Category: Case Study

Prestigious new marine vessel in Singapore The Derrick Lay Vessel 2000 (DLV 2000) in Singapore is the latest marine accolade for leading fire detection manufacturer, Apollo Fire Detectors who has recently supplied the marine fire detection system for the new vessel. The DLV 2000, built by shipyard Keppel Singmarine Pte Ltd, combines S-lay, heavy lift, large deck space and accommodation, with efficient transit speed to effectively execute projects in all major oil and gas basins around the globe. Key features of the vessel include its 2,200-ton crane, several additional cranes for construction, pipeline and deepwater installation, and an S-lay capability from 4.5 to 60 inches with a high strain, deep water stinger. The vessel is also capable of accommodating up to 400 passengers and personnel. Maretek Ltd is an engineering company specialising in fire and safety systems for the industrial and marine sector. The company was chosen by the yard’s and vessel’s owners, McDermott Inc, to design, specify and install a fire detection system which would be fit for purpose. This included the need for the system to comply with the stringent rules in place for marine vessels, including Safe Return to Port (SRtP) and Code of Safety for Special Purpose Ships (IMO IA820E SPS2008) regulations. SRtP and SPS2008 regulations define the thresholds of how the system can remain operable and safe in the case of single incident or failure, to allow the vessel to safely return to the nearest port. There, the ship should be able to sail with no interruption to vessel safety parameters to a designated port, without requiring passengers to evacuate. To meet this complex set of requirements, Maretek specified over 800 Apollo Discovery Marine analogue addressable fire detectors and devices. The range gives complete reassurance in nautical installations where it is necessary to adapt detection to different operating environments, and where protection against false alarms is paramount. The system incorporates 27 loops, and is powered by 14 networked panels from Kentec. Commenting on the project, Simon Flavell, New Business Development Manager (Marine and Offshore) at Apollo Fire Detectors, said, “We were delighted to be involved in such a prestigious project – this new vessel really is a state-of-the-art example which meets the highly stringent rules and regulations. By working closely with engineers at Maretek, we have been able to ensure that life and property on this substantial vessel are protected, no matter where in the world it may be operating.”

More than two millennia ago the diligent and courageous people of Eurasia explored and opened up several routes of trade and cultural exchanges that linked the major civilizations of Asia, Europe and Africa, collectively called the Silk Road by later generations. Chinese President Xi Jinping raised the initiative of building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st century Maritime Silk Road. The Belt and Road Initiative aims to promote the connectivity of Asian, European and African continents and their adjacent seas to establish and strengthen partnerships among the countries along the Belt and Road, set up connectivity networks, and to realize diversified, independent, balanced and sustainable development in these countries. Uniview, as a leading video surveillance manufacturer, contributed to the development of The Belt and Road by providing high quality and stable video surveillance system for Kampala city surveillance in Uganda. Uniview provided video surveillance devices for transportation monitoring by installing PTZ dome cameras on more than 40 main road and junctions, and NVR for managing and storing. The transportation junctions belong to Kampala city council association (KCCA), which did this project to monitor all the main traffic junction to reduce the traffic jam. All the cameras are connected together by fiber, and the KCCA can watch all the live view in central room. Highlights High resolution: See farther, see clearer More than 3 pieces 3MP PTZ dome cameras are deployed at each junction that ensured clearer images for complicated sceneries with vehicles and passengers. The PTZ dome cameras also support 33x optical zoom, which enable the KCCA to monitor farther. It is especially important when accident happened. Starlight: See clear in the dark The PTZ dome cameras are embedded with Sony Starvis sensor. It is able to produce crystal clear image under extremely low illumination during the night for both static and moving scene. High level data safety: Redundant design and RAID NVR In order to keep the system working with highest safety level, the NVR supports HDD hot swap with RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10. Even if one of the hard disk is broken by chance, NVR can prevent the data missing and rebuild RAID in a short time. It also supports N+1 backup which would fundamentally avoid data loss. High density mass capacity storage: 7/24, 90 days uninterrupted storing The NVR provides 7*24 hours, 90 days uninterrupted recording. Such a mass storage makes it possible to search video and event of long time ago. Uniview, the world’s 7th largest video surveillance manufacturer, is protecting over 120 countries all over the world. We are endeavoring to build a safer world by providing professional, reliable and cutting-edge products and services.

