Page 98 - Security Today, July/August 2019

INDUSTRY
n-premise video security solutions are hard to ac- cess remotely and securely.
Many organizations that
have adopted cloud-surveil- lance systems have encountered a bandwidth problem. Having all the cameras stream foot- age simultaneously to the cloud consumes more WAN bandwidth than their networks can accommodate, making it expensive or impossible to scale. A hybrid cloud camera architecture delivers the best of both worlds.
Rethinking Cloud-Based
Surveillance with Hybrid
Cloud Architecture
The new approach is to unlock the benefits of the cloud without hindering bandwidth. Unlike most cloud video security solutions, hybrid cloud cameras are designed to store footage on an internal solid-state drive. Therefore, videos only stream when an au- thorized user requests live or recorded video.
In order to provide organizations with the best user experience, it was key to build an interface that operates on a camera’s “steady state.” In this steady state, cameras send a constant metadata stream consist- ing of encrypted thumbnail images, related metadata (including analytics) to the cloud approximately once every 10 to 20 seconds using a WAN bandwidth uplink of no more than 20 KBps per camera.
With a bandwidth footprint of 20 KBps per camera, an organization can have more than 100 cameras on the same connection (about 2 MBps) in contrast with one tradi- tional cloud camera which tends to stream at 1-2 mbps.
The thumbnail images uploaded from each camera in the steady state create a his- torical timeline view, which allows for time/ date-based search, motion-based indexing, and additional features, without the need to retrieve hours of history video. While users can choose to stream a live feed or view re- corded footage from any particular camera, this interface greatly reduces the amount of continuous video most users will need to stream for incident resolution.
“On-premise video security solutions
are hard to access remotely and securely.”
The graph below provides an example in which a user remotely connects to a camera to view footage in SD (720p), increasing the bandwidth uplink to approximately 300 KBps for the time that viewing is taking place.
In another scenario, a different user re- motely connects to a camera to view foot- age in HD at full resolution of the camera. This will result in an increase in the band- width (to approximately 1 MBps of upload bandwidth) for the allotted time that viewing occurs. Each time a user stops viewing, the bandwidth usage returns to steady state.
When multiple users are accessing cam- eras simultaneously, the amount of upload bandwidth consumed by streaming videos can be especially problematic when run- ning on a legacy system. Unlike an NVR/ DVR-based solution, which requires open- ing an individual connection for each user, the benefit of using a hybrid cloud al- lows for multiplexing of live video streams in the cloud. As a result, unlimited users can watch the same live stream without in- creasing the individual camera’s uplink con- sumption. When accessed remotely, video is proxied through the cloud and cached to
speed retrieval times and playback, reduc- ing the impact on the local area network.
Local and Offline Viewing Can Still be Supported
Since hybrid cloud cameras have SSD on them, no footage is ever lost during a net- work outage, and with certs, one can keep viewing the streams live locally. Even when there is internet available, local streaming has two major benefits including no WAN bandwidth impact beyond the steady state and lower latency.
Advanced Video Security for the Modern Enterprise
By using a hybrid cloud architecture to avoid bandwidth limitations, organizations can finally realize the full benefits of using a cloud video security solution for deploy- ments of all sizes.
Yuma Union High School District’s CIO, Dean Farar, has seen significant reductions in “network bandwidth and storage re- quirements” since deploying more than 900 Verkada cameras on campus. In addition, Garrett Bradlyn of the city of Parkersburg has installed more than a hundred cameras on mobile cradle points that operate with LTE connection.
Idan Koren is the head of marketing and operations at Verkada.
PROFESSIONAL
With Idan Koren
Reducing Bandwidth Consumption UOnlock the benefits of the cloud without hindering bandwidth
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JULY/AUGUST 2019 | SECURITY TODAY