Edge AI box: analytics for the cameras you already own

Most sites don’t need new cameras. They need the cameras that are already mounted to stop crying wolf.

An edge AI box sits on your existing network, pulls streams from the cameras you installed last year, and runs the analytics locally — no cloud account, no per-camera licence, no rip-and-replace.

What an edge AI box actually does

Your cameras produce video. Something has to decide which frames matter. Traditionally that’s pixel-based motion detection, which is why a passing headlight or a tree in the wind generates an alert.

An edge AI box runs models on the video itself and only raises an event when the thing you asked for actually happens — a person crossing a line, a vehicle entering a zone, a plate matching a list, someone without a hi-vis vest in a defined area.

Because the processing is on the box, the video never needs to leave the building to be analysed.

On-premise: nothing leaves the building

This is the part that decides a lot of deals. If your video goes to a cloud service for analysis, someone has to answer questions about where it’s stored, who can access it, which jurisdiction it sits in, and what happens when the internet drops.

• Video stays local. Recording and analysis happen on your network.
• It keeps working offline. A WAN outage doesn’t blind the analytics.
• No recurring per-camera fee. You buy the box; there’s nothing to subscribe to.
• Compliance conversations get shorter. For GDPR, CCPA, and internal IT review, “the video doesn’t leave site” ends most of the argument.

If you want the full side-by-side — bandwidth, latency, retention cost, and what genuinely changes for a privacy review — the on-premise vs cloud video analytics comparison goes through it in detail.

Edge AI box vs AI NVR vs video analytics server

These terms get used loosely, so here’s how we draw the lines:

• AI NVR — recording-first appliance with some analytics bolted on. Analytics depth is usually limited to what the vendor ships.
• Video analytics server — the same idea in a rack or server form factor; more capacity, same trade-off of a bigger footprint.
• Edge AI box — analytics-first, compact, installed next to the existing network equipment. Recording can stay wherever it already is, or be handled on-box depending on configuration.

If you’re adding intelligence to an existing deployment rather than replacing one, the edge box is usually the smaller project — no re-cabling, no new camera mounts, no re-training on a new VMS.

Channel options: 2, 4, 6 — or up to 128 on a custom build

Multi-channel is where the difference between “a smart camera” and “a system” shows up. A camera with onboard AI analyses its own view and nothing else. One box analyses every channel connected to it — and, more importantly, correlates across them.

The three standard packages are fixed configurations: 2, 4, or 6 channels. They are pre-configured and tested before shipping, which is why they are the most cost-effective route when a site needs six cameras or fewer. The trade-off is that they do not expand — a 2-channel unit cannot be upgraded to 4 later.

If you need more than six channels, that is a custom build, which scales up to 128 channels and is quoted against the site itself. The custom build process covers what gets scoped and how the quote is assembled.

Cameras connect over ONVIF or RTSP, H.264 and H.265 — which covers the overwhelming majority of IP cameras already in the field. If your existing cameras are still in good condition, you do not have to replace them.

Packages and pricing

The base price is deliberately quoted without cameras — because in most cases you don’t need any. The box connects to the IP cameras you already have over ONVIF or RTSP, and we’ll help you bring them online remotely at no extra charge.

If you do need cameras, add USD 0.99 and we include the matching number for that package. That isn’t a pricing trick; it’s the point of the product — you’re buying the analytics, not another pile of hardware.

All three standard packages arrive plug-and-play — configured, loaded, and tested before they ship. Shipping is included, and every unit carries a one-year warranty.

Cabling: 10 metres of cable is included with each kit — the total across the whole kit, covering every camera, not 10 metres per camera. Additional length is billed at USD 25 per 10 metres, calculated on total cable length. For example, a site needing 30 metres in total adds 20 metres — that’s two extra 10-metre units, USD 25 × 2 = USD 50.

Moving between packages: the standard packages are fixed configurations — going from 2 to 4 channels means a different package, not an add-on to the one you have. If you later commission a custom build, the cost of one standard package you already purchased can be credited against it.

What it’s not good at

We publish this because it saves everyone time:

• Heavy rain, fog, or snow degrades detection accuracy
• Strong backlighting at entry points is a known hard case
• Very small subjects at the frame edge are unreliable
• Densely crowded scenes are harder than sparse ones

If your site is mostly one of those four, say so early — we’d rather tell you than sell you.

Where to go next

Streams are decoded as ITU-T H.265 or H.264, and pulled from cameras over RTSP as defined in RFC 2326 alongside ONVIF discovery and control.