Marietta, Ga.
The City of Marietta, Ga., has replaced most of its standalone analog CCTV systems with a complete integrated IP Video solution from IndigoVision. Buildings in the downtown government campus and vitally important municipal utilities are now being protected by a distributed IP-CCTV system that can be monitored both centrally and locally by each department.
The city's operational performance has improved partly because the solution is distributed - enabling any camera, video workstation or video recorder to be located at any point on the network. This also gives the city a scalable platform for future expansion.
Control Center, the supplier's Security Management Software, can be used by operators in the Crisis Management Center (CMC) in the event of a disaster. The software enables the security staff to view live and recorded video from the cameras; however, operators using departmental workstations only have access to cameras for which they have been granted permission.
The solution was designed and installed by IndigoVision partner South Comm.
Smithtown, N.Y.
The Town of Smithtown, N.Y., has deployed network cameras from Axis Communications in its Highway Department yard as a first step in modernizing its existing analog video surveillance capabilities. Smithtown maintains a fleet of more than 200 vehicles, including cars, trucks and construction equipment at its Highway Department yard facility - an area larger than five football fields. Following in-depth meetings with the Town, Axis partner A+ Technology Solutions, which served as the integrator and installer, moved forward with the project.
The integrator implemented AXIS 214 PTZ Network Cameras, using their 18X optical zoom capabilities. The system provides video coverage of all locations within the Highway Department facility. AXIS 225FD Network Cameras were installed at multiple locations within the facility, including entrances, exits and the gas pump station, monitoring all incoming and outgoing activity.
"Using the video system, we can recognize human faces, license plates, etc., and store images for up to three months, should we need forensics at a later date," says Lt. Thomas Grosse, Park Ranger Division supervisor for the Town of Smithtown's Department of Public Safety.
Franklin County (Ohio) Courthouse
Vicon Industries Inc., and SimplexGrinnell have teamed up to install of a comprehensive, IP-based security system for the new Franklin County Courthouse, currently under construction in Columbus, Ohio. Scheduled to open in early 2011, the innovative structure will be the first LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) courthouse in the state of Ohio.
The building's glass facade, one of the key components of its energy-efficient design, creates challenging indoor lighting conditions that require the use of more than 70 wide-dynamic-range cameras. The cameras, impact-resistant Roughneck V910D-WDR-IP5 domes from Vicon, are designed to accommodate viewing of areas with extreme lighting contrasts, such as backlit people and objects located within the courthouse's sun-drenched corridors. In total, the courthouse makes use of more than 170 Vicon IP cameras, all of which are viewed, controlled and recorded by an NVR-based ViconNet video management system.
The VMS is fully integrated with a building-wide Software House C-CURE 9000 access control system and WonderWare detention software for use within the building's holding cell areas. The security system is monitored from two control centers within the new courthouse, one monitoring general building security and the other exclusively monitoring the detention area and holding cells.
Asheville, N.C.
The City of Asheville, N.C., has contracted Matrix Systems to standardize its physical security in several municipal facilities with the supplier's Frontier Universe access control system, an enterprise-based access control system.
The initial phase will include dozens of doors and areas in the city's William F. Wolcott Jr. Public Works Building, City Hall, Asheville Police Department Firing Range, and the Municipal Building, which houses the police and fire departments, according to Kevin Hymel, the city's technical services manager. Once the initial phase is completed, the 226-year-old city of 78,000 people will incorporate additional buildings into the scalable system over the next several years. "From an information technology (IT) perspective, using this enterprise-based access control system will give us unprecedented redundancy with an additional fail-over server that automatically takes over in the event we have any server-related issues," Hymel says.
Parking lots and other remote outdoor areas will use wireless transmission instead of cost-intensive trenching and cabling typically associated with closed circuit television (CCTV) surveillance. Wireless will also increase security and accountability at the firing range by replacing conventional locks with electronic key and lock cylinders that record and report all door events in ancillary areas to the centralized access control software.
The new system will also save money by requiring only one proximity ID badge, instead of the several badges required by the city's earlier access control systems.
Dublin, Ohio
The city of Dublin, Ohio, has selected the XProtect Enterprise Video Management Software (VMS) from Milestone Systems to provide centralized security management for city officials.
An earlier analog surveillance in Dublin did not provide clear video evidence, so they installed a wireless IP video system with the help of Milestone Partner Northwestern Ohio Security Systems. The VMS is running on two HP Proliant Servers with 14TB HP storage arrays, Cisco network infrastructure, and about 60 network video cameras from Axis and IQeye megapixel cameras from IQinVision.
"The network mapping and wireless approach allow us to use the cameras remotely from the central station," says Jay Somerville, Technical Services Bureau Director at the Dublin Ohio Division of Police.
The Police and other city officials all have access to the Milestone client interface: 61 police and 17 dispatch personnel are using it currently. Sharing information is a much more streamlined process.
Dublin started with the network cameras at the Dublin Recreation Center and the Dublin Police Department, converting the rest of the city buildings over the course of the next two years, with further plans to add video-integrated access control. Somerville says that the school district is also looking at implementing the same solution.
Federal Government Briefs:
- The U.S. Coast Guard has selected AtHoc IWSAlerts to protect more than 100 Coast Guard facilities, ranging from headquarters, to districts, down to sectors and local stations.
- Morpho Detection Inc. has signed a contract with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for several hundred Itemiser DX explosive trace detection systems (ETD). The unit simultaneously detects positive and negative ions using a single detector. The systems are expected to be deployed to airport checkpoints across the United States to replace and upgrade current units.
- American Science & Engineering has received orders for its X-ray screening systems from several U.S. Government entities to support counter-terrorism missions, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
- SightLogix Inc. has completed the second year of a two-year U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Commercial Equipment Direct Assistance Program (CEDAP) contract. For its role in the program, SightLogix has provided its long-range, wireless perimeter surveillance and scene monitoring Rapid Deployment Kit, along with product training and technical support to public safety agencies across the nation.
- The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has rolled out the CrewPASS electronic identification service from ARINC for airline crews. With recently added biometric fingerprint scans, the service is designed to give working airline crews expedited clearance through TSA security checkpoints.
