Pearl

Thanks to all. Yes, our company is/will be handling large accounts and expects to deploy a variety of DVR systems and camera's to over 50,000 home locations and 7000 business locations. Some already have systems but will undergo some upgrade. Camera units vary between WebCams to High Resolution Panasonics units. We are researching systems that will integrate all the different DVR combinatins into a single video source. This is what I have stepped into with very little knowledge. Obviously, we aren't going to do it today. So, I have some time. My experience is primarily in the world of generalized network computing with a Microsoft base....not video surveillance systems and Unix servers. So, I'm looking to get smart.

I need to get a good book that will give me information regardng the networking aspects of CCTV and Surveillance Video design and configuration....what are the design features to look for, what are the limitations in bandwidth, how best to cable/route, etc. Does anyone know of a good book for me to purchase?

I thought that may be one solution. So, if we have 100 remote locations, each with a DSL connection to the public internet....do we establish a VPN server at the central location to accept secured traffic and then route the video to DNS servers and our monitoring units? How would you design such a system? I have a bit of general Windows 2000 networking experience but absolutely nothing about CCTV and surveillance.

we want to place several webcam's in our remote stores that we can remotely control and monitor but we have a dilemma. The stores have dialup connections back to the home office for File and Print Services but the network guys want to keep our surveillance monitoring transmissions separated from their network because we also handle "outside" clients that are not part of the network. Additionally, the current scheme calls for a "one way" transmission initiated from the stores to further maintain network security...but, for our webcams to be useful, they must have a persistent connection. So, I'm hoping someone here might be able to give me some ideas.

The company I work for has a single T-1 line, a single DSL line and several 56k dialup lines that connect to our remote surveillance locations. We are thinking that we could consolidate those lines for cost and be able to also increase bandwidth. Our first thought is to consolidate all the connections thru a single DS3 but I've heard that Frame Relay may be a better choice. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions?

is it possible to set an audio alarm on a Bosch DIVAR control Center console?

Many thanks for the advice and information. I very much appreciate your generosity and helping me get up to speed. I hope to attend some trainng soon....company will pay for it. That and this forum, I believe, will help me become more familiar and competent faster. Again, many thanks.

I was very much genuine. I very much appreciated your response and look forward to any assistance and advice you will be providing in the future...as I'm sure I will solicit it often. I will make it a point to view this forum to get as much information as I can and will certainly look for yours. Thank you very much

I'm setting up a T-1 remote monitoring station for our DIVAR systems and I'm an extreme novice. What is most important to me now is how to determine the bandwidth consumption that the video streaming relay from each of my DIVAR locations to the remote monitoring location. If I view live streams simultaneously, how much bandwidth will that consume? Is there a general value that I can use?

Many thanks. I love the way you use analogies. It makes it so clear. Do you instruct?

We are going to install a DVR system at several locations. One of the locations will be strictly a secondary remote monitoring facility where the video transmissions are sent via T-1 line. This facility will be individually connected to all the various sites and will monitor one site at a time but have alarms to identify problems or alerts at one or more sites and then immediately presenting the video to us. The question is: when we monitor these locations do we stand any chance of the video transmissions being intercepted. I understand that with a dedicated T-1 the likelihood of interception is lessened but if there is any chance of being intercepted should the signal be encrypted and if so how is it best done.