Many users of our website are skeptical about IP intercoms – they say that an ordinary and relatively inexpensive analog intercom has all the necessary functions – it will show you who has come and allow you to remotely open the door. So why overpay for a more complex device?
Indeed, analog intercoms perform basic functions and cope with this no their worse than digital counterparts. It is difficult to disagree with this opinion when the user’s needs are limited to primitive functionality. If all that is needed is to receive calls to the monitor without claims to the quality of the picture, as well as remotely open the front doors, then you can safely use the standard analog system.
However, you cannot do without a modern IP / SIP intercom system if you want to get something more from your intercom, for example:
- There is a need to “tie” a large number of devices into a single system (IP cameras, sensors, several mobile phones, etc.) and at the same time get rid of a huge amount of wires – unify everything within a twisted pair;
- It is required to conduct video recording from the intercom outdoor panel;
- There is a need to forward video calls to mobile phones;
- I would like to remotely view everything that is happening or happened in the area near the gate from a smartphone: who came and when, what they said, etc.;
- The paramount task is to build a multifunctional system “Smart Home” with a single control center, etc.
One of our users writes that he needs an IP intercom, as IP cameras will be connected, plus there are plans to integrate video surveillance installed in the country house (it is also IP) with the system. The point is that if there is a monitor, then why should its functions be reduced to pressing just one button? After all, you can still watch cameras, control lighting and temperature, etc. I looked at the sites of several manufacturers. Today, intercom systems add fashionable innovations to IP intercom systems: control of security systems, the Smart Home system, etc. I’m not talking about various “knick-knacks”: working with photo frames or the ability to play videos …
The second user appreciates the IP intercom because it is easy to integrate into video surveillance systems, IP telephony and smart home systems. The use of conventional twisted pair (Ethernet) in conjunction with PoE switches provides fast installation and easy scalability.
Unlike analog systems, IP equipment has the ability to be remotely configured and supported, and in the future it makes it easy to add new devices to the system. For connection, you can use all the same twisted-pair cables as for computer wiring, and, where necessary, you can easily switch to wireless Wi-Fi segments. As a result, the user receives a single integrated system.
The issue of comfort deserves special attention: what is simple intercom? It’s just a call and they’ll open it for you. At the same time, IP intercom is a system that provides a fundamentally different level of capabilities: from simply transferring a call to a mobile phone to receiving electronic notifications from the management company of a cottage settlement on an in-house IP monitor.
If you look at the issue from the point of view of the IT administration of the cottage village, IP intercom provides opportunities that could not even be imagined with a conventional analog system (they are incomparable). For example, the possibility of remote diagnostics, mass maintenance and configuration: if the intercom in the village is brought into a single solution, then each installation point of the call panel with a camera is also a video surveillance point, and if desired, an emergency communication point. It is enough to display the 2nd “red” button next to the main one (on the gate), and now the control point is already connected to a distributed network of emergency call points.
