Wireless Routers, LAN Switching, Network Storage Servers

Choosing the right wireless router for your needs is of utmost importance when putting together a wireless network for a home or a business environment. Not all wireless routers are the same. Much depends on how many devices are active on the network at the same time, the size of the building that needs wireless coverage and what kind of activity is going on on the network. Maybe there is just a laptop or two that needs wireless connectivity.

Maybe printers, game consoles and media players need connectivity in a medium size house or an apartment. Maybe you need fast and reliable wireless coverage that reaches every corner of a small office building. There are different types of wireless routers suited to a variety of different networking environments.

There are a variety of wireless routers from D-Link that may meet your wireless networking needs. A Cloud Gigabit router like the DIR-636L can give you a fast and stable network for activities like e-mail, VOIP calls, online gaming and viewing HD video. It also allows you to remotely monitor and manage your wireless network from any internet connection in the world. You can view which devices are connecting to your wireless network and you can block or allow certain connections. You can also stream music, video and other media to your smartphone with the free Shareport Mobile app and the USB 2.0 port that is built into the router.

Maybe you need a router that is more suited for use in a business networking environment. The DSR-250N from D-Link is a Unified Services Router capable of providing high data transmission speeds and complete wireless coverage to every corner of a workplace. It has VPN capability as well to give mobile workers a secure tunnel into the network so they can be productive away from the office. The DSR-250N also includes Green technology to cut costs by saving energy. These are just two of the powerful wireless routers available from D-Link that you can use to put together the perfect network for your home or business.

Not all wireless routers are the same. Choosing the right wireless router to put together the best possible network depends on what your specific needs are. Whether it is a simple home network or a busier small business network you are putting together, D-Link probably has the wireless router that is perfectly suited to your needs.

LAN Switching

Business networks don't do much good if they don't run efficiently. There is so much that goes on on the modern business Local Area Network (LAN). There are multiple computers connected sending and receiving e-mail, there are printers receiving requests for print jobs, there are voice and video conferences taking place over Voice over IP (VOIP). The information traveling to different devices needs to get to the right place and it needs to get there in the most efficient way possible. That is where switching comes in.

Network switches connect all the devices on the network and make sure that data goes to the device it was intended for. A small office might have just one switch while a large business with a large campus might have multiple switches. If what goes on on a network is important at all, that network needs a switch or switches to manage the traffic.

D-Link offers a variety of network switches to the meet the needs of many types of business users. Whether you have a small office with a few computers or if you have a large enterprise with many computers and printers and servers and IP phones and cameras, D-Link has a network switch for you. D-Link offers unmanaged switches for smaller networks. These switches work right out of the box and allow a network to run itself. They support Quality of Service (QoS) to give priority to certain types of traffic on the network like VOIP for activities like voice and video conferencing. For medium size and large size businesses with larger networks, D-Link offers Smart Switches and Managed Switches.

The Smart Series of network switches have advanced security features and advanced configuration options to meet the unique needs of your business. They are very similar to unmanaged switches but without the complexity or cost. Some of the switches in D-Link's Smart Series line support the Power over Ethernet (PoE) standard which eliminates the need for external power supplies so that current cables can be used and cable clutter can be reduced. Unmanaged switches from D-Link are highly customisable and can be used to set up a robust network backbone for a large business. They have advanced security features like MAC and IP address lists. They allow for remote monitoring of network traffic by administrators and they support the Power over Ethernet (PoE) standard. They also give the network administrator the ability to allocate enough bandwidth to mission critical functions.

Network Storage Servers

The ability to store and access video footage taken by IP surveillance cameras is an important aspect of deploying them. Some IP cameras have storage that is built right into the cameras themselves. They might have a MicroSD card slot and can store the recorded footage on a MicroSD card. Footage from IP cameras can also be stored on Network Attached Storage devices (NAS), Network Video Recorders (NVRs) and Storage Area Networks (SAN) which can make footage accessible on a network. There are a variety of ways of storing IP surveillance camera footage for both home and business users. Choosing the right solution for storage is all about meeting the specific needs of the individual user or business.

