Nick Bowden, Director, Video Management Servers Ltd highlights MOSS as a flexible, subscription-based alternative to traditional cloud and capital purchase models for on-site video management and AI systems.
MOSS (Managed On Site Servers) is a subscription-based service offered by Video Management Servers Ltd (VMS Co.) that delivers fully managed, warrantied servers on-site for video management systems (VMS) and AI analytics applications.
Rather than a traditional capital purchase or cloud-hosted model, MOSS provides a hybrid approach: The hardware resides physically at the customer’s location, but ownership, management, maintenance and life-cycle support remain with VMS Co. throughout the subscription term, supported with a next business day, engineer-on-site warranty.
This model delivers many commercial and operational benefits associated with cloud solutions, such as predictable subscription costs, flexibility and managed service support, while also retaining the performance, security and local control advantages of an on-site infrastructure.
We asked Nick Bowden, Managing Director of Video Management Servers Ltd, to explain the key benefits of MOSS.
One of the foundational benefits of MOSS is its payment structure.
Instead of requiring a significant, upfront capital expenditure (CapEx) to purchase servers, customers pay a predictable, monthly subscription fee.
This fee is treated as a maintenance or operating cost, which can be aligned with operational expenditure (OpEx) budgeting, often simplifying internal approval processes.
This approach helps businesses, especially those with strict capital spend policies or budget constraints, to deploy a high-performance VMS infrastructure, without a large, initial outlay.
It also allows businesses to better manage cash flow and allocate expenditure to other priority areas.
MOSS significantly reduces broadband and ongoing video streaming costs, compared to cloud.
Traditional cloud-based CCTV or VMS solutions require the constant upload of high-resolution video to remote cloud data centres, which can incur substantial bandwidth, storage and processing expenses.
By recording and storing video locally on a MOSS server, these streaming and broadband costs are dramatically reduced.
In addition, because local recording does not depend on high-capacity internet connections, businesses avoid the need to upgrade to or source expensive broadband or network services to support constant cloud connectivity.
By packaging server delivery, installation, maintenance and warranty into one monthly fee, MOSS helps to reduce the cost of entry and affordability of high-quality video management systems, increasing uptake and wider use.
Businesses no longer need to budget separately for hardware, support contracts, warranties and future replacements – all are bundled into the subscription.
This bundling offers immediate affordability, which is especially useful for small and mid-sized systems or budget-constrained projects where traditional purchase models might be prohibitive.
With MOSS, VMS Co. offers comprehensive managed support, retaining ownership of the hardware and taking full responsibility for managing, maintaining and supporting the server throughout the subscription duration.
This maximises hardware uptime, driven by its engineer-on-site warranty coverage, solving technical support issues in real-time and bespoke service level agreements (SLAs) to ensure response times proportional to site security requirements.
Standard support is next business day field engineer attendances, but customers may choose faster response times (e.g., 4-hour critical support) depending on the mission-critical nature of the application.
This managed service approach gives customers peace of mind, knowing that expert engineers, familiar with video management, server hardware and networks, are maintaining the system.
It also reduces reliance on in-house IT or integrator support teams to troubleshoot or manage server health.
MOSS simplifies vendor engagement with a single contract and single point of contact.
Instead of juggling separate contracts for hardware, maintenance, warranty, installation, SLA and upgrades, customers have a single subscription agreement with VMS Co.
This reduces administrative overhead and improves clarity on service expectations, costs and responsibilities.
Add-ons or expansions can be rolled into the same contract pro-rata, keeping all site equipment within a single, unified service framework.
A core feature of MOSS is that VMS Co. manages both the hardware life cycle and renewal process.
When servers reach end-of-life (EOL); or become sub-optimal due to wear; or when site requirements change, customers can replace or upgrade them.
VMS Co offers a MIGRATE service to scale up or re-specify servers mid-term if surveillance needs increase.
A common example is when adding more cameras or expanding analytics capabilities.
This scalability ensures that the hardware infrastructure can adapt to growing demands without traditional procurement cycles.
In turn, this offers continuity of operation without requiring the customer to perform the complex hardware migrations themselves.
This flexibility is a significant advantage over both outright purchase and more similar to cloud subscription models, as customers can adjust their capacity and performance over time, while retaining local control.
It gives businesses peace of mind that as their system grows, their hardware needs can adapt with minimum disruption in a closely managed fashion.
Many cloud-based video management platforms constrain recording resolutions or frame rates, such as dropping from 25fps to 6fps, to minimise streaming, storage and process expenses.
In contrast, MOSS maintains optimal recording quality in systems due to local recording.
This allows the high-quality and high-frame-rate footage essential for critical use cases, without compromise.
So, by recording on-site, these systems preserve evidential video quality.
In addition to performance and financial benefits, MOSS can contribute to corporate sustainability goals.
The service utilises renewed ICT (Information and Communication Technology) hardware, which reduces environmental impact compared to manufacturing new equipment.
Using renewed servers, with updated power supplies and storage drives, significantly lowers carbon emissions over the ICT equipment life cycle.
This positioning aligns well with growing business commitments to environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets, including net zero emissions strategies and sustainability procurement policies – a growing requirement, particularly in government agencies.
MOSS helps system integrators generate recurring revenues in a combined hardware and software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscription, business model.
Costs shift from one-time transactions to predictable instalments, by marrying cloud rental software solutions with locally deployed rental hardware in an entirely subscription-based, managed service.
The MOSS subscription offering from Video Management Servers Ltd innovatively blends the performance and control benefits of local servers with the commercial and operational convenience of subscription-based managed services.
Through predictable budgeting, comprehensive managed support, scalable infrastructure, enhanced performance, improved security, sustainability contributions and commercial opportunities for integrators, MOSS delivers a compelling alternative to both traditional purchase and cloud-centric VMS models.
MOSS addresses critical Cloud deployment issues, by:
