s.o.a. cctv

I am pretty new to the pc based systems that are available, obviously aware of geovision and have read some of the comments that have been posted about them- I have a customer who wants a 16 chanell pc based system but doesnt want to use geo as he thinks they are too expensive. Can anyone throw some names of competitors of geo at me, that are of the same standard, hopefully less in cost and provide a good back up service. Thanks in advance.