Everything buyers, integrators and security teams want to know.

TetherX is an open, cloud-based video management system (VSaaS) that unifies cameras, alarms and access control from 1,000+ integrations into one platform. It is sold exclusively through security integrators and is used by housing associations, construction sites, control rooms, retail chains and government-adjacent sites worldwide. Founded in 2009, UK-built, with regional hosting in the UK, US, Canada, India and Australia.

TetherX is open and sold only through installers. Verkada locks you into their proprietary cameras and sells direct to your customer; TetherX works with any camera and only sells through the installer who installed it. Eagle Eye / Brivo is a closed-cloud VMS with premium pricing; TetherX is an annual platform subscription with optional per-camera services, quoted through the installer partner. Hikvision HikCentral centralises sites on a Windows server; TetherX gives the same multi-site control as a true cloud platform with no server to host. See all comparisons.

TetherX is an annual platform subscription priced by channel count - from £80/site/year for the platform, with dashboard, multi-site, alarms and access included. Optional cloud recording from £5/camera/month, plus AI search and ARC monitoring layered on per camera only where the customer wants them. Quoted through your installer; choose monthly billing or prepay 1-3 year terms - same software, simpler invoicing on the longer terms. Pricing factors: channel count, retention period, cloud backup options and TetherBox model. No per-channel perpetual licences, no dongles, no separately-billed Software Assurance contracts. Typically 60-80% less than closed systems like Verkada for equivalent enterprise capability.

On sticker price, yes - perpetual looks like "pay once and own it". The hidden costs flip the maths over 5-7 years.

A perpetual licence on HikCentral, Milestone XProtect or Genetec Security Center normally comes with a Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA / Care Plus / Software Assurance) at 18-25% of the licence per year, mandatory for updates and security patches - five years of SMA is 100-125% of the original price again. Add Windows server refresh every 3-5 years, separately-licensed add-on modules (LPR, ANPR, AI, access), stranded SKUs when a site shrinks, and major version upgrades that re-bill as new licences. Skip the SMA and the software ages out within 18-24 months.

The TetherX platform subscription is one line covering updates, support, security patches and channel scale up / down; cloud recording, TetherX AI and ARC monitoring are optional per-camera services. Across most 5-7 year horizons, subscription beats perpetual on total cost.

Yes. Integrators can request a 30-day free trial - no credit card, no commitment. The trial includes a TetherBox to install at a customer site, full platform access, and a dedicated onboarding contact. If you need more time to evaluate (waiting on a customer site visit, longer pilot period, ARC integration testing) just ask - we extend trials on request, no awkward sales pressure.

TetherX supports 1,000+ integrations and 17,000+ devices including Axis, Hanwha Vision, Bosch, Avigilon, Pelco, Panasonic / i-PRO, Vivotek, Dahua, Hikvision, Uniview, Mobotix, and any ONVIF-compliant camera. If a device is not on the published compatibility list, it usually still works - contact us and we will confirm.

TetherBox is the on-site gateway. Yes - every site needs one. Every camera, NVR or IP device sits on the site network behind it; the TetherBox is the only thing that talks to the cloud, over an outbound-only 4096-bit VPN. This ringfences vulnerable kit from the public Internet by design, records locally, runs analytics at the edge, and stays operational if the Internet drops.

Two paths to the same architecture. Option A: TetherBox software running on an existing server or PC already at the site. Option B: a dedicated unit from the TetherBox hardware range - compact models for vehicles, lamp posts and remote cabinets through to rackmount servers for sites with hundreds of cameras and long local retention.

UK, Canada and India customers get hardware shipped direct; elsewhere your installer sources a compatible unit locally per the recommended spec. TetherBoxes from over a decade ago still run the latest software.

Yes. TetherX is a drop-in replacement for the management layer. Existing cameras stay on the site network and connect through a TetherBox - no re-cabling, no re-mounting, no downtime. The cameras themselves never get Internet access. This is the foundation of the iVMS-4200 / DSS Express, HikCentral and NDAA migration page migration paths.

Yes. TetherBoxes run well on mobile connections. We recommend 2 Mbps upload for optimal performance but TetherBoxes work with as little as 256 Kbps upload. Reliable operation depends more on packet loss and latency than raw speed.

Compliance is a shared-responsibility model.

What TetherX provides: regional data residency, encryption in transit and at rest, per-camera retention controls, role-based access, full audit logging, SHA-1 tamper-evident evidence hashes, time-stamped exports, time-bound footage sharing and the ringfencing architecture that isolates cameras from the public Internet.

