Subscriber Discussion

Cisco IP Cameras... Who Actually Makes Them?

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Joseph Marotta
Sep 29, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Does anyone know who actually makes Cisco's IP cameras?  Also, I couldn't find any Cisco cameras in the Camera Finder tool.

U
Undisclosed #1
Sep 29, 2016
IPVMU Certified

No surprises here, but for the record:

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
Sep 29, 2016

Related: Who is actually buying Cisco cameras? I have never seen one in the field. I thought they exited the market.

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U
Undisclosed #1
Sep 29, 2016
IPVMU Certified

I thought they exited the market.

Not this one.

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Joseph Marotta
Sep 29, 2016
IPVMU Certified

There is a southern California K through 12 school district that hard specified Cisco IP cameras on their 48 campuses. I'd rather not say their name in case someone from that district is an IPVM member. :)

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #6
Sep 07, 2017

A transportation service in Florida also recently specified Cisco by name in their RFP. Cisco had "gotten hold" of their IT director and he led the spec on that, though everyone else who was part of the RFP committee seemed to be at pains to communicate options would be considered and that it was "not their choice" to name Cisco specifically. The scuttlebutt I later heard was the RFP was being on hold on investigation, but nothing on that I have really be able to confirm yet.

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #3
Oct 11, 2016

Vivotek makes them. Cisco gives them the build specs and uses their own software.

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U
Undisclosed #4
Oct 11, 2016

I have heard / seen the same a few years ago.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
Oct 11, 2016

I don't understand how their volume justifies manufacturing them. I have never seen a Cisco camera in the wild nor have I ever competed against them or their resellers.

JH
John Honovich
Oct 11, 2016
IPVM

Cisco is easily 'manufacturing' tens of thousands of IP cameras a year, likely in the low hundreds of thousands, which is far more than enough to get contract manufacturing especially since they are not as price sensitive as most.

I have never seen them 'in the wild' (meaning on the street) but I have heard numerous examples of multi-hundred and multi-thousand Cisco camera deployments. With all their networks around the world, even getting 0.1% of them means hundreds of thousands of cameras.

To that end, I think Cisco can be an overall failure in the market and still back enough to do decent numbers relative to small manufacturers.

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U
Undisclosed #1
Oct 12, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Cisco is easily 'manufacturing' tens of thousands of IP cameras a year, likely in the low hundreds of thousands, which is far more than enough to get contract manufacturing especially since they are not as price sensitive as most.

If their built to their specs and run their software, they might actually count as a real manufacturer, no? I can't find any directly equivalent models from the usual or even unusual suspects.

MM
Michael Miller
Oct 12, 2016

What about the new Meraki/Cisco cameras? At +$1300 per camera at 720P resolution, there is no way these are going to take off right?

EDIT: pricing I found on the web starts off at $935 for the camera plus a yearly license of $216

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
Oct 12, 2016

If some unpliable IT folks are willing to buy overpriced Cisco switches with overpriced support plans to keep their vaunted CLI it's not far fetched to believe they are the target demographic.

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #3
Oct 12, 2016

Because there's no NVR or VMS required they are a very attractive option to existing Meraki customers with small to medium deployments. Simply connect the camera to the network and enter the serial into the Meraki dashboard. That's it. Customers are intrigued and they are ordering single units to try out.

720p at 15fps is default setting with retention of 14 days. The only major drawbacks are the resolution, limited mounting, limited lineup and edge storage. There are limitations when storing footage only on the cameras. Camera dies or is destroyed, the footage is gone. Compute is now on the device which results in a small amount of lag when retrieving or searching footage among other minor issues. But on the flip side there is no media server to purchase or maintain.

MM
Michael Miller
Oct 12, 2016

Long as they are willing to overpay for a 720P camera and then pay a yearly license fee of $216

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UD
Undisclosed Distributor #5
Oct 12, 2016

I think a better question is who designs and engineers Cisco's cameras. My understanding is that Cisco uses contract manufacturing for most of their products (as do most western computer and electronics manufacturers).

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Joe Mirolli
Oct 17, 2016
IPVMU Certified

Vivotek including the mounting. While Cisco may not be in the optics business with surveillance, they have tons of cameras deployed for video conferencing devices. The manufacturing of those do not appear to copy anyone else and are very popular.

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David Coughlin
Oct 19, 2016
Protection One / ADT

Cisco is the king of switches so, any switch anywhere is a Cisco switch. IP cameras need switches, which would be Cisco switches of course. Therefore, ipso facto, all IP cameras are Cisco cameras.

Please God please let them see the humor.

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