Cloudview has recently announced the launch of the world’s first corporate-grade surveillance solution designed to deliver the benefits of IP and cloud-based technology without the associated costs or complexity.
The global CCTV market has been expanding at a CAGR of around 20% since 2012 and is expected to reach almost $23.5 Billion by the end of 2014. Unlike other rapidly developing markets, however, CCTV users remain stubbornly attached to analogue with digital IP systems still accounting for little more than a fifth of new installations and a huge installed base, highly reluctant to change.
According to Cloudview CEO, James Wickes, one reason for this is the need to rip and replace existing analogue CCTV infrastructures in order to upgrade. Moreover, despite benefits such as simpler remote monitoring, wireless connectivity and integration with other applications, he believes buyers remain suspicious of digital solutions, viewing them as more complex and insecure.
Paradoxically, the benefits of IP surveillance are still coveted by analogue customers - a paradox Cloudview sets out to address with its easy to install and very affordable VSaaS package. Comprising a small yet highly intelligent Visual Network Adapter (VNA) connected to the company’s cloud-based Visual Network System (VNS), Cloudview will, finally, bring analogue CCTV into the 21st century.
Key advantages and benefits of the Cloudview solution are:
- Can be added to any existing analogue CCTV system without impacting existing recording/monitoring arrangements
- Scalable from one to thousands of cameras
- No up-front investment in IP infrastructure required
- Installs in minutes with minimal technical knowledge required
- Support for wired, WiFi and 3G/4G connectivity
- Minimal bandwidth and storage overheads
- Easily integrated with external alarm sensors and device actuators
- Corporate grade security to protect both data transfers and stored footage
- Monitoring of camera availability and alerting when cameras go offline
- Edge recording to SD Card if network connection lost
- Easy to use Cloud-based management and monitoring platform
- Built-in motion detection
- Email and SMS alerting
- Integration with leading ARC (Alarm Receiving Centre) platforms
- Automatic remote updates
Cloudview leads the way in cloud-based video surveillance with a scalable, user-friendly and affordable platform that can be managed and accessed from a browser using a notebook, tablet or Smartphone, anywhere in the world.
Cloudview can be used to:
- Extend surveillance systems to cope with remote sites (e.g. wind/solar farms, storage yards, community and sports venues, etc.)
- Add remote monitoring and alerting to an existing CCTV system without the need for complex VPN tunnelling, fixed IP addressing or additional infrastructure investment
- Protect video footage from tampering and/or potential loss from fire, terrorist attacks and other threats
- Add visual verification to intruder alarm systems, helping to minimise false alarms without the need for investment in a full CCTV solution
- Enable existing analogue CCTV customers to upgrade to IP technology at their own pace
- Minimise the cost of upgrading to IP surveillance by re-using existing analogue cameras linked to the Cloudview VSaaS monitoring and management platform.
Commenting on the launch, James Wickes said, “The analogue comfort blanket has served the surveillance market well but is starting to show its age and needs to be brought up to date. That shouldn’t, however, mean throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Which is why we have developed Cloudview to deliver remote camera monitoring and management in a format that can be added to existing analogue setups. It is simple to install and doesn’t require significant additional investment.”
Another advantage is automatic updating of the Cloudview VNA firmware over the Internet. No user intervention is required, with new releases automatically distributed and applied both to fix problems and deliver new features. These include support for digital IP as well as analogue cameras, one of several upgrades planned for later this year as part of an ongoing development schedule to continually refine and enhance the capabilities of the Cloudview solution.
Shipping now, Cloudview is available direct to professional surveillance installation companies. The company is also looking to develop a network of international and UK based resellers for distribution. Targeted at corporate and high-value domestic customers, VNA units are supplied pre-configured for immediate use, with minimal training or IT expertise required, plus a flexible subscription model for the cloud-based VNS component which will enable suppliers to profit both from sales and ongoing service revenues.
