AWS Architecture Blog·July 13, 2026Scalable Petabyte-Scale Video Storage and Analytics on AWS
This article details March Networks' architecture for cloud-based enterprise video surveillance storage and analytics on AWS. It highlights the transition from on-premise NVRs to a hybrid cloud model using Amazon S3 and S3 Glacier for cost-effective, petabyte-scale video retention and lifecycle management. The architecture supports secure ingestion, monitoring, and advanced analytics, addressing the challenges of distributed video data management.
Read original on AWS Architecture BlogThe Challenge: Scaling Enterprise Video Data
Traditional enterprise video surveillance relies on on-premise Network Video Recorders (NVRs) and servers, leading to fragmented storage, high maintenance costs, and inconsistent retention policies across thousands of distributed locations. As video retention requirements grow and organizations seek to extract operational insights, this model becomes economically and operationally unsustainable. The shift to cloud storage addresses these challenges by consolidating video data into a centralized, elastic infrastructure, reducing hardware overhead and simplifying data governance.
March Networks Cloud Storage Architecture on AWS
March Networks' solution leverages AWS services to provide a scalable and durable cloud-based video storage platform. The core architecture focuses on secure video ingestion, tiered storage management, and enabling advanced analytics. This allows for flexible deployment models, from hybrid approaches (local recent footage, cloud archived) to predominantly cloud-based storage, automatically scaling with demand.
- Secure Ingestion: Video recorded on local NVRs is securely uploaded to Amazon S3 buckets using encrypted protocols.
- Tiered Storage: Utilizes Amazon S3 Standard and S3 Standard-IA for frequently accessed footage, and Amazon S3 Glacier for long-term, cost-effective archiving. Lifecycle policies automate data movement between tiers based on access patterns.
- Scalability & Durability: Amazon S3 provides highly durable object storage that scales automatically to accommodate petabytes of video data without manual infrastructure planning.
- Analytics Integration: The architecture integrates with services like Amazon S3 Vectors and Amazon Bedrock to support advanced AI-powered video analytics, transforming raw video into operational insights.
Key Architectural Components
Example of Tiered Storage Policy
A common strategy involves retaining video for 30 days in S3 Standard for quick access, then moving it to S3 Standard-IA for up to 90 days for less frequent but still active investigations, and finally archiving to S3 Glacier for 5 years or more for compliance and long-term analytics. This optimizes cost while meeting various access and retention requirements.
The design addresses the critical need for massive data retention and efficient retrieval, especially for compliance and operational intelligence. By offloading video storage to the cloud, organizations significantly reduce capital expenditure on hardware and operational costs associated with maintenance and manual scaling. The ability to centralize and analyze video data across distributed sites is a major advancement over traditional models, unlocking new possibilities for business insights.