Page 52 - Security Today, September 2019

can also control PZT cameras from the recorder console, aiming and zooming the cameras as needed to optimize visual coverage. ONVIF and IP technologies allow for flexibility and outstanding control of the surveillance solution.
Bypass the Brick Wall with Wireless
Adding surveillance to an old building, such as one built with brick or stone, can be challenging if only analog cameras are considered. The ability to use a wireless IP removes this literal physical barrier and enables cameras to connect.
Instead of breaking through a brick wall to install a cable, you can wirelessly transmit video captured on an IP camera to a recorder via the IP network. This gives IT and security flexibility in configuring a network and building the right infrastructure to support it.
Who You Gonna Call?
The lines are blurring between IT and security administrators. There’s architecture, and there’s infrastructure. On a company network, the same IP infrastructure can be used for networked PCs, phones, and audio/visual. In a classroom setting, sharing a streaming video for ed- ucational purposes uses the same network as the surveillance system.
In both cases, although you are leveraging the same network and equipment, it’s crucial to have a firewall between the PC users and the security team and data captured on surveillance cameras. Which rais- es the question for systems integrators: whom should I talk to first?
Since security shares the same equipment with IT to protect data, you might consider contacting the security team first, then IT. It may be different for a bank, airport, school, library, or casino. However, regardless of industry, infrastructure and security are tied closely to- gether on an IP network.
Storage Considerations for IP Video Sur- veillance from Endpoints to Edge to Core
The storage needs of the surveillance market are different from other industries because of the 24/7 nature of video surveillance and of- ten inaccessible locations of security cameras. Even though much of the data captured may seldom or never be used, it’s critical that on- camera storage provides an uninterrupted recording in a variety of extreme conditions for an extended period of time.
Even if connectivity is lost between cameras, the system must pro- vide a NVR, back-end storage used for analytics, AI and other use cases. The IP network is the glue that connects all three of these.
Storage on IP cameras. The IP camera market is expected to cross $20 billion by 2024, with shipments growing at over 25 percent CAGR from 2017 to 2024, according to Global Market Insights Inc.
As the market makes the shift from analog cameras to IP-based systems, the connection between the camera and NVR becomes a growing vulnerability point. Without storage at the edge (on the camera), the mission-critical video could be lost. The percentage of surveillance cameras with onboard storage is growing because of the need to provide storage backup during intermittent communication failure with the NVR. Having storage in the camera allows uninter- rupted recording of potentially valuable video.
With the migration to 4K and higher video resolutions, and the introduction of more smart cameras with built-in AI and improved local processing capabilities, surveillance cameras need to be able to store both video and raw data to facilitate these AI-enabled capabili- ties. As a result, storage with higher capacity, more intelligence, and greater durability is increasingly required.
You don’t want to miss a frame. Make sure you use IP cam- eras that allow for onboard storage for your surveillance camera system. On-camera video storage is critical to providing peace of mind by securing points of vulnerability in the surveillance solution where possible.
Storage on the network NVR recorder. The fact that more horse-
power is available at the edge does not take away from the importance of other components in the system. Today’s data environments are more complex and distributed. Video is no longer stored in a single node. Even though the data environments remain focused on capture, store, and analyze, data is not flowing in a single direction.
Storage on the NVR needs to be designed for 24/7 continuous operation and optimized to accommodate many camera streams and record them without dropping a frame. Any regular hard drive won’t do; NVRs require storage designed for continuous recording of many streams of HD and 4K video content.
It is becoming common to see data analyzed at the edge, near the source where data is captured. This brings time-to-insight advantage, saves on the cost of communication, and can be used as a failsafe precaution. However, many systems will still deploy a centralized NVR to act as the core of the system for privacy/security and cost- effectiveness. Even if the system archives data to the cloud, the NVR might still be used as a local gateway, ensuring the data that moves to the cloud is not sensitive data.
Storage for back-end analytics. Today, with the commoditization of compute power and advancements in flash technology, cameras can do more than just capture streams to feed to an NVR or, in the case of an enterprise, transfer all of the footage to the cloud at a data center. In this new era, more compute power is being driven to the edge. We’re also seeing the evolution of more data analytics hap- pening at the edge. Applications such as facial recognition, number plate identification, and object classification can happen at the edge, providing real-time data and insights on the situations as they are being captured.
In addition, there is still a need to collect large amounts of data in order to observe patterns that can be used for model training or training the AI engines. This can be done either in the core of the sys- tem or in the cloud. There is also a need in many systems to provide long-term archives of footage which can also be done in the core, on the cloud or distributed between the two.
The structure of data storage is now a hybrid solution of fast data stored and accessed close to where the action is and slower big data residing closer to the core of the network. Finally, slow/cold data is eventually stored on a storage system optimized for archival or on the cloud for long term retention and usage.
“As the lines between IT and security blur, it is important to build the right infrastructure to support IP video surveillance and facilitate conversa- tions with both IT and security teams.”
IP Video Surveillance: Building the Next Generation Infrastructure
IP video surveillance is growing rapidly, replacing analog systems of the past. There are several advantages to implementing IP video sur- veillance systems: ease of installation and expandability, the ability for surveillance technologies to talk to one another, and leveraging wireless IP for connectivity.
As the lines between IT and security blur, it is important to build the right infrastructure to support IP video surveillance and facilitate conversations with both IT and security teams.
Building that infrastructure for success includes
storage considerations from endpoints through
edge to core, at the camera level, the NVR, and
the back-end.
Brian Mallari is director of product marketing for surveillance products at Western Digital Corp.
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