Managed video is poised to experience similar growth and impact that IP video surveillance software has achieved over the past 5 - 10 years. As such, despite it being relatively unknown, smart video surveillance professionals should start understanding and tracking the developments of managed video now so that they can be at the forefront of the next evolution of video surveillance.

What is Managed Video?

Have you used GMail or Yahoo Mail? Amazon? Ebay? Have you read an entry on Wikipedia? 10-15 years ago, none of these services existed.  If you wanted email you would have to install a client on your PC. If you wanted an encyclopedia you would have to get a CD from Microsoft.

These are examples of a broad trend of applications moving away from your PC and into the web. Also called Software as a Service, most technology thought leaders believe this is the next major movement including the ultimate force that will eventually topple Microsoft's desktop supremacy.

These services offer a host of benefits including lower operating costs and simpler IT management. Read an overview for more specific benefits of software as a service.

So Managed Video or Managed Video as a Service (MVasS) is adopting this service model to video surveillance. Instead of deploying and managing video software and servers at your locations, this is managed at the service provider's data center.