Raytec VARIO2 illuminators have been installed in the Greater Kruger National Park in South Africa to capture amazing footage of some rather large and wild animals. Raytec illuminators have been used in some of the most challenging and exciting environments globally, everywhere from the Arctic Circle to the jungles of Borneo; and when specialist wildlife film makers WildEarth were looking for a solution for their live night time filming needs they turned to Raytec for support. In the film and TV industry where picture quality is everything, outstanding illumination was essential for producing the best images. WildEarth deployed state-of-the-art 4k cameras to capture high definition images of elephants, lions and leopards. But when it comes to filming at night, ethics plays the most important role in how the images are captured. Using visible white-light would disturb or temporarily blind the animals, or even affect the outcome of their hunts. Therefore powerful infra-red lighting was chosen which would have no negative effect on the wildlife, but would help the cameras perform over long distances in the dead of night. Highly recommended by other wildlife journalists, WildEarth looked to Raytec infra-red lighting as a powerful yet invisible solution which would allow the cameras to generate outstanding black and white images at night. They chose the ‘VARIO2 i8-3’ which delivers distances up to 600m+ with 5 different angle options that can be changed on site – giving them the flexibility to adapt the illumination at each location. With VARIO holographic lensing, the illuminators produce a highly even spread of light, which allowed WildEarth to capture consistent images of the animals anywhere in the scene with no bright or dark spots. “We’ve been so impressed by the Raytec IR lighting,” said Jeandre Gerding, Head of Camera Operations for WildEarth, “Not only have the illuminators allowed us to film incredible footage in zero light conditions, but the fact that they are low voltage means that we can conveniently power them via battery from our mobile camera vehicles.” The IR needed to guarantee exactly how much light it would deliver on scene because higher megapixel cameras generally require more light to generate the resolutions they are capable of, and the film crew wanted to guarantee perfect pictures of the animals. Raytec scientifically measures the performance of all their illuminators, and guarantees a recommended 0.35 μW/ cm2 of lighting power at the maximum distance of all of their infra-red illuminators – reassuring WildEarth that they would achieve suitably high quality images every time. All Raytec illuminators are highly robust and can withstand the most extreme temperatures and humidity. IP66 rated, they require zero maintenance and deliver a reliable 10 year life out in the field – perfect for any demanding environment.

