Video as a Service (VaaS) Platform- The Ultimate Guide

Nilesh Parashar
4 min readNov 26, 2021

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Video as a Service (VaaS) is the provision of multi-party or point-to-point video conferencing capabilities over IP networks by managed service providers. A video conference is a visual live connection between two or more people in different locations for communication purposes. In the simplest case, video conferencing provides still image and text transmission between two locations. It is the most sophisticated format and provides full-motion video images and high-quality audio transmission across multiple locations in the best course for DevOps. The cloud-based video service enables businesses to quickly deploy video conferencing with minimal investment in infrastructure. Many companies rely on VaaS to enable employee collaboration and customer-centric service without worrying about the underlying networks and technologies of meeting participants. In the SaaS model, the application runs at the hosted facility (either the application provider or the service platforms). Servers, company software, and databases are part of the host facility’s IT infrastructure. The front end runs at the customer (usually through a web browser), and the customer pays the service provider a monthly subscription to use the application.

The VaaS model is similar in that the monitoring equipment (rather than the application) is onsite and the video storage and management infrastructure is in the hosted facility. Customers can log in to a facility hosted from anywhere in the world using a browser or via the Internet. Access video content (surveillance feed). There are no client applications on your internet-enabled device (PC, mobile phone, etc.).

Some Service Providers Distinguish Between Different VaaS Variants

  1. Hosted VaaS: The only investment customers need to make in the field is video surveillance cameras and broadband connections. Video storage devices (NVRs, hybrid DVRs, PCs), video management software (VMS), and VMS server infrastructure are managed at the hosted facility.

2. Managed VaaS: When customers invest in video surveillance cameras, NVRs and broadband connections. The hosted facility provides the VMS and VMS server infrastructure.

However, as compact IP surveillance devices (NVRs, hybrid DVRs) become available and distributed architectures become more popular in implementing surveillance solutions, this distinction is slowly disappearing.

Business Model

Per Edge Device Subscriptions: The two categories of edge devices for IP video surveillance systems are content to capture devices (cameras) and content recording devices (NVRs, hybrid DVRs, PCs, appliance servers). Based on the system architecture (centralized and decentralized), customers may have the option of investing only in content capture devices (centralized architecture) or if they need to invest in content capture and recording devices in tools and services (decentralized architecture).

Service providers typically charge a monthly or annual subscription fee for each edge device. Alternatively, you can pack a single user license for each edge device sold. This subscription or license allows users to access the Edge Device’s VMS-managed content repository from anywhere in the world. Use an internet-enabled device, browser, and authorized login ID and password at cloud computing certification online. Additional user licenses will incur additional charges and will allow other users (for example, if the customer is an organization rather than an individual) to access the same repository in DevOps online training.

Per Infrastructure Subscription: In this model, the service provider charges a monthly subscription fee that includes equipment rental and access to the content repository from the customer. This is just a combination of traditional device release plans and subscriptions per edge device model. After the rental period expires, customers can choose to purchase the device for a small fee or upgrade to a more up-to-date device as part of their new subscription agreement.

Target Users, The VaaS model targets the following users:

● I don’t want to invest in expensive infrastructure (servers, operating systems, databases, VMS) for simple monitoring requirements

● I don’t want to invest staff in management and management

● To host such infrastructure No equipment is required for core competencies and want to leave support functions to responsible professionals

● These are usually individuals (home monitoring), small businesses in one or more locations (Retail, trading company, manufacturing, warehouse, restaurant, company), construction company, transportation company, educational institutions. Also, VaaS is not the best solution for customers and organizations whose policies specify the location of surveillance video content within the facility for confidentiality and security reasons. Market segments such as law enforcement, defence, large corporations, and hospitality/health are not optimally addressed by the VaaS model.

Differences Between VaaS and Alarm Management

VaaS is different from the alarm management service. VaaS is dedicated to managing the video content captured at the surveillance facility and making this content available to authorized users for viewing and subsequent actions. The alarm management service uses the content recorded by the monitoring device (VaaS or non-VaaS) to determine what to do to secure the monitoring area. VaaS service providers can also provide alarm management services as an added value (usually through connections with traditional armed defence organizations), but this is not the service provider’s responsibility.

Mistral Smartvue VaaS Offering

The standard Mistral Smartvue Offering is a VaaS service based on the subscription/edge device model. The Mistral Smartvue wireless IP video surveillance solution requires prospects to invest in at least one NVR and one or more cameras. The Mistral Smartvue solution is based on a distributed architecture in which content captured by surveillance cameras is recorded on the relevant NVR site.

All Mistral Smartvue customers have the right to single-user access to the collected content maintained at the hosted facility. Customers use a browser to access VMS Insight Server 2 over the Internet. You will also see the content captured by the NVR via Insight Server 2. Customers can purchase additional user licenses as an annual subscription.

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Nilesh Parashar

I am a marketing and advertising student at Hinduja College, Mumbai University, Mumbai, and I have been studying advertising since 4 years.