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Surveillance on par

Prince’s Grant Golf Estate is on the Dolphin Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. This golf estate has recently upgraded its security system including its CCTV infrastructure.

Prince’s Grant required a system integrator to implement a turnkey integrated security solution that would cater for access control, CCTV, electric fence, biometrics and physical security. Bidvest Magnum came up with this solution that catered for all these needs in a phased approach.

The first phase was the installation of a multi-core single mode fibre backbone, which was installed around the 5 km perimeter. This fibre backbone is core to the infrastructure and has CCTV, access control, IT services and the electric fence alarms branching off it.

The cameras were installed around the perimeter electric fence line and are strategically placed so as to detect and alert the control room of any perimeter breaches. The intelligent video analytics of the Cathexis DVR successfully detects any perimeter breaches. When someone is detected, the control room is alerted with an alarm and the video of that specific camera pops up on the video wall, alerting the guards of the breach.

Control room

The control room is monitored 24/7. The cameras used are the Seawolf with an integrated housing with twin IR (100 m), 5.0-50 mm varifocal lens, 690HTVL effective, which picks up any movements day or night.

The control room has been secured and ergonomically fitted out with a video wall that houses 3 x 32-inch LED screens and 2 x 42-inch LED screens. There are two 42U cabinets, that house the DVRs in the one cabinet and the other has the fibre infrastructure kit. The security guards sit comfortably and view the 104 cameras on these screens and control the video from there. The Cathexis Cat Vision DVR provides full control over surveillance video playback, making it easy for the security offices to quickly retrieve evidence and speed up response times.

The three beach turnstiles have Axis dome IP cameras and the control room has bi-directional audio through the CCTV system to these turnstiles, to talk to and assist guests and homeowners at these points.

The major functionality of the Cathexis system is:

* Hybrid system that integrates IP and analogue cameras.

* Interactive maps with the capability to drag and drop cameras from the map interface into the viewing monitors.

* The ability to move PTZ cameras from graphic representations of pre-set positions on the map.

* The CatVision Tracker algorithm which automatically moves PTZ cameras to follow objects around the perimeter areas.

* A virtual matrix with auto-switching of selected cameras to selected monitors upon motion detection events.

* Bi-directional audio functionality using Axis camera audio capability and controlled via the CatVision user interface.

* Future functionality is to include integration with other third-party systems.

Cathexis benefits

The Cathexis health monitoring feature enables both on-site and remote analysis of the system and provides automated system failure analysis and prediction. And with Cathexis products being 100% South African and developed in KwaZulu-Natal, this ensures excellent support.

“The proven track record of Bidvest Magnum’s installations, project management and regional structures combined with Cathexis system sustainability and backward compatibility along with the relationship with Bidvest ensures that Prince’s Grant will have a sustainable security solution for many years to come, “ says Kevin Monk, technical director of Bidvest Magnum.

Chris Van der Merwe, the CEO of the estate is confident of his security choices which secure the properties and homeowners and visitors of Prince’s Grant. “We were impressed with the professional manner in which the project was handled, and the quality of the installation delivered by Bidvest.

“The surveillance system has played a critical role in helping Prince’s Grant ensure public safety and protect its homeowners and visitors from damage and theft, and also allowed us to utilise our manpower on site more effectively. The system delivers a lower total cost of ownership because it provides greater image quality and reliability, and requires less maintenance.”

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