Introduction: HikCentral-P-RSM-Base/2Site and its key features
HikCentral-P-RSM-Base/2Siteis a Remote Site Management (RSM) base licence for HikCentral Professional that enables a single central HikCentral server to connect to and manage up to two remote HikCentral servers (sites). Designed for organisations that operate across campuses, branch networks or geographically separated facilities, this licence enables cross-site live view, playback, alarm forwarding and centralised administration — all from a centralised operations environment.
This product is aimed at customers who want centralised oversight without replacing existing local HikCentral servers. Key features include cross-site live view and playback, central recording schedule and storage control, alarm/event forwarding with centralised handling, GIS and health monitoring, and support for analytics modules on remote sites when those licences are present.
Detailed description: specifications and benefits
- Part number:HikCentral-P-RSM-Base/2Site
- Product type:RSM base licence (software)
- Applies to:HikCentral Professional servers (including HikCentral AIO models)
- Sites supported:Connect and manage up to 2 remote HikCentral servers (base licence)
- Supported functions:Cross-site live & playback, central recording schedule and storage management, alarm/event forwarding and centralised handling, GIS/map integration, health monitoring
- Analytics support:Supports ANPR, face recognition, people counting and business intelligence modules when those licences are installed and licensed on the remote sites
- Scalability:Expandable with additional RSM site licences for larger federated deployments
- Centralised situational awareness:Operators at a central site can view live feeds and playback video from remote HikCentral servers without having to log in to each server separately, reducing response time and simplifying monitoring.
- Consolidated alarm management:Alarm forwarding lets central staff receive, acknowledge and manage alarms from multiple sites, enabling consistent procedures for incident escalation and evidence collection.
- Consistency in recording and storage policies:Centralised recording schedules and storage control help enforce uniform retention policies and simplify forensic searches across sites.
- Health monitoring and maintenance:GIS integration and system health dashboards provide a quick overview of device status and network connectivity across managed sites, improving uptime and reducing troubleshooting time.
- Support for distributed analytics:When analytics modules (ANPR, face recognition, people counting, heat maps, etc.) are licensed on remote servers, RSM allows centralised access to results and evidence handling without duplicating analytical licences centrally.
- Cost-effective scaling:Rather than replacing or consolidating servers into a single location, organisations can federate existing HikCentral installations under central control, preserving investments in local hardware while achieving central oversight.
Use cases and scenarios where the product excels
The HikCentral RSM base licence is particularly well suited to organisations with distributed operations that need consistent security and operational procedures. Typical use cases include:
- Retail chains and franchises:A retail head office can monitor multiple store locations for incidents, suspicious activity or alarms, while store-level HikCentral servers maintain local recording and analytics to meet store-specific needs.
- Education campuses:A central security centre can use RSM to oversee several campus buildings or satellite campuses, enabling rapid cross-campus response and centralised incident logging.
- Healthcare networks:Multi-hospital systems and clinics can centralise alarm handling and evidence management while preserving local control for patient-area cameras and privacy-sensitive devices.
- Government and municipal deployments:City operations centres can federate multiple departmental HikCentral servers (transport, public safety, facilities) for coordinated incident response and shared situational awareness.
- Large enterprises and industrial sites:Organisations with separate manufacturing facilities, warehouses and offices can standardise alarm procedures, manage retention policies centrally and access analytics results from remote sites.
- Systems integrators:Integrators deploying federated VMS solutions can use RSM licences to build multi-site solutions tailored to each customer, enabling centralised administration without forcing hardware changes at each site.
Comparisons with similar products in the market
Remote Site Management or federation is a common capability among modern video management system (VMS) platforms. When evaluating HikCentral-P-RSM-Base/2Site against similar offerings, consider several dimensions: ease of integration with existing servers, depth of cross-site functionality, support for analytics, scalability and licensing model.
- Compared to federated solutions:Some VMS vendors emphasise federation at the device level (federating cameras directly to a central server). HikCentral RSM focuses on federating at the server level, which is beneficial when remote sites maintain local recording, analytics and operational independence while still needing central coordination.
- Analytics integration:HikCentral’s RSM passes through analytics results performed on remote systems (ANPR, face recognition, people counting), allowing central operators to act on those results. This approach is comparable to other enterprise VMS solutions that allow distributed analytics with central reporting; the key is ensuring that the analytics licences are present at the site where processing occurs.
- Scalability and licensing:The base licence supports two sites and can be expanded with additional RSM licences. Competing platforms may offer similar modular expansions but differ in cost structure, whether they charge per device, per camera, or per site. Organisations should compare total cost of ownership, including analytics licences, hardware, and maintenance.
- Operational management features:HikCentral’s inclusion of GIS/map integration, health monitoring and centralised recording control aligns with enterprise-class features offered by other leading VMS vendors. Differences often come down to user interface preferences, integration ecosystems (third-party devices and analytics), and local support availability.
In short, HikCentral-P-RSM-Base/2Site is competitive for customers already invested in the Hikvision ecosystem or those who prefer server-level federation that preserves local autonomy. Organisations assessing alternatives should test centralised workflows (alarm forwarding, cross-site playback, analytics reporting) in a pilot to confirm interoperability and operator ergonomics.
Customer feedback and testimonials
While specific customer reviews for this exact licence SKU may not always be published, feedback from organisations using HikCentral RSM-style deployments commonly highlights the following themes:
- Ease of centralised monitoring:Users appreciate having a single operation console to view live streams and playback across sites, reducing the need for multiple logins and speeding up incident resolution.
- Preservation of local operations:IT and site managers often value the ability to keep local recording and analytics in place, avoiding costly migrations while gaining central oversight.
- Improved alarm workflows:Central alarm forwarding and standardised handling receive positive mentions for enabling consistent response procedures across distributed sites.
Representative user sentiments (paraphrased) include:
- “RSM lets our security team monitor several stores from HQ without disrupting local setups — it made incident follow-up much faster.”
- “We could centralise alarm handling and still keep local analytics for privacy-sensitive areas — a good balance between oversight and autonomy.”
- “GIS-based monitoring and health alerts helped our operations team proactively fix issues before staff noticed.”
These paraphrased examples reflect common benefits reported by organisations deploying server-level federation. For verified customer reviews, consult integrator case studies, partner testimonials or third-party review sites that cover Hikvision solutions.
Conclusion: why this product is a strong choice
The HikCentral-P-RSM-Base/2Site licence provides a focused, enterprise-oriented way to federate up to two remote HikCentral servers under a single central operations environment. It is especially well suited to organisations that need centralised situational awareness, consistent alarm workflows and centralised recording policies while preserving local server autonomy and existing analytics deployments.
Key reasons to consider this licence include the balance of central control and local independence, support for analytics performed at remote sites, and the ability to expand deployments by adding additional RSM site licences as needs grow. For organisations already using HikCentral at branch or satellite locations, RSM can be a cost-effective path to centralised operations without major hardware replacement.
Practical notes:This listing describes the software licence only — Hikvision also offers hardware-bundled SKUs that include hardware specifications. Confirm compatibility, activation procedures and regional compliance (CE/UKCA and export/licensing terms) in Hikvision documentation before purchase. Suggested pricing and cost details should be verified with your supplier or authorised distributor.
In summary, HikCentral-P-RSM-Base/2Site is a pragmatic choice for multi-site operators seeking a centralised command and control capability that works with existing HikCentral deployments, supports analytics at the edge, and scales as organisational needs evolve.