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The house wins with Ajax

One of the largest hotel-and-casino complexes in South Africa’s North West province needed to increase security on its perimeter, but due to the sheer extent of the site, it was deemed extremely difficult to install wired surveillance cameras. It would have been a technical nightmare to facilitate communication between the perimeter cameras and the control room, so an alternative solution was required to accommodate the distance challenges.

A second challenge presented itself in the form of the undulating topography of the site. “This causes a lot of interference on site, so we needed to provide a solution with frequency hopping and robust wireless capabilities when there are dips in range or disturbances, to cater for the required range of communication. Because there is a large canopy of trees and palms, using solar power was a challenge, since the installation points were located in shady areas, so the products supplied needed to have an excellent stand-alone battery life. Finally, the system needed to be scalable and include the possibility of adding different types of security – leak protection, fire protection and automation – in the future,” says Ingo Mutinelli, head of sales, Southern Africa for Ajax Systems.

“The answer was simple – the Ajax MotionCam. We worked closely with integrated, intelligence-driven risk management service provider Bidvest Protea Coin and Ajax distributor Elvey to provide the necessary Ajax wireless equipment,” says Mutinelli.

Successful proof-of-concept

The project, which will be ongoing for some time to come, kicked off in January with an extensive site survey, followed by a proof-of-concept (POC) in February, and the installation and commissioning of all four initial systems in March. To date, Ajax PRO Desktop 3.0 software has been installed, together with 14 Ajax MotionCams, which relay footage to the control room for immediate action, four Ajax Hub 2 Plus control panels, four Ajax outdoor StreetSirens and four ReX radio signal range extenders for extended range and user identification.

“The technology provides a good supplement to the guarding element on site in that security personnel now receive visuals from the MotionCams, which helps to support the efforts of the guards in those specific areas,” says Mutinelli.

The Ajax MotionCam Outdoor recognises intrusion immediately and confirms it with an animated series of photos. Visual verification helps to instantly ascertain the situation, saving users from concerns, and security companies from unnecessary patrol dispatches. The wide-angle lens covers the entire protected area, giving a complete picture of what is happening. In bright light, an infrared filter is automatically applied to ensure distortion-free colour reproduction, and two bright IR LEDs help to see the intruder even in total darkness.

Integrated security solutions

To take one photo, MotionCam Outdoor takes two consecutive shots at long and short exposures. The processor instantly combines the shots, equalising the balance between light and dark areas of the image, and then compresses it for the fastest transmission. Thanks to the high dynamic range (HDR), the detector uses less IR backlight at night and saves battery.

Ajax Hub 2 Plus panels can manage up to 200 MotionCam detectors and deliver photo confirmations of alarms to users and alarm monitoring companies in just nine seconds, even when SIM cards are used for communication.

The outdoor StreetSiren’s hermetically sealed body has an IP54 level of ingress protection and operates in temperatures between -25 and +50°С. It is ready to operate straight out of the box; the battery is already installed, and there is no need to disassemble the siren. It can be connected to the Hub in the mobile or desktop app with one click.

Ajax PRO Desktop 3.0 offers security professionals a convenient interface to connect and configure security devices and then monitor their status — a detailed log shows all events in Ajax security systems available to the PRO-account. The app allows engineers to respond proactively to a malfunction on time and, if necessary, schedule a site visit in advance. This improves the service provided to the end user.

“The positive feedback we have received from Bidvest Protea Coin demonstrates the complete satisfaction of the client with the Ajax solution provided by Elvey,” says Mutinelli.

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