While company data has been stored in the cloud for years, recorded security video has not. Recording security video to the cloud is a recent trend that doesn’t come easy, and frankly the options can be quite confusing.
Why the Confusion?
In comparison to standard data files, video files are big…very big. To move them to the cloud requires two things, special video compression and higher bandwidth.
Ironically in many of the cloud storage video systems, most of the video is never stored in the cloud. Most are “cloud managed.” That means the video is still stored locally on a buffer device, DVR or server, and then viewed and retrieved from that device via a cloud portal.
The portal allows a secure live connection to the remote storage devices where recorded video can be searched and reviewed, and critical video clips can then be archived in the cloud.
Five Common Cloud Recording models:
· Camera video sent directly to the cloud for recording and storage.
· Camera video sent to a buffer device then to the cloud for recording and storage.
· Camera video stored on the camera and managed in the cloud.
· Camera video stored on a local Server or NVR and managed in the cloud.
· Camera video stored on a local Server or NVR, with selected camera and video exceptions clips stored in the Cloud.
Confused…don’t be. As technology gives us more choices to migrate more video to the cloud, its benefits far outweigh local on-site storage. As an example, local storage can be tampered with or can experience normal hard drive failures. Typically, just when you need the video, it’s not there.
Moving security video to the cloud makes perfect sense. It’s secure, backed-up and can be forwarded with permissions and authentication.
