Forgotten passwords has become a major industry topic. For example, Hikvision has been emailing admin passwords in plain text until IPVM's reporting prompted them to stop it. And XiongMai, famous for its role in 2016's massive Mirai botnet att...
By Brian Karas - 8 days ago
'Convergence' has been a major industry theme for many years. All organizations have IP networks today with laptops, tablets, phones and more running on them. But how many actual IP video surveillance systems are running on converged networks wit...
By Brian Karas - 11 days ago
What percentage of integrators use tablets? Which tablets do they prefer? Apple? Android? Windows? Tablets have become popular integrator tools for sales, install, and documentation, replacing both laptops and pen/paper for many tasks. To see j...
By IPVM Team - 12 days ago
Thomas Carlyle said "Man is a tool-using animal. Without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all." For security integrators, their tools are crucial to their job. 140 integrator responses to an IPVM survey revealed what brands they preferred fo...
By Brian Karas - 17 days ago
SMB video surveillance systems are a tough market. From IPVM's new survey results of 135 integrator responses, we have identified the key challenges here. Cost Is King SMB customers are extremely price sensitive. There were 4 main challenges re...
By Brian Karas - 22 days ago
Low cost cameras have been a major force in the small to medium business (SMB) market (as our 2015 SMB favorites and 2017 SMB camera favorites) have shown. But, our 2015 SMB recorder favorites showed strong results for more expensive, Western rec...
By IPVM Team - 26 days ago
Small to Medium Businesses (SMB) have been hotly pursued by lower-cost entrants over the past few years. Nowhere has that been as strong a factor as in the camera segment. But who are the favorites amongst integrators? 5 top manufacturer choice...
By IPVM Team - 29 days ago
Test and certify, or crimp and pray? Some integrators certify every cable they run, while others only inspect cables that have video issues. 130 integrators shared the level of testing they do for common cable installs, and their justifications ...
By Brian Karas - about 1 month ago
Capturing license plates is a common video surveillance application. But what cameras do integrators mostly commonly used? Special purpose LPC cameras or regular cameras? And would it be from the biggest camera manufacturers or from specialists? ...
By John Honovich - about 1 month ago
VLANs (see our tutorial) are an option for networks using video surveillance, but how often are they actually used? 125+ integrators told us how and when they use VLANs for surveillance products. Integrators who use VLANs as a matter of course...
By IPVM Team - about 1 month ago
Cat 5e? Cat 6? Cat 6a? What do integrators use in practice, today? 140+ integrators told IPVM. Here are the results: For those who want to learn more about the technology, see IPVM's Network Cabling for Video Surveillance Guide. Inside this ...
By IPVM Team - about 1 month ago
"But what happens if someone steals my recorder?" Anyone who has done more than a handful of jobs has probably heard this question several times. Though customers often fear a stolen recorder, statistics show it is not a significant problem. 150...
By IPVM Team - about 1 month ago
RFPs are hard. Do them 'right' and it takes a lot of knowledge and time. Do them 'wrong' and you can be (a) unwittingly locked into a specific vendor or (b) be forced to accept inferior quality products. This guide helps IP camera purchasers ...
By IPVM Team - about 1 month ago
Cellphones clearly offer significant advantages in communication and problem solving. But they can also be a major pain point if employees abuse them for texting friends, checking Twitter, posting photos on snapchat or instagram, etc. How is thi...
By IPVM Team - about 1 month ago
Dahua cameras automatically reboot weekly, by default. Is this an innovation by the Chinese mega-manufacturer or a sign of a problems? 125 integrators told IPVM what they do about rebooting cameras, either never, on a schedule or for certain spe...
By IPVM Team - about 1 month ago
How do integrators decide which brand of patch panel or keystone jack to buy? 140+ integrators told IPVM which manufacturers they trust and what factors affect their choice of network termination equipment. Here are the overall statistics:
By IPVM Team - about 1 month ago
Turret cameras are a growing segment within video surveillance. Indeed, many integrators argued strongly for turrets in an IPVM discussion. However, 125+ integrators told us about their preferences, explaining which form factors they used more ...
By IPVM Team - about 2 months ago
Schneider Electric overall does ~$30 billion USD annual revenue. One of its many parts is a building / security systems integrator. Another is Pelco. As part of our large integrator series, we asked 110+ integrators their views of Schneider Elec...
By IPVM Team - about 2 months ago
Every IP camera project uses network cabling. And integrators typically buy such cabling in bulk. But what are the top selling or favorite bulk network cable providers? Is there a dominant supplier? New IPVM statistics from 140+ integrators show...
By IPVM Team - about 2 months ago
110+ integrators told us how often they compete against Stanley Convergent Security Solutions (not to be confused with Convergint), and how threatened they felt by them.
By IPVM Team - about 2 months ago
Vandalized cameras are a common concern. And when they happen, they often draw media attention. But how often and how much of a problem is vandalized cameras? 125+ integrators shared their experiences with IPVM. Overall, camera vandalism is an...
By Ari Erenthal - about 2 months ago
Infrared (IR) has become an increasing core component to video surveillance systems. In particular, the expansion of integrated IR cameras that build IR illuminators within the camera has become common. On the positive side, this means that camer...
By IPVM Team - about 2 months ago
Mega-integrator Tyco Integrated Security has gotten even bigger with the 2016 merger with Johnson Controls. 110+ integrators told us what they thought how Tyco IS / JCI and how often they compete with them: The clear majority of integrators co...
By IPVM Team - about 2 months ago
No integrator is more aggressively expanding than Convergint Technologies. Owned and funded by private equity firm KRG, Convergint has acquired more than 10 integrators since the start of 2016 including (with revenue estimates as available): Dako...
By IPVM Team - 2 months ago
ADT is one of the biggest players in the security industry, with ~$4 billion revenue. In 2017, they were acquired / merged with Protection 1. Now, the combined entities are coming after both the residential and commercial markets. New IPVM stat...
By IPVM Team - 2 months ago
