7 Ways Single-Vendor Video Systems Reduce Risks and Costs

Military vehicle video system
Military vehicle video system
Blog
March 11, 2021

7 Ways Single-Vendor Video Systems Reduce Risks and Costs

Choosing different vendors for each component in an end-to-end video system is often a false economy. There are several additional costs — time, effort, and financial — that may not be obvious at first glance.

Choosing a single vendor for a complete video solution massively reduces program risks and costs. Sourcing individual components, such as military-grade monitors with projected capacitive touch screen technology, rugged video recorders, and video management solutions with low latency, from different vendors increases the risk of integration challenges, program budget overrun, and scheduling issues.

7 Ways Single-Vendor Video Systems Reduce Risks and Costs Infographic

 

 

Faster Integration Time

Using multiple vendors to supply individual video system components increases integration time. Each vendor typically needs weeks, sometimes months, of non-recurring engineering (NRE) effort to integrate with other vendors’ components. Vendors that can provide multiple pieces of the system typically ensure they work seamlessly together. This requires minimal NRE effort and makes integration four to six times faster than when multiple vendors’ components are used.

Lower Integration Costs

Because integration is so much faster, costs are significantly reduced when sourcing all the system components from a single vendor. When each vendor charges for NRE effort, program budgets can easily balloon by hundreds of thousands of dollars. A turnkey solution from a single provider bundles components and services at a lower price than multiple vendors’ prices combined.

Lower SWaP and Complexity

Additional cables and adapters are required when integrating multiple vendors’ systems to ensure interoperability. These increase system size, weight, and power (SWaP) and complexity, whereas components developed by a single supplier are engineered from the ground up to interoperate, removing the need for additional cables and adapters.

Lower End-To-End Latency

Complex cabling, multiple adapters, and inconsistent performance across components increase end-to-end video system latency. Vendors that design multiple components, typically do so with complete interoperability. Components designed to work seamlessly together enable the minimum latency in individual components and the end-to-end video system.

To learn about the other three ways single-vendor solutions reduce integration risks, costs, and time, download the infographic or read our white paper, The Hidden Costs of Video System Integration.