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Hypervigilant hypermarkets

When Carrefour, one of the largest food retailers in the world, expanded its presence of hypermarkets across three continents, it hired security system integrator UTI to establish loss prevention systems within its shopping environment.

The security company met the challenge, providing one of the most secure hypermarkets, equipped with state-of-the-art video surveillance equipment from Tyco’s American Dynamics.

Created in 1959, Carrefour has grown from a single supermarket in France’s Haute-Savoie region to more than 11 080 stores in 29 countries. Operations range from supermarkets to convenience stores and a variety of other outlets. But what Carrefour is known for above all else is the hypermarket.

A hypermarket is, essentially, a super-sized supermarket that typically stocks some 70 000 items and has a sales floor as big as 20 000 square metres. Carrefour introduced the concept to Europe in 1963, opening its first one in the south of Paris.

Rolling it out

The first store, Carrefour Militari, located in Bucharest, features a sales floor of 10 500 square metres stocked with 50 000 products. There are 58 cash registers at checkout and another 6500 square metres of commercial gallery space housing 34 smaller shops. That is a lot to keep an eye on.

The UTI team addressed the challenge by installing SensorRail video systems, multiple SpeedDome Ultra programmable dome cameras and Intellex Digital Video Management System. All are from American Dynamics, part of Tyco Fire & Security’s Access Control and Video Systems business unit.

When the Carrefour Militari opened its doors for business, it was one of the most secure hypermarkets in the company’s portfolio. It had full video coverage of everything — from the commercial areas to the warehouses. The SensorRail, in particular, gives security staff a vantage point over all of the hypermarket’s enormous display aisles. It is ideal for warehouses or high-ceilinged buildings like a hypermarket, serving as a motorised perch for domes that noiselessly move along its tracks the same way a train does, only inverted, to close in on wherever the action is.

“The SensorRail enhances the roving perspective that the SpeedDome Optimas offer,” said Viorel Luta, UTI’s technical manager for the project. “Combined, they expand your ability to cover broad expanses of retail space far beyond what you can manage with a dome camera by itself.”

The store found Intellex so effective at Carrefour Militari that it had it, along with its companion product Network Client Remote Management Software, installed at Carrefour’s second hypermarket in the region: the Orhideea Commercial Centre. Network Client grants staff remote access to the system; it can be installed on any PC and links to the Intellex units on-site at the store.

A wholesale success

Security has proven pivotal to Carrefour’s success. The security installation at the first store alone paid for itself in the recovery of stolen merchandise within 18 months, helping them catch an average of 10 wannabe shoplifters daily. The Orhideea Commercial Center has emerged as the third busiest of Carrefour’s hypermarkets in the world, rigorously testing UTI’s integrated system with a constant, nearly unparalleled flood of foot traffic.

Stores remain open as late as 10 p.m. and the surveillance cameras outside have helped deter car theft and acts of violence that are more prone to happen at night. Other benefits have accrued, too. Intellex has saved time and money in the efficient training of security personnel.

SensorRail IV launched in EMEA

Tyco Security Products has launched SensorRail IV in EMEA. The new SensorRail IV provides superior video surveillance by combining one or two PTZ cameras on a single trolley, providing the flexibility of a mobile rail system with state-of-the-art PTZ cameras and patented two contact video transmission.

Equipped with one or two programmable PTZ cameras, the SensorRail video rail system is an ideal solution for surveillance of large to medium retail outlets (hypermarkets), DIY stores, distribution centres, or any location where the ceiling height does not allow for optimal use of a standalone PTZ.

Because of its rapid and noiseless movement and use of advanced PTZ features like zoom adjusted programming (ZAP), 60 presets per camera, six predefine Tours, SensorRail provides instant visibility to obscure all locations in your facility.

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