Home › Comparison
Edge vs cloudEdge or cloud video analytics: what actually changes.
Both run the same kinds of model. The difference is where the video is processed, and that one choice decides privacy, flexibility, scale, uptime and price.
What is the difference between edge and cloud video analytics?
Cloud video analytics uploads camera footage to a remote data centre to be processed there. Edge video analytics processes the footage on a device or server inside the building and sends out only the result. Edge is faster because nothing waits on an upload, it keeps working without internet, it costs the same whether a site has five cameras or fifty, and the video never leaves the premises.
| Dimension | Cloud video analytics | Tarsyer edge |
|---|---|---|
| Where video is processed | Uploaded to a third-party data centre | On a device or server inside your premises |
| Time from event to alert | Seconds to minutes, after upload and queueing | Under a minute, usually seconds |
| When the link drops | Detection stops | Detection continues, alerts queue |
| Bandwidth per camera | 1 to 4 Mbps, continuously | Kilobytes per alert |
| Going from 10 sites to 1,000 | Central processing, storage and bandwidth all grow | Each site brings its own processing. Nothing central changes |
| If hardware fails | A data-centre outage stops every site at once | Another device takes over at sites with more than one. Other sites are unaffected |
| Cost as cameras are added | Grows with streaming and storage | Flat, one device covers many cameras |
| Who holds the footage | The vendor | You, because nothing leaves the site |
| Typical IT review | Weeks, and often blocked | Short, because there is nothing to review |
| New cameras required | Often, for cloud-native hardware | None, existing CCTV is used |
| Hardware on site | None, but every camera streams out continuously | One small device, or an entry-level workstation. No graphics card |
Where cloud wins, honestly: a single site with a handful of cameras and no privacy constraint is simpler in the cloud, because there is no hardware to install at all.
Why chains choose edge.
Keeping video on site is the reason IT signs off. These are the reasons operations teams stay.
Video stays in the building.
Frames are processed on site and discarded. Only alerts, snapshots and counts leave, so there is nothing for IT to review.
Each site runs what it needs.
Queue alerts in one store, hygiene checks in another, PPE on one line only. Checks are set per site and per camera.
10 stores or 1,000, nothing changes.
Every site brings its own processing, so there is no central server to upgrade and the bandwidth bill stays flat.
One device fails, the rest carry on.
At sites with more than one device, its cameras move to another and the checks keep running. A fault in one store never touches the rest.
Video stays in the building. Only the answer leaves.
The Tarsyer device reads your recorder, or the cameras directly, over the local network, runs the checks, and discards the frames. What leaves the site is an alert, a snapshot and a count.
Edge and cloud, answered.
Edge is better wherever the video is sensitive, the connection is unreliable, or the camera count is large. Processing on site means detection in seconds rather than after an upload, it keeps working when the link drops, and bandwidth stays flat as cameras are added. Cloud makes sense when a site has very few cameras and no privacy constraint.
Streaming one camera continuously to the cloud costs roughly 1 to 4 Mbps depending on quality, and that multiplies by every camera. Edge processing sends only alerts, snapshots and counts, which is kilobytes per event, so a hundred sites cost about the same in bandwidth as one.
Yes. Detection runs on the device inside the building, so it continues through an outage. Alerts queue and are delivered when the connection returns. Internet is needed to deliver a message, not to spot a problem.
No. Edge means the video is processed on your premises instead of in a data centre. Tarsyer usually supplies a small edge device for each site, but if you already have a server or workstation on site, Tarsyer can run on that instead. It needs no graphics card, and either way the video never leaves the building.
Yes, and more simply than cloud. Each site brings its own processing, so going from 10 stores to 1,000 needs no central server upgrade and no bigger internet link, and each store can run a different mix of checks. Devices update themselves in staggered waves, so a larger rollout does not change how the chain is run.
At sites with more than one device, another device takes over its cameras and the checks keep running. Either way, the failed device reports the fault so it can be replaced, and because every site processes its own video, a failure in one store never affects another, unlike a data-centre outage that stops every site at once.
Materially, because no video leaves the premises. There is no footage sitting with a third party to review, which is usually what shortens the IT and compliance conversation from weeks to a call.
See it running on your own cameras.
A 30-minute call. Bring a floor plan or a camera list and we will tell you which checks fit, what it costs and how soon it goes live.
Or write to sales@tarsyer.com