Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS) is one of the fastest growing areas in the field of video surveillance. Our customer requests statistics show that a wide range of customers are interested in VSaaS. Within the past year, the number of requests increased 4 times. Retail chains, supermarkets, cafes, and gas stations show the most active interest. This service is particularly relevant when you want to deploy a temporary video surveillance system, for, say, a construction project, elections, or unified state exams.
Why is it so beneficial?
No investment needed for the purchase of server hardware and software and their configuration.
In some cases, it is more beneficial to pay a monthly fee and be able to discontinue a service at any point of time instead of deploying a full-range video surveillance system.
No need to employ staff or hire contractors for system support. System upgrading and updating is done automatically.
Using software for video surveillance systems
One can use several professional video surveillance software options to organize a video surveillance system with a small number of users. In this case, you builld a system with several servers, configure cameras, and give access without configuration rights to the end-users. End-users, for their part, view live video and work with an archive. The main disadvantage of this method of service organization is low scalability. If any settings are changed by an administrator, they are applied to all servers simultaneously. Frequent updates lead to an additional load on servers. Due to scalability limitations, 10 end-users is the maximum for such a system. That is why a video surveillance system based on conventional software is not a fully-functional cloud system.
Surveillance service based on ‘Macroscop Cloud 2.0
If your goal is to create a system for hundreds or even thousands of end-users, you will need specialized professional software.
Macroscop developed Cloud software for this purpose. It is suitable for mobile network operators, large security companies, and systems integrators. The product provides a special cloud administration interface. It takes into account telecommunications operator features, integration with billing, and personal back-office for customers, for example. Macroscop issued Cloud 2.0 version in February 2014. It allows you to deploy cloud, scale it without disrupting users, balance the load, and do system backups.
Benefits of Macroscop Cloud 2.0
In Macroscop Cloud 2.0, a new system of interaction between the components has been introduced. It allows one to scale a system to any size.
The main element of the system is a database where all settings are stored. A special component, "query server", accepts commands from the billing system, captures database changes, and applies them to servers. The servers process video from cameras and billing system requests. Settings can be done individually for any camera or any end-user.
Thanks to the way the system is structured, an unlimited number of servers may be connected to it. It can be easily scaled to any extent. System scaling and changing settings do not cause interruptions to end-users.
The new version has a balancer, which monitors the servers’ status and accessibility and distributes the load. For example, if you add a camera to a server, the balancer will check the server’s status. If it detects an overload, it will re-direct streams from cameras to a different server. When a camera is transferred from one server to another, the archive will not be lost. This can be done an unlimited number of times. An end-user will not notice any transfer traces while browsing an archive. Figuratively speaking, Macroscop Cloud 2.0 “glues” the user archive.
An important innovation is that in Macroscop Cloud 2.0 there is no single point of failure, because all components of the system are reserved.
Intellectual functions
Macroscop Cloud 2.0 has two modifications – Standard and Intelligent. The ‘Standard’ version is designed for viewing live video and working with an archive. The ‘Intelligent’ version has developed intellectual functions. The most popular of them include car plate recognition, visitor counting, and moving object tracking.
Thus, a pharmacy or storeowner may get a report on the visitor count at any point, which comes in a convenient form, e.g. as a table or graphs. A warehouse or car parking security guard does not have to worry until he hears a sound notification, which is a warning signal for a protected area boundary crossing.
Along with the benefits provided, the use of intellectual functions increases the load on computational resources. Macroscop team developed special algorithms, which help reduce server hardware requirements whether the intellectual functions are utilized or not.
Reducing server hardware load
Exclusive Macroscop developments, which contribute to computing power savings and provide high performance:
- Technology, which allows one to perform analysis of compressed video streams from IP cameras without full decoding. Thanks to this method, video data processing speed can be increased by four times. This also means that a server can handle four times more data. Capability of handling large amounts of data ensures system stability and efficiency.
- Technology of data processing on the graphics card.
- H.264 video format processing technology for mobile and web clients.
Thus, Macroscop Cloud 2.0 is a functional and reliable solution for cloud-based video surveillance systems building on any scale. It saves computing resources and ensures secure data protection.