Mirasys VMS V8.4: a foundation of security

In Mirasys VMS Version 8 particular attention has been paid to security and privacy. Also, pre-existing familiar product features such as audit trail and versatile material management and search functionality brings significant benefits, for example, for the new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requirements. Mirasys V8.4 is also a foundation for totally new opportunities related to this; what comes to system management and usage reporting, for example.

Functional effectiveness

Mirasys VMS is quick and easy to install, and especially effective in networked, IP-based CCTV systems and their operational and management needs, such as centralised management and upgrading/updating of servers, drivers and client applications without requiring on-site travel to remote locations. User profiles are easy to create and change. Servers can be pre-installed and pre-configured before delivering to the deployment location. 

The Mirasys VMS V8 modern Spotter for Windows user interface can be adapted to individual and specific needs and preferences and provides more visual space for videos without sacrificing any functionality. The new HTML5 (Hypertext Markup Language, Version 5) based user interface in V8.4 offers easy access to the Mirasys system from anywhere; PCs, tablets or smartphones.

Integration with other systems

Video management systems are also more and more frequently integrated with other systems such as building management or access control. Video feeds will in the future also often be a replacement for on-site visits or tours by personnel. This reduces operational costs for security and building maintenance.

User interfaces

Video surveillance camera features are consistently improving. Image quality can be exceptionally good compared to what it used to be only a few years ago. The newest cameras also require much less network bandwidth due to more effective encoding formats, such as H.265/HEVC (from 40% up to 60% of bandwidth and storage space savings, depending on the footage and device without any loss of quality, or increased quality at the same level with the H.264/AVC encoding) that many IP camera manufacturers have started to support.

Individual servers can handle more simultaneously connected cameras than before, and the entire system no longer has an actual upper limit. Mirasys VMS V8 is the answer to the scalability and performance needs of new camera technologies from any manufacturer. Thus, the video management system can be designed freely using the best equipment for the customer-specific requirements, and can also support all future needs. 

User-specific requirements

As video management evolves, traditional command and control (monitoring) services also change. In addition to security monitoring, this will also involve monitoring other systems (building management, access control, fire alarms, or even manufacturing, logistics and operational systems or processes). More and more often these are done by a service provider, and not the organisation whose premises, systems or processes are monitored and/or managed.

Further, systems today have more and more different types of users; and variation in user skills or access rights can be significant. This leads to individual, user-specific requirements for system access and use, while simultaneously requiring that the users must be able to access the system from different locations and using different devices.

Versatile possibilities and efficiency of management

For systems integrations and management, Mirasys VMS Version 8.4 brings new and more versatile possibilities with its new HTTP based Application Programming Interface (API). A particularly significant benefit is that the HTTP API allows also for automation of the system configuration and management. The new HTTP API provides modern REST-compliant (Representational State Transfer, or ”RESTful”) web services which allow requesting systems to access and manipulate textual representations of web resources using a uniform and predefined set of stateless operations from any platform (almost any operating system and practically any programming language).

Version 8.4 also brings a new software licensing model that brings remarkable simplification, effectiveness and cost savings, because from V8.4 onwards every server no longer requires its own server-specific software license, but all the software and licence features and limits (such as number of cameras, number of servers, number of simultaneously logged in users or any other functions) can, in any size system, be managed through a single system-wide software licence controlled via the system’s Management servers.

The new V8.4 licences are also no longer dependent on the server’s MAC (Media Access Control) address, but uses a multi-factor “License Protection Key” that remains valid even if the hardware system has to be changed (e.g., new or replacement NIC, Network Interface Card, or new or replacement graphics controller, etc).