In the last installment of this column, “Who Owns the Customer in a Cloud Model?” (www.SDMmag.com/who-owns-customer-in-cloud-model), I described posing a question to a group of attendees at a cloud partners conference about who owns the client in the cloud — meaning which person and/or organization is strategically invested in assessing a client’s needs, delivering on them, and assuring their success based on their investment.

A number of recent developments in DVRs and NVRs, as well as some planned for the future, add up to opportunities for the security integrator.

When the Lawrence, Mass. Police Department noticed that the city’s unlawful activity periodically changed locations rather than remain rooted in a fixed area, they decided that a mobile unit would be the most efficient and cost-effective solution to ensure safety. Hikvision USA, City of Industry, Calif., a leader in video surveillance products and solutions, and Eagle Eye Networks, Austin, Texas, a cloud security camera video management system provider, partnered with the police department to create a mobile surveillance solution. Hikvision cameras installed in a police van are linked to the Eagle Eye Security Camera video management system (VMS) to provide high quality, secure remote access to live and recorded video. This installation allows the police to provide cutting edge video surveillance in areas that need it the most, while eliminating expensive infrastructure.

"Cloud computing” is a catch-all term that refers to many different technologies and business models. But they are not all created equally. Some are turnkey; others roll-your-own. Some are secure; others easily exploited. Some are publicly accessible, others highly restricted. For cloud-based physical security applications, all of these characteristics are important to consider.