This VN-3432 has 32 front-facing BNC inputs for analog video input, 32 G.711 audio inputs, two gigabit Ethernet ports, an RS-485 for PTZ control and an 8 DI/DO terminal block for alarm inputs. It includes four 3.5" hard drive bays for economical internal storage along with a slim DVD-RW drive for data backup. The system supports RAID levels 0, 1, 10 and 5 using Intel Rapid Recover technology.

"Lanner's advanced hybrid video platforms utilize the latest technologies in video compression and network communications to deliver extremely vivid video for surveillance and other IP video applications," said Tim Chen, Vice President for Video Communications at Lanner Electronics. "The VN-3432 allows customers to build robust hybrid analog/digital surveillance systems with up to 32 analog cameras in addition to as many IP cameras as needed. This provides flexibility by allowing customers to take advantage of existing investments in analog surveillance hardware while migrating to IP camera-based surveillance systems."

The H.264 standard allows for very high quality video at extremely small file sizes and low network bandwidth utilization. The Lanner VN-3432 includes an onboard H.264 encoding chip that handles conversion from analog or digital video signals to H.264 format, while an Intel Core 2 Duo or Core 2 Quad CPU handles other I/O and system tasks. The all-in-one platform provides everything from video inputs to internal storage so that system integrators need only connect cameras and Ethernet cables -- no other hardware is required.

The VN-3432 comes with Lanner's EyeShot 2000 control panel software and an SDK for developing full-featured surveillance systems or other IP video applications such as video blogs, online education, video broadcasting, medical video analytics and video on demand.

"Applications for network video span a wide range of vertical markets, and the use of video in everything from military and industrial settings to education and retail is growing rapidly," said Chen. "Exciting new developments are taking place in the areas of digital video signage and mobile surveillance, for example. As more and more people use video to enrich communications, they will need advanced hardware platforms to compress, store and manage the growing volume of video content. Lanner platforms provide the perfect solutions for these emerging demands because of their highly integrated design, which takes all of the guesswork out of developing a full-featured network video system."