White Paper | D-Link IP surveillance

The video surveillance market is in the throws of transition. IP surveillance is rapidly taking over from traditional analogue CCTV. Within the next three years more than half the surveillance cameras used in Europe will be IP cameras, according to the research firm Frost & Sullivan. Over the next two years IP video surveillance product sales will increase by more than 200% “significantly disrupting and overtaking analogue CCTV sales,” according to IPVideoMarket.

What IT managers need to know aboutIP surveillance

White Paper | D-Link IP surveillance

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The emergence of Internet-based surveillance also means video surveillance management ismoving from the facilities and security function to the IT department. For IT decision makers,many of the advantages of IP surveillance solutions will be obvious:

• Connectivityissimpler,lessexpensiveandstandards-based

• Managementcanbecentralisedwithpolicy-drivenautomationofsurveillanceandvideologging tasks

• Theavailabilityofhigh-resolutionIPcamerasisenablingorganisationstocapturefarmorecompelling evidence for protection and litigation

• Bandwidthandstoragegrowthcanbemanagedandscaledmoreeasilyandflexibly,usingopen standards

TheautomationandscalabilitythatcomeswithIPsurveillanceisalsoexpandingtherangeofvideo surveillance applications – whether they are for security, crime prevention and detection,monitoring of staff and facilities, or applications specific to vertical industries such as shrinkagecontrol for retail.

For most IT decision makers the question is not whether IP surveillance offers the best solution:ThequestionishowtobuildthebestIPsurveillancesolutionforyourorganisation.

What you should know

IPCamerasaregettingbetter,becominglessexpensiveandareprovidingbetterresolutionthaneverbefore.Megapixelcameras,forexample,featureresolutionthreetimesgreaterthananalogCCTVcamerasandcanbeusedforapplicationsthatrequiretheviewingoffinerdetails,suchaspersonal identification for security or crime prevention or application of various kinds of imageprocessing, from licence plate recognition to shrinkage control applications in retail. Alternatively,megapixelcamerascanreducethenumberofcamerasorganisationsneedtodeploy.

MostIPsurveillancesolutionswillcontainamixofcameratypesfordifferentapplications.A professional IP Surveillance installer can help with the appropriate camera placement and lenses to satisfy your coverage requirements. One consideration is how large the image of interest is as a percentage ofthetotalframe.UKpoliceguidelines,forexample,suggestthatforstandardCCTVanalogueresolution,peoplerelativetoframesizeneedtobe:

• 5%tosupportwatchingmovementofpeople

• 10%tocountandkeeptrackofeachpersoninframe

• 50%torecognisesomeoneyouknoworspot thepresenceofsomeoneyoudon’tknow

• 120%torecordhigh-qualityfacialimagestoproveidentity

Megapixelresolutionreducestheserequirementsbyafactorof3.

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Power over ethernet. PoweroverEthernet,orPoE,providesapproximately15wattsofpowertotheenddevice,whichismorethanenoughformostoftoday’sIPcameras.Someofthenewestcamerashaveareducedenergyfootprintthatrequireaslittleas2wattsofpower.PoE+extendspowertoapproximately25wattstosupportsuchfeaturesaspan/tilt/zoom.

Other camera features to look for include:

• Motorisedpan/tilt/zoomforflexibleviewingangles

• User-selectablecompressioncodecsincludingH.264

• 2-wayaudiosupportforchallengeandcommunicationatentrances

• Securityencryption

• Low-lightsensitivity

• Aluminumcasingforoptimalheatdissipationandsuperiorcameraprotection

• Web-basedremoteaccess

• Weather -resistantenclosures

• Wi-FisupportforcameraplacementwithoutrunningEthernetcable

Building an end-to-end solution

WithalloftheadvantagesofIPsurveillance,therearealsochallengesthatcanbebestdealtwithby understanding and evaluating an end-to-end solution. Among the considerations for IT are:

Central management.Giventheabilitytoextendthereachofyourvideosurveillancenetworks,IT should consider the ability to control and configure the cameras centrally, from any location.Centralisedmanagementenablesorganisationstosetpoliciesforusage,thatenhancesecurityand allow control of such features as automated snapshot, event, alarm and motion detection and802.11nWireless.

Wireless. Therearetimeswhenyouwillwantyournetworktoextendbeyondwhereit may be feasible to have a physical connection, such as a remote area of a car park or the edge ofalargeproperty.Wirelesscapabilitiesenableyoutoplacecamerasintheseareastoextendyour networkandreachabroaderarea.802.11nisthelatestIEEEstandardforWiFi,enablingtransfer ratesofupto300MBPsoverdistancescoveringupto300metersbetweenswitches. FlexibleWiFi architecture for forwarding at the AP may be required to prevent the increased bandwidth of 802.11nfrombottleneckingonacentralisedcontrollerandswampingyournetworkcore. Managingbandwidthcanonlybedonefromtheperspectiveofoverallnetworkcapabilities. Whileimprovingdatacompressiontechnologywillcontinuetoreducethebandwidthrequired forstreamingvideo,allowyoutogrowyourpipeto10GigabitEthernetandbeyond,thereisno question that careful planning and management is required.

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Among the considerations are:

QoS. Quality of service is especially important for video surveillance, where viewing in real time iscritical.IfyouareusingvideosurveillanceoveracorporateIPnetworkthatalsosupportsVoIP,youneedtohavesufficientbandwidthandsetQoSprioritiesappropriatelytokeepmission-criticalfunctions such as order-taking from being swamped by video feeds.

Network storage.Theexpandeduseofvideo,sometimeswithvideofeedspipedbackfromremote locations to headquarters, can create challenges in managing both network bandwidthandnetworkstorage.Thedemandforstorageusedforvideosurveillanceisexpectedtoexceed3.2exabytesofcapacitywithinthenextthreeyears,accordingtotheresearchfirmGlobalInformationInc.,whichalsonotesthatiSCSISANsarethefastestgrowingsolutionforvideosurveillance storage.

The best way to approach building this solution is to find a vendor that provides not only theIP cameras at the edge of the network, but also the switching infrastructure at the back end – forbothwiredandwirelessapplications–aswellastheStorageAreaNetworksthatarecriticaltothesuccessful deployment and scaling of IP surveillance.

D-Link’s unified approach

D-Linkisaleadingend-to-endsolutionsproviderwithafulllineofIPcameras,networkswitches, wirelessandIPstorage.Byprovidingaone-stopshopfortheentireIPsurveillancenetworkinfrastructure,D-Linkenablescustomerstogettheirsystemsupandrunningquicklyandsmoothlywiththeassurance that all of the pieces will work together and be supported by one supplier.

D-LinkIPsurveillancesolutionsarefieldprovenandcertifiedwithleadingvideosurveillancesoftwaresolutionsforsophisticatedverticalapplications.Thecompany’snationwidefieldserviceorganisationandextensivenetworkofvalueaddedresellersappliesindustryspecificexpertisetointegrateD-Link’sIPsurveillanceequipmentintothelargersecuritysolutionappropriateforyourindustry and situation.

D-LinkoffersawiderangeofIPcamerasforwiredandwirelessconnections such as outdoor cameras in a robust IP66 housing, with built-in infrared illuminators and vandal-proofwire bracket, all conveniently powered by any PoE switch. The Web-based interface allows multipleusers to view the live feed from the camera and the D-ViewCam software enables IT to monitor and manage multiple cameras, set recording schedules and configure motion-detection settings. For more information on the complete range of D-Link business solutions visit www.dlink.eu D-Link and the D-Link logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of D-Link Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. E&OE Copyright © 2010 D-Link Corporation/D-Link Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.