What the customer and installer are responsible for: picking the right camera brand (some frameworks - NDAA migration page, UK government high-secure, AU PSPF - mandate approved manufacturers), setting retention to regulator-required values, restricting admin access to named individuals, operator training, CCTV-in-operation signage, and DSAR / FOI workflows.

TetherX cannot prevent an authorised admin from over-sharing, just as a lock cannot prevent the keyholder from opening the door. The platform gives you the audit trail to detect it and the controls to limit it - the policy decisions sit with the operator.

TetherX itself is UK-built and not subject to NDAA covered-entity restrictions. The platform supports every NDAA-compliant camera brand (Hanwha Vision, Axis, Avigilon, Pelco, Bosch, i-PRO and more), and lets federal contractors migrate the management layer off Hikvision / Dahua immediately while phasing camera replacement over 12-36 months. Note: NDAA compliance requires the entire deployment to use approved camera brands - the platform alone is not sufficient. See the dedicated NDAA migration page for the full plan.

TetherX is UK-built and hosts in UK / EU data centres so deployments stay inside scope.

Frameworks the platform is designed to support: UK GDPR + Data Protection Act 2018, EU GDPR, the ICO Video Surveillance code, the Surveillance Camera Code of Practice, BS 7958, BS EN 62676 / EN 50132, BS 8418, BS 5979, NIS2, Cyber Essentials / Plus, ISO 27001 and SOC 2 cloud infrastructure. Per-camera retention meets ICO data-minimisation; audit trails and SHA-1 evidence hashes support DSAR and court-admissible exports.

Caveat: GDPR also requires the operator to limit admin access to a named list, train viewers on lawful purpose and act on subject-access requests within statutory time - tooling we provide, decisions you make.

TetherX hosts in Australian data centres (Sydney) so customer data stays onshore by default; on-demand local clouds are available for sovereignty-critical deployments.

Privacy: Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) + APPs, NDB scheme. Critical infrastructure and federal: SOCI Act 2018 (2022 SLACIP), PSPF, Hosting Certification Framework, IRAP-aligned controls.

Cyber: ASD Essential Eight, ASD ISM, AS/NZS ISO/IEC 27001. CCTV-specific and state law: the AS 4806 CCTV management series, state Surveillance Devices and Workplace Surveillance Acts (NSW WSA 2005, ACT Workplaces Act 2016, plus SDAs in NSW, VIC, WA, QLD, SA and TAS).

Caveat: SOCI and PSPF require named-personnel access controls, retention to asset class, and incident reporting to ASD ACSC inside statutory windows - TetherX provides the audit trail; the operator runs the policy.

Regional data centres + on-demand local clouds keep data onshore where required. India: DPDP Act 2023 (Digital Personal Data Protection), IT Act 2000, CERT-In incident reporting. Canada: PIPEDA, plus province-level laws (Quebec Law 25, BC PIPA, AB PIPA), Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS) baseline controls. New Zealand: Privacy Act 2020, NZISM, AS/NZS ISO/IEC 27001. The platform configuration (retention, audit trails, role-based access, regional storage) is the same lever used to meet each.

PCI DSS: audit trail, role-based access, retention and tamper-evident export support retail and hospitality assessments. HIPAA (US healthcare): regional storage, audit logging and BAA-ready cloud regions. CJIS (US law enforcement): encryption-in-transit and at-rest plus access controls align with the security policy.

UK CPNI / NPSA: high-secure-site guidance addressed via the ringfencing architecture - cameras isolated behind the TetherBox. Aviation, transport, energy: sector compliance (CAA, Network Rail, DCMA, Ofgem) sits on top of the install - TetherX provides the evidence trail; vertical-specific rules on retention, camera approval and operator vetting sit with the operator.

All communication between TetherBox and TetherX cloud runs over an outbound-only 4096-bit VPN with TLS 1.2+ in transit. Each connection is challenged for reauthorisation weekly; certificates can be revoked if suspicious traffic is detected. Data is AES-256 encrypted at rest in regional cloud storage on ISO 27001 and SOC 2 attested infrastructure.

TetherX hosts in regional data centres in the UK, US, Canada, India and Australia. Customer data is stored in the region closest to the installation. Local recordings stay on the TetherBox; cloud recording backups and platform data are stored in the assigned region and encrypted at rest. Each customer can run a private cloud instance to control their own data flow - and new local clouds can be spun up on demand for customers that need data residency in a region we do not yet host in (regulatory, gov-procurement, vertical-specific compliance).

