Good to know. These kinds of articles may not generate the "color" others do, but it's good keep in touch with what the norms are all the same. :)
Video Surveillance Storage Duration Average Is 1 Month
Published Jan 06, 2017 12:32 PM
IPVM statistics show that 1 month duration for video surveillance storage is, by far, the most common used.
However, in contrast to 2012, there was a significant decrease in the amount of systems using 2 weeks of storage, with many shifting to 1 month or longer.
On the other hand, average storage duration overall is not going up significantly, with many respondents making it clear that 1 month is typically more than enough, regardless of storage costs.
In this note, we break down the statistics and integrator's explanation for storage duration decisions.
Statistics ********
** * ****** ** ~*** ********** respondents, ****** **% ****** ******* ******* duration ** ~* *****, **** * roughly ***** ****** ********* **** ** less **** ****.
Customer ************
* ****** ********** *********** *** **** 1 ***** *** ****** * ******** expectation:
- "** **** ***** ** ** *** standard. ** ***** ** **** ***** reason *** ******* **** ** **** it ** ******* ******* ** **** type ** ********** ******** **** ******** more **** ** ****."
- "********** ** ************ *********** ********* ****** and ******* *********."
- "*** *******, *********** ******** ***** *****'* seem ** ** * ****** ********* for ******* **** ** **** **** 30 ****."
- "**** ********* **** ********* ********* ** 30 ****. **** ********* **** ****** requirements *** ** ******** ******** ********* or **********."
Operational ************
**** *********** *** **** ********** ** most ***** ***** **** ** **** and ******** ***** ** * *****:
- "** ********* ** ***** ******** **** maximum ****** ** *** ** ****** time *** ******** *** *** ******* time ** ***** *** * ******* technician ** ******* ** * ******* considering *** *** **** ** ******* something *** ********."
- "**** ****** *** ** ****, *** admit **** *** ***** ** ******** all **** ****** **** ** ********* that ** ******** *** ******** ** they *** ******/******* ********** *****."
- "******* ** ****** *** **** * client ***** **** ** ***** ***** on ****, * *** *** **** it ***** ** ****** ** ******** is ***** ******** *** ** ** incident *** ********. **'* ********* ****** a *** ****. *** ******* ****** stayed ** ***** * ****. ** doubling **** *** ****** ** **** to ******** **** ***** ** **** incidents **** ****** ** ***** ******* medium ** **** ** ********."
- "*** ****, **'* * **** ** the ****, *** ** ********* *** to ***** **** **** * **** of ************* *** **** ** ********* from ** ******** **********. ****** ************* tend ** **** *** ***** ** there's **** * **** ******* ********, while ******* ********* ******* **** ***** away ** ********* ********. **** ******* costs ******** *** *********** *********, ****** retention ******* *** **** **** **********, and ********* ******* **** **** **** less."
- "**** ** *** ********/****** ** *** nature ** *** ********'* ************. ********* institutions & **** ****** ******* ****** storage (****) *** ******* ********** ********* in ******* *****."
Legal ************
***** ************, **** ******** *** **** storage *** ** **** ** ********* storage ** **** ******, **** ** impact ** * *********** ******** ** cases:
- "***** *********** ****** ** ** **** (in **** *****)"
- "** ******, *** ********** *********** ******* 120 **** *******."
- "***** *** **** ****** *** **** to **** ** **** ******* ** some ********** ** ******... ***** ****** don't **** ** *** ** **** the ***********."
- "**** ******* ************ *** ****** ** mandate. *** ******* ******** ********* **** dictate ** **** ** ******* *** Washington ***** *** ******** ** **** of *******."
- "** ** * *** ** ********** sites *** ** **** ** ******** by *** ****** *********. ** *** this ** * ****** ** ****** for **** ** *** ***** *****."
Physical ***********
**** *********** ***** ******** *********** ** the ******** **** ** ** *****:
- "** ******* ** *** ******* ** the *** ************ ** *** *** that **** ***** ** *** ***'* and **** *** **** ** *** size ** *** *** **** *** manufacturer. ** *** ** **** *** system ** *** ***** ** ****, rather **** * ***."
