Security & technology
Video surveillance
IP and analogue cameras, recorders and the network infrastructure behind them.
A video surveillance system does two jobs: it shows what is happening on the site now, and it keeps what has already happened. Each camera covers one defined view — an entrance, a till, a corridor, a stretch of perimeter; the recorder holds that image for an agreed number of days, and staff or the owner watch it on site or remotely. The number of cameras is not the point — the point is whether the recording shows exactly what you will need later: a face, a number plate, an action.
Every camera has a question to answer: confirm that something happened, recognise a known person, or establish who an unknown one is. That question sets the lens, the resolution, the mounting height and the angle: the further away the far end of the view is, the longer the lens or the higher the resolution needed to put enough pixels across a face. Light is a question of its own — a camera aimed into the light records a silhouette instead of a face, and at night what counts is how far the existing lighting reaches and how much of the view the infrared illumination covers. The technical part follows from that: an IP camera takes power and data over one cable from a PoE switch, an analogue one runs on coax, and the cable runs, the power reserve and keeping the system on its own network segment are settled in advance.
The real test of a recording comes when someone actually needs it — often weeks later, once the incident has been noticed. At that moment what counts is whether that day is still in the archive, whether the time and date are set correctly, whether anyone knows how to export a clip and who is allowed to. That is why a documented system includes a camera layout, a stated purpose for every view, a retention period that has been checked rather than assumed, and remote access with the default passwords changed. Once the cameras are mounted, changing the view, the lighting or the depth of the archive is a second job.
What it covers
- IP, Wi-Fi and analogue cameras
- DVR, XVR and NVR recorders
- Network and coaxial cabling
- Hard drives and memory cards
- Commissioning accessories
Where it applies
- Office buildings and business centres
- Shopping centres and retail chains
- Warehouses and production facilities
- Hotels and residential complexes
- Underground car parks and perimeters
- Schools, universities and clinics
Standards and regulations
The EN 62676 family of standards, which replaced the older EN 50132 series, describes how the operational requirement for a system is stated and how image quality is graded against the task at hand — detect, observe, recognise, identify. Those four levels decide how many pixels have to fall on the subject, and therefore where a camera goes and which lens it carries. The network layer comes under the structured cabling standards (ISO/IEC 11801 and its European counterpart EN 50173), while external cameras are specified by the IP and IK rating of the housing. Recording people is separately regulated by Georgian personal data protection legislation, which requires a warning sign, a defined purpose for the recording, and a retention period limited to that purpose.
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Call or write to us. We'll establish which system your site actually needs.
Frequently asked questions
How many cameras does a site need?
Floor area does not set the number — the list of tasks does: every entrance, till, storage area, corridor junction and stretch of perimeter is a separate view. One entrance often needs two cameras: one for the general picture, one close enough for a face to be recognised. So the list of views is written first, and the number of cameras comes out of that list.
What determines the cost of a video surveillance system?
Two numbers carry most of the cost: how many views there are, and how long the footage has to be kept. The number and type of views sets the cameras, the cable runs and the switch ports; the retention period sets the storage — higher resolution and a longer period demand more disks, a recorder that can carry the load, and a network sized for it. The same number of cameras therefore lands at very different figures depending on whether you need a week of archive or a month.
How long is video footage kept?
The period is bounded from two sides. The lower bound is how long an incident can go undiscovered: at a till it shows up the same day, in a warehouse nobody may spot it until a stock count. The upper bound comes from data protection requirements, which tie how long a recording is kept to the purpose it was made for. The period chosen between those two bounds, together with the number of channels and the resolution, sets how much disk space the system needs.
Can the cameras be viewed from a phone?
Yes, current recorders support remote viewing from an app. That needs a stable internet connection and access set up properly: default passwords changed, only the necessary ports open, and the system on its own network segment. A recorder left on its factory password is one of the most common weaknesses in these systems.
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