There are a number of storage solutions available for IP camera footage from Y-cam and D-Link. The Y-cam Cube has a MicroSD slot built into it. It can hold up to 64 GB of recorded footage. This can be a good solution for a home user who might have the camera set to only record if motion is detected. If storage on the camera itself is not enough then the DNS-325 Network Storage Enclosure from D-Link might be an option. It has 2 bays for 1TB or 2TB hard disk drives and makes the footage that might come from multiple IP cameras available across a network.

The DSN-3200-10 SAN array from D-Link has 15 bays that can be used for storing large amounts of footage recorded by multiple IP cameras. The DNR-326 Network Video Recorder is another option for storage of IP camera footage. It can be used to store footage from up to 9 local or remote IP cameras. The user can decide how long recorded footage is kept on the hard disk before being overwritten. The DNR-326 can also be configured to overwrite the oldest footage automatically when hard disk space runs out. These are just a few of the solutions for storing footage recorded by IP cameras that are available from Y-cam or D-Link.

The ability to store and easily access footage captured by IP cameras is something that cannot be neglected. If footage needs to be reviewed or kept for any period of time then reliable storage is an absolute necessity. You need to have enough storage to suit your needs. You might have just one camera and storage on an SD card in the camera might do just fine. You might have multiple cameras providing surveillance over a fairly large business campus and may need network storage via a Network Video Recorder, Storage Area Network or Network Attached Storage device. Whatever your storage needs might be, you can likely find what you need from Y-cam or D-Link.

IP Cameras versus Webcams

There are similarities between IP cameras and webcams. Both IP cameras and webcams connect to the internet and provide real time images. Both IP cameras and webcams can be used for surveillance in a home or business. However, the two technologies have important differences. These differences make IP cameras preferable to webcams when it comes to security.

Webcams are often built into laptops or are connected to a computer via a USB port or Firewire. Most webcams are used for social activities people often engage in over the internet. They are used for making video calls over VOIP services such as Skype. They are used on services like Chatroulette or Stickcam. They are sometimes used for security purposes. The bottom line is that webcams require a constant physical connection to a computer. IP cameras on the other hand are constantly connected to the internet without the need for some sort of physical connection to a computer.

Multiple IP cameras can be set up to monitor multiple areas all without needing to be connected to a computer or even be in close proximity to a computer. Many IP cameras also have Power over Ethernet (PoE) capability. PoE allows an electrical current to travel over an Ethernet cable. This means that IP cameras with PoE can be placed in locations that might be far away from power outlets. The ability of IP cameras to work without the need for a physical connection to an internet connected computer gives the user greater flexibility when it comes to deployment as a security solution.

Even high end webcams can leave a bit to be desired when it comes to image quality. Images can be grainy and many webcams do not function well in low light conditions. Many IP cameras are capable of capturing high quality footage at a high frame rate and are capable of recording in HD. This can work to give a very clear picture of what is happening in a home or place of business. There are IP cameras on the market equipped with infrared LEDs that make it possible to capture footage even in conditions of complete darkness. The ability to capture high quality images and the ability to do so in less than ideal lighting conditions if necessary make IP cameras a much better security solution than most webcams.

IP cameras typically have a higher degree of configurability and more options available in terms of storing recorded footage than do most webcams on the market. Many IP cameras have storage capability built into them such as slots for SD cards. They also have the ability to record to remote storage servers. They can be set up to record continuously or only when motion is detected. They are also capable of sending e-mail alerts when motion is detected. This higher degree of configurability and more options for storing footage can make IP cameras preferable when it comes to providing security for homes or businesses.

The feed of an IP camera can be viewed from any internet connection or mobile device. This can give users the ability to check on what is going on at any time of the day or night. It is true that many webcams can also be viewed from any internet connection but this is dependent on the camera being plugged into an internet connected computer at all times.

An IP camera gives remote monitoring capability without any need to be plugged into a computer. The ability to monitor a camera's feed without the camera needing to be connected to a computer can give home and business owners quite a bit in the way of peace of mind and can also make the IP camera preferable to a webcam.

Webcams and IP cameras may be similar but there are important differences between the two technologies. These differences are important to consider when thinking about deploying one of them as a security solution. If you are in need of a camera that can operate independently of a computer, can record high quality images, has a high degree of configurability, has many options for storing footage and has remote monitoring capability then you may want to go with an IP camera instead of a webcam.