The economics of VMS solutions
Video Management Software (VMS) solutions are often considered to be high cost, in comparison to NVRs. Our article, in the June edition of Professional Security Magazine, explains the true economics of VMS solutions and their many advantages over NVRs.
A VMS like Digifort, with a one-time-buy license structure; no annual maintenance fees; the option for a seven-year warranty on server hardware; the ability to transfer software to new servers after that; and the advanced functionality, system resilience, flexibility, scalability, and sheer capability offered, provides a better value option.
VMS vs CMS
An open platform VMS like Digifort works with over 10,000 individual camera models and 400 CCTV camera brands, all through SDK (software development kit) integration. SDK is the deepest and most capable type of integration, enabling control of important camera features, essential for mission critical projects. These can include PTZ lights, edge recording, edge analytics, telemetry, wash & wipe, auxiliaries and many more. Analogue cameras can also be incorporated into the VMS systems using ‘encoders’, again integrated by SDK, along with many brands of NVR, DVR, I/O units, media servers and video servers.
A manufacturer’s CMS software is often free, setting the expectation that a VMS should also be free. However, a CMS is designed to control its own hardware as a priority, which is often a small range of NVRs, DVRs, and cameras. In larger systems, where a range of camera brands is often required, these will usually be integrated using ONVIF. This is a generic standard enabling only limited functionality.
