In recent years, the capabilities of Cloud-based services have increased, and for many businesses and organisations, it is a technology they trust and use on a regular basis. The Cloud offers a high degree of flexibility, as capacity and functionality can be scaled up or down easily to meet demands, making it both cost-effective and efficient. One area seeing significant growth is the use of Cloud storage, which can be used as a standalone solution or in conjunction with on-premises hardware to offer a hybrid approach.
Cloud storage offers a number of benefits to modern security solutions. It allows dynamic management of storage needs without incurring costs for additional hardware and maintenance, and can cater for peaks and troughs in demand. It allows remote back-up and off-site archiving, and facilitates easier data sharing over distributed sites. Costs are easy to control as services are paid for via a subscription, and all upgrades and maintenance are carried out by the service provider.
Cloud services allow users to take advantage of the potential for remote working, and offers almost limitless virtual storage space. One example of this is Hik-ProConnect which offers installers and integrators a simple and effective cloud storage option.
Hikvision’s Hik-ProConnect is a security and business cloud offering, and its Cloud storage provides the ability to simply and easily back up video footage, search archives and play back video streams remotely.
With the Hik-ProConnect Cloud storage service, integrators can offer multiple subscription package options, retaining video in the cloud for 7 or 30 days, dependent upon operational requirements. Contracts can be formed on a monthly or annual basis. The payment process is quick and simple, with online licensing, and activation or renewal dates and reminder prompts can be set to ensure accounts are regularly updated.
Users can view their package and see which devices it includes, and can expand their system as desired via a purchase web-page, streamlining the sales process for integrators. Devices can be added to the Cloud storage system with ease, and configuring the quality of stored video is simple, along with defining which types of video events should be stored: motion detection, line crossing or intrusion alerts.
Network detection tools assess the available bandwidth and recommend the number of high definition or standard definition streams which can be supported.
Hik-ProConnect makes use of a Hik-ProConnect box to transcode video to a suitable definition and transfer it to the Cloud. Compatible with all Hikvison CCTV devices, it supports up to 8 channels of video. It can output two resolutions: high quality real-time video for local archiving and HD1080p or D1 video at up to 10fps for Cloud storage.
Users can search the Cloud-based archives using time and date information. They have control over the video including rewind and fast forward, with replay speeds of up to 8x normal rate. Clips can also be downloaded to any device for storage or further investigations.