Virtual Monitoring Platform

You can log into the web based Virtual Monitoring Platform from your computer or Smart Phone at any time and have full control over your monitoring preferences. Virtual Monitoring is the most modern alarm and IP Camera monitoring solution available today.

   Show me the web interface that allows me full control of my monitoring service...

Optional recording of IP Cameras

The instant an alarm system is activated, the Virtual Monitoring server sends out email and text alerts to any number of contacts and starts recording from any number of IP cameras based on settings that have been entered into an online account. No physical wiring is required between IP cameras and the alarm panel. Everything is handled by cutting edge software technology on the server.

Cutting Edge Technology

Virtual Monitoring is an ideal way for tech-savvy people to keep an eye on their property. At it's most basic level, the platform can provide you with electronic alerts plus alarm history - even for systems not transmitting signals over the Internet. If an Internet connection is available at your home or business, the platform can quickly and safely record images from almost any make and model of IP Camera and send them to you via email within seconds of an event.

The Virtual Monitoring Platform is not only for security systems. It can be an ideal solution for medical monitoring and is a particularly good way to make savings on a wide range of Healthcare Monitoring applications. Primary care givers can set the platform so that they are the first on the Contact List to receive alerts. If they do not cancel further action, the platform automatically escalates any delayed alerts to secondary level contacts and sends them out accordingly. Two way voice is supported via in-house phones or professional monitoring service.

IP Cameras

The availability of low cost IP cameras are changing the way people secure their homes and businesses. Consumers around the world want to see for themselves if there is someone in their home or workplace when they shouldn't be. They also want the ability to take a look at their cameras at any time from a computer or cell phone. Keeping a watchful eye on our children and pets is very important and IP Cameras allow us to do this without it costing an arm and leg.

ANY alarm panel - ANY IP Camera.

The design of our Monitoring Server is generic and flexible to make it compatible with as many makes and models of alarm panel and IP Cameras as possible. We do not tie you to any particular brand. Our alarm server is compatible with Contact found in around 90% of alarm panels. IP Camera recording is achieved via the use of snapshot commands, which are supported by all good quality IP Cameras.

With certain brands of IP Camera like Axis, Panasonic, Sony, and Y-Cam, the platform has additional features and with all cameras you can log into your account and view live images at any time. When an event occurs, snapshots are taken from the cameras and images are stored safely on our server. Images can be emailed out to your contacts and with your permission, can be made available to our Monitoring Center operators for a programmable amount of time following an event. All alarm signals are logged into the online database which is available 24/7/365 for historical and reporting purposes. The web interface allows you to add, edit and delete contacts, zones, users and other monitoring preferences at any time.

Axis IP Cameras Of all the IP Camera manufacturers, we have found that Axis provide the most comprehensive technical information for software developers and all of the necessary documents are available from their web site. Their range of IP Cameras always perform as expected when integrated with our web platform and the variety of snapshot commands on offer make working with their equipment very flexible. To date, only the Axis 207 / 207W models support the uploading of mpeg4 video clips via FTP and this is the one dissapointment we have found with the otherwise extensive range of features available in their cameras. In the Setup Menu of your Axis camera, click on Event Configuration and Event Servers. Add a new FTP Event Server and enter the credentials and other information provided by YourAlarm.com - then click on the Test button to make sure that the camera is able to make a connection to the server. Go to the Event Types Menu and click on the "Add Triggered" button. Set the "Respond to Trigger" and "Triggered By" sections to your requirements and then in the "When Triggered" section, set the Upload Type to FTP and enter the name of the FTP server you just created above. We recommend you use a Base File Name of .jpg and select the "Add date/time suffix" radio button. The Event Configuration screen is where you can experiment with different settings in order to obtain the results you want. Unless you have the Axis 207 model that can upload mpeg4 video clips, the end result is that images will be uploaded to our server in Motion JPeg format, which is a number of individual files with a .jpg file extension. You can log into the FTP server with any FTP Client software to download your stored images at any time. The AXIS M1011 Network Camera is perfectly suited for securing small businesses, boutiques, restaurants, hotels or residences. It offers superior video quality in its class at 30 frames per second in VGA resolution. AXIS M1011 provides multiple, individually configurable video streams in H.264 as well as Motion JPEG and MPEG-4 Part 2. Full frame rate and resolution is provided in either compression. The H.264 compression enables optimization for bandwidth and storage efficiency by significantly reducing the bit rate.

Other brands of IP Camera

Vivotek were formed in 2000 and are a Taiwanese company that manufacture a wide range of IP Cameras. They have over 170 distributors in more than 70 countries and until recently their cameras were sold under other brand names such as D-Link and Level One.

We purchased a Level One 1150 which overheated and broke within a few weeks, so our testing is now limited to using one of Vivoteks own branded cameras - the IP7173. We found the SDK to be inaccurate and had to give up on supporting live view embedded into our web platform, however, the snapshot feature works as expected and the uploading of video clips via FTP works very well.

To set your Vivotek or branded Vivotek camera to upload video clips to the YourAlarm.com server, log into the web interface of the camera and click on the Configuration Link to enter the Configuration Menu. Setup and enable Motion Detection and then click on the Application link.

Under Applications, click on Video Clip and place a tick in the "Enable Video Clip" box. If you only want to record at certain times, setup a weekly schedule and chose the times of the day, otherwise select the "Always" radio button.

Enter the "Video File Name Prefix" provided by YourAlarm.com and then set the maximum video clip size somewhere between 200 - 500 KB. Set the Trigger settings to Motion Detection and then "Send Video Clip By" FTP. Place a tick in the "FTP put Video clips with date and time suffix" box.

You are now ready to setup the FTP server and this is done by clicking on the Email & FTP link on the Configuration Menu. Enter the credentilas provided by YourAlarm.com and click on the Save button. You can now test your camera to make sure that it behaves as expected and uploads a video clip to the server whenever movement is detected within the defined motion detection window.

Remember that Vivotek cameras are inconsistent and the menu names and locations will almost certainly differ for your model of camera.