Reducing Costs While Enhancing Reliability Of Video Surveillance Storage Systems

By John Minasyan, Senior Product Manager Pelco

The migration of video recording media from analog VCR tapes to digital hard disk drives has been motivated by a desire to reduce costs while maximizing the number of cameras and days of retention achieved on a finite amount of storage capacity. The industry as a whole has experimented with ways to manage this cost by reducing the size of recorded video. Today, a great deal of energy is being expended on leveraging existing IT infrastructures and potential idle capacity that most IT departments have to record surveillance video. The question is whether there is a more efficient way of achieving the same goal.

A properly designed storage system built for the unique requirements of IP video surveillance can offer a more robust, scalable and cost-effective solution. Additionally, a properly designed storage sub-system can help customers take full advantage of the benefits of higher resolution and real-time video produced by today’s advanced IP cameras.

This white paper explores the unique requirements that surveillance video places on the recording sub-system as well as the elements that make up the total cost of ownership of the system. It concludes by examining how Pelco’s second-generation recording system addresses these major concerns while delivering a cost-optimized solution for IP video surveillance.