Video Surveillance: An Expanding Market

Like any other robust niche market, video surveillance is highly competitive, but the opportunities abound. If you are a full service security provider, video should be on your menu of provided services.

Video has proven to be more resistant to recession than other market segments, as the public becomes increasingly aware of the benefits of video surveillance and equipment becomes more affordable.

Every day we see cases where video saves lives, or protects children, or aids in the apprehension of criminals. These cases enhance the cost vs. benefit ratio in customers’ minds and poises them to obtain a system. Today’s locksmith should be ready to provide them with one.

Network video has exhibited the highest growth with opportunities for smaller installations. The client expects image quality, and the demand for megapixel and HD analog (high resolution) cameras dominate the strongest areas of growth in the market.

Although there are plenty of sources for video hardware, my own tenure in video surveillance for the last several decades has taught me a few lessons.

Avoid cheap junk. There is nothing worse than risking your life on the end of a ladder installing a camera only to see it produce a plume of smoke instead of video when it’s powered up.

Technical Support is critical. Intuition will only get you so far before you need firmware, parts or specific product support. What differentiates video product is the supply chain integrity. When design manufacturing, quality control and technical support are managed in a responsible way, with support readily available, and fulfillment centers regionally located, then you can reasonably expect a reliable product and satisfactory experience with the hardware.

Image Quality: The analog video standard NTSC was developed in the 1950s. Regardless of a camera's image quality claims, the video signal is still being transmitted down a resolution-limited pipe that was invented over 70 years ago. Therefore, resolution is still the primary reason the industry continues to shift from analog to IP.

Higher resolution means a wider area of view for each camera and potentially fewer cameras required to achieve the same results, and the reduced labor and costs that are incurred. If you advise your customer to the relative features of IP vs. analog CCTV, objections to IP based on price will be mitigated.

The next consideration is the complexity of installation and requirements of the particular project.

For example, if the application only requires a DVR and a fixed number of cameras, then analog may prevail. However, if the application requires remote access to live views and recordings, the DVR will need to have an Ethernet port. And with an Ethernet port comes a router, switches, computers, software and mobile apps; commonly referred to as IP hardware.

Setting Up IP Surveillance

IP  is relatively new technology and may intimidate some installers. AXIS Communications has been a pioneer in IP video, so we contacted AXIS’ Vince Ricco for some insights into deployment of IP.

“I think the foundation for designing reliable physical security solution comes down to training.  There are a variety source ranging from regional to national conferences, instructor lead classes to readily available on-line lessons and primers.  Axis provides a wide range of education tools which might be of interest via Axis Communications’ Academy.  I encourage the audience to explore the multitude of education opportunities available from the product suppliers to the various trade associations as well as your existing technology provider, ” Ricco said.

Please outline the process of setting up a wireless link with an IP camera.

The simple answer is that when installing an Ethernet connected camera to a wireless network, the wireless Bridge or Access Point (AP) you are connecting to is really just a media converter, the same as if I want to run the camera over a fiber network or perhaps over existing coax cable.  I am going to come out of the camera with a copper network cable (Cat. 5 or better) and plug into the media converter. 

Media converters work bookend style meaning IP comes in copper to the converter, from the camera, then the converter then “converts” the transmission to the desired medium, let’s say fiber optics.  At the other end, there is a single port converter (or maybe a chassis of multiple ports) which converts the signal back from fiber to copper.  The principal is really the same with wireless.   We come out of the camera with an Ethernet connection which we connect to a wireless converter (a wireless AP or Bridge.) 

At some point the signal is converted back to a wired connection to get to the Video Management Server or Viewing Client(s).

In the case of Axis’ cameras, every camera comes standard with a hardwire Ethernet Network Interface Card (NIC.)  Axis has chosen not to offer a broad range of camera models with built in Wifi connectivity. 

To stay on point for this question, I am going to skip the reasoning and go straight into setting up the connection. As with any network device that does not have a built in wireless network interface, we are going to treat the connection from the “Ethernet” port to the wireless bridge or access point as strictly a media converter. 

Example 1:Connect a camera in a public space hallway. 

a- Power to the Camera:  I am going to need to get power to the camera by either a “Power over Ethernet” (PoE) connection from a network switch, a PoE connection from a wireless bridge or “Access Point” or AP (several wireless manufactures are now providing up to 15.4 watts depending on the manufacturer) or from a PoE injector inserted between the camera and the

network port of a switch or wireless bridge / AP.  The PoE injector is actually AC powered so you will need to have a power outlet near either the camera or the switch - wireless bridge – AP.  The PoE injectors are pretty handy when you are not performing some level of network upgrade.

b- Setting up the camera:  Once you have network connectivity and power to the camera, you will need to perform basic camera network setup including IP addressing the same as you would with any of the other network devices.  Once the network connection to the camera is up and running, you can use the camera vendors setup procedures to setup the camera to run based on your network’s overall requirements (IP Addressing, etc.)

Please outline the process of setting up the camera connecting to a (Trendnet) PoE switch which is connected to a typical wireless router (which has Ethernet ports).

Example 2: Setting up a camera or small workgroup of cameras to be connected to a wireless network.

a- The PoE switch will provide the wired network connectivity to the camera(s) as well as providing power to the cameras.  One area to watch on the power side is to make sure the PoE switch is proving enough power for the number of cameras that you are attaching to a single PoE switch.  

