March Networks, a vanguard in intelligent video surveillance, has unveiled a game-changing Cloud Storage solution, showcased prominently at Intersec Dubai. Initially previewed in December through a strategic collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS), this innovative offering is now globally accessible, promising a significant shift in how organizations manage and retain their valuable video data. Building upon its robust cloud infrastructure, March Networks’ flexible new storage model directly addresses a universal pain point: the escalating costs and infrastructure demands of securely storing ever-growing volumes of video footage.
A Flexible and Scalable Cloud Storage Model Redefining Cost and Control
The relentless growth in video retention requirements has traditionally forced businesses into a cycle of frequent hardware expansions and spiraling operational overhead. March Networks’ latest innovation breaks this cycle.
Enhancing its comprehensive cloud portfolio, the company introduces a sophisticated cold storage model specifically designed for long-term video archiving, powered by the industry-leading Amazon S3 Glacier. This intelligent tiered approach ensures that recent, frequently accessed video remains instantly available for urgent investigations. Simultaneously, older, less frequently accessed footage is securely migrated and archived in Amazon S3 Glacier, delivering unparalleled cost efficiency for prolonged retention periods.
This strategic dual-tier system empowers organizations to dramatically cut long-term video storage costs by an impressive 80% over a five-year span, all while ensuring secure and accessible archives. Retrieval of archived video is streamlined, typically available within 12 to 48 hours, and can be seamlessly reviewed and trimmed directly within the intuitive March Networks application. This not only elevates the quality of evidence handling but also eliminates previous limitations on the number of cameras that can be backed up to the cloud.
“We have addressed the foremost challenge confronting businesses in video surveillance today,” states Jeff Corrall, Chief Product Officer at March Networks. “Our customers have consistently emphasized that long-term video retention represents one of their most significant operational and financial hurdles. This release fundamentally transforms video storage economics by aligning cost, performance, and access precisely with how video data is genuinely utilized.”
Tangible Impact: Real-World Cost Savings for Enterprises
The true economic burden of traditional on-premise storage often extends beyond initial investment, encompassing ongoing IT overhead, routine maintenance, and the inevitable cycle of hardware replacement. March Networks’ Cloud Storage offers a compelling alternative.
Consider a recent evaluation involving a customer managing 580 cameras, generating an estimated 5,600 TB of archived video. While this organization utilized on-premise storage for immediate access to recent footage, their analysis revealed a staggering cost differential. Storing this immense volume of video on-premise would incur an approximate annual cost of $1.7 million. In stark contrast, March Networks Cloud Storage projected an annual cost of only $347,000 for the same archiving needs. This hybrid approach not only ensures instant accessibility for critical recent footage but also delivers monumental reductions in long-term video retention expenditures, demonstrating the profound financial advantages of migrating to the cloud.
Beyond Storage: Powerful Cloud & Software Enhancements
March Networks’ latest release isn’t solely about revolutionary cloud storage; it also introduces a comprehensive suite of software enhancements designed to elevate real-world operations, bolster security, ensure compliance, and enhance safety across diverse industries.
- Intelligent AI Smart Search: Experience a significantly improved AI Smart Search performance, empowering operations teams to swiftly locate critical events. Users can leverage natural language queries, time-based prompts, and visual matching, complemented by smarter, more actionable alerts.
- Enhanced Attribute Search: This feature now boasts zone-based precision, facilitating sharper and faster investigations across a greater number of cameras, all processed securely on-premise for maximum data control.
- Intuitive Smart Rules Wizard: Simplify the creation of complex real-time alert logic with a new, guided, step-by-step configuration wizard. This innovation dramatically reduces setup time and ensures consistent, reliable alert deployment.
- Command Enterprise (CES) & Command Client Upgrades: Benefit from substantial usability and operational responsiveness improvements, including faster event filtering, expanded device compatibility, convenient keyboard shortcuts, and robust real-time alarm monitoring capabilities.
Expanding the Edge: New Cameras and Recording Hardware
Further bolstering its comprehensive ecosystem, March Networks is also expanding its edge portfolio with a range of new and updated camera and recorder options, designed to meet diverse surveillance needs:
- EL5 Turret Camera: A cost-effective yet high-quality solution for general surveillance, offering crisp 5MP video in both fixed and motorized variants. Its versatility makes it ideal for a wide array of commercial and retail settings.
- AI12 360 Camera: Achieve expansive, immersive 360-degree coverage with fewer devices. This camera significantly enhances situational awareness, reduces overall camera count, and streamlines investigation processes.
- EL5 Nano Dome Camera: A discreet and compact indoor dome camera delivering 5MP video, complete with integrated audio and intelligent analytics. It’s the perfect fit for high-traffic environments such as quick-service restaurants, retail establishments, and financial institutions.
- New EL 24- and 32-Channel Recorders: These robust recorders provide reliable, high-capacity all-IP recording capabilities tailored for small to mid-sized deployments. They integrate seamlessly with March Networks cloud services, enabling centralized management, advanced analytics, and long-term storage.
- Broadened Camera Compatibility: March Networks is expanding support for additional camera models and a wider range of third-party cameras via ONVIF, allowing customers to integrate advanced analytics seamlessly into their existing surveillance infrastructures.
Collectively, these powerful hardware and software innovations culminate in a fully integrated, end-to-end video platform that spans from the very edge of the network to the secure confines of the cloud. This holistic approach empowers organizations to modernize their surveillance infrastructure, substantially reduce storage expenditures, and unlock unprecedented long-term value from their critical video data.