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Video is now cloud-ready

For the last 20 years, video surveillance workloads have been the opposite of beneficial to the IT value-added reseller.

The unfamiliar and hardware-focused world of cameras, coaxial cabling, fields of view, network video recorders and retention times was the sole focus of the traditional security integrator and represented a workload that didn’t fit in well with the rest of the datacenter. Why? The answer is quite simple: The technology was old school. Infrastructure incorporates physical servers, non-virtualized environments, and products that were not cloud-ready. In short, video technology was the roadblock significantly hampering the transition to the cloud.

Many organizations have adopted a cloud-first, which raises serious questions if a workload can’t be run and managed in the cloud. CIOs must take notice of all available cloud workloads, including video. They must align with their organization and migrate workloads to get a decisive advantage over their competitors.

Consolidate data

Business intelligence teams commonly use video to gain insights that can be used to enhance the customer experience, improve operational efficiencies or understand how the physical environment affects the company and its practices. Data consolidated into a single platform offers broader insight and more context to drive business efficiency, a considerable advantage over on-premises video services.

By further aligning video surveillance with the rest of the organization’s cloud workloads, it becomes simpler to align cybersecurity practices. This approach presents a smaller attack surface for potential bad actors, when compared to large numbers of devices at remote sites operating in networks that are often less secure.

Simplify management

The challenges of managing hardware, especially at the edge, have never truly diminished, so the majority of CIOs with several, tens or hundreds of edge locations solve the problem by moving the hardware and focusing on a cloud-heavy, edge-light strategy. Organizations usually left video an outlier for myriad reasons, and it was not uncommon to have locally sourced break-fix companies providing services.

Unified cloud security services offer a mechanism for value-added resellers (VARs) to deliver video surveillance at the edge.

Focus on cybersecurity

Consolidating multiple pieces of on-premise video hardware into a cloud service model and using the enhanced security of a well-known cloud provider also reduces the risk of security breaches.

Video cameras have been the source of multiple cybersecurity breaches, giving hackers the ability to move laterally within an organization. The lack of network segmentation or security gives potential access to the sensitive data associated with video surveillance. By providing products and services that improve a CIOs cybersecurity posture, organizations are positioned as a strategic partner focused on solving complex challenges.

The SaaS model

Technology is consumed in a vastly different manner than it was 20 years ago. SaaS subscriptions are in demand because customers can turn services and capacity on and off depending on the requirements of their business. Organizations may have a harder time justifying the guesswork associated with forecasting a three- or five-year purchasing cycle for on-premise infrastructure, including video surveillance.

All IoT Agenda network contributors are responsible for the content and accuracy of their posts. Opinions are of the writers and do not necessarily convey the thoughts of IoT Agenda.

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