As a bonus, footage is processed on each camera, virtually eliminating lag time between detection and alerts. Onboard storage also relieves the district of installing network video recorders for local storage and backup. All footage is stored on the camera and then backed up to the cloud.

This was my district’s first time using Video over IP cameras, and it was a huge upgrade to our current system, which dates to the 1990s. The 4K images and videos were clear and crisp. The ability to set alerts and view the cameras anytime, anywhere is a huge timesaver for staff.

LEARN MORE: Here's what IT leaders should know about investing in IP surveillance cameras.

I also tested Verkada’s analytics, which can filter images based on face match, clothing colors, vehicle type and more. Using a staff member as a “person of interest” to test the face recognition, I received alerts each time he passed the camera, even when he was wearing glasses or a hat.

Motion detection also worked as expected, with alerts for each incident. I was surprised by how consistently well these features worked. Verkada includes these features in cross-camera tracking as well, providing more than one angle and tracking a subject’s movement. This series of Verkada cameras offer occupancy trends data with heat maps to monitor use of space and trends.