The Challenge
Forced to cut security personnel hours because of state budget cuts, the North Carolina Museum of Art was faced with finding a way to secure it works of art with the most current security technology in a way that would incur no expense to the state of North Carolina.
The Museum of Art submitted a proposal to the Italian Security Association and the Italian Trade Commission, which had developed a project to provide security equipment to an American museum. The Raleigh museum was the only art museum in the United States selected for partnership in the project.
The development of a comprehensive security plan for the museum had to take into account traditional and special security needs. For example, the protection of restricted spaces like art storage areas and the conservation laboratory, which can only be accessed by security staff and specific museum personnel. Guarding against theft and acts of vandalism is of paramount importance with visitors being allowed to get close to priceless paintings and art objects.
Special consideration also had to go into the installation of the equipment so as to ensure that it would not aesthetically impact the indoor and outdoor environments.
The Solution
The $200,000 security solution provided by the Italian Security Association and the Italian Trade Commission comprised motion detectors, cameras and high-technology monitoring systems for outdoor security. The inside of the museum was outfitted with intrusion detectors in non-public areas, an alarm control host unit, cameras, safes and an access control portal with finger-based biometrics for controlling access to restricted areas.
SYAC's contribution to the project involved the deployment of a DigiEye digital network video and audio management system.
Images from cameras are transmitted to the DigiEye unit installed at the museum security HQ that records on hard disk with backup on digital audio tape. The system features local playback as well as remote access and playback on removable disk. Live images can display on a secure website and taped sequences can be sent or retrieved over the Internet. SYAC's exclusive DELTA video compression algorithm compresses and memorizes only the variations between successive images. The design creates greater disk capacity while speeding up image transmission. Video and audio recording can be continuous or triggered by a programmed event.
DigiEye's state-of-the-art video motion detection system is designed so that, through an interface, up to six critical areas can be configured with different parameters, respectively associated with different motion alarms, on each of the fixed cameras or for each of the memorized positions of the dome cameras.
Most importantly of all, given the challenging economic situation of the museum, DigiEye's integration-friendly design and the possibility of updating and expanding existing technology offers the Museum with a cost-effective video security system.
The Museum
The North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh houses the art collections of the state of North Carolina. The art works represent more than 5000 years of artistic heritage spanning from ancient Egypt and Rome to the Renaissance and Baroque to contemporary American art. The Museum also comprises a 500-seat amphitheater, a caf', an auditorium, a conservation laboratory, a photography studio, a carpentry workshop and a 28,000-volume art reference library.
SYAC
SYAC was founded in 1988 as a systems integration company focused on designing, developing and integrating complex turnkey systems. SYAC delivered its first digital surveillance systems in the early nineties before digital CCTV was even considered by those in the security industry. DigiEye was the first fully integrated digital video management system and remains, thanks to continuous upgrading, the most innovative and simple to use system today.
Today, SYAC is a world leader in the development and production of Networked CCTV Management Systems with a reputation for ultra-reliable, high-performance products, its commitment to developing advanced technology security solutions and excellent customer service and support program. Its products have been successfully deployed in stores, banks, educational, industrial and governmental facilities, airports and event venues all over the globe.
