How To Use Rhombus Systems
In a world where physical security is more critical than ever, traditional CCTV systems often feel like relics of a bygone era. Clunky on-premise recorders (NVRs/DVRs), complex networking, and a lack of intelligent features can make managing security a frustrating and inefficient task. Enter Rhombus Systems, a platform designed to drag physical security, kicking and screaming, into the modern, cloud-native world.
But what is Rhombus, and more importantly, how do you actually use it to its full potential? This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know—from initial planning and setup to leveraging its most advanced AI features. We'll explore the positives, the potential negatives, and provide best practices to ensure you're getting the most out of your investment.
What is Rhombus Systems? The Core Concept
At its heart, Rhombus Systems is a cloud-based physical security platform. This means it replaces the traditional security closet full of wires and recorders with smart cameras that connect directly to the internet and a powerful, centralized software console you can access from anywhere.
Rhombus is not just about recording video; it's about turning that video into actionable, searchable, and intelligent data.
The system is built on three key pillars:
- Intelligent Hardware: Smart cameras and environmental sensors that capture high-quality video and data. They have onboard storage, meaning they keep recording even if the internet goes down.
- Cloud Software: A powerful, browser-based dashboard (the Rhombus Console) and mobile app for managing your entire system, viewing live feeds, investigating incidents, and configuring alerts.
- Artificial Intelligence (AI): Advanced analytics that run in the cloud to provide features like Facial Recognition, License Plate Recognition, People Counting, and Unusual Behavior Detection.
How to Use Rhombus: A Step-by-Step Approach
Using Rhombus effectively involves more than just plugging in cameras. It's a lifecycle that starts with planning and extends to daily operation and optimization.Step 1: Planning Your Rhombus Deployment
Success begins before you even purchase a camera. A well-thought-out plan will save you time, money, and headaches down the road.
- Assess Your Needs: What are you trying to protect? Identify key entry points, high-value areas, choke points, and areas prone to incidents. Are you monitoring an office, a warehouse, a school, or a retail store? Your use case will define your camera placement and feature requirements.
- Choose the Right Cameras: Rhombus offers a variety of cameras for different environments.
- Dome Cameras (e.g., R200, R360): Ideal for indoor spaces like offices, hallways, and retail floors. They are discreet and offer wide viewing angles. The R360 provides a 360-degree fisheye view.
- Bullet Cameras (e.g., R400): Best for outdoor use and monitoring specific areas like parking lots, building perimeters, and loading docks. They are more visible, acting as a deterrent.
- Specialty Cameras: Consider cameras with specific features like the R510 with its telephoto lens for long-range license plate recognition.
- Consider Network Infrastructure: Rhombus cameras connect via Ethernet (and are powered by PoE - Power over Ethernet). Ensure you have adequate network drops and PoE-capable switches where you plan to install cameras. While the cameras are efficient with bandwidth, a stable and robust network is non-negotiable for a reliable cloud security system.
- Factor in Licensing: Each Rhombus device (camera or sensor) requires a software license. This license unlocks the cloud storage, AI features, support, and software updates. Choose the license tier that matches your required video retention period (e.g., 30, 60, 90 days, or more).
Step 2: Installation and Setup
One of Rhombus's most significant selling points is its simplicity of setup.
- Physical Installation: Mount the cameras in their planned locations. Since they are PoE, you only need to run a single Ethernet cable to each camera for both power and data.
- Device Registration: This is where the magic happens. Simply scan the QR code on the camera or its box using the Rhombus mobile app. The system automatically registers the device to your account.
- Configuration: Once the camera is online, it will appear in your Rhombus Console. From there, you can give it a name (e.g., "Lobby Entrance," "Parking Lot - West"), adjust image settings, and begin configuring its features. The entire process for a single camera can take just a few minutes.
Step 3: Mastering the Rhombus Console
The Console is your command center. Spending time learning its layout and features is key to effective use.
- Live View: Customize multi-camera grids to monitor your most important locations in real-time. You can create different layouts for different users or situations.
- Investigations (Video Search): This is arguably the most powerful feature. Instead of scrubbing through hours of footage, you can search for specific events. Search by:
- Motion: Highlight a specific region of the video (e.g., a doorway) and see all motion events that occurred there.