Since 2008, Transportation Impact, a privately held 5-time Inc. 5000 company, has been providing maximum supply chain cost reduction for clients in multiple vertical markets. The company which is based in Emerald Isle, NC has made a huge impact on the bottom line for clients by reducing shipping costs through small package and freight negotiation along with their state-of-the-art transportation management system. The challenge With 70 employees working out of two office buildings in Emerald Isle, NC; they needed an access control solution to safeguard employees and their infrastructure. The company’s corporate headquarters reside in a building that consists of 4 floors with two floors containing executive offices and conference rooms and the top two floors housing a restaurant and bar which is open to the public. The biggest challenge Transportation Impact found with a shared building is the common occurrence for the public to walk in on private meetings taking place in the conference rooms and inquire about the location of the restaurant. Having the public enter Transportation Impact’s office at will was not only a disruption, but a security risk for employees and private company information and systems. It was imperative that the conference room and executive areas were safeguarded from unauthorized access. The solution Transportation Impact needed a special delivery, the right access control solution from their trusted security integrator, Electronic Solutions. Electronic Solutions has been working with Transportation Impact over the last few years and understood their need for a simple and convenient access control solution. Ron Snyder, President at Electronic Solutions and an ISONAS certified partner, delivered the ISONAS Pure IP™ access control solution in the fall of 2016 starting with a pilot program for ISONAS’s new RC-04 reader-controller, all managed from the ISONAS software, Pure Access cloud. “ISONAS is a great team to work with as they are 07/17 all about supporting their certified dealers and offering top notch customer service to help make the implementation process seamless,” states Ron Snyder, President at Electronic Solutions, “The ISONAS solution is a great product and so much easier than the past access control systems that required running several cables to install it. ISONAS offers a simple solution, which only requires an ISONAS reader-controller and a CAT 5 cable for power and data; making it an easy deployment for customers.” ISONAS makes a special mobile delivery One key challenge that drove Transportation Impact and Electronic Solutions of Greenville to choose ISONAS was the need for convenient access for their users. Upon the initial installation, Transportation Impact utilized key fobs to provide access to their users. Unfortunately, a number of the key fobs were lost which resulted in employees propping open doors; circumventing the security and effectiveness of the access control solution. With the number of lost key fobs, Transportation Impact needed to find a way to incorporate access control into their employees’ normal, everyday practices. The ISONAS Pure Mobile credential allowed them to take the convenience of their mobile phone to the next level. The Bluetooth® Low Energy feature of the Pure IP™ hardware family (RC-04) eliminated the need for a physical card or key fob and allowed a mobile device to act as an access card. With the simplicity of Pure Mobile in combination with Pure Access, there was no need to install additional software, purchase additional licenses to enroll mobile credentials, or acquire a massive bank of credentials. The RC-04 hardware and Pure Access software are ready to use with the ISONAS Pure Mobile credentials right out of the box. An employee at Transportation Impact can simply download the Pure Mobile application to their phone, present it to a reader-controller, and the facility administrator associates that mobile phone to the user’s profile. “We were looking for an easy-to-use access control solution that allowed access with the touch of a button and we found it,” says Norm Pollock, VP of Information Technology at Transportation Impact, “In addition to having mobile access, we really liked having the ability to automate on a schedule and set the doors to lock and unlock during certain times of the day all from the Pure Access Cloud software.” The cloud delivers security and flexibility With a successful pilot program under their belt, Transportation Impact currently has 11 ISONAS RC-04 reader-controllers installed across two office buildings all administered from the Pure Access Cloud software, giving them access from anywhere at any time. Pure Access cloud eliminated the need for any additional onsite network infrastructure and provided full administrative and management power of their access control system from any device.

Connecticut-based Groton Utilities is using Quantum DXi® disk-based de-duplication and Scalar® tape in combination with Veeam backup and replication software to consolidate multi-site backup and disaster recovery (DR), protecting its critical data against malware and loss and reducing overall costs. Groton’s implementation demonstrates a commitment to 3-2-1 data protection best practices: three copies of data, using two different media types, with one copy offline and off-site. Effective protection for VMs Groton Utilities provides water, power and other services for a wide area of southeastern Connecticut, including the City of Groton. Over the years, the IT team’s approach to backup and DR protection has evolved. For example, when servers were all physical, backups were written to a tape library. As servers became 95 percent virtualized, disk then became part of the strategy. To protect virtual machines (VMs) more effectively, the team chose software from Veeam, and it added Quantum DXi de-duplication appliances to handle data growth, in part because the company had such a positive experience with Quantum’s tape library and service support team. The DXi appliance not only provides fast backup and restore to keep data readily available but also delivers high de-duplication rates that enable Groton to retain backup data for a full 30 days. “We saw the value of a 3-2-1 approach to data protection,” said Tom O’Farrell, Groton Utilities System Administrator, “But we hadn’t found an effective and cost-efficient way to implement it until we deployed the Quantum-Veeam solution.” Tape protects against ransomware Writing data to tape provides ‘air gap’ protection against data loss and malware, including ransomware. The IT team created a configuration using the two different data centers and disk-to-disk replication. Veeam backs up the VMs to the DXi appliance, and the team’s legacy backup application creates tapes. “We have seen the damage and costs that recent ransomware attacks have created, and we know the best protection is having a kind of ‘air gap’ – keeping a copy of critical data on tape that is isolated from the vulnerable spinning disk,” said O’Farrell. Reducing backup complexity The Groton Utilities team plans to simplify the backup system further by adding another DXi at its second data center to back up both VMs and CIFS shares to the DXi appliances using Veeam, and then replicating backup data between data centers using the DXi appliances. The new system will leverage integration of the DXi systems with the Veeam Data Mover to increase performance and support features such as synthetic full backup and instant VM recovery directly on a DXi appliance. Veeam will also back up the physical servers and create tapes. “The power of the Quantum and Veeam technology is enabling us to simplify. The DXi appliances are getting excellent de-dupe rates and providing highly effective replication,” said O’Farrell, “Veeam can now do backups for both VMs and physical servers, and it can write data both to CIFS shares and to tape libraries. Our experience over the last year is that the Quantum and Veeam elements of the combined solution work very well together.”

