IP vs Analog Security Cameras
Almost every new installation is IP. The question that actually comes up is what to do with an analog system already in the building, and whether replacing it is worth what it costs.
The short answer
Install IP for any...
Cloud vs On-Premise Video Surveillance
This is usually presented as a technology choice and is really a choice about who operates the system, how you prefer to pay, and how much footage you keep. The cameras are frequently identical either way.
The short ans...
Video Surveillance for Data Centers and IT Facilities
In a data center the security question is unusually precise: who physically reached which rack, and when. Video is one of the few controls that can answer it after the fact, and it is routinely specified as though the bu...
Video Surveillance for Schools and Campuses
Schools and campuses want cameras for a small number of specific reasons and inherit a set of obligations that surprise people, because in education the footage itself can become a student record. Who maintains it, and w...
Video Surveillance for Banking and Financial Services
Branches are among the oldest users of video surveillance and among the most likely to be running a system designed for a business that no longer exists. Cash handling still matters, but the risks that have grown are dis...
Video Surveillance for Healthcare and Hospitals
Hospitals are open buildings with restricted rooms inside them, staffed around the clock, containing controlled substances, expensive equipment and records that carry statutory protection. Surveillance has to work across...
Video Surveillance for Government and Defense Facilities
Government and defense facilities are the one setting where the choice of camera can invalidate a contract. Everything else about surveillance here is familiar; that part is not, and it changes the order in which decisio...
Recording, Privacy and the Law
Video surveillance creates a record of where identifiable people were and when. That record is useful, which is the point, and it also carries obligations that vary by what you record, where you operate and who appears i...
Video Surveillance and Federal Procurement Rules
If your organization holds a federal contract, or is bidding for one, the video surveillance equipment in your buildings is a compliance question and not only a purchasing preference. The rule reaches further than most b...
Video Surveillance and Structured Cabling
Cabling is the part of a surveillance project that is decided first, changed last and costs the most to get wrong. It is also the part buyers are least likely to ask about, which is why so many systems end up with camera...