About

NetVid Labs was formed in March of 2008 to provide essential tools to the security professional for installing, supporting and maintaining networked video surveillance products. Once we decided we were going to do this, we spent six months talking to end-users, talking to integrators, and talking to vendors to figure out what was causing them headaches in typical IP video surveillance installations. It rapidly became apparent that wireless is a thorn in the side of almost everybody. Every person we talked to described at least one location (and usually several) where a reliable wireless solution would have saved the day.

Once we had that, it didn’t take long to determine what we needed to build — a purely open-standard WiFi 802.11b/g system for full frame-rate surveillance video transmission. Using 28 years of experience in the IT business, coupled with 5 years of learning, installing and maintaining IP video surveillance solutions, we found the proper suppliers to develop around, and set to it. The result was the VX-200 and the VR-100.

Again, we returned to select customers who had specific needs and the ability to assist us. We installed units in the field, and we let them run. We let them run with multiple 5MP Arecont cameras. We ran them with multiple standard VGA Vivotek cameras. We ran them in the heat of South Texas summer, and the relative chilliness of North Texas winter. And it’s a good thing we did, too — we found a flaw in our power supply choice that would have killed us in the market if it had been widespread. All of that is behind us now, and we’re ready to help you with your wireless video surveillance requirements.

Along the way, we found another hole in the market. This hole was mentioned by many small business owners. A full-blown IP video management system, consisting of an NVR server, VMS software, the required storage and a network, is simply beyond their means. That was keeping them out of the IP/MP/HD video surveillance market — while they know and understand the advantages of IP and even more so HD-capable cameras and were willing & ready to invest in them, the infrastructure behind them was daunting. Once again, having an extensive background in IT meant that we were able to respond very quickly (we’re nerds, generally.) Shortly before the end of 2009, we had developed a hardware platform and signed an OEM deal with a highly respected and very successful VMS vendor. We installed our first VN-100 NVR Appliance in January of 2010, and it’s run flawlessly since we walked out the door.

We’re still learning our way around the software requirements of the market for the VN-100 Series. To date, it has been bench tested with ExacqVision-IP, ACTi’s NVR, and Sanyo’s VideoPilot. We have every reason to believe that it will work with any modern NVR software. It is, after all, software — something we understand deeply. Additionally, we want to make it clear — we’re not just slapping software on a server and shipping it out the door. We’re also pre-configuring that software for the customer. We can provide a standard configuration, but we also do custom configurations for specific network requirements. Part of process is to set the appliance up for internet access, as well, if that’s available from the end user.

That kind of wraps up the backstory. We’ve got several more products up our sleeve, and we can’t wait to introduce them to you. If you have any comments or questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Thanks,
The NetVid Labs Team