- People Analytics: Search for faces (if enabled), specific clothing colors, or even human activity in general.
- Vehicle Analytics: Search for a specific license plate or filter by vehicle type and color.
- Setting Up Alerts: Proactive security is about being notified of events as they happen. Don't just record—react. Configure alerts for:
- Camera Offline: Get notified instantly if a camera is tampered with or loses power.
- Motion in a Region: Set up alerts for motion in a restricted area after hours.
- Face or License Plate Match: Create a list of "authorized" or "unauthorized" individuals/vehicles and get alerted when they are detected.
- Unusual Behavior: Let the AI notify you of things like loitering or large crowds forming.
- Sharing and Archiving: When an incident occurs, you need to share evidence. Rhombus makes this easy and secure. You can share a direct, expiring link to a video clip with law enforcement or team members via email or text. You can also permanently archive important clips to the cloud so they are never deleted.
Step 4: Leveraging Advanced Features and Integrations
To truly unify your security, connect Rhombus to your other business systems.
- Access Control Integration: Pair Rhombus with a system like Openpath or Kisi. This allows you to see a video clip of every door access event directly within the Rhombus Console. If a "door forced open" alarm is triggered, the associated camera feed is immediately available.
- Sensor Integration: Deploy Rhombus environmental sensors to monitor temperature, humidity, vaping, and more. A temperature alert in a server room can be visually verified using the nearest camera.
- API and Custom Solutions: For tech-savvy organizations, the Rhombus API opens up a world of possibilities. You could, for example, trigger a camera to start recording based on a point-of-sale transaction or an alarm from a custom IoT device.
The Full Picture: Positives and Negatives
No system is perfect. A balanced view is essential for making an informed decision.
Positives & Focus Points (The Good)
- Ease of Use: The setup process and software interface are incredibly intuitive, drastically reducing the training time and technical expertise required.
- Scalability: Adding a new camera or a new location is as simple as plugging it in and scanning a QR code. This is a massive advantage for growing businesses.
- No On-Premise Recorders: Eliminating NVRs/DVRs removes a single point of failure, reduces maintenance, saves physical space, and enhances security (no one can steal the recorder).
- Powerful AI Analytics: The ability to search for a person by clothing color or a car by license plate transforms video from a passive record into a searchable database, saving countless hours during investigations.
- Centralized Management: Manage thousands of cameras across hundreds of global locations from a single web browser tab. This is impossible with traditional systems without complex and costly federation software.
- Robust Security: End-to-end AES-256 encryption, SOC 2 Type II certification, and a secure cloud infrastructure provide enterprise-grade data protection.
- Continuous Improvement: As a cloud platform, Rhombus constantly rolls out new features and security updates automatically, so your system gets better over time.
Negatives & Considerations (The Trade-offs)
- Subscription-Based Model: The biggest mental hurdle for many is the shift from a one-time capital expenditure (CapEx) to an ongoing operational expenditure (OpEx). Each device requires a recurring license fee.
- Internet Dependency: While cameras record locally during an outage, you cannot view live feeds, receive alerts, or review cloud footage without an internet connection. A reliable ISP is a must.
- Bandwidth Consumption: The cameras are efficient, but a large deployment will have an impact on your network's upload bandwidth. This needs to be planned for.
- Data Privacy Concerns: Storing biometric data like facial recognition scans in the cloud requires strict adherence to privacy laws (like BIPA and GDPR) and clear internal policies. You are responsible for using these features ethically and legally.
- Limited Hardware Choice: You must use Rhombus-branded cameras. You cannot integrate existing third-party IP cameras into the Rhombus cloud platform, which can be a drawback for those with existing infrastructure.
- Cost at Small Scale: For a very small business with only 1-2 cameras and minimal needs, the total cost of ownership (hardware + recurring license) might be higher than a simple consumer-grade or traditional DVR kit.
Best Practices: How to Use Rhombus the Right Way
To maximize value and minimize risk, follow these best practices.
DO:
- ✅ Plan Your Network: Before anything else, ensure your network switches can provide sufficient PoE power and that your internet connection has enough upload bandwidth.
