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Wireless networks and IP cameras

Over the last few years, a general perception among system integrators and even some local distributors on the topic of wireless networking and IP cameras has been developed. Often, this perception is negative in nature and founded on doubts in the capabilities of wireless networking as a video transport medium.

This perception is often compounded by negative experiences with previous generation wireless networks and, in certain cases, dealings with old analogue wireless equipment. Due to the design considerations that are inherently present when choosing a wireless network, it is also often found that incorrect solutions are supplied to unknowing system integrators and end users.

Not enough bandwidth for surveillance

We can dismiss this claim outright. In the early 2000s, this statement was true with standard protocols at the time only supporting low amounts of bandwidth (when compared to wired networks) and typical speeds were in the 11 to 54 Mbps region. Today however, wireless networks are starting to support network speeds that easily meet that of their wired counterparts.

In particular, the new 802.11AC protocol allows for speeds of up to 1,4 Gbps. Improvements in IP surveillance cameras also allow us make use of new codecs such as H.264 and SVC to further reduce the requirement for large amounts of bandwidth.

Wireless is expensive

We will dismiss this claim with a question. What is the cost of trenching, labour, fibre equipment, network switches, skill-set acquisition and all the other required components over a one-kilometre distance? As you can see, these costs quickly add up. With wireless networks we can effectively eliminate most of those costs. Combine this with the fact that wireless networks, and more specifically, wireless equipment providers have multiplied exponentially over the last decade and what you have is a very competitive wireless market with companies such as Ubiquiti and Mikrotik providing effective, advanced wireless solutions over large distances at comparatively low cost.

Wireless is unreliable

Again, this statement is most probably founded on previous generation solutions. Today, carrier grade equipment such as that of Radwin can provide us with solutions that have guaranteed up-times and dedicated bandwidth throughput levels. In simple terms, carrier grade equipment implies that the devices have an up-time of 99,999% and that dedicated bandwidth levels can be guaranteed. This allows for SLAs to be agreed upon without fear of possible service failures.

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