Migrating to IP Surveillance. Making the move to digital technology at your own pace

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1 Migrating to IP Surveillance Making the move to digital technology at your own pace

2 Migrating to IP Surveillance Page 3 of 12 Introduction This guide is all about upgrading conventional CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) surveillance systems to take advantage of the latest network IP (Internet Protocol) cameras and recording equipment. With technical expertise at a premium in small and even medium-sized organisations, this guide has been written with the minimum of jargon to help you easily deploy IP Surveillance for your business. With the ability to do everything an existing CCTV system can do and more, IP Surveillance products are not only cheaper and, in most cases, easier to install, they can also save money in other ways. Such as integrating audio and motion detectors into cameras, for example, doing away with the need for additional hardware and cabling. Plus they make it possible to analyse captured video content and raise alerts automatically when suspicious activity is detected, for round the clock surveillance with minimal staffing. Naturally we look at all these benefits and more, as well as explain what s involved in this guide. However, we also realise that few companies will want to throw out their existing CCTV investments and move wholesale to an IP alternative, so the emphasis here is on integrating the new with the old, to make the move to IP Surveillance, and realise those benefits, at your own pace.

3 Migrating to IP Surveillance Page 5 of 12 What s wrong with traditional CCTV? On the face of it there s nothing intrinsically wrong with traditional CCTV technology, but it can be improved on. The majority of CCTV systems in this country employ old-fashioned analogue technology - much like that in your, soon to be replaced, analogue TV - using cameras, designed solely to capture video images and relay them back to monitors and recording equipment in a control room, usually somewhere fairly local. To capture that video, first generation solutions would have recorded the analogue signal straight to videotape using familiar VCR technology. However, just as the domestic VCR has been replaced by recordable CD-ROM, DVD and, latterly, hard disk recorders, commercial CCTV systems have also moved on. In particular most now employ some kind of Digital Video Recorder (DVR), to convert the analogue video signals from the cameras to digital data then save it to disk. All very workable, but what about the need for custom co-axial cabling to connect the analogue cameras to that control room, cabling that can be costly to install and relatively easy to disable? Added to which, each camera needs its own power supply, which can be both expensive and difficult given that cameras often need to be located in inaccessible locations. And what if you want to handle audio? For example, to talk to people calling at an un-manned reception. Additional hardware and cabling is often needed, and yet more again if you want to trigger recording when motion is detected. So, what s better with IP Surveillance? Fundamentally speaking, an IP based surveillance system works in much the same way as a traditional CCTV solution, capturing video and sending it back to a central control room. However, instead of capturing analogue video and sending it over custom cabling to a recorder to be digitised and stored, the IP camera digitises the image at source. It can then transmit that data back to the control room over a wired or wireless Ethernet network. That s good, but because digital video can also be wrapped inside standard IP networking packets, no special cabling is needed - the surveillance video traffic is simply carried alongside other data on the LAN. More than that, captured video can be routed to remote locations for off-site monitoring and storage, with remote access to that information also possible if required. If audio is needed, all you have to do is buy cameras with microphone and speakers built in, with the audio traffic, again, digitised and carried over the supporting network infrastructure. Motion sensors can also be integrated into the camera hardware, doing away with the need for additional sensors and associated cabling. Of course IP cameras still need power to work, but that can be carried over the network using a technology called PoE (Power over Ethernet) which can be added to any setup with minimal disruption. All you have to do is lay one data cable to the camera location. At the control room end too there s far less need for custom equipment, the use of industry standard protocols enables video content to be viewed on ordinary Windows PCs and saved to disk using, so-called, Network Video Recorder (NVR) technology.