Denver in Colorado & Pasco in Washington Expanded Pasco in Washington and Denver in Colorado have expanded their Opticom™ traffic preemption solution from Global Traffic Technologies, LLC (GTT). The cities benefit from their faster response times, and safer journeys for emergency services vehicles with the expansion of the solution that works alongside intersection controllers to help ensure emergency vehicles can move through intersections quickly and safely. When an emergency vehicle needs to navigate an intersection, the Opticom emergency vehicle preemption (EVP) system onboard the vehicle sends a request to the intersection’s controller ahead of its arrival. If the request is granted, the light turns green and the vehicle gets a clear path through the intersection. In Denver, 60 of the city’s busiest intersections have been included as part of an expansion and upgrade to the existing EVP system, ensuring emergency vehicles and personnel proceed to incidents swiftly and safely. Pasco has expanded the existing EVP system to include eight more of its busiest intersections. This will allow emergency vehicles to respond to incidents even faster, and to avoid the danger of navigating an intersection against the flow of traffic. GTT’s President Jason Lund said, “GTT is delighted to continue our relationship with the cities of Pasco and Denver, and their emergency services. The further expansion and modernization of EVP system will help them improve operational safety for residents and emergency services, as well as to decrease response times for emergency vehicles.”

14 HD cameras deployed in sensitive areas The Italian town of Schio has bolstered its video surveillance system with 14 new digital cameras that will cover as big an area as possible. There has been 75,000 Euro worth of investment, in an effort to protect those who want to feel safer at home. Thanks to a pilot project that saw a collaboration between the local council, Videotec, Pasubio Tecnologia (a company that offers public administration digital services) and the local police force, not only will the field of surveillance be widened but it is the best technology available that has been installed and tested. Supplied by Videotec, these new devices don’t just provide daytime surveillance, they also allow for monitoring at night, thanks to the in-built infrared. They also come with Full HD sensors, 30x zoom and a wiper for cleaning the lens. In addition, they rotate, allowing for full 360° recording. The pilot project also allowed Videotec to use the spaces made available to the town to test new devices, and experiment with new video surveillance solutions designed specifically for cities. The Mayor of Schio said, “We came to notice that the town’s surveillance system was inadequate; some areas were not covered and many cameras were not modern enough to provide pictures to use. We tackled this problem immediately because the security of our citizens, our businesses and their capital is of the utmost importance. Through this project, we’ll replace two obsolete systems and add 12 cameras, giving us 45 in total with which to monitor the town. In particular, the system will be upgraded through the industrial region and other sensitive areas, chiefly to prevent acts of vandalism. Laura Locci, President of Pasubio Tecnologia said, “Video surveillance is important, but it’s only effective if the system works properly. Thanks to our fibre optic infrastructure, the digital technology of the new devices, connected to the monitoring station that has been installed at the HQ of the local police force, offers the very best performance for the whole system.” Loris Revrenna, Deputy Commander of the local police force continued, “The knowledge that there are recording systems in place is already proving to be an excellent deterrent. Increasingly, video surveillance is a tool for investigation as it allows the perpetrators of crimes to be tracked. Previously, they probably would have gone unpunished. It, therefore, allows us to take preventative and repressive action as an increasingly indispensable solution.” Alessio Grotto, President of Videotec, concluded, “For us, collaborating with the municipality of Schio is a moment of pride. We are a company of Schio, with activities in fifty countries around the world, and we specialise in the creation of outdoor video surveillance systems that are resistant to extreme conditions, both weather-related and environmental. At sites made available by the town, we will be able to experiment with new products and invest in a product that’s dedicated exclusively to city surveillance.”

