Network Security Camera - Benjamin Ho Chuin Kee
Benjamin Ho
I am now working in JW networks selling Axis Network Cameras (www.axis.com).
This is a surveilance/security camera from the company called Axis from
Sweden. The main selling point of this product is that it can be plug
directly into a LAN, assign it with an IP address and users can view the
images captured from standard web browser.
This camera works somewhat like a webcam but with much advancement over it:
1 - The camera IS by itself, a web server running on Linux OS. The camera
plugs straight into a RJ45 port without going through a computer. The user
simply assign the camera an IP address and anyone on the LAN can view the
streaming image through IE or netscape.
2 - The camera, depends on model, can capture up to 30fps (NTSC). The
output of the camera comes in JPEG format. With 5 level of compression and
bandwidth limiting capability, administrator do not have to worry that the
camera will hog all the network resources.
3 - The camera can be connected to an alarm system, ie when the alarm is
triggered, the camera can take picture of the moment of trigger, and either
send the image to the adminstrator or upload the images to an remote FTP
server. The alarm system can be replaced by: motion sensor, door trigger
etc.
4 - The camera is always recording, but user can set it to send out image
only when specific conditios are met, such as: alarm triggered, motion
detected, time range, door opened etc. Since it is always recording it can
actually send images taken before the event take place thanks to the memory.
5 - The camera has a built-in standard webpage, user customizable. The
camera can service about 20 users at any given time. For large number of
viewers, the administrator can ask the camer to upload the image to a FTP
server, and built a custom webpage to extract the image from the FTP server.
By using this method, the webserver takes the load of servicing the surfers
and takes the burden off from the camera.
6 - This camera also works in DHCP environment. simply configure it to
email/ftp the administrator the IP address it obtained from the server and
the rest will be the same.
7 - The camera can also be hooked up to a modem, in turn to a dedicated
phone line. Let say you have a network camera at home, and you are going to
US for a month. Hook the camera to a modem, link to a phone line. When you
are in US, simply dial in to the camera and you can get realtiem image on
the condition of your house (things like of your son is making a big mess or
not). Of course, steps must be taken to make sure the lightning won't kill
the modem and the camera.
8 - For those with an existing CCTV system, we have a product called the
Axis Video Server to enhance the system. The video server sort of "tap" the
CCTV video signal from the camera and route it to the LAN so that user can
laso view the image on their computer. In the mean time, the existing CCTV
ssytem can still be use as normal. Only now you can vew the image anywhere
within the office as long as you have access to a computer with LAN
connection.
Interested? please gimme a ring on 03-62774611, look for Benjamin.
Thank you for reading,
Benjamin Ho