- ✅ Leverage AI, Don't Just Watch: Actively use the search and analytics features. Train the system to recognize key personnel. Set up proactive alerts. Don't let it just be a passive recording system.
- ✅ Create User Roles & Permissions: Not everyone needs access to everything. Use granular permissions to grant users access only to the cameras and features they need for their job. An HR manager might only need access to archived footage for incident review, while a security guard needs live views.
- ✅ Develop a Privacy Policy: Be transparent with employees and visitors about your security system's capabilities, especially if you plan to use features like facial recognition. Post clear signage.
- ✅ Regularly Audit Alerts: It's easy to set up too many alerts, leading to "alert fatigue" where important notifications are ignored. Periodically review your alerts and fine-tune them to be more specific and relevant.
AVOID:
- ❌ Skimping on Installation: Poor camera placement (e.g., pointing at a bright light source, wrong height) will result in poor video quality and render AI features useless. Follow installation best practices for height and angle.
- ❌ Ignoring Integrations: If you have a modern access control or alarm system, not integrating it with Rhombus is a huge missed opportunity for creating a truly connected and intelligent security environment.
- ❌ Setting and Forgetting: A security system is not a passive tool. Regularly log in, check camera health, review key events, and ensure the system is operating as expected.
- ❌ Neglecting Local Laws: Be aware of local and state regulations regarding video surveillance, audio recording (Rhombus cameras do not record audio by default for this reason), and biometric data storage. Ignorance is not a defense.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is Rhombus Systems?
Rhombus Systems is a cloud-based physical security platform that provides intelligent video security solutions. It combines smart, AI-powered cameras with a centralized, web-based management console, eliminating the need for traditional hardware like NVRs or DVRs. The system is designed for modern businesses, schools, and organizations looking for a scalable, easy-to-use, and intelligent security solution.
Do I need an NVR or DVR with Rhombus cameras?
No, you do not. This is one of the biggest advantages of the Rhombus platform. The cameras record footage locally on built-in solid-state storage and securely upload it to the AWS cloud. All management, viewing, and analysis is done through the Rhombus Console (a web browser or mobile app), completely eliminating the need for on-premise NVRs or DVRs. This reduces hardware costs, maintenance, and physical security risks.
What happens if my internet connection goes down?
Rhombus cameras are designed for high availability. If your internet connection is lost, the cameras will continue to record footage and store it on their onboard solid-state drives. Once the internet connection is restored, the camera will automatically and securely upload the stored footage to the cloud, ensuring there are no gaps in your video history.
Is my video footage secure in the cloud?
Yes, security is a core tenet of the Rhombus platform. All data, both in transit and at rest, is encrypted using enterprise-grade AES-256 encryption. The platform is built on Amazon Web Services (AWS), which provides a highly secure and compliant infrastructure. Rhombus also undergoes regular third-party penetration testing and is SOC 2 Type II certified.
Can Rhombus Systems integrate with other security systems like access control?
Absolutely. Rhombus offers a wide range of native integrations with leading access control providers (like Openpath and Kisi), alarm systems, and communication platforms (like Slack and Microsoft Teams). It also has a well-documented API, allowing for custom integrations to create a unified physical security ecosystem tailored to your organization's specific needs.
Rhombus the Right System for You?
Rhombus Systems represents a fundamental shift in how we approach physical security. It moves away from siloed, reactive hardware and towards an integrated, proactive, and intelligent software-driven solution.
The best way to use Rhombus is to embrace this shift fully. Use it not just to record, but to investigate, to alert, and to integrate. For organizations looking to modernize their security, manage multiple locations with ease, and leverage data to create safer environments, Rhombus is a powerful and compelling choice. The initial investment in a subscription model pays dividends in operational efficiency, enhanced security posture, and a system that evolves with your needs.
However, for those on a tight budget with very simple needs (e.g., a single storefront) or those with a significant existing investment in traditional IP cameras, the platform's all-in, subscription-based nature might be a barrier. By understanding the system's strengths, acknowledging its trade-offs, and following best practices, you can effectively deploy Rhombus to build a security infrastructure that is truly fit for the 21st century.
