Category: Case Study

This municipality In Chile deployed a comprehensive, regional video surveillance system that reduced crime, improving security for local citizens and businesses Milestone Systems’ IP video management software (VMS) has been installed across the city of Santo Domingo, Chile, to provide ‘digital eyes’ in support of the city’s efforts to reduce crime and improve living conditions for its entire territory, including rural zones. “For the community, security is a very important topic,” said CristianFuentealba, a spokesperson for the Citizen Security Department of Santo Domingo, “We are one of the larger regions in the country and we’re adjoined with the Port of San Antonio, where about 80% of the crimes in Santo Domingo originate.” Faced with growing crime rates, dissatisfied citizens and fleeing businesses, the Chilean municipality of Santo Domingo set out to create a safer city. City officials for the coastal community of about 10,000 decided to deploy a citywide IP video surveillance system. The system is used for general surveillance, situational awareness, traffic control, and tracking suspicious persons and vehicles. Milestone video management software with the XProtect Smart Client and Milestone Mobile interface manages network video cameras from Axis Communications and Bosch Security, using RADWIN wireless data links, SUPERMICRO servers, and a license plate recognition solution from Natural Labs. Cameras are in and around the city, including a mix of pan/ tilt/ zoom, fixed and night vision cameras. The system and integration was designed and installed by WEBPCX Ingeniería Ltda., who also provide on-going support. Cristian Laude, a WEBPCX representative, explained that one of the main requirements of the system was that it be a centralized solution, but be able to reach surrounding locations. “We cover the city, including business areas, schools, and medical facilities, as well as provide through the network connections to remote areas,” Laude explained. The system was designed as a hybrid solution, with the Milestone IP VMS carried across multiple fiber optic and wireless networks. Laude added that the Axis cameras and the wireless links from RADWIN have worked perfectly. The license plate recognition solution from Neural Labs with the Bosch cameras has provided excellent results for the high-speed LPR solution. With this implementation of the video surveillance system, Santo Domingo has made great progress in municipal security, and is now recognized as the safest community in the region. According to officials, the surveillance system is easy to use and provides real-time live monitoring as well as immediate playback of recorded video. “Thanks to this implementation, we have been able to maintain optimal levels of citizen security, got Santo Domingo recognized as the safest community in the region,” said Fuentealba, “This has created a new interest in our community, and we see businesses returning and investing here. We’re proud of what we’ve achieved, and it’s rewarding to know that other communities, such as Las Condes, are following our lead with this system.”

Michigan Family Saved from high levels of Carbon Monoxide in their home ADT LLC, a leading provider of security and automation solutions for homes and businesses, has celebrated one of its life saver events in Bloomfield Hills, MI where the Brodsky family was reunited with rescuers who helped them safeguard from carbon monoxide. “The ADT carbon monoxide detector activated and I thought it was a false alarm because of the chemicals being used on the carpets,” said Brodsky, “So, when the ADT dispatcher called, I tried to persuade him to cancel the emergency response.” What Brodsky couldn’t realize was the elevated levels of carbon monoxide caused by the gas being pumped into the house from the engine exhaust of the carpet cleaning vehicle. With it parked near an open garage door and the wind was blowing just right, the potentially deadly fumes were flowing inside, permeating the house. When Bloomfield Township firefighters arrived, they used a portable air monitor to confirm the lethal levels. “Had it not been the persistence of the ADT dispatcher and first responders, my family and I could have gone to bed that night and not woken up,” said Brodsky. To celebrate the life-saving rescue, ADT CEO Tim Whall presented LifeSaver Awards to seven ADT employees who played a part in helping save the Brodsky family, including dispatcher Greg Drinnen who flew in from ADT’s customer care center in Knoxville, TN to meet the Brodsky’s for the first time. “This was a great example of how all of us at ADT help save lives for a living,” said Drinnen who typically handles more than a hundred alarm calls a day, “I am glad my training paid off and the Brodsky family will continue making memories.” Whall also awarded $10,000 to Bloomfield Township Fire Department which will use a portion of the funds to buy more hand-held air monitors to detect gases in homes and businesses. According to the CDC, 500 Americans die every year from carbon monoxide and up to 50,000 are poisoned. It’s estimated only 30% of American homes have CO detectors.