The vast premises are now under the vigilant eyes of CP PLUS high definition security cameras Shah Abdul Latif University is one of the most recognized bodies providing higher education in the field of arts, commerce, and science and technology. It is located in Khairpur – a former princely state that joined Pakistan in 1955 – right at the heartland of Upper Sindh. The main campus is located just 3 kilometers away from the town, spanning an area of 340 acres of land, plush with greenery and demarcated playgrounds. The university houses over 8000 students and staff across its campus, and the management wanted to ensure their safety and security. The existing security manned by a few security personnel was, by far, insufficient and hence they required a specifically designed intelligent surveillance system that would ensure not only the safety of premise but also help in maintaining discipline within the university. They required monitoring the entire expanse, especially the entrance, exits and boundary walls; and expected from the system to facilitate real-time recording and crystal clear display. Solution The university’s vast premise required careful screening to determine the locations and angles where cameras could be installed to fetch the best results. The choices of cameras, cabling, and related equipment/ peripherals were also the matter of careful evaluation. It was important to ensure that the installation was tamper proof. After a thorough survey and analyzing, high definition CP PLUS cameras were selected along with one of the best recorders and a VMS to ensure high definition images, 24 hour recording and hassle-free operation. A central control room was also set up where footage could be monitored and recorded. The control room has distributed monitoring units connected by underground optical fiber cabling. Results The conceptualization of this project has ensured easy identification and immediate action. Shah Abdul Latif University has greatly benefited from the installation of this surveillance system. The installed surveillance system has been able to efficiently monitor the campus round-the-clock, zoom-in where needed and provide real-time images to authorities to enable authorities to tackle emergency situations and take corrective actions. “The client wanted to deploy a surveillance system that would seamlessly integrate into their organizational design without requiring major infrastructural overhauls. The image clarity offered by the CP PLUS cameras we installed impressed the client and they were very happy with the end results,” said Yogesh B. Dutta, COO – CP PLUS.

Hikvision and Milestone Systems are supporting a project to find an innovative solution for improving safety and security along the waterfront in Aalborg, Denmark. They teamed up with Aalborg Municipality, the North Jutland Emergency Services, Aalborg University’s Faculty of Engineering and Science, and security company Actas A/S to find a solution that utilizes Hikvision thermal cameras. The system works with a combination of thermal cameras (which will be set up between Limfjordsbroen and Honnørkajen during the trial period) and one controllable camera for use in active searches. Aalborg University is mapping risk areas and developing a ground-breaking program that can ‘recognise’ accidents and raise an alarm. When someone exhibits dangerous behaviour along the waterfront, either on land or in the water, the emergency services will be notified. A camera on Limfjordsbroen will be activated at the same time to record what is happening. This can also be used as an aid if a rescue operation is required. This means that the emergency services will be notified immediately if there is an accident, and live footage from the site can be streamed to their control center using the existing video platform. The control centre can then call out a lifeboat if required. Hans Henrik Henriksen, Councilor for the Planning and Landscape Department says, “Aalborg is very proud of its waterfront. The city has built up around the water, but this also means we need to ensure our water safety measures are the best they can be. We are working continuously to improve safety along the waterfront, and we have taken a number of initiatives towards this such as adding more lighting, more rescue stations, new ladders, and so on. Despite this, we have found that accidents are still happening, which is why I look forward to the opportunity to think outside the box during this trial and to be innovative in this area in collaboration with Aalborg University and the North Jutland Emergency Services.” “If things go well, it’s likely the project will also be adopted and used in other port cities in Denmark and perhaps also abroad,” concludes Hans Henrik Henriksen. Now, with the test phase a success, Aalborg is almost ready to go live with the system. The municipality is also planning an expansion with more cameras, due to the high levels of confidence they have in the system’s success.