Network  cameras differ from webcams in a drastic way: they are not plugged to the computer at all, but to your existing network, wired or wireless. A computer is not required for them to operate and their image can be typically viewed with mobile devices as well.

If you ever wanted a cheap IP-based surveillance system with pan/tilt features (the camera can be remotely rotated with the integrated motor), the Panasonic BL-C10 and the wireless BL-C30 will offer you just that.

But beware: many of the IP cameras being sold today are not like these Panasonic models. I will also take a look at a sad example of this: Edimax shows us how to NOT implement a network camera - their IC-1000 and IC-1000Wg are mutants between webcams and real network cameras.