First Post

It has occurred to me on more than one occasion that the digital video revolution in CCTV technology has just opened up the ability to have a very sophisticated video solution is now within reach of almost anyone.
For many years, CCTV technology meant a huge investment upfront, constant maintenance and a gerat deal of staff to monitor and review after incidents had occurred. This is fine if you're a Fortune 500 company and have the resources, but smaller companies had a need as well. The smaller company had to pick and choose amongst features, which were often very expensive, and were often left with a less than desired solution.
Now that IP video (network-based) has taken over the CCTV market, and now that the Fortune 500 has adopted many of the early incarnations, the prices have been driven down for excellent solutions, available at less than the cost of traditional security offerings. Also, since the cameras and recorders are network-based, and use the standards and protocols that are almost universally accepted among IT departments; maintenance and upkeep have been taken away from boutique or specialty security vendors and are deliverable at a greatly reduced cost from IT vendors.
Features that many small businesses would love to have, such as Object Removed, Motion Based recording and alarms, and POS integrated video can make a difference not only when your business is closed, but can also watch the flow of cash into your registers. These types of features turn your passive video system into an active partner that watches for changes and alerts you immediately of problems.
Most of this uses off-the-shelf products, so service and upgrades are not proprietary, thereby freeing the small business owner from being locked into a situation of loving the product but having to deal with the vendor.
It's the most exciting thing to happen in surveillance, ever.