BroadWare Technologies, Inc., the pioneer in distributed video surveillance, introduced the latest additions to its platform of network video solutions.
The new offerings include Media Transcoder, for distribution of video to mobile clients, and Command Server, for monitoring of video in command centers and other 24X7 monitoring environments.
The new offerings are the latest extension to the BroadWare Media Platform, a suite of server-based technologies for management, distribution and storage of video surveillance data in a network environment.
"Our goal is to provide a range of off-the-shelf products that enable systems integrators to rapidly deploy multi-functional video surveillance networks," said Bill Stuntz, CEO of BroadWare Technologies, Inc. "Unlike DVR-based network video systems, the BroadWare Media Platform offers a scalable, building block approach to network video that can take advantage of new technologies as they are introduced." Overview of BroadWare Media Platform:
BroadWare Media Platform is an enterprise network video solution, enabling local and remote access and unlimited archiving of any camera on the network over wired, wireless and low-bandwidth connections. The open architecture and API allow installers to integrate existing third-party applications and take advantage of future advances without the need to "rip and replace" their network video infrastructure.
A key advantage to the BroadWare approach is the ability to manage multiple video codecs and image resolutions at one time, allowing a system to be designed for the best performance and bandwidth utilization in each part of the application.
For example, viewing and archiving of video can be performed locally with high frame rate codecs while remote access and storage can be performed using lower frame rate or stream-based codecs. BroadWare Media Platform features the widest support of industry standard video codecs, including MJPEG, MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4.
BroadWare Media Platform Components include:
- Media Server -- Media Server is the core component in the BroadWare platform enabling distribution, storage and management of video feeds. Each Media Server can manage and distribute up to 500 live video inputs with 1,000 simultaneous viewers and is stackable for unlimited scalability. Patented technology prevents degradation of video quality as additional users request feeds from the same camera or series of cameras.
- Application Server -- Application Server acts as the centralized administration tool for management of multiple Media Servers, cameras and other devices, archives and users. Administrators can grant camera access to specific users, set up archives and views, and add additional servers and devices to the system.
- Storage Series -- BroadWare branded storage options include SAN (Storage Area Network), NAS (Network Attached Storage), and Direct Attached. The Media Platform supports industry standard network storage from other leading vendors, including EMC and IBM.
The newest additions to BroadWare Media Platform address specific applications, mobile access and command center monitoring, and enable rapid deployment of advanced IP-based surveillance networks. They include:
- Media Transcoder -- Media Transcoder is a video server for dedicated, on-demand access to live and archived video feeds through wireless devices. The Media Transcoder captures frame-based video from the Media Server and transcodes the stream to the MPEG-4 codec, suitable for distribution over wireless networks.
Media Transcoder supports multiple simultaneous video streams per server, is stackable to support an unlimited number of simultaneous viewers and provides users with remote pan-tilt-zoom functionality. Media Transcoder currently supports mobile devices on the PocketPC operating system.
- Command Server -- Command Server is a rapidly deployable application for monitoring of video feeds in command center and other 24X7 monitoring environments. Command Server is a Windows-based application hosted on a server that enables systems integrators to provide video monitoring wall functionality for command centers without custom application development.
Unlike browser-based video monitoring, which can be unsuitable for continuous viewing, Command Server provides high-availability access to network video feeds. This is ideal for command center applications where one user station can control any number of video displays such as "user-less" client machines, display monitors or video walls.
