For the first of Housing Technology’s new series of ‘In-Depth 2015’ supplements, we have teamed up with Cloudview to look at how housing providers can use the latest cloud-based technologies to reduce the cost, effort and time of using their new or existing CCTV infrastructures to track anti-social behaviour and crime, as well as extend its use to monitor their physical assets, the state of communal areas or even when bins need emptying without needing to do a site visit, thereby cutting down on time and travel costs.
If you’re reading the print version of Housing Technology then you will have already received the supplement but if you are reading the PDF or online version, you can download a free PDF version of the supplement from housingtechdev.wpengine.com/indepth.
As any reader who has been involved in any housing-related incidents using CCTV, most ‘traditional’ CCTV and surveillance systems used by housing providers (and indeed, most other organisations) are pre-internet relics. They are expensive to install and maintain. They are prone to theft and vandalism. The recorded footage is often low quality, corrupted or simply over-written. And actually accessing the footage is both expensive and takes too long.
In contrast, cloud-based CCTV records and stores all of the footage in the cloud and can be accessed through a browser on any internet-enabled device. Footage can be viewed in real time or historically, including the ability to set parameters to cut down the amount of footage needing to be reviewed. Naturally, security is vitally important; Cloudview is the only CCTV solution of any type that has been awarded the prestigious Police Preferred Specification status by Secured by Design.
For housing providers with an existing network of CCTV cameras, Cloudview provides a Visual Network Adapter. This is the vital link that connects any camera to Cloudview’s cloud-based image management system and ensures authorised users have quick, easy access to footage whenever they want.
We hope you enjoy this first In-Depth supplement, and please get in touch at indepth@housing-technology.com if you would like to know more about cloud-based CCTV and surveillance.
