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Remote e-guarding solution at Airport City

Airport City is an industrial site in Cape Town wedged between the city’s international airport and an informal settlement. It houses a number of business operations faced with an escalating security bill they had struggled with for years. The Trustees of Airport City approached Verifier – a local off site monitoring company – to recommend a solution which would enhance site security while reducing the monthly spend .

The Trustees at Airport City had invested in a combination of perimeter protection barriers, alarm technology as well as patrolling guards. However, incidents continued irrespective; management sought a quick solution that pre-empted crime and gave accurate early warning of unusual activity to controllers to reduce the guarding burden.

The most significant challenges they faced included:

1. Early warning of possible incidents at key hotspots while eliminating passers by.

2. Specific detection and classification of vehicle and/or human threats.

3. Reduce costs and dependency on patrolling guards and camera operators for detecting.

4. An off-site monitoring solution that would allow for low bandwidth but instant notification and video verification of incidents.

5. Minimal infrastructure and hardware for local outdoor installation and remote monitoring.

6. All within a limited budget along with quick and simple deployment and maintenance.

Verifier needed a solution that would provide all of the above while also allowing their operators to only respond to exceptional ‘rule violations’ from Airport City. Verifier already monitors hundreds of VideoIQ systems nationwide and recommended a wireless IP solution with VideoIQ systems to cover the street and entrance areas for Airport City.By using VideoIQ technology operators are freed from unnecessary nuisance alarms and quickly respond in real-time to potential incidents.

Mike Voortman, MD of Verifier, commented, “We are independent, meaning that we monitor multiple systems. However, with other systems we are often plagued with false alarms triggered by the fierce weather conditions we experience in this part of the world, as well as false alarms from passing vehicles or pedestrian traffic. With VideoIQ’s self-learning intelligent analytics and smart rules embedded in each device we are able to really hone in on actual events and predict incidents before they occur. This in turn has dramatically reduced the load on our operators as well as our incident volume and bandwidth usage.”

The final design included :

1. VideoIQ Outdoor All-in-One SmartGuard Systems with internal intelligent analytics and storage.

2. Local wireless VPN connection to Verifier remote control room.

3. VideoIQ’s View VMS software on Control room Windows PCs.

Improved security and reduced guarding costs

Since the implementation of VideoIQ, Airport City has seen a marked decrease in incidents to almost zero. This has led to savings across the board and a huge relief to local businesses. By using VideoIQ at Airport City’s public entrance, Verifier’s controllers are alerted to each person or vehicle entering the area at odd times or after hours. Verifier can then alert local response teams by radio with accurate information and a description of any potential threat.

VideoIQ’s all-in-one design with no local DVR, streaming or cabling means that remote management, maintenance and upgrading of the system is simple and minimises downtime or the need for call-outs or on site work.

Reasons for selecting VideoIQ

Cost and ROI – As VideoIQ requires no servers or other hardware infrastructure the cost of installation and implementation has not just saved overall system costs (such as storage, software licences and expensive networking hardware) but also reduced the indirect costs of extra guards, beams, fences or control room staff to monitor screens. Also, being fully scaleable means that if Airport City wants to change or expand they can simply add more devices without modifying or upgrading existing infrastructure – they can simply add VideoIQ units as and where needed!

Detection – minimising false alarms often caused by rain, animals, vegetation or anything moving that is not a human or vehicle was key for an effective system. Responding to actual events using true intelligent analytics that have proven to be the best available means that guards and controllers have a real tool to ensure proactive surveillance. Also running all the technology inside a single device ensures that the control room is not bombarded by video streams or false alarms.

Network – as each VideoIQ iCVR acts as an independent device with its own rules and storage, there is no need for an over robust network or constant streaming. The solution at Airport City simply involved mounting the units on poles at the perimeter and connecting them back to Verifier’s remote control room via the network.

Installation and training – VideoIQ iCVRs install just like any PC on a network so Verifier was able to remotely configure setting and rules without going on site. All that is required for the control room is a Windows PC running VideoIQ’s View VMS software system.

Storage and retrieval – as each device manages its own storage there is no requirement for DVRs, NVRs or any special hardware or software licences at the control room, making Verifiers remote off-site design simple and easy to maintain. At any stage a controller can quickly interrogate the system to retrieve video or specific events.

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