An IP based video surveillance system should support either hybrid analog/digital configurations or a pure end-to-end IP solution. Use of encoders enables the support of both analog and digital cameras and related infrastructure allowing you to leverage your existing analog cameras. Software, such as IndigoVision”s Control Center, allows you to emulate an analog matrix switch with a combination of encoders and decoders allowing you to simply plug into your system and utilize your existing monitor walls, racks and other configurations.
The IP based video surveillance system should allow you to utilize the newest generation of H.264 IP cameras in both standard definition and megapixel formats. The system should support the ONVIF interface standard. ONVIF compliance will allow you to use the IP cameras of your choice.
A comprehensive IP Surveillance Solution will provide for third party integration with such applications as report writer, POS, access control and many more.
Use of a peer-to-peer network topology has major advantages in IP based systems. Peer-to-peer allows you to realize maximum throughput of your system by eliminating the delays and limitations inherent in older client-server networks.
An IP based surveillance system should be open and agnostic to the storage system used. This allows you to choose from a wide array of storage products lowering your overall cost and increasing your data protection options.
A well designed IP based surveillance system will be extremely scalable, especially one based on a peer-to-peer network. Whether you have a few cameras, or 2,000 cameras, the system should scale to 10,000 or more cameras.