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Catalogue › Hardware & Equipment Marketplace › CCTV, Access Control & Biometric Systems
Hardware & Equipment Marketplace
CCTV, Access Control & Biometric Systems
Video surveillance, access control, visitor management and biometric systems designed with documented security and privacy boundaries.
- Improved site visibility and controlled entry
- Centralized incident evidence
- Automated credential and visitor workflows
- Integrated physical-security operations
- IP cameras and video recorders
- Access controllers, readers and locks
- Visitor and badge systems
- Biometric check-in options
- Video analytics and monitoring stations
- Network, storage, installation and maintenance
- Approved bill of materials or manufacturer part selection
- Technical datasheets and compatibility record
- Warranty, authenticity and regulatory documentation
- Configuration, staging or asset tagging when purchased
- Shipping, installation and acceptance records
- Support, replacement and end-of-life information
- Small-site kit
- Multi-site CCTV
- Door access system
- Visitor management
- Integrated command center
- Managed maintenance
- Brand, model and technical specification
- Quantity, stock and supplier price validity
- Configuration, licenses and accessories
- Warranty and support level
- Freight, installation, taxes and duties
- Compatibility and lifecycle availability
Content on this page comes from the governed ARRIX catalogue record HW-08; pricing is confirmed only through a reviewed quotation.
What This Is
CCTV, Access Control & Biometric Systems
Physical security systems are the cameras, recorders, door controllers, readers and credentials that record what happens on a site and decide who may enter which part of it.
Two related jobs sit in this family. Cameras and recorders answer what happened, after the fact and sometimes as it happens. Access control answers who may go where, and keeps a record of who actually went. Both have moved onto the data network, which makes them far more capable - viewable remotely, integrated with other systems, searchable - and also makes them the organisation's responsibility to secure, because a camera on the network is a computer on the network.
Incidents can be resolved with evidence
Correctly placed cameras with adequate resolution and retention produce footage that identifies rather than merely records.
Access is granted and withdrawn instantly
Credentials are issued and revoked centrally, so a departure or a lost card is a database change rather than a locksmith visit.
Deterrence and reduced casual loss
Visible, evidently maintained surveillance changes behaviour in retail, storage and public-facing areas.
Sensitive areas restricted and recorded
Server rooms, stock rooms, records stores and cash areas can be limited to named people with an audit trail.
Safety and accountability improved
Knowing who is on site supports evacuation roll-call, lone-working checks and incident investigation.
Why It Matters
The problems this answers
Physical security is bought for deterrence and bought again after an incident, when it becomes clear whether the footage is usable. The difference between a system that resolves an incident and one that merely recorded it is almost always design rather than product: camera placement, field of view, lighting, and enough retention to still hold the footage when someone asks. Access control shifts the economics of keys - a lost key that opens a building is a re-keying exercise, whereas a lost credential is a revocation. The critical and often neglected consideration is that these devices are network-connected computers with firmware, credentials and update needs. Placed on a flat network with default passwords, they become the weakest point in the estate rather than a control on it. Recording people also carries legal obligations that must be settled before installation, not after.
- Incidents, theft, damage or disputes with no usable evidence of what actually happened
- Keys that cannot be accounted for, and doors that must be re-keyed whenever one is lost
- No record of who entered which area and when, where that matters for safety or compliance
- Existing cameras that record but produce footage too poor, too dark or too short-lived to be useful
- Insurance, licensing or client requirements specifying surveillance or controlled access that the site cannot demonstrate
| Organisation | Need | What the equipment does | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| A retail site | Evidence for theft and till disputes | Cameras at entrances, tills and stock areas with retention long enough to cover discovery delay | Incidents are reviewed with footage that identifies people and actions rather than shapes. |
| An office with sensitive areas | Restricting the server room, records store and finance area | Door controllers with credential readers and an audit log | Only named people enter, and there is a record of every entry. |
| A warehouse or yard | Monitoring loading, movement and perimeter after dark | External cameras with low-light or thermal capability and appropriate weather rating | Activity remains identifiable outside daylight hours and in poor weather. |
| A multi-site organisation | One credential and one view across locations | Networked access control and video management across sites | Staff move between sites on one credential and security is administered centrally. |
| A landlord or shared building | Controlling entry without issuing physical keys | Door entry with credentials, mobile access or intercom | Access is granted and revoked remotely, and lost credentials cost nothing to replace. |
How To Choose
Types, and when each one is the right answer
Sizing matters more than brand here. ARRIX specifies to the requirement rather than to a fixed model list.
Fixed dome camera
General indoor coverage where a discreet, tamper-resistant unit with a fixed view is sufficient.
Bullet camera
External or directional coverage - car parks, approaches, perimeters - where visible deterrence is wanted.
Pan-tilt-zoom camera
A large area needs to be followed actively; note that it is only pointed one way at a time and cannot be relied on for evidence elsewhere.
