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Eskom secures mission-critical site

Eskom is a South African parastatal company tasked with providing electricity throughout the country and continent to industrial, mining, commercial, agricultural, and residential customer and redistributors. Due to the strategic nature of their sites, Eskom is classified as a National Key Point with security being of paramount importance.

Eskom faced several challenges in securing the perimeter of a critical infrastructure site. The original security system wasn’t able to effectively cover the site’s perimeter, which stretched for more than seven kilometres. Remote areas of the sites were surrounded by a zoned, full height electrified fence that set off many false alarms. Due to the long response time and cumbersome handling of events within the remote areas, frequent unwanted false alarms were highly resource intensive. Eskom needed a complete, reliable and fully integrated solution that addressed the shortcomings of the existing system and provided better situational awareness of the entire site.

DVTEL solution

C3 Shared Services (C3SS), provider of high-tech integrated security solutions for the South African and African market, partnered with DVTEL to provide Eskom with a robust and efficient security system built upon DVTEL’s Latitude video management solution (VMS) integrated with its in-house thermal technology and ioi video analytics. The ioi video analytics detection provides early audible alerts of potential perpetrators in the vicinity of the boundary fence line. ioi’s high probability of detection and minimal false alarm rates allows for a powerful and highly efficient perimeter detection system, especially for the site’s remote areas. Video is continuously recorded and stored by Latitude for real-time monitoring and advanced forensic purposes.

The solution also includes several technology integrations that further enhance and optimise the security system. The Stentofon intercom integration allows the operator to visually verify the alarms and talk through the intercom via IP audio, achieving more efficient handling and control of the incident and greater collaboration with the responding staff. Electrical fences driven by Moxa input devices tied into the DVTEL system help provide better situational awareness of site entry points and further decrease of false alarms by combining sensual data with video analytics alarm data.

Since the implementation of the new security platform, the customer has seen tangible results. The solution has led to many foiled breach attempts and the expansion of security cameras on-site have allowed the customer to find and convict culprits who sabotaged power generators. Maintenance has been successful with system uptime of over 98%. Eskom plans to further scale and grow its DVTEL-based security system to maximise the security levels of this highly important, critical infrastructure site.

Quick facts

• Power utility site with large perimeter and remote areas

• Customer required integrated, efficient solution that provided better situational awareness

• DVTEL, together with integrator C3SS, provided a video surveillance solution based on Latitude VMS and integrated perimeter protection, built on thermal technology and ioi video analytics

• Technology integrations: Stentofon intercom and electric fences with Moxa inputs

• Solution has led to increased detection with lower false alarm rates

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