Software in CCTV – can it replace the control system and can it be chargeable?

More and more, software is becoming the heart of the CCTV System……..

In days of old, a system would have one control point, and if additional control points were required, the system practically needed replicating in order to provide additional controls to another point.

Come the age of the computer and now adding another control point is as easy as loading software onto a network enabled PC……..

Most DVRs these days come with free software that provides accessibility to stored images, live cameras and PTZ controls..

But an interesting surge in the market appears to be coming from the software only control systems – BMS style software that controls the full range of Security disciplines, including Fire, Intruder, Access Control and CCTV etc….

Honeywell are big leaders in this arena, but new products from the likes of ESSA and CNL offer interesting control angles on the control system

Milestone and IndigoVision are also big players in this industry area too………Milestone particularly have set their business model on the ‘licence per camera’ basis, allowing flexibility to expand the system without too much expense or inconvenience…….it’s an interesting idea – we are all used to paying subscriptions for software such as anti-virus programs, so to pay a fee on annual basis seems like a good way to ensure maintenance agreements are kept by linking the camera licences to subscriptions…….

Of course, some end users see the extra current premiums that IP allegedly imposes over SD (Standard Definition) CCTV as enough to pay let alone additional subscriptions for software………..but, as prices fall, then we think subscriptive CCTV is an interesting idea – potentially locking end users back into reliable installers via the maintenance/subscription model

Time will tell, but certainly there are massive advantages to the control systems being PC software based………

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