What does it take to be a qualified CCTV professional?

The best professionals are those who fall in love with their profession, and in the CCTV industry it is no different, especially because it is necessary to keep constantly updated on the new technologies that are available in the market.

A professional can learn CCTV enough to focus only on the installation of small systems with computer-based video capture cards or it can be a specialist who works with large and robust security systems.

For those who want to learn CCTV and become a high level professional, a constant dedication is necessary to learn the different CCTV systems. Digital systems are surpassing conventional analog architecture.

Steps to carry out a CCTV project:

 1. Objective of the project

Before leaving and determining the position of the cameras, determine what the objective of the project will be; This may be: the perimeter of the area to be monitored, the control of certain processes, the protection of assets, among others. This is one of the most important steps; It must be documented so that it is known by all the areas involved in the project, especially by the areas of operations and financing.

2. Location of the cameras

With the goal set, go to the field and investigate and verify the best positioning of the cameras, also check for possible interference that may affect the quality of the images. Please note that this verification can only be carried out while on the site, projects carried out through maps, plans or even Google Maps cannot give the same result.

At that time observe the lighting of the place, if necessary indicate the use of projectors (LED, infrared), choose the appropriate model for each application and manage the document List of materials with brand and model and objective of each camera, along with the ground floor of the place, position each camera and indicate their field of vision.

3. Infrastructure

The IP CCTV System requires an Ethernet network already implemented in place. If you have a network in place that will be shared with the cameras, make sure that the network has conditions to keep all systems running. The network administrator must participate in this step and ask the following questions:

    Are there free ports on the switches for the new cameras?
    Will the switch support this new traffic?
    Is it PoE?
    Do you have the ability to power the cameras?

If there is no established network, create a new project and supplement the previous documents (bill of materials).

Important: The voltage stabilizers and the grounding system must be taken into account.

4. Administration

Will the system have only one local access or does it include remote access? Is there only one location or will there be multiple locations with centralized administration?

Today there are several CCTV software manufacturers, with very similar functions, but they can have different forms of licensing, for example, while a manufacturer only charges the amount of cameras that are being managed and provides all the other features ( for example, remote access, the number of customers, access by cell phone, etc.) others may charge for the features through additional licenses.