Case Study–Cannabis Grow House In 2017, a Los Angeles County-based grow house, which will go unnamed for security and privacy reasons, contacted us to design and install a security camera system. One of the partners had a copy of his local security requirements for operating the facility, and so we scheduled a free site inspection to survey the property. During the site inspection, we notated the general layout of the facility, noted potential security risks, and recommended cameras and placement that would accommodate the project’s budget while meeting or exceeding the minimum security requirements from the state of CA and City of Los Angeles. On the day of the site inspection, their security consisted of a non-security guard camped out in a trailer on a gated driveway, three dogs, consumer-grade doors and locks, and an intrusion alarm system. The various areas requiring coverage included the entrance, exits, hallways, a large laboratory-style room with expensive lab equipment, several temperature and light-controlled grow rooms, a network/security room with MDF closet where the recorder was to be installed, multiple hallways leading to each of these rooms, and rooftop coverage because of the easy access from a neighboring building. They required at least 90 days […]
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Access Control products from Dahua or Hikvision may be attractive in terms of price or easy integration into same-branded camera recorders for video verification, but buyers should note that these brands do not carry UL-294 certification. UL-294 products that go through the UL (Underwriters Labs)-testing process give the end-user confidence that the equipment works properly. Manufacturers that do not run the equipment through the testing process are afraid that the equipment will not pass the test. Many city inspectors will have non UL-294 access control equipment removed when city codes are enforced. Furthermore, you can’t connect a non UL-294 access control system to a fire alarm system, which, in many buildings is required by fire code. For a low-cost option on electronic access control, please consider using the ZKTeco brand.
Read Now What is Section 179? The IRS allows businesses to deduct the full purchase price of “Qualifying Equipment” (see below) and software that you purchased during the tax year. No matter if you purchase equipment outright, or finance or lease it, you can deduct the full purchase price from your reported gross income! What is “Qualifying Equipment” per IRS code? Almost anything you would buy that is connected to technology that helps your business be productive. Equipment (machines, etc) purchased for business use Computers “Off-the-Shelf” Software Office Furniture Office Equipment Property attached to your building that is not a structural component of the building (i.e: a printing press, large manufacturing tools and equipment) Tangible personal property used in business Partial Business Use (equipment that is purchased for business use and personal use: generally, your deduction will be based on the percentage of time you use the equipment for business purposes) Business Vehicles with a gross vehicle weight in excess of 6,000 lbs Please keep in mind that to qualify for the Section 179 Deduction, the equipment must be purchased and put into service between January 1 and December 31 of the tax year you are claiming. For further details about deduction limits, […]
Read Now A remote power IP Switcher is useful when IP or network-based devices are deployed in remote or difficult-to-access areas. Sometimes, when an IP device loses network connectivity, the power device and/or network switch needs to be power-cycled, or disconnected from power for 10-30 seconds and reconnected. This can either be done manually, or you can use a remote power switcher, which can automatically sense when connectivity to the network has been lost. It does this by regularly pinging one or more IP addresses and/or websites. If it cannot ping for a pre-determined period of time (e.g. 30 seconds), then it can automatically power cycle all devices. Remote Power IP Switchers are commonly used for network-based IP cameras or wireless network radios mounted on poles that are used primarily for traffic surveillance or monitoring. The advantages of having this device include but are not limited to: You don’t have to be at the device’s location to manually unplug the power and re-plug. You don’t have to climb a ladder to access the device if it’s mounted high on a pole. You have less downtime. You don’t have to do anything, so your own time is saved. This post is a quick-start […]
Read Now First, check the VMS’s minimum hardware requirements based on frame rate, bit rate, and expected motion hours. The CPU and GPU you choose should have a higher benchmark score than what is recommended by the VMS calculator. Then, design a server with as many points of redundancy as possible: double or triple-redundant power supply (will be very loud, so ideal for a private equipment room) and dedicated RAID card with BBU with hot spare(s) are required. The server’s storage devices should support the use of each partition, e.g. RAID1 SSDs or SAS drives for the OS, SAS drives for short-term recording, and either SAS or enterprise-grade SATA for long-term archiving. Choose a chassis that is certified for the OS, RAM that is certified for the motherboard (or else Supermicro and other motherboard manufacturers won’t support you), and drives that are compatible with the RAID card. Choose a RAID card that can support external JBOD storage, if future expansion is required. Cloud-based recording/archiving and/or edge storage on devices are additional optional redundancies. My company has been building custom NVR and storage solutions in various form factors (cube, 2U, 3U, 4U, 8U) for all types of organizations including government agencies, museums, police/fire stations, […]
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