Don't be fooled into comparing Mobotix IP cameras with cheap Web-cams, not even those that can be plugged straight into the LAN. The Mobotix products are in a completely different league, designed for twenty four hour use with unique built-in remote communication, alerting and recording features designed specifically to satisfy the professional surveillance market.

The differences are noticeable as soon as you open the box. These German-made cameras are a lot larger than your average Web-cam and extremely well engineered, with stainless steel mounts and rugged, sometimes waterproof, casings. Indeed the casing on the M10D we tested conforms to the IP 65 specification, enabling it to be used in extreme weather conditions, with waterproof covers for all the connections also provided. Vandal-proof models are also available.

An advanced 1.3-megapixel CMOS sensor is used to generate the digital images with, on the review camera, two wide-angle lenses included. One is for colour monitoring, the other for black and white, with automatic switching between the two when light levels fall below a user-set threshold.

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Telephoto and infrared lenses can also be specified if required, plus there's a built-in image optimiser to give usable pictures regardless of lighting conditions. A Passive Infrared (PIR) detector is yet another standard feature, added to which it's possible to monitor pre-defined areas on the image display and trigger alarms and/or recording when motion is detected.

Three interfaces are located on the base of the camera: an RS232 port through which other security devices can be attached, door locks operated and so on, plus either ISDN or Ethernet for remote connectivity. Adapters are available to squirt power over the Ethernet cable for ease of installation and most users will opt for Ethernet to manage the Mobotix hardware.

In which case the ISDN port can be used to make phone calls, for example, to issue alerts when motion is detected. There's even a built-in speaker, microphone and a call button to enable two-way conversations via the camera for entry control. And, in the latest firmware, support for Voice over IP and SIP services as well.

Yet another feature that sets the Mobotix camera apart is its built-in Linux server, based on an Intel Strongarm processor, which gives the device most of its functionality. Because of this, no special software is needed to access the camera; just a browser to connect to the integrated Web server. There's no need for any ActiveX or Java applets, either. You can choose whether to receive standard JPEG or streaming MPEG images (Mobotix uses its own MxPEG technology to maximise bandwidth) with a choice of the rate at which images are displayed and their size and quality.

A Web-based GUI is also used to configure and manage the camera, for example, to set events that will trigger alerts and to tell the camera who to call or e-mail when these occur. Likewise there's a Web-based GUI to manage the built-in recording facility which can be used to capture both still images and video streams. These can be stored to the internal camera memory (the review camera came with 64MB) or on a remote server with, remarkably, no special hardware or software needed at the server end, just a shared Linux or Windows folder.

On the downside, the Mobotix cameras are far from cheap and there are no motorised pan/tilt options. However, unlike analogue alternatives, there's no need for any specialised recording equipment and the cameras themselves are well made, robust and remarkably easy to use, despite the huge amount of functionality on offer. All of which makes for good value in the burgeoning professional security and surveillance market at which they're aimed.

If you just want to make video calls to friends and family then a cheap Web-cam is all you need. However, for twenty four hour video surveillance, building security and other professional applications the Mobotix IP cameras are a preferable solution, with built-in Linux servers, Ethernet and ISDN connectivity plus unique integrated alerting and recording facilities to justify the extra money.