Benefits of Video Surveillance Cameras used at Automobile Dealerships

Car Dealership Surveillance Camera Security System

Tips and Benefits for Car Dealerships

POSTED 02/24/2013 by David Backe

Most car dealerships across the country have been using security cameras systems for years. Securing Automobile Dealerships with Video Surveillance Cameras provides a great return on investment (ROI). Surveillance cameras can be a great asset in deterring theft, documenting preexisting exterior vehicle condition, and boosting sales.

Service Bay cameras can document vehicles entering and exiting the bays as well as while vehicles are being serviced. This can protect against fraudulent claims of damages to vehicles while they are being serviced.

With the cost of fuel it’s important to know who is filling what vehicles at the dealership fuel pumps.

Cameras can be used to alert sales staff of potential clients entering the dealership property.

Protection against break in, vandalized vehicle, and auto parts theft.

A security camera system at a car dealership can be a great way to cut down on abuse or vandalism from both staff and customers, and it can also be a great deterrent and aid in the prevention and prosecution of thefts. Additionally management and owners can benefit by monitor all areas of the dealership and shop remotely across the internet in real time and even remotely play back previously recorded events.

Some new developments in the world of professional grade security camera systems include the ability to mix traditional CCTV cameras with IP or Network Cameras in with a server based central management system. You may have recently read about IP cameras and may be thinking IP cameras are the owl’s eye. Well, I would not go that far but I do think it’s worth mentioning how Network IP cameras can help the security situation at any car dealership.

IP cameras have the ability to record their video at High Definition resolution, measured in mega-pixels. A car dealership using PC Based Central Management Software (CMS), can take advantage of this increased resolution in key areas and incorporate IP cameras into a traditional CCTV environment. For example, a high resolution IP camera monitoring the cars on the lot can give the dealership owner the ability to digitally zoom in during or after an incident and more easily capture details that would otherwise be lost with lower resolution CCTV cameras. The same technique could be applied to other critical areas of the facility such as any choke points and garage bays that either cars or people must all pass through.

IP cameras with their increasing resolution place high demands on networks and struggle to transmit at frame rate speeds commonly requested of a traditional CCTV security camera. The trade-off is frame rates vs. image resolution, the higher the resolution the more bandwidth and processing power that is required to transmit the video at high frame rates. Currently a reasonable expectation is between 12 – 18 frames per second on a mega-pixel IP camera compared to the lower resolution analog CCTV cameras that can easily record at 30 frames per second. These symptoms can be offset by installing a standalone network, with high bandwidth cabling and Quality of Service Switching.

IP cameras have built-in intelligence referred to as a web server to provide the ability to connect directly to the internet or intranet allowing an IP camera to be directly accessible across a traditional office network, internet and cloud based services. multi-site monitoring, multiple event notifications methods are supported and are capable of being used by management, and local law enforcement in real time in case of any undesirable incidents.

For more information on how a security camera system can help your car dealership please visit http://www.micronetworks.biz/video_surveillance.htm
or call us today at 202-683-6171

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IP Networked Surveillance Video – Capabilities

Design Elements:
Micro Networks is vendor neutral and offers its clients the most recent and reliable technology offerings in the security marketplace today.  This allows clients the ability to customize their solutions from the myriad of commercial off the shelf (COTS) surveillance products thus allowing for greater integration possibilities with future technologies. The use of standard hardware and software products from the world’s leading security systems providers ensures the client has long-term support and continued upgrades as features and technologies evolve.   

Surveillance Cameras:
Network IP Surveillance Cameras can be place wherever there is a network connection. Power can be supplied by a camera power supply or Power over Ethernet (PoE) injector, eliminating the need for additional cabling. Our preferred range of IP Surveillance Cameras offers bandwidth saving functionality. Captured video can be compressed and streamed as Motion JPEG, MPEG-4 or H.264 using various networking protocols. In most cases this allows for the use of our clients existing Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN), Micro Networks also provides expansion and upgrades of network infrastructure.

 Network cameras provide a web server, FTP (File Transfer Protocol), email functionality, and includes other IP Network and security protocols. Most IP cameras today also provide event management and intelligent video functionality such as motion detection, audio detection, active tampering alarm and guard watch. Two way audio options are also available.  One further technology is IP Mega Pixel surveillance cameras; for applications that require detailed images these cameras deliver one million or more pixels. Camera housing options include Indoor/Outdoor IP66, Vandal Resistant, Infrared and Heater Blower.

Monitoring of Video:
Viewing of live and recorded video can be accomplished through web-based video management software installed on the recording server. Viewing client software is installed on other computers locally or remotely at viewing stations located on a separate network. Video can be displayed on a standard computer screen or on an HDTV wall display spanning multiple screens showing all cameras at the same time.

 Scalability of video management software in most cases is limited by hardware capacity rather than the software. The more robust the server(s) the more IP Cameras and Video storage it can handle.

Server:
Utilizing network video products with an open interface that are supported by a good selection of application software and video management software, Micro Networks can engineer a Network Video Recorder (NVR) or PC Based Server to mange cameras and video storage over LAN/WAN networks. Dual Socket and Raid configurations greatly enhance server performance. Server clustering can provide redundancy in the event of catastrophic failure of a server.

Storage requirements vary depending on number of cameras, recording rules, video compression and number of days to store captured video. Calculations can be performed based on this information. Beyond direct attached storage, requirements for expanded storage can be accomplished with Network-attached storage (NAS) or Storage area network (SAN).

Segmenting a LAN into a VALN enhance security by only allowing specific groups in the network to  exchanging data or access certain resources, such as archived video. This functionality is supported by most network switches. Secure access to the system is accomplished through authentication and authorization. The user/device identifies itself to the network and the remote end by a user name and password, which are then verified before the device is allowed in the system. User are assigned to groups and granted different access and privilege levels such as Admin, Operator, or Viewer. Cameras can also be configured to only allow access to the IP address of the server hosting the camera management software. Transfer of video data can be encrypted using HTTPS or SSL/TLS making it possible for video to be securely viewed using a web browser.