other scenario—or for situations where you of the surveillance market overall and so many need to expand systems quickly—making sure ‘legacy providers,’ combined you have the infrastructure in with newer technologies that What Are IP Cameras place to support a variety of are both wide and deep, it’s An Internet protocol needs can mean the difference important to see the ‘forest camera, or IP camera, is a between a successful migration through the trees,’ and take a type of digital video project and an expensive failure more comprehensive view of that creates more risk than you camera commonly your analog-to-digital want to bear. migration project. Don’t get employed for surveillance, trapped into thinking you can and which, unlike analog (7)Look for ‘out-of-the-box’ simply upgrade and add IP closed circuit television ways to generate ROI and cameras, bolt on a new video (CCTV) cameras, can send new business intelligence management software and and receive data via a from video assets through you’re done. Many businesses computer network and the the process. Many point have need for, and can still Internet. leverage existing camera vendors can help you find ROI in infrastructures while migrating specific hardware or software portions of the system from analog to digital in systems over time, but can’t always ‘think outside phases. That bigger picture view can help the box’ to uncover new and unique ways your mitigate expenses and minimize the impact of a video surveillance system and video assets could complete ‘rip and replace’ project that can create be adding new levels of business intelligence unexpected problems and risky downtime. and customer service to your company.

As you assess an analog-to-digital conversion In truth, your video assets can become your project, a true turnkey solution should include most valuable business intelligence weapon with network cabling, switching, cameras, software, the use of smart video analytics and a ‘birds-eye video optimized hardware, integrations, storage view’ of your business, industry, competition, and installation support. It should also provide threats and customer base. the option to migrate video to the cloud as a deep archive that will allow you to scale on It’s also important to note that not all analytics systems are created equal. Be sure you 8 Best Practices for Modernizing Your Video Surveillance System BEST PRACTICES GUIDE | $3 thoroughly evaluate analytics systems for your • Reduce image degradation when transmitting specific requirements, as some may be over- or video over long distances, making monitoring under-featured based on your priorities and from far away remote locations a non-issue. processes. Ask about new and unique use cases IP systems allow for a single cable for power, video or for brainstorming on how your business feeds, audio feeds and control over pan-tilt-zoom should be using video analytics to spur new (PTZ) cameras, resulting in less needed electrical thinking in collaboration with your team and infrastructure, and therefore less power service providers. The leading companies should consumption. be helping you think outside the box on how you can get more or altogether new value from video With growing pressure on IT to quickly retrieve clear, assets. complete video assets in the event of an incident, businesses can also achieve higher reliability using (8) Plan for the long haul, as video centralized network infrastructures that attach surveillance will continue growing as hyper-converged, video-optimized server and a mission-critical business and storage capabilities. Such systems deliver the security component for the needed redundancy, greater scalability and faster access to support on-demand needs as they arise. foreseeable future. As the world continues evolving and the need for advanced video When compared to NVR systems, which are less surveillance systems continues reliable, have limited storage capacity, force to grow—whether it’s security, independent access per video Choose Your VMS Wisely business intelligence or and tend to go offline (resulting in otherwise—your company Intelligent video permanent video loss), IP systems should be planning for management software give IT and security teams more systems and processes with a (VMS) should provide an confidence in maintaining and ‘long-haul’ perspective in easy-to use, powerful user accessing video assets. Ultimately, mind. interface that helps the that means less risk of litigation in business solve crime faster, the event of an incident. Other Technical Advantages more easily resolve IT of Moving From Analog To headaches and gain Many businesses still using analog Digital business intelligence. find over time they have bursts of Providers can bundle VMS expansion needs that can be Digital video surveillance systems systems with a range of time-consuming, cumbersome also offer dramatically improved hybrid and network video and costly to respond to in a image quality through use of recorders, or it can be used timely fashion. Beyond added 1080p HP cameras that deliver as standalone software with equipment and installation, new the ability to record at up to 30 existing IT servers. cameras need to be integrated frames per second (FPS). What into the video management that means to the business is that software systems, tested and you can: rolled out into standard processes. Capture every single frame, with absolutely • Increasing coverage and expanding on IP systems, zero ‘dead spots’ on the resulting video quality. however, can be as simple as adding additional • Capture far greater detail due to dramatically cameras onto the network and bringing them online improved image quality, resulting more accurate quickly via intelligent video management software. visual recognition. !

8 Best Practices for Modernizing Your Video Surveillance System BEST PRACTICES GUIDE | $4 ! !

The ROI of Digital IP Can Be Remarkable ☆ Limited Time Special Oﬀer ☆

Over time, the ROI of IP systems can be remarkable. Need help figuring out the best next steps to They empower video analytics capabilities that modernize or better manage your video capture business intelligence data that can be surveillance system, capabilities and leveraged in countless ways. Analytics, storage, storage? Request a site assessment with cStor access control databases and other security control video surveillance experts, mention this Tip Guide, devices provide a gold mine of business intelligence and get your entire site assessment for free—that’s data, and although security video will continue to be a $1,200 value! used security, the increasing trend is in using video data in a non-traditional sense. Our experts will review your environment from top to bottom and make recommendations Take for example, combining video for software, hardware and storage and analytics in a wide range of enhancements specific to your unique scenarios where businesses enable business and goals. Whether you need customers to see wait lines—in real to expand the system, save money or time—from a mobile application, so improve capabilities, our expert team they can determine the best time to will help guide your next steps. interact with the business based on projected wait times. To schedule your free site assessment, contact [email protected], or call Queuing applications can be 1.877.278.6781 and request the Video configured to store statistical data Surveillance Practice Lead. about average wait times and number of people in the queues. This data later can be displayed in chart and tabular formats, and ! analyzed to determine personnel/staffing ! requirements based on average wait times at !About cStor different hours of the day and for different days of cStor helps companies strategize, create, and the week, with a view to providing optimal service for implement intelligent video surveillance, data center customers while minimizing costs. The possibilities and cloud solutions that address the business needs for leveraging intelligent video for security, as well as and demands of today’s successful enterprise. for adding new efficiency to the business and value ! For more on intelligent video surveillance solutions, to the customer experience, are literally endless. visit www.cstor.com, or call 1.877.CSTOR.81. Do you have other best practices, tips !

and/or pitfalls to avoid in updating or ! managing your video surveillance ! system? If so, we’d love to hear from ! ! We look beyond IT you. ! [email protected] ! www.cStor.com 1.877.CSTOR.81 ! (1.877.278.6781)

8 Best Practices for Modernizing Your Video Surveillance System BEST PRACTICES GUIDE | $5