- "**** **** ***** **** *** * TB *** **** ****** ** *** be **** ****** ** *** * 60 *** ******** , ******* **** options *** ***** ******* **** ******** rack ***** *** ****** *** ***********"
- "*** ******* ******** ****** (** **** all ******** *****) ** *** **** involved. *** **** ****** **** **** get ** ** ********** ****** *** cost ** ********** ******* ** ***, so ** ** **** **** ** storage; *** ***** ******** ****** **** of ***** ******* **** * **** time **** **** ** ******* (******* they **** **** *-* ***** ****) so ***** ** * ******** ****** there."
- "** ********* *** *** [**** **] 3.5 ************ **** ******, * *** server. ***** **** *** **** ****/******** right ***, * ****** ** ****** to *** [**** **] **** ****** sometime **** ****. *** *** ****** for ******* **** ***** * ******, we **** ** ******* ******* ** days *********, **** **** **** ***** redundancy."
**** *** / *** ********** **** support * ******* ****** ** **** drives ********** (* *** * ***** common *** ******* *******). **** *** constrain ******* ********, ********** ***** *** low **** ** ***** ********** *** the ***** **** ** ********* ****** them.
****
*** **** ******** *** ****** ******* duration ******* ****, ** **** *********** cited **** ** *** **** **********:
- "***** ** ******* *******"
- "******* ******. **** ** ** *** Servers"
- "****** ******* ******* ** **** ******"
- "**** ** ****** *** **** ******. Most ** *** ******* *** ********* some **** ** **** *** ** do *** *** ******** ***** ****-******."
- "***% ****"
- "******* **** ** ******* *** **** reason ** ***** *** ****** ** days ** *****"
- "**** ** ***** ******* **** ****** needed **** ****** ********* ******* *** recording ** ** ** ** ****** per ******."
- "**** ***** *** ***** ** *** cost ** ******* ** * **** environment"
*******, ** ******** ** ****, *********** were ******* **** ****** ** **** constraints, **** ***** * ****** *********** that **** ** *** * *********** barrier:
- "******* ***** *** *** ***** * major ******* ** ***** ****** *** fairly *** *** **** *** ******* are **** **** ********* **** ******** models."
- "*** *****/****** **** ** ** **** shorter ********* *****'* ****** **** ** costs *** **** ****."
- "**** ******* ***** ******** *** *********** improving, ****** ********* ******* *** **** more **********, *** ********* ******* **** more **** ****."
- "********* ****, ******** ******* ** ****** a ****** *********** **** ** *** equation ** *****'* ** ****** ** skimp."
**** ***** **** *** ** *** certainly ***** **** * ***** *** (~50%) **** *** **** ******* *********** ********* ****** ******* *********** ** 50%+ **** ****.
Right ******* ********?
***** *** ********** ** **** *********** are *****. *** ***** ** ****** 'right' *** **** ****** *** ********* on **** ***** (*.*., *** *** bank **** **** **** ******* ** fraud ** **** *****, ***.), *** might **** / ******* ****** *******. However, ********* *** **** **** *** month ** ************ **** ** ******* in ***** ** *** **** *******, especially ** *** ******** *** ***** codec *******, ***** ***** ** ******** ***** *****, ** *********.
*******, ***:******* ***** **** ***** ************ **********
Comments (19)
Luis Carmona
Jan 06, 2017JH
John Honovich
Jan 06, 2017Luis, yes, the findings of these articles will not be a surprise to experienced industry professionals. One benefit is making sure that current reality really does match what we think. Sometimes it does not.
The other benefit is to provide more quantitative validation beyond 'yes, 1 month is average'.
MT
Matt Transue
Jan 06, 2017We have one large customer who requires minimum 90 days of storage at all locations.
This is due to the regulations they have put in place.
We have another customer who requires 45 days of storage. That's an uncommon request in my experience and it's not due to any regulatory standards. Just their 'preference'.
However, almost all other customers of ours only request 30 days.
If possible I prefer to build servers with at least one additional internal storage tray in case requirements change and additional storage needs to be added. However, some of the small foot-print chassis only have one HDD slot. We have also gone the route of appliances in some cases.
UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #1
Jan 06, 2017A common issue I run into when I go to job sites as the factory rep. is storage on NVR's/DVRS are all over the map. Many times the Sales Rep. does not state to the installer what frame rates and resolution were used to calculate the one month period. To a novice tech, or even worse a subcontractor installation, this leads to settings that can be all over the map.
Two extremes tend to come out of this error.
