Open and flexible video security storage: now in the cloud and on local file systems

Malcolm Walters, July 14 2022
2 mins

Malcolm Walters

Product Manager

The Ava Aware 5.0 release extends storage and brings additional features to help you improve investigations and collaboration

It is always one of our priorities to improve cloud video security and make it more open, compliant, and flexible. Storage is always a critical topic for our customers, many of whom are taking advantage of our flexible cloud video security storage options, but we're not stopping there.

Increase compliance and flexibility by storing your video security recordings in a local file system using Ava Storage Connect

When we first launched Ava Cloud Storage, we made a commitment to deliver more than just cloud storage within our infrastructure. Our customers now have multi-layered storage for their data: 

  1. on Ava Cameras and Ava Cloud Connectors
  2. on Ava Cloud Storage 
  3. on the third-party cloud storage platforms and local files systems of your choice through Ava Storage Connect

Today, with the Ava Aware 5.0 release, the last stage of our Ava Storage Connect layer is available. Users can hold the video recordings from both their Ava Cameras and third-party security cameras in a local storage system. When configured to store locally, Aware uses the Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocol to save the video data to your local storage.

As in the case of other storage options, you can back up a wide range of data and footage:

  • alarms
  • anomalies
  • interesting footage
  • saved clips
  • or all footage

Are you managing public safety for a metropolitan area, responsible for the security of a large retail store or a mall, dealing with compliance, and investigating medical malpractice? With the ability to store in your local file systems, you can accomplish more goals than one. 

Backup means that your data is still retrievable in case of theft, corruption, or destruction of your primary storage location (the SD cards in Ava Cameras or disks in Ava Cloud Connectors). Additionally, keeping a second copy of all your recordings can help you meet your compliance requirements.

If bandwidth or network availability is a concern, local storage can be a more suitable choice for you than storing in a cloud location.

Your organization can intelligently configure its own rules and settings for when video surveillance footage is backed up, allowing you to only archive what is important and manage your storage costs. Your Ava Storage Connect license doesn’t place any retention limits on the video data you store from your security cameras, leaving you free to maintain an archive of as much data as you require.

To back up your video data using CIFS, contact your Ava Partner or Sales representative for more information about the Ava Storage Connect license.

Perform more accurate forensic investigations and improve collaboration with new Ava Aware features

Sharing links with others that need to see recorded footage from your cameras is useful, for example, when you’ve identified some suspicious activity that you need to bring to the attention of your Human Resources department or law enforcement. Remove headaches and frustration from reviewing video security recordings with your peers and investigators when everyone is on the go. With the 5.0 release, you can now send shared links that can be viewed in the browsers of mobile devices. This makes it even simpler to share the footage with the people you need to.

It’s critical to get accurate and fast results right after incidents have unfolded. Finding suspicious people, vehicles, and objects throughout all the camera footage in an entire site is now even easier, faster, and more accurate. When playing back video in Video view, you can now pause the video and step through frame-by-frame either forward or in reverse. This feature adds to the rich timeline in Aware’s video view that provides thumbnail-based browsing of video and highlights people, vehicles, and overall motion separately. Your operators gain a better, clearer understanding of different events captured by the camera. 

Interested to learn more about the latest video security storage and investigation features? Read the Ava Aware 5.0 release notes.