Bernard Lamborelle, Vice President of Technology at Tiger Surveillance explores the video surveillance management system changing the face of security.
Businesses aiming to minimize their storage footprint and protect their CCTV recordings from theft, fire, water damage or data corruption, especially those managing recording servers across multiple locations, should consider off-site storage solutions such as cloud-based or remote site options.
Surveillance Bridge offers a unique, straightforward and secure solution for this transition without modifying or disrupting the existing infrastructure.
Video cameras produce a near unending stream of data.
This perpetual flow poses significant challenges especially in terms of data replication over long distances.
Traditional backup software is inadequate for managing data that is continuously changing.
Moreover, issues like transmission latencies and connectivity disruptions negatively impact operations.
Although reducing the need for extensive infrastructure management, video surveillance as a service (VSaaS) nonetheless increases dependency on internet connectivity and adds a significant burden of data buffering to the individual cameras.
This shift requires organizations to reevaluate their infrastructure, prioritizing internet stability and the functionality of their cameras.
Moreover, in a VSaaS setup, video streams are uploaded to the cloud before they can be viewed locally – a process termed “network hairpinning” that further increases internet bandwidth requirements.
Additionally, because these services often operate on major platforms, users may encounter usage limitations or unexpected costs for accessing extensive volumes of live or recorded footage.
Perhaps even more importantly, in the event of a disaster, when access to recordings becomes paramount, the lack of internet connectivity could leave organizations without access to vital footage.
This is why a diverse array of clients managing extensive surveillance networks – including international airports, smart cities, detention centers, law enforcement agencies, hospitals and educational institutions – have found that a hybrid-first strategy, as enabled by Tiger Surveillance, provides a superior solution.
Compatible with all major video management software (VMS), Surveillance Bridge is software that can be quickly installed on most recording servers in a matter of minutes, without even interrupting ongoing recordings.
After installation, users simply point to the camera recording location and designate a target for replication.
With a few straightforward policies, users set the desired parameters controlling when replication of the recordings should take place, how long they should remain on the local storage, and even decide on a long-term archiving schedule utilizing any tier of storage, regardless of location.
Surveillance Bridge excels at mirroring the contents of local drives to an offsite location, while also providing infinite storage scalability.
Once Surveillance Bridge has been installed, organizations have the flexibility to also set their desired retention periods to any length, ensuring older recordings that exceed the capacity of local storage are seamlessly transferred to an offsite location.
This strategy reduces the need for rack space, maintenance, air conditioning and electricity, enhancing storage efficiency while maintaining data accessibility and security.
This method embodies the hybrid-first philosophy, enabling a shift away from extensive on-premises infrastructure toward cloud or centralized data center storage.
Such a transition significantly reduces costs and lessens dependence on internet connectivity, while still supporting the use of existing VMS and operational workflows without necessitating any changes.
The seamless integration and flexibility offered by Surveillance Bridge makes it a compelling option for organizations looking to upgrade their surveillance systems efficiently without interrupting their established procedures.
Surveillance Bridge is specifically engineered to tackle the complexities associated with the management of video recordings.
In summary, by leveraging the advanced capabilities of Surveillance Bridge and embracing a hybrid-first approach, businesses can address the multifaceted challenges of data management including security, accessibility and cost.
This approach not only ensures the seamless and non-disruptive integration of existing VMS but also provides a scalable, secure and efficient method for managing the unending stream of data generated by video cameras.
With features designed to optimize outage management, disaster recovery, bandwidth usage and cost savings, Surveillance Bridge represents a significant leap forward in the realm of video surveillance management.
Surveillance Bridge empowers organizations to maintain operational continuity, safeguard against data breaches and achieve long-term retention goals, all while minimizing local infrastructures and dependency on internet connectivity.
This article was originally published in the March edition of Security Journal Americas. To read your FREE digital edition, click here.