Internet Surveillance Cameras

IP Surveillance Cameras

Internet Cameras were originally developed during the mid-nineties, but the high cost and complex networking requirements of the initial cameras made them impracticable for the small business environments of that timeframe. Today's Internet cameras, also known as IP cameras, have evolved to the point where they are the fastest growing segments of the surveillance camera market. IP cameras are actually "camera servers", capable of supporting complex surveillance tasks such as:

• capturing live videos and still images,

• detecting motion in designated "hot spots",

• sending alarms and Emails to a local control computer, and;

• recording and up-loading surveillance videos to computers, smart phones, or PDAs attached to the Internet.

Initial Installation, Network Configuration, and On-going Support for Your Surveillance Cameras

We provide the:

• Initial Installation – Static IP address assignment, access security, Wi-Fi parameters, Email setup, FTP upload host, dynamic DNS, and remote control.

• Network Configuration –  Wireless security parameters, port forwarding, MAC filtering, and firewall configuration changes. 

• On-going Support – 24x7 technical support.

IP Surveillance Camera Types

We support for the following four versions of IP surveillance cameras:

• Wired Ethernet Surveillance Cameras

• Power-Over-Ethernet (POE) Surveillance Cameras

• 802-11g Wireless Surveillance Cameras

•  802-11n Wireless Surveillance Cameras

Although we support all four versions of IP surveillance cameras, our preference is the wireless 802.11n version of these cameras. The 802-11n version is available from several major vendors, and is capable of supporting complex computing and networking tasks such as:

• using encoders to convert analog pictures into web-page like representations that can be viewed with standard Internet browsers,

• creating and sending Email alert messages that contain a full-color snapshot of a captured image, and;

•  using FTP to up-loading surveillance videos to computers attached to the Internet.

Wireless IP cameras support a wide variety of advanced surveillance features such as motion detection, Pan/Tilt/Zoom (P/T/Z), two-way audio, night vision, and 3GPP.

Optional Wireless Access Point (WAP)

While it is possible to connect a small number of wireless surveillance cameras directly to your existing wireless router, if you are installing more than four cameras, we recommend that a networking device known as an Wireless Access Point (WAP) be used. The WAP can:

1. Extend the range of your wireless network up to three hundred feet. In most cases this will be more than adequate for both your indoor and outdoor surveillance cameras.

2. Create a separate sub-network for your surveillance cameras. This sub-network that:

   • isolates your cameras into a DMZ-like security zone that has its own Wi-Fi security settings, and;

   • provides a single wired or wireless connection to your existing network. This greatly simplifies both the problem management and performance management of your camera surveillance cameras.

3. Provide a wireless connection to your surveillance camera control computer. This further simplifies the installation and management of your cameras because all live video streams, still images, camera alarms, and camera-related broadcast traffic is contained within the surveillance camera sub-network and never touches your existing network.