Dedicated Micros' RAID Helps Protect G8 Summit

July 11, 2005
RAID unit with six hard disks and 1.2 terrabytes of storage used with Tayside Police for G8

Chantilly, Va. - Dedicated Micros Inc. announces that Dedicated Micros in Manchester, England, provided two RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) high capacity systems to the Tayside Police in support of the Force's security commitments for the G8 summit which took place July 6 - 8 at the Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland.

The RAID units were used in the Tayside Police's custody suite at the Force's District Headquarters in Perth during the summit, providing a secure storage backup of CCTV images recorded on the Force's existing BX2 digital recorders.

"As the lead force for the policing of the G8 summit it is important that we have the right CCTV systems in place," said Sarah Craig, senior media relations officer at Tayside Police. "We are delighted that Dedicated Micros has been able to provide the RAID units at such short notice to ensure that the storage capacity we need is available to retain vital images."

Tayside requested a RAID unit with six hard disks and 1.2 TB storage capacity, which typically provides 100 days of recording time in 24-hour time-lapse mode.

All Dedicated Micros RAID systems are pre-configured and tested at RAID Level 5, which automatically reserves a disk to store error-correcting information. The redundancy capability in the RAID system ensures that video from a failed disk is 'mirrored' onto one of the other disks in the system.

In addition, hot swapping allows disks to be removed and replaced without interrupting the system or causing a loss of information. For non-stop maintenance, the power supply and fan can also be replaced without the need to switch the unit off.

"We were delighted to be able to respond rapidly to Tayside Police's request," said Pauline Norstrom, marketing manager at Dedicated Micros. "The RAID units continue to be extremely popular with our professional customers, given their ability to offer additional storage capacity and the peace of mind that, in the unlikely event of disk failure, vital video evidence will not be lost."