Selling and installing security solutions is enough of a challenge under normal circumstances, but a global pandemic can really shake things up. For example, the video management systems (VMS) market was chugging along until COVID-19 reared its ugly head and changed everything.

In the past, intercoms were fairly simple: there would be a call button and perhaps a mechanism for remotely unlocking a door, and that was it.

For at least the last couple of years, artificial intelligence (AI) has been one of the biggest trends in the security industry. Offering the ability to “learn” over time, AI provides the technology to anticipate and identify potential issues as they are unfolding.

The sheer amount of video and other data generated by security and non-security devices today is massive, and its growth is seemingly exponential — with more and more created every day.

When discussing video storage technologies and products, there are many acronyms and terms that are thrown around. But what, exactly, do they mean?

Today’s megapixel cameras provide a number of benefits, including their ability to enhance situational awareness by expanding areas of coverage with fewer physical cameras, which can also significantly reduce overall costs associated with both equipment and labor.

While camera manufacturers continue to deliver products with higher and higher resolutions, that’s no longer the main goal of video surveillance, purports Laurent Villeneuve, product marketing manager, Genetec, Montreal. Instead, it’s more about expanding the use case for surveillance by increasing end users’ return on investment.

Back when video surveillance relied on tape-based VCRs for recording, deploying these systems was fairly straightforward. You simply connected the camera or cameras directly to the VCR and — voila — everything was captured on tape. Retention depended on how often you wanted to switch out the tape and how much cabinet space you had to store tapes.

There was a time when power and transmission were delivered by distinct solutions, but power over Ethernet (PoE) solutions have changed that dynamic considerably by delivering power and video surveillance signals over a single cable.