External IP Storage by Intransa for Video Surveillance

Intransa, Inc. announced its newest IP Storage product – the StorStac StarterBlock – at the opening of ASIS International. As part of the proven StorStac family, StarterBlock cuts the cost of video surveillance while increasing video reliability and retention while reducing the administrative burden for security practitioners.

Flexible in design, StarterBlock is suitable as a cost-saving upgrade to one or more DVRs in existing or new CCTV video surveillance systems. It is also ideal as the storage component of an all-IP edge recording or single-site solution. Featuring the proven StorStac Video Storage Administrator (VSA), StarterBlock can be set up quickly and running in minutes. Unique in the industry, the VSA is the first shared IP storage management interface designed with security practitioners in mind. Instead of requiring in-depth IT storage knowledge, StarterBlock is configured and administered via the VSA via settings familiar to security practitioners, including resolution, compression, frame size, frame rate, number of cameras, recording period and desired retention period while delivering all the benefits of a powerful, reliable IP storage solution.

Base StarterBlock configurations are offered with either 2 or 4 terabytes (TB) of RAID protected, hot-swap disk capacity in a very tight, rack-mountable 1U (1.75" high) footprint. The system can be expanded to 16TB in just 3U for extensive retention capacity.

Customers have been quick to identify the benefits of StarterBlock. Baxter International Inc. of Cherry Hill, New Jersey deployed an Intransa StorStac system to support seven Intellex DVRs from American Dynamics. "Intransa’s IP storage exceeds our surveillance needs for increased reliability and retention," commented Derrick Wright, CPP, manufacturing security manager. "The new StarterBlock product is very effective in multiple environments, especially due to its lower price and smaller size that starts with 2TB of capacity for 30 days of retention."

A typical DVR with 16 cameras may require 2TB for 30 days or more of video retention, depending upon camera type, resolution, frame rate and compression.

"NAV has seen the benefit of the Intransa solution," said Ron Freschi, director of large system sales, North American Video, Inc., with operations in the Americas and Asia-Pacific. "NAV and Intransa recently completed a very large Native American public safety install with Intransa’s StorStac systems as the storage component. The ease of integration has clearly reduced our costs, ensuring that non-stop recording remains the real benefit to the end user. Intransa’s StarterBlock just continues to add value."

A complete shared, external 2TB of IP storage is offered at an MSRP of $4,728. A DVR equipped with StarterBlock is significantly lower priced than individual DVRs with only fixed, captive storage and without the reliability and non-stop recording that Intransa’s RAID and hot swap disk drives deliver. As storage capacity is increased for the StarterBlock system to support even more retention and higher resolution, or as more cameras and DVRs are added, the MSRP per TB can drop below $1,100 for a full 16TB system.

While StarterBlock is intended for edge recording, or in support of a few DVRs, the full Intransa StorStac family grows modularly and can reach 1,500TB for years of retention capacity. Individual systems, including StarterBlock, can be managed from a single workstation or web browser for reduced administrative burden and lower costs.

"Customer response to Intransa’s external IP SAN storage has been outstanding," said Matt Barnette, vice president of sales and marketing for AMAG Technology, Inc., a physical security vendor. "This kind of positive customer experience leads to continued customer sales and unlimited expansion of existing video surveillance installations."

Almost 100 applications from physical security and IT manufacturers have been tested and certified with Intransa shared, external IP storage. For video surveillance, the StorAlliance Technology Lab’s Security-Grade IP Video Storage program was the industry’s first, and continues as the most popular.

According to Intransa vice-president of marketing Jeff Whitney, "Wide industry support is crucial and greatly benefits security practitioners. While Intransa’s shared, external IP storage is ideal for new, all-IP deployments, existing CCTV systems with one or more DVRs can cost effectively be upgraded for less than the price of fixed, captive DVR storage. By adding StarterBlock or another Intransa IP storage system, customers avoid having to rip-and-replace their existing analog system to gain the benefits of IP."

Customers can keep using their investment in analog technology and yet enjoy new capabilities including more reliable and less expensive storage, video management systems, IP network cameras, access control systems, biometrics, video analytics, infrastructure, and physical security information systems, all of which have been certified through the Intransa StorAlliance program. That helps to eliminate the risk of adding IP, yet greatly reduces video surveillance costs.