4 Migrating to IP Surveillance Page 7 of 12 Video surveillance - the IP advantage Still not sure about the benefits of migrating to IP Surveillance? Here are a few more things you can do that you ll find a lot harder if not impossible with an analogue system. Use your existing hardware OK, you ll need to buy IP cameras, and digital encoders if you want to use existing analogue cameras, but that s all. Everything else can be handled using standard Windows PCs, servers and associated networking systems. More than that, you won t necessarily need a separate maintenance or support contract. Distributed monitoring IP Surveillance makes it easy to keep an eye on branch offices, storage depots and other remote sites. All that s needed is an IP camera and an Internet connection, either a broadband line or, for rural and other isolated locations, a 3G mobile connection. Some IP cameras even let you record to a memory card in the camera itself. Integrate your surveillance system into and other applications Because IP Surveillance is based on industry-standard Windows software, it s a lot simpler to, for example, generate network or alerts when suspicious behaviour is detected, send text messages to mobiles and so on. Video feeds can also be integrated into Internet websites and incorporated into other applications. Store as many video recordings as you want Video recordings are just another form of network data, so an IP Surveillance system gives you the ability to store near unlimited numbers of recordings, stretching back over weeks, months and years using nothing more than industry standard PC, server and network storage systems. Run out of space and all that s required is another hard disk. Recordings can also be securely encrypted and incorporated into existing backup regimes and archived to DVD for long term storage. Store recordings offsite and access them remotely Video recordings can be easily stored off-site, making it easier to manage satellite locations from a central control room. Remote access is also made a lot easier, any connection to the internet enables you to securely view a chosen site or even a single camera from your surveillance monitor. Moreover, by using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) this access can be completely secure. Full IP Solution with audio and recording capabilities Simplify surveillance management Alarm Detected IP Surveillance systems can be managed by non-specialist staff. There s no need for in-depth knowledge or training, just familiarisation with the Windows based management tools used to monitor, manage and record the video streams the cameras send back to the control room. If you know how to use a mouse, you can use most IP Surveillance systems. Video Power over Ethernet Switch Audio Distribute videos and images by Video clips and captured images can be distributed in the same way as any other computer data file. For example, you might want to take snapshots of an intruder or incident and them to the police. Enhance and automate your surveillance system Arguably, the killer app for justifying a move to IP Surveillance, is that video analytics allow for the analysis of captured video content in real time and the automation of common surveillance tasks. Rather than operators sitting in front of monitors 24 hours a day, modern surveillance applications can be configured to look for suspicious events and trigger alerts based on user-defined rules as and when they occur. Some systems also include tools to enhance video content and search through multiple recordings in seconds to retrieve information.

5 Migrating to IP Surveillance Page 9 of 12 IP Surveillance - migration FAQs Do I have to rip out my existing analogue CCTV system and replace it with an IP alternative to benefit from the advantages you ve outlined? No you can migrate to IP Surveillance at your own pace either by running the two solutions side by side or integrating existing analogue cameras into a newer digital infrastructure. This can be done using analogue-to-digital encoders small boxes that plug into an analogue CCTV camera at one end, and your Ethernet network at the other. I m concerned that the video traffic from an IP Surveillance system will interfere with and slow the performance of my data network, does it have to use my existing infrastructure? The answer here is no, you don t have to use your existing network infrastructure to connect IP cameras to your control room and recording systems. If you re worried about traffic volumes, installing a separate network, using wired or wireless Ethernet hardware is fine. That said, the use of compression will minimise the bandwidth required, so it may not have as big an impact as you might think. Plus it s possible to segregate different traffic types using the Virtual LAN (VLAN) and Quality of Service (QoS) technologies now built into most network switches and routers. By its very nature, surveillance video is highly confidential. I m afraid that if it s transmitted over the LAN or, worse still, the Internet, my data could be intercepted and used for other purposes. Security is a major concern with any IP Surveillance system which is why the leading vendors include the ability to encrypt digital video data using industry standard ciphers such as the 256-bit AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) which are almost impossible to crack. Further protection can be provided by encrypting the network links themselves, plus it s much harder to find and plug into the cables being used to carry video traffic on a data network, especially where wireless is involved. A lot harder than simply splicing into coax, making IP Surveillance inherently more secure. Aren t IP cameras a lot more complicated to install than analogue ones? Thanks to modern plug-and-play networking technologies an IP device need be no harder to install than a conventional CCTV camera. Use the existing network infrastructure and installation time can be drastically reduced, especially if Power over Ethernet (PoE) is also employed. Won t I need to switch to a different company to install and maintain my IP Surveillance equipment? No - most specialist suppliers already offer support for both analogue and IP Surveillance systems and are both willing and able to offer impartial advice on what s best for your organisation. I ve used a webcam for video conferencing and wasn t impressed with the quality, won t IP Surveillance suffer from the same problem? Don t confuse the technology used in cheap webcams with that in professional IP cameras, Hybrid Solution INTERNET CABLE/DSL ROUTER Audio Devices PoE Switch DVS Video Server DI/DO Devices Coaxial Cable PC Running IE Browser PC Running D-ViewCam Analogue Camera with PTZ Controls essentially they re the same, but the implementations differ. HDquality, megapixel cameras are now commonplace along with lowlight and infrared technologies to capture detailed, high resolution, images in a wide range of locations. High frame rates further help here together with support for both optical and digital zoom at the camera. Inevitably, you only get what you pay for, but even relatively inexpensive IP cameras are capable of matching what a conventional analogue camera can deliver. How do I decide which IP Surveillance software to use? The software needed to manage an IP Surveillance system will often come bundled with the camera and/or recording equipment. This bundled software is becoming ever more sophisticated and in a lot of cases may be all you need, although you may prefer to source the software separately, for example to handle a larger number of cameras than possible using the bundled tools, because you want to use Apple Macs or Linux PCs, or to support more advanced video content analysis. Be aware, however, that additional costs may be involved, often related to the number of cameras deployed.

