Storage can account for 60 percent or more of the total cost of a video surveillance implementation. As a security end user, implementing a multi-tier approach to video surveillance storage can help lower the cost of your system while helping position your organization for the implementation of video and data analytics.
Change Creates Opportunity
The video surveillance industry continues to transform. The transition to digital is accelerating. Shipments of digital cameras have now surpassed analog, and approximately 63 million network cameras were shipped in 2016. And those cameras are at higher resolutions with 1080p HD cameras now the standard for new installations.
Camera prices continue to go down, and so organizations are installing more cameras in efforts to address ongoing security threats. In 2006, less than 10 million surveillance cameras were shipped worldwide. Over 100 million shipped in 2016. By the end of this year, the number is expected to exceed 130 million.
Retention times are increasing. With litigation, regulatory requirements, and business intelligence affecting data management policies, there is a growing desire to keep video footage longer.
All these changes are combining to put a strain on data storage strategies. Appliance-based architectures are not scalable enough and IT-based solutions are optimized for reading, not writing streams of data. More storage capacity is needed to satisfy this growing appetite for data. Organizations are responding, and they are increasingly turning to enterprise storage platforms to address the need. In fact, the amount of enterprise storage shipped for video surveillance is projected to grow 42.3 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2021.
Big Data Analytics Drives Value
Another factor influencing data storage strategies is big data analytics. Every organization wants to derive insights from the vast amount of structured and unstructured data they collect. Video cameras are starting to be viewed as one source among thousands that can provide valuable data, and many industries are using video for applications beyond safety and security.
Transportation is one example. Population continues to grow. In the U.S. alone, the population is expected to increase by 70 million people by 2045. As the number of people increases, so do traffic problems, especially in major urban areas. States like Utah are addressing transportation challenges using data from road sensors, cameras, and mobile devices to improve road conditions and to optimize traffic flow.
Video is also playing a major role in helping transform cities into “smart” cities. From monitoring pedestrian activity to addressing parking and transportation challenges, video is being combined with sensors and smart technology to improve the quality of life in major cities.
Retail is another example. Retailers have used video surveillance for loss prevention for years. But with advanced analytics, they are also able to derive valuable insight for business intelligence and operations. Video helps retailers monitor shopper behavior. They can track movement through the stores and measure dwell time (the amount of time a shopper interacts with displays or kiosks), and then make decisions about store layouts, product placement, and push-targeted in-store advertising to improve their results.
As these examples show, there is an opportunity in harnessing unstructured data. In fact, according to a study by Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), 71 percent of respondents said their organization has the potential to leverage its unstructured data to create new revenue opportunities or increase value.
These examples also illustrate another point: video is becoming an important source of data in the ongoing development of big data analytics applications.
Multi-Tier Storage Lowers Cost
Today’s focus on data emphasizes the importance of storage and data management. A multi-tier approach is a great way to get the capacity you need at a lower cost.
What is multi-tier storage? It’s an approach to delivering storage capacity where different storage media—disk, object storage, tape, and cloud—are configured into tiers and managed in a way that balances performance, capacity, and access.
How does it work? Video is ingested into high-performance disk with additional copies written to tape and/or cloud. When a pre-defined day of retention is met on the disk-based tier, the expiring day’s blocks become available for new footage. Unlike other architectures, since there was a backup copy already on tape or cloud, a day’s worth of data does not have to be moved across the network and be managed by the VMS application, positively impacting both network and application server performance.
Files can also be moved between tiers based on user-defined policies. When the policies are met, the files are moved to a less expensive tier, which reduces the long-term cost of retaining files. The policy-based tiering gives users the flexibility to choose which files reside on high-performance disk and which ones are moved to tape or cloud.
The figure in this article is an illustration of the long-term cost of storage based on the media used:
How do you design a multi-tier configuration for video surveillance storage? Multi-tier solutions strike a balance between performance and long-term retention. In a multi-tier configuration, high-performance media (disk or flash) is sized based on the ingest requirements, which is determined by the number of cameras and channel counts in the system.
Once the ingest capacity is met, the rest of the capacity is split between a combination of object storage, tape, and cloud. This provides a less expensive way of storing video for a long period of time. In most configurations, the ingest capacity is relatively small compared to the combined capacity of the other tiers. That’s because the long-term storage tiers grow as retention policies change and new applications for video data are uncovered, even if the ingest requirements remain consistent.
Another benefit of a multi-tier storage design is that it’s scalable. You can start small and increase storage capacity over time by adding more nodes to your configuration without disrupting the system. For example, you could start with a 100-camera, 500 TB system and scale it to a 1,000 camera, 8 PB system without any major disruption to your operation, utilizing a consistent set of components.
Accessibility is also a key factor. Security professionals want to be able to find the video they need, no matter what day of retention it is, hopefully without resorting to another application or their IT department. By utilizing the right type of file system to create a tiered infrastructure the benefit of working in the timeline is realized as one doesn’t need to leave the VMS application to retrieve footage, no matter if it is on disk, tape, or stored in the cloud.
Storage Represents a Strategic Opportunity
Before a video surveillance system is implemented, a lot of decisions must be made. How many cameras will be needed? Where will they be installed? What specifications are required? What are the connectivity and bandwidth requirements? There are many others, of course. But perhaps the most important decision is where to store the footage.
End users are faced with a growing storage challenge. And not just with video surveillance data. According to the ESG survey, 47 percent of respondents said unstructured data makes up more than half of their total capacity, and 46 percent said their unstructured data is growing more than 20 percent every year.
The challenge to the end user is two-fold, not only how to structure a viable storage solution, but how to address the larger challenge of managing the growing volume of unstructured data. Having a well thought out technology roadmap for your video strategy in addition to having a trusted integrator partner to plan, implement and service the system once it is installed will ensure a successful and cost-effective project.
About the Author: Wayne Arvidson is Vice President for Intelligence, Surveillance & Security Solutions for Quantum Corporation. A seasoned global marketing, product management, and business development executive, He has over 25 years senior management experience in companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 firms and drives Quantum’s strategy in the intelligence and security market. He is an expert on best storage practices for video surveillance, and is helping to drive industry transformation by educating the market on the role storage can play as the foundation of a security infrastructure.
