Storage at the edge of the network, especially right in the camera, continues to generate interest, as I mentioned in my last blog post.
However, not many realize all of the reasons why it is so compelling.
For example, the whole idea for centralized recording of video comes from the traditional data center. It is natural to think that what makes sense for data centers is also the right solution for video storage.
It turns out, however, that this is not the best architecture for IP surveillance, which is why the industry has run into so many problems with bandwidth, storage costs, system reliability, etc.
Storing video in DVRs from analog cameras is actually closer to the edge of the network than IP cameras with server storage. IP cameras have actually been going the wrong direction. The answer that makes everything far simpler, and overcomes many of the biggest problems, is to go the other way and move storage and intelligence further to the edge, right into the camera itself.
It makes more sense to treat cameras as sensors, not just data sources, because sensing is what they are really about. This becomes much more obvious once you include video analytics in the cameras. Then it becomes much easier to see why sensor systems work better with distributed storage and intelligence. Where do you want to do the sensing? Back at a central location or right there at the sensor? Why send 100% of the video back, when you only access 1% of it? Why waste 100X as much bandwidth as you need?
I just finished a whitepaper that describes why intelligent storage in the camera is going to have a big impact on IP video systems. It’s a look at the future of where technology is going and why.
You can download the whitepaper here:
http://www.videoiq.com/products/resource-center/whitepapers/
I will also be holding a free webinar on the subject in a few weeks. Here is a link to register, if you are interested:
The leading video management systems companies are beginning to recognize the importance of intelligent storage in the camera, but I think it is going to end up being a much bigger trend than they realize. There are a number of future shifts in technology that are going to make it even more compelling. For example, solid state storage, megapixel cameras and the move to video web services.
Some have suggested that as bandwidth gets easier to find and storage gets cheaper that these will make centralized storage and intelligence more popular, but this is all based on thinking of cameras as if they were data sources, not sensors. Yes, there are lots of PC applications and data that run much more efficiently in the data center, but sensor systems work much better at the edge. Everyone has simply been looking at this the wrong way.
Video intelligence offers a lot more than just detection. It changes the whole system for the better.
July 26, 2009 at 8:27 pm
[...] via Intelligent Storage In the Camera « Spot On Security. [...]
August 11, 2009 at 7:25 am
Doug,
I’m interested to know whether you think companies that are used to storing video on a DVR in a secure location would be willing to move all storage inside the cameras.
Is it not a major security risk to have your video stored on a camera that could be damaged or stolen? What sort of backup storage would be necessary to mitigate this risk, and would the backup reduce the bandwidth advantages you claim in your post?
Thanks,
Paul
August 11, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Paul, these are good questions. In fact, we expected that this would be a concern when we started our design, and it comes up in most discussions when people first hear about our solution.
We agree that there needs to be a good way to reduce this added risk. However, it is also worth mentioning that when we’ve asked integrators, most admit that they have seen far more DVRs damaged or stolen than cameras. But we still felt it was important to solve this problem. Fortunately, intelligence in the camera makes a good solution possible.
Here is what we do: With our View client software running on a PC monitoring the alarms in our iCVRs, you will automatically get an alarm message sent whenever anything important takes place. You can decide what is important and set up the rules however you want. Along with the alarm message is sent a video clip. This clip is sent within seconds of the detection, and is then stored at a remote site, which makes it very secure.
Since these video clips typically take up less than 100k bytes, you can have ten of these a day for a month and still only take up 30 MB of space per camera. There is no real burden on the bandwidth because these are sent as files, so they will use whatever available bandwidth there is. This is one of the big benefits of sending video as a file rather than streaming it.
For most applications, this redundant storage of important events is enough. However, in high security applications, some users want to archive all important video to a central location, and in some cases they want to archive all video including the continuous video.
We have set this capability up so that recorded video in the iCVR can be archived to a central location on a daily basis. While this does require added bandwidth, it has this big benefit – you can archive when your bandwidth usage is low. So, most users set it up to archive at night.
If you just archive the important events only, you also reduce the amount of video being sent by a huge factor, therefore reducing bandwidth and storage significantly. But the fact that video is redundantly stored in separate locations makes it even more secure.
Once we get done explaining the above, integrators and users we’ve talked to have been satisfied. In fact, they admit that it is more secure than most DVRs are today. Hopefully you agree.
Thanks.
Doug.