Reviewing Axis' NVR - "Camera Station"

While Axis is best known for its cameras, it does provide NVR software (with limited functionalities). Axis recently released a new version of this software, version 3.0, of its "Camera Station."

Some may be surprised that Axis even offers NVR software. I was certainly surprised to read that it has been deployed at 20,000 installations. (Note: Axis calls it "video management software." In colloquial terms, though, most would consider it an NVR.)

This week, a product evaluation report was released by NetVideo Consulting examining the Axis Camera Station NVR. It is an excellent report providing extensive background information on Camera Station and assessing its technical functionalities.

I would encourage you to read the report. Here are some key points summarizing the product's positioning and the review:

• The software is clearly limited by Axis on purpose so that it does compete too heavily with its major NVR partners.
• The software only supports Axis camera - an important constraint.
• The software only supports a maximum of 50 cameras on a single server, constraining its use effectively to single store locations
• The product offers your standard view, record, setup, search functionalities with a few bells and whistles.
• The product does not seem to offer much third party system integration (access, ATM, transaction, etc).
• MSRP pricing is about $100 per camera, in line with other entry level, basic NVR software systems
• Unlike other basic NVR software systems, the Axis system cannot be upgrade to a professional level with more advanced and enterprise level functionalities.
• Axis is certainly improving this product yet, simultaneously, restraining how much it can do. It will be interesting to see how this product continues to evolve.

Axis Camera Station is a nice tool for small simpler deployments but (by design) certainly not a significant alternative to industry leading IP video management / NVR systems.