The move to IP video
Video surveillance systems have consisted traditionally of NTSC or PAL analog cameras connected over coaxial cables to VHS tape recorders or Digital Video Recorders (DVRs). Figure 1 shows a typical DVR deployment with a remote office monitoring capability. Analog cameras connect directly to a DVR and video is typically stored on internal hard-drives contained in the DVR itself.


Figure 1: A typical DVR deployment with remote office monitoring

A video encoder (see Figure 2) is a device that digitizes signals from analog cameras and transmits them over an IP network to a VMS solution. Video encoders allow customers to maintain their investment in coaxial cabling and analog cameras as they transition part of their solution to IP. IP cameras, also shown in Figure 2, combine the capabilities of an analog camera and encoder in a single device.

Figure 2: A hybrid analog and IP system.

Video surveillance systems are transitioning to an all-IP environment similar to the IP migration path most recently seen with enterprise voice, where many Private Branch Exchanges (PBXs) were replaced with Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions.

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