14 January 2015

Open platform IP video management software (VMS) from world-leading provider Milestone Systems is improving safety and public services in eight cities around Minnesota’s largest metropolis. Minneapolis/St. Paul is the most populous area in the state with a sprawl of more than 3,000,000 people.   Eight cities here covering more than 200 square miles have formed a valuable circle of relationships by connecting their video surveillance to protect citizens and quickly resolve incidents that can cross between their borders. With the networked Milestone XProtect® video management software, individual municipalities control their own security monitoring yet quickly connect with neighboring systems for collaborations.    “We had a collective idea between municipalities to centralize local systems with the same IT backbone. Every city can adopt software from the Milestone platform to have its own system.  But there are times administrators may want to open access to their system to solve a mutual incident, and they can get assistance from neighboring emergency services for as much help as possible to solve a problem. Sharing camera feeds through Milestone has been a valuable yet easy-to-integrate solution that each municipality has eagerly installed,” says Tim Ferrian, Director of Sales and Marketing, Pro-Tec Design.    Security integrator Pro-Tec Design identified the parallel and individual needs of each city and their various departments. For example, the police department in one city has a variety of unique applications different from the IT department, schools or retail business in another. The widespread commonality for all cities was the need for IP video management software (VMS) to replace limited legacy analog systems.   Milestone XProtect VMS with its open platform technology allows each city to monitor and secure its own assets, be it a government building, transit stations or city-owned business. Milestone enables each to strategically design and install the hardware and software that meet its own needs, providing a cost-effective, flexible solution that can also be shared across locations to leverage more resources. With a combined Milestone VMS service, updates and maintenance are streamlined for quick response from Pro-Tec.   Milestone solves the core needs of each municipality but offers versatile feature sets and client interfaces that address unique requirements. For example, Milestone Mobile is deployed on tablets and smartphones. The cities are saving money by efficiently deploying emergency services, knowing exactly what they are dealing with before sending out first responder teams. Pro-Tec also expanded the open platform into additional applications, such as video integration using XProtect® Transact for government-owned retail stores.    Pro-Tec’s relationships with the cities in Minnesota developed from a foundation of card access control and video surveillance, so a transition into open platform, network-based VMS that could integrate the two was a logical step. 
“We could see the shift in security and surveillance to IP, and we wanted to partner with strong companies to provide our clients with a solution beyond their current expectations that could easily be installed, upgraded and expanded over time,” says Ferrian. “Milestone understood this, not only in the technology’s infancy but how it would evolve to what end-users expect in the future, to deliver as a flexible core offering.”   There are many common themes within city surveillance: watching out for the visitors of city halls, keeping track of persons in custody at police stations, providing evidence for investigations, protecting staff and equipment, monitoring community pools and protecting the government from liability, or watching intersections for public works operations (moving snow, salting roads). There are also such needs as monitoring a busy farmer’s market, senior centers, community sports, schools, historical landmarks, water towers and treatment facilities.    These eight cities are currently linked via Pro-Tec’s Milestone video solution: Shoreview, Farmington, Brooklyn Center, Minnetonka, Maple Grove, Brooklyn Park, Edina and Minneapolis Proper. In addition, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MNDOT), Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development and the Minneapolis Convention Center are included within this ‘Ring of Protection’.    Nick Lovejoy, IT Specialist, City of Edina says: “Our Milestone installation process was very simple; the interface is easy to use and very straightforward. It’s evident in our day-to-day operations that the Milestone interface has helped us improve services in the city, addressing and solving many issues with a quick turnaround.”    Brooklyn Center has integrated the Point of Sale (POS) systems at its liquor stores with Milestone’s XProtect® Transact software, which displays video associated with register transactions. This integration gives a time-synchronized interface linking receipt data with corresponding video, extending the monitoring of operations to include actual cash register data. This identifies problems involving POS and credit cards to reduce shrinkage and fraud, providing a safer shopping environment.    “Ease of use was extremely important when deciding on our VMS installation,” states Patty Hartwig, IT Director for Brooklyn Center. “We did our research looking for user-friendly, adaptable and easy-to-modify solutions. Our system needed to play back and pull up video in an instant. We put an extreme value on the Milestone VMS protecting our city assets: we required a product that would be here today, tomorrow and in the future. Milestone has and continues to show that value.”   See the Ring of Protection video testimonial on YouTube. 

