With every video recorder it sells, OpenEye includes ReportStar, its security system health monitoring service. ReportStar proactively monitors the health of video surveillance systems and system sensors 24/7. As a cloud-based service, ReportStar can be accessed anywhere there is an Internet connection.

“ReportStar is a service that provides users of our video surveillance systems with the assurance that they’ll have usable video when they need it,” described Ed Solt, executive vice president of sales and marketing at OpenEye, Liberty Lake, Wash. “All of our DVRs report in every 5 minutes to our cloud-based service and based on that information, we can notify end users via email or text messages, alerting them the hard drive has failed, Internet connection has failed, cameras have failed, and various other options.

“But what’s most important is we can also send them video images showing how their cameras are performing — on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. So they don’t have to run into that issue where they have a critical event, they go to look at camera 5 and a tree has grown up in front of it, or the camera has malfunctioned, or spiders are in front of it — things that block the video and they don’t have usable video when they need it. We’re proactively providing a service that allows them to make sure they have video when they need it,” Solt said.

If a system’s available video storage decreases to below a designated level or if a camera channel loses video, ReportStar will send alerts via text and/or email to designated persons so that the issue can be addressed. In receiving this knowledge, business managers and homeowners can rest assured that their system is always working and that no critical moments are ever missed. Ensuring the constant functionality of a surveillance system is important to your customers in preventing property loss and damage around-the-clock. Even more important is incident verification in the instances of civil liability lawsuits, which can help businesses to avoid potential financial losses.

ReportStar communicates with its associated video recorders multiple times a day to verify that the cameras are functioning properly. In operation, it stores a reference image of a camera’s field of view. If the field of view somehow was compromised, or if the camera was moved or tampered with, ReportStar will send an alert after comparing the current field of view with the reference image.

ReportStar is compatible with all OpenEye IP and analog cameras. This allows for ReportStar to remain a constant even if users expand their current systems by adding different types of cameras.

ReportStar is customized for each dealer and sends regular reports to end-users on the dealers’ behalf. The frequency of the reports can be programmed to be sent on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Included in these reports is information detailing hard drive health, recording errors and system operation, as well as current camera images and the installed reference image. Users can customize which events or alerts they would like to receive notification of, as well as create “view only” accounts for non-administrative users, which prevents these users from making any changes to the desired settings.

With critical alerts, customizable branding, and end-user reports, ReportStar creates enhanced market differentiation opportunities for dealers and service providers, as well as increased opportunity for recurring monthly revenue (RMR). Because ReportStar is a service available to security systems integrators who purchase OpenEye video recorders, this allows integrators to offer it to their customers as a fee-based service.

 For information, visit www.openeye.net/products/software/reportstar.