By Todd Duberstein of Transition Networks, Inc.

Video security and surveillance has become increasingly important the last few years, not only as a topic of conversation, but also as a corporate and government strategy reality. Whether retailers are monitoring for shoplifting or employee theft, corporations identifying visitors and employees or monitoring hazardous work areas, governments and municipalities combating street crime and terrorism, casinos preventing cheating and fraud or even homeowner’s protecting their families and assets, one cannot deny the benefits of an effective video security system.

In recent years, demand for these applications has increased and technology has advanced so rapidly that there are now a myriad of choices among components. In fact, when one looks only at cameras, we can find many models, each with a specific use for time of day, fixed or pan, tilt and zoom (PTZ) capability, resolution quality, analog or IP-based video, etc. Unfortunately, one common component that is often overlooked in video systems is the quality of the cabling infrastructure used to transport these video images from camera to monitor or from camera to storage device. Designing your video network around coaxial, un-shielded twisted pair (UTP) or fiber-optics will have tremendous impact on the quality, bandwidth and distance capabilities of your video security and surveillance system.

Typical Video Security System
Whether the video surveillance is analog-based or IP-based, there are a number of common components to most video systems including cameras, cabling infrastructure, monitors and a means of recording the video for future use and playback. Let’s take a quick look at two of the most common video systems in use today.

Analog Video Security System with fixed and PTZ cameras

Analog Video Systems
Closed-circuit television (CCTV) systems have been in use for more than twenty years and comprise the vast majority of video security systems in use today. In a typical CCTV system analog cameras are connected via coaxial cabling back to a central management room where the coax is connected to a monitor(s) and a video cassette recorder (VCR) or digital video recorder (DVR) An additional component called a controller is used if the cameras have PTZ capability and is generally centrally located. All components are dedicated to this CCTV system and the system is “closed” to external access.

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