USEN creates safer shops with cloud-based security cameras, installing 20,000 cameras in the stores of over 8,000 clients

USEN Camera is a one-stop security camera service that remotely monitors stores from dedicated devices or PCs. It can also collect and analyze customer traits using an AI camera function.

“Our security cameras have four special features,” explains Hirochika Nomura, Development Division General Manager. “User Interface (UI)/User experience (UX) focused on retail operations; satisfying live video with low latency; security such as Internet Protocol (IP) restrictions and access privileges management; and inexpensive hardware and cloud storage services.”

USEN Camera has an Secure Digital (SD) card recording function that captures about seven days of footage. The company also developed a cloud service based on customer feedback to record up to 360 days of video.

According to Nomura, “As demand for Internet Protocol (IP) cameras grew, customers wanted the ability to view older footage. With conventional recording methods, media may deteriorate and equipment may break, so cloud recording has become more attractive recently. We therefore decided to develop a low-cost cloud recording service that even small stores can afford.”

To create a cloud recording plan that was affordable and robust enough for commercial use, USEN investigated Amazon Web Services (AWS) and chose AWS IoT Core and Amazon Kinesis Video Streams.

“Developing a cloud camera service from scratch requires a considerable budget and human resources,” says Nomura. “Using AWS removed the need to develop basic technologies from scratch and offered extensive design guidelines and technical support. Our primary reason for choosing AWS was that it accelerated development with fewer people and at lower cost.”

USEN also was pleased with the ability to launch its service while minimizing business risk as AWS eliminates initial investment and offers a pay-as-you-go plan for video storage and bandwidth usage. The company was already using AWS for other services, so the prospect of shared user authentication systems and highly integrated services also drove the selection decision.

USEN began developing its cloud recording system in June 2021 and completed it in March of the following year, which allowed the company to start trial sales for field tests early. Securely connecting camera data to the cloud in real-time is achieved through AWS IoT Core, which transfers data in Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) packets, for authentication using client certificates. USEN adopted the fully managed Amazon Kinesis Video Streams service to develop its cloud recording system in short order.

The company added ultra-low latency video streaming in March 2024. To do so, it used Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC), which exchanges audio and video in real time using Peer to Peer (P2P) communication.

“Live video streams have delays when using ordinary communication methods,” says Nomura. “This can be frustrating for users. We therefore designed a hybrid service leveraging WebRTC to view live video with less than one second of delay.”

To build the new cloud recording service, USEN enlisted just two of its own developers, plus two for front-end web work and another two for the back end, completing the project with minimal time and labor.

“Amazon Kinesis Video Streams and its proven results enabled us to enter the production phase without spending much time on a Proof of Concept (PoC),” says Nomura. “With deployment guidelines already in place and friendly advice from AWS personnel, we were able to identify potential problems while reviewing the architecture at the design stage.”