According to IHS annual market research, EMC is the leader in enterprise video surveillance storage and has been for the past 4 years. The video surveillance market continues to see robust growth with more cameras being installed today than ever before, as organizations, businesses and governments desire to deter, protect, prosecute and predict with their surveillance systems.
Over the past few years, the use of Isilon network attached storage (NAS) arrays has grown rapidly in video surveillance markets—largely because of changing industry trends:
- A transition from standard definition (SD) cameras to high definition (HD) surveillance cameras.
- End users moving from an appliance model (DVR) to an IP/IT model (COTS) utilizing best of breed IT components in the overall surveillance solution.
- The need to efficiently and cost effectively store massive amounts of video surveillance data so that it can be shared by multiple stakeholders for various purposes.
In this blog we’ll examine the key growth markets which drive video surveillance, and what makes Isilon such a good fit in them. So let’s roll…
Casinos
Higher resolution cameras and higher frame rates give casino owners better weapons to fight fraud and “beat the cheats.” However, it’s not just about better video—it’s also about continuous operation.
Gaming commission regulations require a casino’s surveillance solution be operational at all times, and if not, the casino must shut-down. An unreliable surveillance storage system can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenue every hour. Isilon can handle these requirements with its built in auto failover capabilities and rock solid reliability.
Furthermore, casino’s business operations are looking for new ways to gain insights into their patrons’ patterns. The relatively new science of video analytics can show casino managers not only when and where patrons played, but also how they played. That data can be correlated with “player’s cards” data to determine insights into behavior and develop targeted marketing and promotional programs. EMC Isilon’s analytics-ready architecture accelerates analytics and helps provide casino management with timely and more accurate information.
Law enforcement
Body cameras are a hot topic these days—given the recent incidents in Ferguson, NYC, Baltimore and South Carolina. The benefit of body cams as a tool for law enforcement has been proven in independent studies to reduce complaints, use of force, and provide evidentiary video. Body cams use SD cards for local storage and that video is transferred to a PC or Server after each officer’s shift (8-12 hours). The average body camera with a HD resolution (720p) conservatively generates 1.2GB per hour—or ~10GBs per officer per shift. A police force with 1000 officers can generate more than 300TB every month.
While the police department is the one buying the body cameras, it is the District Attorney who decides the data storage policies and practices. Combine the video resolution with the mandated retention period (which in some jurisdictions is for the life of the accused), and police departments are looking at very large storage requirements.
A storage solution that can handle mixed workloads and the many forms of digital media evidence (interview room video/audio, photographs, DNA, etc.), in addition to body cameras, is essential. The storage solution must store the data efficiently and cost-effectively, and be able to run queries from analytics without having to make multiple copies of the data sets. Isilon has all of these capabilities—enabling law enforcement to limit the cost of storing data and derive more “actionable intelligence” from disparate sources. The ability to predict crime is no longer in the realm of Minority Report, it is a reality.
Safer Stadiums
More new stadiums are being built to attract a new generation of “digitally connected” patrons, not only for sporting events but also for concerts and festivals. Stadiums are also being developed as integrated shopping malls for residents in and around the stadium property/complex.
Cameras are everywhere… in and out of the stadium – from the parking lots to the concession stands to the seats. High definition/multi-megapixel cameras are a necessity to cover the entire stadium and capture every fan in their seat…literally. If a fight breaks out in the stands, that level of detail is needed to prosecute effectively.
There are ~12,000 stadiums in the world and 2,900 stadiums in the USA alone. Out of those 2,900, 225 stadiums in the US have the seating capacity over 20,000. With retention periods growing (If a criminal assault or theft occurs the video must be retained as evidence for the life of the crime or until the crime is expunged), that is a lot of cameras and plenty of storage requirements. For example, check out how MetLife Stadium used Isilon to reduce the amount of time (and cost) of managing their storage from five hours a week to five minutes a week.
In conclusion, the convergence from analog (CCTV) surveillance solutions that were based on appliances and internal storage is well underway. Isilon is the ideal storage platform for video surveillance because of its scale out design and proven ability to handle thousands of surveillance cameras without compromising performance or data integrity—enabling surveillance operators to manage the situation, not the storage.