Multi-sensor or panoramic camera
Wide areas such as forecourts or open floors need coverage without multiple separate units and cable runs.
Thermal or low-light camera
Detection matters in darkness, smoke or poor weather where conventional cameras produce nothing usable.
Network video recorder
Networked cameras need local recording, storage and management on site.
Cloud or hybrid video management
Multiple sites need central viewing, or footage must survive the recorder being stolen or damaged.
Standalone door controller
One or two doors need controlled access without a wider system.
Networked access control system
Many doors, several sites, or shared credentials across locations require central administration.
Card and fob readers
Standard credential-based access; simple to issue and revoke, though credentials can be shared or lost.
Mobile credential readers
Staff carry phones and physical credential issuance is an administrative burden.
Biometric readers
The credential must not be transferable - high-value areas, time and attendance integrity - subject to the legal obligations that biometric data carries.
Intercom and video door entry
Visitors must be identified and admitted remotely, including out of hours.
Turnstiles, barriers and speed gates
Tailgating must be physically prevented rather than merely detected.
What decides the choice
- Purpose per camera position: detection, recognition or identification - these demand very different pixel density on target and drive the whole design
- Retention period required, whether by policy, insurance or the realistic delay between an incident and someone asking for footage
- Lighting conditions at each position across the whole day and night, not at the time of the site survey
- Environmental rating for external, dusty, wet or cold positions, including vandal resistance where reachable
- Power and cabling approach - power over the data cabling simplifies installation but must fit the switch power budget
- How the system is secured and updated, because network-connected cameras and controllers are computers on the network
- Legal obligations for recording people and, in particular, for holding biometric data
- Door hardware, fire regulations and safe egress, which constrain access control long before any product choice does
Specification Detail
For whoever has to sign it off
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Specifications that actually decide the outcome
| Specification | Weight | What it means | Why it matters | Specify higher when |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Resolution and pixel density on target | Critical | Detail available at the distance the subject actually appears. | Resolution alone is meaningless; what matters is pixels across the face or plate at the point of interest. | Identification rather than mere detection is required, or the subject is distant. |
| Lens and field of view | Critical | How wide an area the camera sees and at what detail. | A wide view covers more area and identifies nobody; the trade-off is the design decision. | Coverage is broad but identification is still needed - which usually means more cameras, not a wider lens. |
| Low-light and infrared performance | Critical | Usable image in darkness or poor lighting. | Most incidents worth recording happen when lighting is poor. | External positions, night operation or unlit areas. |
| Ingress and impact rating | Important | Sealing against water and dust, and resistance to deliberate damage. | External and reachable cameras fail or are disabled without adequate rating. | Outdoors, in wash-down areas, or within reach of the public. |
| Storage capacity and retention | Critical | Days of footage retained at the configured quality and camera count. | Retention is usually discovered to be too short only when footage is requested. | Incidents surface late, or a policy or insurer specifies a period. |
| Compression and bit rate | Important | How efficiently footage is stored and transmitted. | Determines storage and network load; over-compression destroys the detail the system exists to capture. | Many cameras, long retention or limited network capacity. |
| Power over Ethernet class | Important | Power drawn by cameras, readers and controllers over the data cable. | Heaters, motors and illuminators raise draw substantially and can exhaust a switch power budget. | External cameras with heaters, pan-tilt-zoom units, or many powered devices. |
| Credential technology | Critical | The card, fob, mobile or biometric method and its security generation. | Older card technologies are trivially cloneable, which undermines the whole system. | Areas are sensitive or credentials circulate widely. |
| Door capacity and controller expansion | Important | Doors per controller and how the system grows. | Determines cost per door as the site expands. | More doors are planned than are being installed now. |
| Fail-safe or fail-secure behaviour | Critical | Whether a lock releases or holds when power is lost. | A life-safety and fire-regulation matter, not a preference. | The door is on an escape route or protects a high-value area. |
| Integration and standards support | Important | Open protocol support and interoperability with video, alarm and directory systems. | Decides whether the organisation is locked to one supplier for the system's life. | Systems must work together or be extended by a different installer later. |
What it has to work with
- Cameras and recorders interoperate best within one manufacturer's ecosystem; open standards give basic compatibility but often not advanced features
- Power over Ethernet budget on the switch must cover every camera, reader and controller, including external units with heaters that draw far more in winter
- Door hardware - locks, closers, strikes, magnetic locks - must suit the door, the frame and the fire strategy; access control is fitted to the door, not the other way round
- Credential technology must be consistent across sites if one credential is to work everywhere
- Video and access systems integrate with alarm, intercom and directory systems only where the platforms are designed to, which should be confirmed before purchase
- Network segmentation is a compatibility question as much as a security one: these devices should not share a flat network with general computing
What it costs to own, not just to buy
- Installation, cabling and mounting frequently exceed the hardware cost, particularly for external and high positions
