Verkada cameras
Footage on the camera, management in a browser, and no recorder in a cupboard to be stolen, flooded or forgotten.
What “no NVR” actually means
It is the clearest genuine difference between this and the system you probably have, and it is worth understanding properly rather than as a slogan.
- Recording is on the camera. Each camera holds its own footage on internal storage. There is no central recorder for a burglar to take or a flood to reach.
- Management is in the cloud. You watch and search through a browser. Only the stream you are actually looking at leaves the site.
- Cloud backup is included but optional. Thirty days per camera licence. It is enabled per camera and does not retrospectively upload anything that happened before you switched it on.
- Bandwidth is modest. Cameras send encrypted thumbnails and stream only when someone is watching, which matters on a school network that is already busy.
Which camera goes where
Model numbers matter when you are comparing quotations. These are the families; the exact model depends on the survey.
| Family | Typical use | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CD Dome | Corridors, halls, receptions, most internal spaces | The default choice indoors; -E variants are external-rated |
| CB Bullet | Car parks, boundaries, approaches, playgrounds | Telephoto -TE variants for distance; the LPR-capable models |
| CM Mini | Tight spaces, discreet positions, entrance lobbies | Small form factor where a dome is too obvious |
| CF Fisheye | Open-plan areas, sports halls, dining rooms | One camera instead of three in a wide space |
| CH / CY Multisensor | Corners, junctions, quads | Several sensors in one housing and one licence |
| CP PTZ | Large sites, playing fields, event spaces | 28x and 32x optical zoom models |
| CR Remote | Temporary compounds, remote gates, no network | LTE-connected |
Finding the thing you are looking for
The reason people stop dreading a footage request.
People and attribute search
Search by what someone was wearing across every camera at once, rather than scrubbing timelines.
Vehicle and licence-plate search
Verkada lists the UK among the countries where its LPR is tested and recommended, on the bullet and remote models. No extra licence is required.
Motion and line crossing
Alerts on a boundary being crossed, or on loitering, without watching a screen.
Face search — with a caveat
It exists and it is organisation-wide when enabled. Under UK GDPR that is a biometric processing decision with a DPIA behind it, not a feature to switch on because it is there. A person-of-interest-only mode limits what is stored.
How long you keep footage, and the honest version of the numbers
Verkada advertises “guaranteed onboard storage ranging from 30 to 365 days”. That is the range across the whole fleet, not what any one camera does. A CD63 with 512GB gives around 30 days at standard quality; the same camera with 3TB gives around 120. Anyone quoting you “365 days on camera” without naming the model and the storage variant is quoting the brochure, not your system.
Longer is not automatically better. Under UK GDPR you keep footage only as long as you need it for the purpose you set out, and a school keeping a year of corridor video needs a very good reason. Most schools we work with settle at 30 days, with specific incidents exported and held separately.
Extended cloud backup can be bought in 30-day packs per camera if you have a genuine reason to keep more.
What we do that a box-shifter does not
- A survey first: where the cameras need to point, not where they are easiest to fit.
- Containment, cable, power and terminations by our own engineers, certified under the group’s NICEIC approval.
- Network and PoE checked with your IT team or ours before anything is ordered.
- Camera positions checked against privacy expectations — not overlooking neighbours, never in toilets or changing rooms.
- Signage and a DPIA starting point handed over, because a camera system without them is a compliance problem.
- Command configured with roles, so the site team, the head and the DPO see appropriate things.
Questions we get asked
Can we keep our existing cameras?
Does it work on our school network?
What happens if the internet goes down?
Where these facts come from
Every capability on this page is taken from Verkada’s own current documentation, and the sources are listed at the foot of the page. Where we could not verify something we have left it out rather than repeat it from a brochure. SEG Core Ltd is a Verkada Gold Partner and reseller; SEGsafe is not affiliated with or operated by Verkada Inc.
Sources
Everything on this page is taken from these. Checked 25 September 2026.
Start with a survey, not a quotation.
We walk the site, look at what you already have, and tell you what would genuinely help — including where the answer is that you do not need anything.
Book a free site survey Call 01727 822 833