AV drives optimised for surveillance

Digital footage stored on hard drives is becoming critical in simplifying video surveillance.

So says WD's components sales manager, Kalvin Subadu, who notes that video surveillance is increasingly gaining the attention of businesses as a means to reduce crime such as theft, and even increase productivity.

This has resulted in a demand for reliable, scalable and performance-driven storage technology, he adds.

To address this, WD has invested in enterprise storage and subsequently released two ranges of enterprise drives - the SE Drive and the XE 3.5-inch SAS Drive.

"Digital footage stored on hard drives simplifies video surveillance and delivers many benefits. However, this content is constantly streaming and can require terabytes of storage. It is, therefore, important to ensure the hard drives that store this footage are 'purpose-built' for these environments and include features such as 24x7 reliability and impressive capacities," he notes.

Audio and video (AV) hard drives are engineered with this in mind, explains WD. In addition, AV drives have been developed to manage up to 12 simultaneous audio-video streams. Purpose-built AV hard drives incorporate comprehensive features and capabilities, such as high-resolution image quality, the ability to stream video from multiple cameras, video archiving with ultra-fast data access, and on-demand video playback. Higher capacity - as in the case of AV drives - enables higher resolution, the company says.

However, where AV drives are really optimised for surveillance environments is through reliability enablers. Reliability in servicing streams is core, and command completion time - the ability to speedily process video to ensure it is ready for the next piece of footage - is the benchmark for this. It is important to consider this feature when selecting an AV hard drive, says WD.

Further enhancing reliability, adds the company, is the fact that AV hard drives generally run at a lower temperature. Heat and humidity can wreak havoc on equipment, and hard drives are no different. AV hard drives generate less heat; less power is consumed during spin-up and operations, which in turn minimises heat dissipation and vibration.

The company observes that, with the introduction of convergence - the collapsing of voice, video and data into a single network - the lines between these technologies have become increasingly blurred, and IT resellers can tap into this opportunity by providing video surveillance as part of their offerings and expertise. To leverage this market, resellers need to ensure they provide the appropriate equipment, especially hard drives that are suited to the job.

For resellers to create new revenue streams from video surveillance, notes WD, they need to have the right hardware for this environment. Installing an incorrect hard drive can not only result in a solution that may not last as long as one with the appropriate drive, but can also mar the reseller's reputation, as system failure equates to customer disillusionment and dissatisfaction.