This explanatory article on DW is interesting, from a writers perspective at least. Some highlights:
There are some in the video surveillance industry that want you to choose one or the other, analog or IP. The IP people shudder at being categorized as CCTV. However, we live in a world where the integrator has the ability to provide high resolution video using analog AND IP. After all, only two things matter: the end user getting a good system and the integrator getting paid.
And obviously that's all that matters.
Whether it is a transition to IP or an analog HD alternative, it should “just work.”... Digital Watchdog® has no ax to grind either way: we sell both analog and IP equipment. So it could be said that we have two axes to grind.
Ax to grind means 'have a problem with'. So they're against IP and Analog? Maybe two 'oars in the water' or 'ponies in the race' might work better here. Warning, more inappropriate ax-grinding ahead.
But the real ax we grind is to encourage the integrator to buy complete systems from us. Our components, for the most part, work and play well with others, but we think that the “one throat to choke” single source is a benefit to both the integrator and the end user before, during and after the installation.
First, note how the writer expertly straddles the line by tepidly asserting interoperability initially, but ultimately suggesting DW-only solutions may provide the biggest benefit to everyone.
Next time the guy at Best Buy inquires if you if you want to purchase an extended warranty for your widget, ask 'oh, do these widgets break often?'. You'll hear a similar hedging.
Anyway the main reason given for going all DW is because of the "one throat to choke" aspect. But I ask, doesn't the customer already have 'one throat to choke', namely the integrator? Do they mean that the customer cares whether the throat they choke has only one throat to choke as well? That's two throats, no?
Finally the mixed metaphors here are sublime
The IP proponents will ride their hobby horses about high resolution. Digital Watchdog® can certainly talk that talk and walk that walk. But just as “Rome was not built in a day,” neither is the 5MP camera going to become the standard tomorrow, nor will the new Digital Watchdog® 48MP multi-sensor panoramic camera cause everyone to throw out their existing system designs the day after that. Baby steps. “Small victories.” The adoption of 1080p as a standard in both analog and IP systems is a H-U-G-E improvement over 960H, VGA or even 720p. “Free the masses! Megapixel for everyone!”