Commercial

Commercial IP security systems in North and South Carolina

Nearly every commercial system we install now is IP rather than analog, and the difference is not really about picture quality. It is that the security system has become a set of devices on your network, which changes who needs to be involved and what can go wrong.

An IP camera is a small computer with a lens. It has an address, it needs power over that same cable, it receives firmware updates, and it can be reached by anyone who can reach that part of your network. Treated properly this is a large improvement: one cable per device, far better images, analytics that actually work, and remote access without a dedicated phone line. Treated carelessly it is how a camera system ends up as the weakest device on a business network.

What a commercial IP system needs from your network

• A separate VLAN. Cameras and door controllers belong on their own network segment, not alongside workstations and card payments. This is the single most important decision in the design and costs nothing if it is made at the start.
• A PoE switch with a real power budget. The common failure is a switch rated for enough ports but not enough total watts, so cameras reboot at night when the infrared illuminators come on and everyone blames the cameras.
• Cabling to standard, and tested. Cat6 to each device, terminated properly, with results recorded. A marginal cable run is intermittent for years and is the hardest fault in this industry to chase down.
• A plan for updates. Firmware for cameras and controllers is a security matter now. Someone has to own it, whether that is your IT provider or us.
• Uninterruptible power. A short outage should not take down the recorder or leave doors in an unknown state.

Where a customer already has an IT provider we work to their standards rather than around them, and hand over addressing, credentials and documentation at the end. Where there is no IT provider, we do the whole thing and leave you the records.

Where we work

We are an integrator rather than a national franchise, with our headquarters in Charlotte and an office at 1901 Main Street in Columbia. That covers the North Carolina corridor from Charlotte through Concord, Gastonia and Monroe, the Triangle and Triad on scheduled work, and Asheville and western North Carolina for commercial projects. In South Carolina we work weekly across the Columbia metro and the Midlands, and along the I-85 corridor through Greenville and the Upstate.

Being a two-state integrator with two real offices matters mainly on the small jobs. A failed reader or a dead recorder is a short drive rather than a scheduling problem with a mileage charge attached.

How a commercial project actually runs

A survey on site, not a quote from a floor plan, because the things that drive cost — ceiling type, existing pathways, where the power is, what the lighting does after dark — are not visible on a drawing. Then a design with camera positions and expected coverage, so you can see what each device is for before it is bought. Then installation by our own technicians, commissioning, and a handover that includes documentation, logins that belong to you rather than to us, and training for whoever will actually use it.

Afterwards we service what we install, and we take over systems installed by others — including systems whose original installer has disappeared, which is a more common call than you might expect.