Hikvision, the global leader of innovative video surveillance products and solutions, partnered with ASG Security — a leading security dealer and installer in the United States, and its customer Texans Can, an open public charter school, to help provide high-quality education for students who have previously struggled in a high school setting. Hikvision solutions met and exceeded the organization’s diverse set of security needs, ranging from ensuring the safety of campuses across Texas to protecting the auction site of their sister organization, Cars for Kids. With a user-friendly product line that offers the superior performance of crystal-clear video, Hikvision solutions allow Texans Can to elevate the security of students, faculty, and visitors. Since 1985, Texans Can has served students aged 14-21 who have been unsuccessful in traditional high schools, providing alternative learning environments in Dallas, San Antonio, Austin, Texas, Houston, and Fort Worth that encourage them to attain their high school diplomas. The campuses are equipped with special resources that include programs for students with learning disabilities and childcare centers for students who have children. Teachers and counselors adopt a hands-on approach to helping their students succeed. “The teachers really know the students, and the students really know the teachers,” elaborated Malcolm Wentworth, COO of Texans Can and Cars for Kids. “We care. With 1,400 students graduating each year, it’s clear that we are using an approach that works.” Texans Can sought the expertise of ASG Security for a cutting edge surveillance solution. After researching camera models across the market, they selected Hikvision equipment due to high value and high image quality, including the DS-2CD2232-I5 3MP EXIR Bullet Network camera and the vandal-proof DS-2CD2132-I 3MP IR Fixed Focal Dome camera, along with 16- and 32-channel NVRs. “We as an integrator have the opportunity to sell any number of different brands, but we chose Hikvision because it’s easy to use, easy to install, very low maintenance, and very high quality,” detailed Fred Harris, Core Commercial Sales Representative for ASG. Also benefiting from Hikvision products is Cars for Kids, a nonprofit organization that supports Texans Can with the proceeds from vehicle auctions. Their Dallas site boasts 40 Hikvision cameras in two separate buildings that are linked via a wireless bridge and an 8-port PoE switch. Because of the high volume of cash transactions taking place at the facility, it was crucial that the image from the cameras be crisp enough to identify various monetary denominations. Again, the DS-2CD2132-I and the DS-2CD2232-I5 rose to the challenge. “Hikvision cameras are the best I’ve ever seen,” Mr. Wentworth remarked. Chad Dawald, Vice President and General Manager of ASG, added, “When we research a product, we look for something that makes sense to the customer and makes sense to us. We’re thrilled to deliver Hikvision security solutions to Texans Can.” Jeffrey He, President of Hikvision USA, explained why Hikvision is making great strides in the education vertical: “Hikvision’s security products offer a particularly user-friendly and cost-effective solution to organizations who don’t necessarily have extensive resources, but whose students are invaluable assets that deserve the highest caliber of security. It is an honor to provide this security to Texans Can and to be elevated by integrators nationwide.”

VARIO LED illuminators from Raytec have been selected as part of a bespoke, mobile and solar powered video surveillance system, deployed across multiple locations in Germany. Local security integrator G&G Sicherheitstechnik GmbH had received significant demand for a mobile surveillance solution to provide the detection and identification of subjects at night, from locations which did not have mains power. These included large construction sites, highway and bridge construction, event security, outdoor and open space monitoring. Specialists in bespoke video and alarm system design, G&G Sicherheitstechnik GmbH set about creating a solution. Good quality lighting was seen as a crucial component, not only so that the cameras could see at night, but also so that the video analytics for the alarm triggers could work to the best of its ability. Furthermore, with the need for a mobile structure, the lights needed to be compact, lightweight but yet extremely powerful to cover the whole site. “Following extensive testing we chose VARIO illuminators from Raytec as the best performing lighting to work seamlessly with the other system components,” explains Bernd Gerhards Managing Director of G&G Sicherheitstechnik GmbH, “coupled with the fact that they had the lowest energy consumption and gave 100% reliability even under the worst weather conditions”. Each system includes 3 panels of VARIO i4 120° low voltage Infra-Red illuminators integrated onto a mobile pole structure along with 3 dome cameras, a PTZ camera, and a photovoltaic panel to power the whole system – completely independent from power grid. “The wide angle IR illuminators that we selected easily covered 360° at a distance of 120m, meaning that we could comfortably illuminate the whole site from one mobile structure!” comments Bernd Gerhards Managing Director of G&G Sicherheitstechnik GmbH. The powerful IR lighting allows the cameras to generate excellent night time images, “…but the system really becomes intelligent when the lighting is used in conjunction with the video analytics!” further comments Bernd. The high quality and highly even spread of lighting allows the analytics software to accurately identify subjects on scene and trigger alarms which alert the control center that the system is linked to 24/7, or the local police. Good quality illumination also significantly reduces the number of false alarms. Systems with insufficient light produce noisy images that impact the ability of video analytics to detect and differentiate between objects. Thanks to VARIO illuminators, the bespoke mobile surveillance system is the only solution on the market that can offer a full 360° view, recording and video analysis. For more information on VARIO CCTV illuminators visit www.rayteccctv.com