An Internet Protocol camera, or IP camera, is a type of digital video camera commonly employed for surveillance that can send and receive data via a computer network and the Internet. Although most cameras that do this are webcams, the term “IP camera” or “netcam” is usually applied only to those used for surveillance.
What are advantages of Digital IP Cameras?
- Two-way audio via a single network cable allows users to communicate with what they are seeing.
- Flexibility: IP cameras can be moved around anywhere on an IP network (including wireless).
- Distributed intelligence: with IP cameras, video analytics can be placed in the camera itself allowing scalability in analytics solutions.
- Transmission of commands for PTZ (pan, tilt, zoom) cameras via a single network cable.
- Encryption & authentication: IP cameras offer secure data transmission through encryption and authentication methods such as WEP, WPA, WPA2, TKIP, AES.
- Remote accessibility: live video from selected cameras can be viewed from any computer, anywhere, and also from many mobile smartphones and other devices.
- IP cameras are able to function on a wireless network.
- PoE – Power over Ethernet: Modern IP cameras have the ability to operate without an additional power supply. They can work with the PoE-protocol which gives power via the Ethernet cable.