LKSA Highway in Malaysia The newly constructed highway from Lebuhraya Kemuning to Shah Alam (LKSA) in Malaysia simplifies access to the Southeast Asia country’s Federal Highway System for residents of Kota Kemuning. The new four-lane, 14.7 kilometer (9-mile) expressway provides a smooth ride and enables commuters to avoid traffic bottlenecks. The toll collection system provides Touch ‘n Go lanes in which drivers pay using pre-paid smart cards and Smart-TAG lanes where infrared transceivers mounted on the ceiling of the toll plaza enable collection of tolls as the vehicle passes through. Challenge Eight hundred vehicles per hour can pass through the Touch ‘n Go lanes, and 1,200 vehicles per hour can pass through Smart-TAG lanes. If a driver doesn’t pay or doesn’t have an active account, enforcement procedures depend on the capture of a clear and legible video image of the vehicle’s license plate. Mohd Azhar Ariffin, Engineering Manager for Projek Lintasan Shah Alam Sendirian Berhad, broadly oversaw the LKSA highway project, which began in 2007. Toll collection is a dependable technology used throughout Malaysia, but standard resolution cameras can be a weak link if they fail to provide readable numbers as license plates pass by. Megapixel solution Arecont Vision megapixel cameras with outdoor housings are used in conjunction with a vehicle monitoring system to clearly view each license plate. The LKSA highway project installation in Malaysia includes Arecont Vision AV3100M cameras at each toll lane. The Arecont Vision 3 megapixel cameras capture video and snapshots of vehicles passing through the Vehicle Monitoring and Capturing System (VMCS) that also incorporates network video recorders (NVRs) integrated with the toll collection system. Each toll plaza is monitored locally in a plaza control center and centrally by an administration office that oversees both plazas. The AV3100M cameras are JPEG color cameras that provide 2048×1536-pixel images using 1/2” CMOS sensor and image processing that incorporates Arecont Vision’s massively-parallel MegaVideo® architecture, which is capable of sustaining billions of operations per second. The network video recorders installed in the Malaysia highway project include two GVD M630 NVRs and two GVD M320 NVRs from Genius Vision Digital, Inc., which are fully interoperable with Arecont Vision megapixel cameras. TERAS Teknologi, provider of the toll collection system and creator, developer, and leading system integrator of Touch ‘n Go and SmartTAG, worked with GVD and CQR to integrate the Vehicle Monitoring and Capturing System. “GVD offers its unique integration platform to complete IP surveillance solutions with Malaysia Highway Tollgate systems, through the seamless integration with Arecont Vision megapixel cameras, GVD can provide the most scalable and flexible system for any mission critical projects in IP surveillance markets,” said Steve Chu, CEO, Genius Vision Digital, Inc. Megapixel benefit Arecont Vision’s megapixel cameras provide the superior image quality needed to capture passing license plates. They offer great value for a price comparable to standard-resolution cameras. Each clearly legible image translates into more recovered toll revenue and contributes to system return on investment (ROI). “Arecont Vision has been very responsive to our needs,” said Norisham Adbul Majid of CQR Digital Solutions, integrator of the video components of the highway project, “We selected Arecont Vision cameras because of their proven performance for the last year and a half on another Malaysian highway application.” “The superior performance of our cameras in highway applications in Malaysia are typical of the many ways that users all over the world are benefiting from Arecont Vision’s unparalleled image quality and resolution,” said Becky Zhou, Director of Asia Pacific Sales, Arecont Vision, “Our cameras provide flexibility for a variety of applications, whether indoors or out, and provide inter-operability with industry-leading companies to function as a critical component in a mission critical system solution.”

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.”