Hikvision · Egypt
Cameras are the cheap part. Coverage is the work.
Hikvision IP surveillance, designed against what you actually need to see, installed on proper structured cabling, and maintained so the footage is there when someone asks for it.
What we deliver
Design and survey
Camera positions chosen from a site walk and a plan: coverage, lighting, and what has to be identifiable versus merely observed.
Installation
Cameras, NVR or hybrid recording, PoE switching and structured cabling installed by the same engineers who build the rest of the network.
Retention and access
Storage sized to the retention you actually need, with secured remote viewing for the people who should have it.
The three things that go wrong
Resolution versus purposeA camera that shows “a person was here” is not the same as one that identifies a face or reads a plate. These need different lenses, different positions and different budgets, and the difference is decided at design, not afterwards.
Retention miscalculatedThirty days of footage at the resolution and frame rate you specified is a storage number, and it is usually larger than the recorder that was bought. We calculate it before the order.
Exposed to the internetCamera systems reachable from the internet on default credentials are among the most routinely compromised devices anywhere. We do not deploy them that way, and if we inherit one, we say so.
What we actually specify, and how the numbers are worked out
Almost every disappointing camera system was specified by counting cameras. The questions that decide whether the footage is usable are how many pixels land on the target, what the lighting does at the wrong time of day, and whether the recorder can hold what you promised to keep. All three are arithmetic, and all three are done before the order.
Pixels on target, the number that decides everything
The industry works to four levels of what a camera can deliver at a given distance, and the difference between them is not the camera, it is how much of the image the subject fills. We design to the level each position actually needs.
DetectYou can tell something is there and that it is moving. Useful for a perimeter or a large yard, useless for anything else.
ObserveYou can follow behaviour and see what a person is doing: clothing, direction, general build. Right for corridors and open areas.
RecogniseYou can tell whether it is somebody you already know. Right for staff entrances and internal doors.
IdentifyYou can identify a stranger from the footage, the level a police force or an insurer will actually accept. Requires far more pixels on the face than most people expect, which means a tighter lens, a closer camera, or both.
Lighting, weather and the site itself
Backlight at entrancesA camera pointed at a glass door in Egyptian daylight records a silhouette. Wide dynamic range, a different angle, or both, decided on the site walk, not from a plan.
Infrared range is not the stated rangeThe quoted distance assumes a reflective subject and nothing in the way. Rain, dust and dark clothing cut it substantially, and infrared bouncing off a nearby wall or a fly whites out the whole frame.
Sun pathA camera facing east or west will be blinded twice a day, every day. Mounting positions are chosen against the sun, not just against the view.
Dust, heat and ingress ratingOutdoor and industrial positions specified with the right sealing and impact rating for where they actually are. A unit rated for a sheltered wall does not survive a factory yard.
Mounting heightHigh enough to be out of reach, low enough to see a face. Cameras mounted at ceiling height in a warehouse capture the tops of heads and nothing identifiable.
Recording, retention and the storage arithmetic
Retention calculated, not guessedStorage is a function of camera count, resolution, frame rate, compression and how much motion each scene contains. We calculate it per camera and total it, which is usually a larger number than the recorder somebody already bought.
Frame rate matched to purposeMost scenes do not need a high frame rate, and dropping it is the cheapest way to buy retention. A till point or a gate does, and gets it.
Smart compression, understoodModern codecs cut storage substantially by spending fewer bits on static background, which means a busy scene consumes far more than a quiet one. We size against the busy case, not the brochure average.
Continuous versus event recordingEvent-only recording saves space and loses the seconds before the event, which are often the ones that matter. We normally record continuously at a sensible rate and flag events on top.
Disk redundancy and healthSurveillance-rated drives, redundancy where the footage is genuinely evidential, and disk health monitored, because a recorder quietly running on a failed disk is the standard way footage is lost.
Overwrite policy stated in writing“Thirty days” means the thirty-first day is gone. Everyone should know that before an incident, not after.
Network, power and cabling
Cameras on their own VLANSegmented from the business network, able to reach the recorder and nothing else. Cameras are among the least maintained devices on any network and should be treated accordingly.
PoE budget and cable distanceTotal power checked against the switch budget, and the 100-metre copper limit respected including patch leads. Long runs planned as fibre with a media converter, or with a powered intermediate cabinet.
Bandwidth to the recorderEvery camera streams continuously. Thirty-two cameras at a high bitrate is real, sustained traffic, the link to the recorder is sized for it rather than discovered by it.
Recorder PoE ports versus a proper switchBuilt-in ports are convenient for a handful of cameras and a constraint at scale. Where the estate will grow, we cable to switches.
Power protectionRecorder and camera switches on a UPS. A system that stops recording during every power event is not a system.
Security, access and privacy
Never exposed directly to the internetNo port forwarding to a recorder or a camera. Remote viewing over a VPN or a controlled service instead. Internet-facing camera systems are among the most routinely compromised devices anywhere, and the exposure is usually created for convenience.
Default credentials removedUnique passwords on every device, not one shared password across the estate, and not the one printed in the manual.
Firmware maintainedA patch rhythm for cameras and recorders. These devices are installed and then forgotten for years, which is exactly why they get used as a way in.
Access by role, with an audit trailWho can view live, who can review history, and who can export: separated, named, and logged. Footage exported by an unnamed shared account is difficult to rely on later.
Privacy masking and camera positionsPositions that overlook neighbouring property, prayer areas, changing areas or a colleague’s screen are flagged at design. Where a view cannot be avoided, it is masked.
Choosing the camera type
| Type | Where it belongs | What it will not do |
|---|---|---|
| Turret | General indoor and sheltered outdoor use. Less infrared reflection than a dome, easier to aim. | Slightly more exposed to tampering than a flush dome. |
| Dome | Public-facing interiors and ceilings where discretion and vandal resistance matter. | The bubble picks up dirt and can flare in infrared if not sealed properly. |
| Bullet | Perimeters and long views where a tight lens and a visible deterrent are both wanted. | Obvious, aimable by anyone with a ladder, and it collects dust and cobwebs. |
| Panoramic | Wide open areas from one position, an overview of a floor or a yard. | Identification. It is context, not evidence. |
| PTZ | Large sites with someone actively watching, or as a follow-up camera to a fixed one. | Recording what happened while it was pointed elsewhere. A PTZ never replaces fixed coverage. |
| Plate capture | Gates and barriers, aimed and lensed specifically for the plate. | Anything else. It is a single-purpose camera, and it needs its own. |
Surveillance touches privacy and, depending on your sector, regulation. We will tell you where a camera position is likely to be a problem rather than install it and leave that to you.
Send us a site plan
We will mark up the camera positions, size the recording and retention, and quote the cabling honestly.
Book the free assessment02 35375791