1. High frame rates and high resolution with no Event/Motion setup. This leads to storage of 3 to 5 days approx.
2. Technicians that are told by the customer that they must have a month of recording so the technician lowers the frame rate and resolution so low that the customer does not get what they pay for. By doing this the customer then get 6 months of useless storage.
I visit several sites a year and this is a wide spread issue that affects small dealers and large integrators alike. A good scope of work is key!
DILEEP LAL
Jan 07, 2017I think in middle east the storage requirement is high.. In Dubai, Police requirement is 6 months... Oman Police also come up with 6 months storage..
JS
Jorge Simon
Jan 07, 2017What is curious in your article is that cost today in 2016-17 is what affect the decision, and 5 years ago on 2012 wasn't much. I think this happen because the relation of the price of the HDDs and the CCTV system, and this is remarcable in low entry systems. Back on 2012 the price of the HDD was a small percentage on the complete system and today this percentage increase a lot, many times the price of a 6 GB HDD is bigger than the HD DVR 8 cam.
JH
John Honovich
Jan 08, 2017Jorge,
I did a bad job in the 2012 version communicating that cost was indeed a major factor then.
That said, I do agree with your point that given how much entry level DVR pricing has dropped, the relative cost of storage for a system is now (almost ironically) much higher.
UD
Undisclosed Distributor #2
Jan 09, 2017The biggest issue faced re storage is trying to get the specifiers to intelligently write the specs for the job. We, as an industry, need to teach them that in their recording spec they need to include ALL of the following:-
1/ Recording time (eg 30 days)
2/ Recording frame rate (eg 12FPS)
3/ Record resolution
4/ Motion / continuous recording. If motion what % of time is motion.
5/ RAID
JH
John Honovich
Jan 09, 2017#2, good points. I would also add specifying compression levels. Otherwise, you can meet the resolution and frame rate specification but deliver lower quality (for longer storage) by increasing compression. One way to neutrally specify this is by including a specification for Q / Quantization level, see: How to Measure Video Quality / Compression Levels and IP Camera Manufacturer Compression Comparison
UE
Undisclosed End User #3
Jun 02, 2017The NARA standard set forth in GRS21 (item 18) is 6 months for the federal government. I have heard from several vendors that major corporate chains keep video for years. What kind of strategies are deployed in order to retain video for more then a year?
JH
John Honovich
Jun 04, 2017What kind of strategies are deployed in order to retain video for more then a year?
This is a good question and we will queue this up for a full post. However, here are some of the most common approaches:
- Network storage (e.g., NAS or SAN), just add as much storage as you need, no changes to video, standard network infrastructure. Then there are lower cost options with tradeoffs such as:
- Multi-streaming based recording. Record at high and low qualities (this can be at the user's choice but, e.g., high might be 1080p / 30fps, low might be 480p/10fps). The high is removed after one month and the low is kept the full 12 months. Upside - storage needed drops 75% or more.
- Related to multi-streaming recording is 'pruning' recording. Some systems allow periodic pruning / cutting down video from one level to a lower level, most common is reducing video from full (or high) frame rate to key frames only (typically 1fps).
- Tape based storage which provides for a less expensive medium and lower energy costs but with delays involved in retrieving video. Combination tape / robot systems like Quantum, which is a variant of that.
- 'Cold' storage, like ColdStore, which idles drives not being recorded to, lowering product and energy cost but adding delay when retrieving video.
Btw, one other strategy that can be used if the cameras are new is to use Smart codecs, i.e., buy cameras that support smart codecs, which can frequently reduce bandwidth consumption 50-90% without any changes or complexity on the storage side.
U
Undisclosed #4
Jun 04, 201730 DAYS
I'm curious why 30 days has become the 'norm' for video retention? (which it most certainly is... even beyond being the 'average')
Taking out govt and/or insurance co mandates, 30 days just seems to be what everyone feels comfortable with - yet I've never seen this explained with any reasoning. It's just what is.
For instance, in the past did customers keep video for 14 days and find that lots of incidents weren't being reported for 3 weeks and by that time the video had been overwritten?
My point is that I think 30 days has no real meaning, yet because it represents something specific (~1 month), that we humans are used to using to measure things (time) that it has naturally developed via the goldilocks principle (not too hot; not too cold; juuuuust right) rather than any valid reasoning that an integrator can show the customer.
And if you accept that, why not try and save your customer some money and only retain video for 21 days? This could represent a significant amount on the front end - and (imo) would be a good sales 'hook' - showing you understand things that your competitors just read and parrot.