No. TetherX has never had a publicly disclosed security breach. Compare to Verkada (150,000 cameras exposed in 2021) and historical Hikvision plaintext-password issues that have been widely documented.

TetherX automatically generates SHA-1 checksums for all recorded video. These unique fingerprints let you verify downloaded footage matches the original recording, which is critical for legal proceedings. Time synchronisation uses TetherX Cloud NTP servers so timestamps are admissible. See the security architecture for the full evidence-chain workflow.

No. TetherX is sold only through qualified installers. We never quote, bill or support end customers directly - your installer is the customer's single point of contact for design, deploy, support and renewal. See the Partner Programme for the installer path.

Tell us about your sites via the partners page or any quote form. We match you to an accredited local installer based on territory, vertical and accreditation - or you can pick one yourself from the directory. The partner contacts you direct to scope, quote, install and support. Your enquiry only goes to that partner, not a central sales team. Typical response: 1-3 business days, depending on the partner.

If you have your own internal security or facilities-management team, we offer free training so they can support the platform end-to-end - user management, retention adjustments, alarm-receiver configuration, multi-site dashboard reviews. The qualified installer stays available for hardware changes and on-site work, but day-to-day operations can sit entirely with your in-house team.

Apply via the Partner Programme page or become a partner. Approved partners get a trial TetherBox, onboarding training, demo platform access, marketing materials and ongoing technical support. There is no joining fee.

Yes. Run the trial on three of your sites. If you are not ready to commit at the end, your trial keeps running - no fees, no clock - until you are sure. And your office demo system stays free forever, whether you partner with us or not. Full detail on the Partner Programme page.

The platform is portable. Any qualified TetherX installer can take over the sites - the hardware is multi-vendor, the data is the customer's, and the same multi-site dashboard runs whoever is on the keyboard. The relationship is with the customer, not locked to one integrator.

The built-in Health Dashboard monitors every TetherBox, camera, drive, alarm panel and connected network device 24/7. Proactive alerts (camera offline, drive degraded, NTP drift, certificate expiring) reach you before the customer notices. Customers report a 70% reduction in site visits after switching.

Yes. One user account can have access to multiple customer timelines with the right permissions. Engineers see only the sites and cameras they should see, with audit trails per action.

Yes. TetherX integrates with Immix, Sentinel, CONXTD, MASterMind, Bold Patriot Manitou, Stages and others out of the box - Any ARC software can connect via a generic link - no special integration required. ARC integration lives in the per-site settings. See control rooms for the full ARC workflow.

Yes. TetherX AI delivers person, vehicle and animal detection plus 63-class audio analytics, searchable across multi-site footage in seconds. The trade-off historically was "AI search but locked-in" (Verkada, Rhombus) versus "open but no AI" (Eagle Eye / Brivo, Videoloft). TetherX closes that gap across an open camera fleet.

The visual timeline indexes events as they happen. Customers report 90% faster evidence retrieval compared to scrubbing through 24/7 footage. Combined with multi-camera Timelapse and event filtering, a specific incident is usually found in under a minute.

Yes. Native iOS and Android apps with Face ID / Touch ID unlock, custom notification sounds, and the full event review workflow. Available from the App Store and Google Play.

Yes. Arm or disarm individual cameras, whole sites, or scheduled windows from the platform or mobile app. Combine with VCA filtering to reduce false alarms.

Control rooms using TetherX report 90% fewer false alarms compared to legacy video-verification workflows. AI pre-filtering (person / vehicle / animal classification + audio analytics across 63 sound classes) drops noise events before they reach the operator. Customers also report an 80% reduction in support calls to the installer after switching. See control rooms for the full ARC workflow.

There is no hard TetherX platform limit. We recommend up to 1,000 cameras per timeline for optimal event searching; deployments above this use multiple timelines federated under one organisation. The largest TetherX customers run tens of thousands of cameras across hundreds of sites globally.

Automatically, over the air. Updates apply on the next reboot or reconnect, with scoped rollouts (each unit gets updates relevant to its hardware and configuration). Critical security updates are pushed immediately.

The TetherBox keeps recording locally during the outage and automatically reconnects when the Internet returns. Events sync back to cloud recording once connectivity is restored. No data loss for the typical outage.

Yes. Users and TetherBoxes each have independent time zone settings. The platform was designed from day one for multi-country, multi-region deployments - one of the differentiators against single-region cloud VMS.