I run a small (as in just me) business installing/maintaining CCTV systems for businesses in an Australian town with a population of about 50,000 people. Most of my customers are hotels/clubs/shopping centres and have between 16-64 cameras using hybrid digital/analogue solutions. The main VMS I use at the moment is NUUO.
A RFP for a city wide wireless mesh CCTV solution (around 40-50 cameras) is likely to be announced in the coming months for our main street and I'm considering whether I should put a tender forward. I don't have any experience with city wide CCTV but do have exprience with enterprise wireless networks and wireless point to point links (both using Ubiquiti/Mikrotik).
I realise that I will probably need to team up with a distributor/manufacturer and possibly a larger integrator if I'm going to win the contract. If I don't think I can handle it and do a great job I won't be putting a proposal forward, I can't afford the risk of damaging the rest of my business which is going quite well.
Budget is unknown at this stage, but I'd anticipate that it will be between 400-600K (AUD)
My question is, given this situation, who would you look at partnering with.
VMS
Is NUUO suitable for a system of this scale?
I've had a call from the Milestone rep who has suggested we work together, but I'll need to do the training to buy the products.
Who else is worth considering?
Cameras
I currently use lower cost IP cameras, Dahua, Hikvision etc. I find that for the price they are suitable for my customers and they work well with NUUO. Again I get that these may not be the best option for a city-wide system. I suspect I'll need to quote on a mixture of fixed and PTZ IP cameras. Axis seem to have a good name in this space, I have used their cameras in the past but their pricing doesn't work as well for my usual customers.
Is it worth the extra money to go to the top tier vendors or would Axis be OK?
Network Infrastructure
I have found Ubiquiti and Mikrotik to be reliable and suitable for the enterprise WLANs and point to point links I've created in the past, but have read comments on this forum that they aren't suitable for a city wide surveillance network... what are the main limitations?
Am I better off waiting for models that support the 802.11ac standard?
Should I forget about Ubiquiti and focus on a more suitable vendor?
Finally... should I forget about putting a tender in for a project of this size, I don't really need the work and if it doesn't go smoothly it could cause me more problems that it is worth.
Have any other small integrators attempted a project this size? Are you happy with the results? Is the customer? What mistakes did you make? What would you do differently given another chance?
Thanks in advance,
Dan