Thoughts?
Brian McCarthy
Sep 14, 2017Type-o: This should read TB aka tera-bytes.......
- "We generally use 4GB 3.5 surveillance hard drives, 4 per server. These have the best cost/capacity right now, I expect to switch to 6GB hard drives sometime this year. Our VMS server for smaller jobs holds 4 drives, we have no problem hitting 30 days retention, even with hard drive redundancy."
Although this was a well written and informative article, 30 years of data center experience in network storage leads me to believe that 30 days is a carry over from the days of one analog camera, one VCR tape, a policy written up by night-watchmen with a limited budget.
My experience leads me to believe as corporations begin transfering from the "night-watchman" to Information Technology and Compliance personnel that 30 days will dramatically increase. Already states like Georgia require 30 months for body-worn cameras video to be readily available, one can see that becoming the norm for other states and not just for BWC but all state and local government surveillance mobile and fixed, with corporations following suit.
"I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been."
JH
John Honovich
Sep 14, 2017Brian, that's a direct unedited quote from the integrator respondent. But, yes, clearly he means TB. I've added a note to the quote to clarify.
30 months for body-worn cameras video to be readily available, one can see that becoming the norm for other states and not just for BWC but all state and local government surveillance mobile and fixed, with corporations following suit.
Why? You state it as a fact but with no rationale. Why should one keep video for 30 months instead of 30 days?
To be clear, I think there are applications it may make sense. For example, if the police are worried that 2 years later, someone is going to protest for police brutality and sue them for millions, that could be a reasonable justification.
The reality is that for most organizations the likelihood of a real case only arising x months after it occurring is quite small, and therefore why there is not a lot of pressure to have longer.
30 days is a carry over from the days of one analog camera, one VCR tape, a policy written up by night-watchmen with a limited budget.
In fact, 10 or 20 years ago, average storage was much lower. Even the 2011 storage duration results were shorter and I am quite positive the average in 2006 was even shorter, so duration is increasing as storage cost goes down, just not at level you are advocating.
Brian Karas
Sep 14, 2017In speaking with law-enforcement and municipalities in the past, I think the norm for video retention is becoming "statue of limitations + time to react to last minute lawsuits".
I heard first-hand from the head of security for a prison that they store video for longer than average because inmates (or, really, their lawyers) learned that video was typically only being kept for statue of limitation durations. The result was inmates filing lawsuits for various claims the day before the limitation term ran out. By the time that made its way to a request for video, the video storage was aged out, and the prison had no video for its defense.
This seems like a reasonable approach, hold video long enough to fulfill typical defense/investigation purposes, plus some appropriate buffer to account for other lags in notifications.
Brian McCarthy
Sep 14, 2017Why? Why what? Why 30 days to 30 months?.....corporate assets. May I remind you and more importantly your readers how email and documents were treated without IT/CO management:
"Enron employees were shredding *documents at the company's Houston offices as recently as last week, a former executive said yesterday. Her statement was the first indication that documents were destroyed at Enron amid investigations of the company's collapse by Congress and the Justice Department and followed reports of document shredding by accountants at Enron's auditor, Arthur Andersen."
*video is also a document
Now we have IT/CO policies for handling these assets. My point, oops rationale, is simple, video aka a corporate asset and will be kept longer in the future. Still doubt that? Ask your bookkeeper how long they keep your books "stored" for after filing a tax return?
U
Undisclosed #4
Sep 14, 2017
"Ask your bookkeeper how long they keep your books "stored" for after filing a tax return?"
Tax records must be kept for 7 years because the IRS mandates this length of retention. There is no such mandate for video surveillance.
Why doesn't the IRS mandate retention of tax records for 10, 20 or 30 years? Because they've determined that 7 years is sufficient to cover most scenarios where they need to be able to access this historical data. i.e. any more than that fails to provide the IRS any additional value.
imo, except in very specific case use scenarios - storing video for 30 months has no real value.
When was the last time you received a request for video more than a year old?
Will storage retention increase as $/TB pricing continues to decrease? Sure it will.
Will storage retention ever come close to 30 months? IMO - Never.
WG
William Graham
Jan 25, 20225 year update? I am curious if average retention times have increased, or, if 30 days is still the sweet spot.
John Scanlan
Jan 25, 2022