6 Migrating to IP Surveillance Page 11 of 12 CCTV to IP Surveillance - a migration plan IP Surveillance - the essential jargon buster Ok, you ve read about all that IP Surveillance technology has to offer, and you re interested in using it to extend and upgrade your existing CCTV solution. Here s a short, 5-step, plan on how to best tackle the tasks involved. Step 1 Get everyone on board CCTV has traditionally been the domain of security specialists. With IP Surveillance, however, it encroaches into networking and IT territory, making it important to get those in charge of planning, managing and supporting those systems involved, right from the start. Step 2 Know what surveillance equipment you ve got It s amazing just how much stuff you can accumulate over the years so, before deciding anything take a full inventory of what you have already. Include everything from cameras and cabling through to back-office equipment such as Digital Video Recorders and the like. Check out when each component was purchased and installed, whether it is still in warranty and how much you re paying for maintenance and support. That way you ll be in a much better position when it comes to deciding what to keep and what you should look to replace. Step 3 Take a long hard look at your network One of the big advantages of IP Surveillance is the ability to use existing wired and wireless networks rather than install custom cabling. However, even when compressed, video data can consume large amounts of your network bandwidth, especially where large numbers of cameras are involved. As such it s essential to know how stressed your existing network is already, how much headroom you have to carry the extra traffic involved and whether you ll need to make changes to cope. Step 4 Choose your migration strategy There are two main ways of migrating from analogue CCTV to IP Surveillance, which can be summarised as follows. 1. Freeze your existing analogue CCTV setup and install an IP solution alongside. Initially you would use the IP system to monitor new locations not covered by CCTV, but over time parts of the analogue network could be moved across, either by replacing the analogue cameras with IP equivalents or by adding digital encoders to digitise the analogue video and transmit it over the Ethernet network. 2. Replace your back-end monitoring and recording equipment with an IP Surveillance setup, but continue to use your existing analogue CCTV cameras to provide the video feeds, again, using digital encoders to link the cameras to the surveillance and recording centre. Replace analogue cameras with IP products as and when they reach the end of their useful lives. Step 5 Talk to your supplier An experienced supplier and installer of surveillance systems will be able to advise you on exactly what your options are and the best equipment to buy to migrate an analogue CCTV system to IP. Try to use a supplier able to provide a complete end-to-end solution including networking and PC products, not just the IP cameras. Of course they may try to baffle you with jargon, so arm yourself ahead of time by reading our essential Jargon buster opposite. Don t let the experts baffle you with science, here s what they re really talking about Digital encoder A device that takes the analogue output from a conventional video camera and converts it to compressed digital data for onward transmission over an Ethernet network. Typically designed to be sited close to the camera, some encoders can also be powered using PoE (Power over Ethernet) technology. FPS Short for Frames Per Second, this value tells you how many images are captured per second to create a video recording. The higher the FPS setting the smoother and more realistic the video, but the more storage space required. For most surveillance applications a setting of FPS is more than adequate. NVR Short for Network Video Recorder, this is either PC software or a custom server appliance designed to accept video feeds from a number of cameras and record the data to disk. Most will also include the ability to monitor the feeds, control remote cameras over the LAN, manage recording schedules and so on. H.264 A standard way of encoding and compressing video signals for network transmission. Also known as MPEG- 4 AVC this standard was developed for use in high definition systems such as HDTV and is also widely used in IP Surveillance systems. The big advantage of H.264 is its ability to compress high definition video into relatively small data files. Other common video compression protocols are MJPEG and MPEG4. PoE Stands for Power over Ethernet, where the electrical power required to run a device, such as an IP camera, is delivered over the data network rather than requiring an independent AC or DC circuit. Spare wires in the network cabling are used to carry the power which is injected, either by a special PoE network switch, or an inline PoE adapter for use with existing switch hardware. PTZ Short for Pan, Tilt and Zoom, this term is used to indicate a motorised camera which can be controlled remotely to choose the area to be filmed and enable operators to zoom in and out on the detail. Video Analytics Also referred to as video analysis or video content analysis, this terms relates to the automatic analysis of a digital video stream to identify events and take action when those events occur. Face and number plate recognition systems are high profile examples of this kind of technology. It is also becoming common in commercial IP Surveillance systems to, for example, start recording and issue alerts when motion is detected in a specific location or particular types of object (such as cars or people) are seen in restricted areas. VLAN Short for Virtual Local Area Network, VLAN technology lets you logically divide a physical network infrastructure into a number of virtual networks. Traffic carried on a virtual network can t be seen or accessed by devices or users on another, enhancing security. It may also be possible to allocate different amounts of bandwidth to each VLAN so that traffic on one doesn t affect applications on others.

7 For further information visit D-Link Europe Limited All information is correct at time of going to press and is subject to change without notice. All rights reserved. E&OE.