Many PoE switched provide a specified amount of power or a specified number of network ports on the switch. 

For example,  Switch Model A - 8 Port 10/100 Mbps PoE provides a maximum of 60 watts of PoE output and is only available on switch ports 1 – 4 and only supports a maximum of 15 watts per any single port. 

What this means is:

• I can only plug my network cameras that require power from the switch into ports 1-4.
• The additional four ports are for server, desktop and router connectivity and do I cannot expect this switch to power a camera requiring greater than 15 watts of power into a port and expect the camera to function properly.
• Since this switch only supports 10/100 Mbps ports and no GB uplinks we will need to make sure not to oversubscribe the router link with greater than 100 Mbps of video from the combined connected cameras on the switch.

Note: In most cases, a 1080p High Definition video stream even at 30 frames per second will be well under 20 Mbps bitrate or bandwidth consumption.

One we ensure we have the switch connectivity to the cameras, we connect one of the remaining open network ports of the switch to the wireless router.

Since most wireless router also act as a gateway and have the ability to provide IP address to connected devices, you can choose to set up you cameras to use a DHCP server to provide dynamic IP addressing to the cameras.

This helps prevent duplicate IP addresses on the network were-as static IP addresses introduces the possibility that two devices can inadvertently end up with the same IP Address thus creating network communication issues.

One item to note if you are not necessarily a wireless expert: Standard WiFi transmission (802.11x) has varying levels of sensitivity to signal interference and different brands and models have higher or lower signal strength.

From an interference perspective, 802.11b transmits and receives at the same frequencies as many non-compute devices such as microwave ovens and florescent lighting ballast.  This means common devices in the environment can cause interference with you WiFi signal.  802.11 g/n and the newer WiFi standards are operating outside of these common frequencies, thus eliminating this specific issue. However, with the proliferation of wireless networks, there is still an issue that a nearby wireless network can cause signal interference as well.  Your best option to see what your preferred camera manufacturer recommends from a wireless infrastructure and maybe even specific manufacturer’s technology.

Lastly, we will also want to watch the network bandwidth load we are creating to any on wireless router.  As with the switch, the wireless router will have a maximum throughput capability.  The good news is that several IP video camera manufacturers have bandwidth and storage calculators to help you determine your specific needs. 

Here is a link to the Axis Design Tool as an example: http://www.axis.com/us/en/tools/axis-design-tool

Please outline the process of setting up the camera using a (Trendnet) PoE switch directly to a desktop or laptop.

This is the most common small system or workgroup configuration.  You can have a small system such as four (4) video cameras, a Video Management System and a viewing client all connected to a small workgroup PoE switch or switches.

As reference above, we need to verify the PoE switch will provide the necessary power and bandwidth to support the video.

With the absence of a router or gateway we will need to either assign static IP addresses to each camera to use a camera management tool such as AXIS Camera Management (http://www.axis.com/us/en/products/axis-camera-management) to manage the IP Addresses.

We will need to set up some form of video management server or software.  This can range from a server based Video Management System (VMS) such as Axis Camera Station (http://www.axis.com/us/en/products/axis-camera-station/overview) to a lighter edge based recording system meaning cameras record directly to an SD Card on the cameras to a shared NAS or Windows Share Folder such as Axis Camera Companion (http://www.axis.com/us/en/products/axis-camera-station/overview.)

While I reference the Axis solutions, there are a number of small system VMS ranging from licensed based to freeware available on the market.  The key will be matching up your needs with the right scale of solution.  (This is a whole topic in and of itself.)

Please outline the process of setting up the camera using a powerline carrier device.

Utilizing powerline devices goes right back to the case of media conversion.  This is not so much as a network technology as a media conversion technology.  We will need to get from an Ethernet port on the edge device (e.g. camera) to the powerline media converter and then convert back to Ethernet an on to the switch or router that is the core of the network connectivity.  Powerline carrier devices are maybe one of the purest examples of using an non-ethernet medium to provide intermediate transport, in this case the power copper infrastructure and then coming back out to Ethernet.

How would the locksmith price out an installation where one camera is deployed with smartphone capability?

The actual cost is the camera and the mobile app.  For a small system (16 cameras or less), the user can utilize Axis Camera Companion (ACC) which is a free download along with the free Axis Mobile Viewing App.  Information http://www.axis.com/us/en/products/axis-camera-companion

This is a huge market and every alarm company advertises this feature with their packages. Assume a cable modem and PoE switch is pre-existing; labor to install camera not part of this pricing. I guess it's a matter of the AXIS app and MyAXIS account I'm asking about.

ACC and the MyAxis account are free.  This is a VMS and remote access viewing application and not a hosted video storage solution.  Hosted Video is a different solution from Axis.

Are AXIS cameras are offered for sale on the Internet?

Axis is very committed to its reseller and integration channel and only supports a very limited number of E-Tail outlets such as CDW where the E-Tailor offers a value add such as pre-staging and system integration services. 

What's involved in being a partner. How many customers can the locksmith accommodate under the account?

Read about our Channel Partner Program at http://www.axis.com/us/en/partners. An existing distribution account with one of our 6 US based distribution partners is a must. The program is designed around volume levels and separately but equally important is a well automated project registration program.  We have the very best tech support department in the industry which is designed for heavy call volume with fast answer / response time.  This is one of the main ingredients to our success.