- Storage grows with camera count, resolution and retention, and is the cost most often underestimated at design
- Software licensing per camera or per door recurs on many platforms
- Maintenance is genuinely required - lens cleaning, focus, firmware updates and recording verification - or the system degrades unnoticed
- Credential issuance and administration is an ongoing operational cost proportional to staff turnover
- Access control repairs interact with door hardware and fire compliance, which can make apparently small faults expensive
Risks and things worth knowing first
- Recording people carries legal obligations - notification, purpose, retention limits, subject access - which must be settled before installation
- Biometric data attracts stricter legal treatment than cards or fobs in most jurisdictions and should not be adopted casually
- Network-connected cameras and controllers with default credentials and unpatched firmware are a common route into an organisation's network
- Systems degrade silently: a camera knocked out of alignment or a recorder that stopped writing is usually discovered only when footage is needed
- Access control interacts with fire regulations and safe egress; incorrect fail behaviour is a life-safety issue
- Coverage designed for deterrence rarely produces identification-quality evidence, and the difference is only discovered at the incident
Mistakes that are common and expensive
- Specifying cameras by count and resolution without deciding what each position must actually achieve
- Fitting a wide-angle camera to cover a large area and finding nobody in the footage is identifiable
- Setting retention to whatever the supplied storage happens to allow rather than to what will be needed
- Leaving default passwords and stale firmware on network-connected cameras and controllers
- Putting the security system on the same flat network as staff computing
- Choosing an easily cloned legacy card technology because it is cheaper
- Deciding access control without consulting the fire strategy and door hardware
- Never testing that recording is actually working until footage is requested
When you may not need this at all
A small, single-door office within a managed building that already provides entry control and building-wide surveillance may need nothing beyond a lock and the landlord's system. Equally, a site with very low footfall and no assets on premises may find that lighting, sound practice and a monitored alarm address the risk more cheaply. Cameras and access control earn their cost where there are assets, people, disputes or obligations that require evidence and control.
Common Questions
Answered plainly
How many cameras do I need?
Count is the wrong starting point. The design begins with what each position must achieve - noticing that something happened, recognising a known person, or identifying a stranger - because each demands a very different level of detail on the subject. Once the purpose of each position is agreed, the camera count follows from it, and it is usually different from the number people first assume.
Which camera brand do you supply?
ARRIX does not publish a fixed camera list at family level. Physical security is designed to the site - positions, purposes, lighting, retention, door count and fire strategy - and then sourced to that design. Describe the site and what you need to be able to prove, and ARRIX will return a specified quotation.
Is a 4K camera always better?
Not by itself. What matters is how many pixels land on the subject at the distance it actually appears, and a high-resolution camera set to a very wide view can produce less usable detail than a modest camera correctly aimed. Higher resolution also increases storage and network load, so it should be applied where it buys identification, not everywhere.
How long should we keep footage?
Long enough to cover the delay between an incident and someone asking about it, which is usually longer than expected. Insurance or regulatory requirements may set a minimum, and data protection obligations generally set a maximum - footage should not be kept indefinitely. Decide the period first and size the storage to it, rather than accepting whatever the supplied recorder happens to hold.
Are security cameras a risk to our network?
They can be. A network camera or door controller is a computer with firmware and credentials, and installations left on default passwords with unpatched firmware have been a recognised route into organisations' networks. They should sit on a segmented network, have their credentials changed at installation, and have a named update path - which is a question worth asking any installer before they quote.
Should we use fingerprint readers instead of cards?
Biometrics solve the real problem that cards get shared and lost, which matters for high-value areas and for time-and-attendance integrity. They also introduce legal obligations that cards do not, because biometric data is treated more strictly than a credential number in most jurisdictions. It is worth taking advice on that before adopting it, rather than after.
Can I keep my existing cameras?
Often, at least in part. Analogue cameras can be brought onto a modern recorder through encoders, and mixed installations are common during a phased replacement. Whether it is worth doing depends on whether the existing positions and image quality actually serve the purpose - keeping a camera that never produced usable footage saves very little.
Request A Quotation
Tell ARRIX the situation, not the part number
ARRIX sources this family to requirement. A specified quotation is faster than a catalogue search, and these are the questions it answers.
- What are you trying to achieve at each location - deterrence, knowing something happened, or identifying a person?
- How many areas or positions need covering, and are they indoors, outdoors or both?
- What are the lighting conditions at night in the external areas?
- How long does footage need to be kept, and is that set by policy, insurance or a regulator?
- How many doors need controlled access, and are any on fire escape routes?
- How many people need credentials, and how often do staff join or leave?
- Do you have an existing system, and would you extend it or replace it?
- Is this one site or several, and should one credential and one view cover them all?
- Who will view footage and administer access, and do they need remote access?
- Have you considered the notification and data protection obligations that come with recording people?