On the Case

Healthy security

Bedfordshire-based CSG UK has installed varifocal lenses from US manufacturer Rainbow at thirty Holland and Barrett stores, including sites in London, Birmingham and Amsterdam.
The 3-8mm lenses operate in Rainbow's dome camera assemblies, with digital recording carried out by Videoswitch DVRs with removable trays and tactile keypads.
CSG implements comprehensive security systems covering CCTV, access control and electronic article surveillance. Its client portfolio includes Woolworths, Mothercare, Legoland and Orange.

Operations director Dave Ronis said: "These installations are allowing Holland and Barrett to give police high-quality CD evidence of thefts in a timely manner. Staff at the stores feel confident about the equipment and are making optimal use of it to reduce shrinkage."

Robust barrier

APT Controls has installed a new MCS barrier at the busy Chrisp Street Health Centre in London's East End. The barrier features an electro-magnetic nesting post to prevent damage by youngsters swinging or sitting on the barrier arm. The installation follows a recent extension to the surgery which coincided with the previous barrier, also provided by APT controls, coming to the end of its operational life after 23 years.

Practice manager Simon Robinson said: "We had an old APT Controls barrier that had worked very well over many years, so it was natural to want another one. When we were visited by APT, we discussed some of the new issues including the problems of local teenagers swinging on the barrier arm. The engineer recommended we install a nesting post to make the installation even more robust, and this has been particularly effective in preventing any damage."

Network eyes

Network Rail has selected Pentax lenses to be the "eyes" of the network's Driver Only Operation CCTV system, which features cameras acquiring images from the length of the platform and projecting them onto a colour monitor on the platform next to the driver's cab. The new system upgrades from black and white to colour.

Tim Walton from project engineer CIS Ltd, based in High Wycombe, said it was vital to have the flexibility and image quality offered by high-resolution colour monitoring, so that the conversion from slam-door rolling stock and the introduction of sufficiently capable remote visual surveillance would succeed. "Environmental conditions and performance requirements meant that higher end solutions could be considered," he said. "Exterior cameras and monitors must consistently operate in conditions of extreme weather and lighting variations. Interrupted or unclear images actually impact directly on safety and are therefore unacceptable."

IP Lodge

Cybertronix has installed a fully integrated IP surveillance system combined with ANPR and access control at the recently completed New Lodge at the west of Windsor. This is a neo-gothic mansion set in 55 acres of parkland that contains business suites with conferencing facilities and the latest technology.

Four Axis 221 Day and Night cameras have been installed to cover the grounds and five Axis 206 network cameras monitor the public areas inside the building. Two access control cameras are also deployed at the rear entrance and the main gate, some 200m from reception.

The distance from the building's reception to the main gate also made it necessary to deploy a vehicle access system for registered users of the facilities, so Cybertronix developed a bespoke ANPR solution, which is based around an analogue camera that scans the registration plate of an approaching vehicle and cross checks this against a database of authorised vehicles. If a match is found, the barrier is activated and the vehicle is allowed to proceed.

Rainbow for charity

A charity that flies needy and vulnerable people for medical purposes is using dome cameras from Rainbow at a facility within Houston Hobby Airport, USA.

Angel Flight South Central helps patients who do not have access to conventional transport or who are too ill to be driven or fly on a commercial service. Private pilots volunteer their planes and time to take people from their local airstrip to hospitals and clinics in other cities. Working with ADI, Rainbow has donated six HDCVF3D vandal-proof dome camera units for use at Houston Hobby's hangars, as well as in a new 1.500sq ft facility where patients wait for transportation and pilots study routes in a planning room.

More than Zero

Network cameras and video servers from Axis Communications have been installed by Zerodegrees, the microbrewery and restaurant chain, at its Bristol-based restaurant.

Four Axis 211 Power over Ethernet network cameras have been installed, along with three 205 cameras, six 2110 cameras, and one 207W, with a further two planned. Two Axis 241Q video servers have been used to digitise output from four existing analogue cameras.

The company also chose to deploy Milestone Xprotect to manage and store the video output from a total of 20 cameras for a 31-day period.

Casino overseen

ID Technology Group is working with Stanley Casinos to upgrade the CCTV systems across its provincial estate of casinos.

ID Technology is installing the Visimetrics Digital Video Recording system, which records in real-time with full lip-synched audio. The latest Stanley Casino to showcase the new technology is a new flagship casino for the group based in Hanley, near Stoke on Trent. The 25,000sq ft casino has 64 fully functional and fixed colour high resolution cameras.

Dave Mills, Stanley's head of security, said: "We are working with ID Technology to move towards the whole of our estate being covered by digital technology. We are confident our new system will benefit us enormously with increased quality and efficiency along with the capability to store significantly more footage."

Port access

To comply with the International Marine Organisation's new security code, the biggest operator at Antwerp port, Hesse-Noord Natie, brought in Belgium-based systems integrator Fabricom GTI to integrate the first phase of the installation.

Fabricom worked with Bewator's Granta hardware and its own Icaros software, while the Antwerp Port Authority adopted smart card technology based on RFID, and supplied the smart cards.

In the first phase of the project, 50 controllers will support up to 200 doors, but the system is expandable.
An installation at Brussels Airport uses around 250 Granta controllers, each responsible for up to eight doors.

Schools go hi-tech

ADT has worked in partnership with Synetrix and Redbridge CCTV to design and install enhanced movement detection CCTV at two London schools on behalf of the London Grid for Learning, the London schools information and broadband network.

Both schools are now linked to the Bromley Council control centre and the new technology enables participating schools to be monitored from a central point for the first time.
Utilising existing high capacity broadband connections provided by Synetrix, video data can now be transmitted in real time, enabling a quicker response and improving image quality.

Refuge for uni

Trinity Protection Systems has installed the Baldwin Boxall CommuniCare Advance disabled refuge communication system at London south Bank University. The system covers 12 networked buildings, and is the largest CommuniCare Advance installation to date.

The system is designed as a two-way communication system for use in an emergency to aid evacuation of the physically impaired. Each of the twelve buildings has its own local control panel, and there is also a single point master unit for site-wide control, allowing fire officers or building management to communicate with any refuge area.

Due to the nature and size of the project, Baldwin Boxall produced bespoke software to enable the multiple control panels to be networked.

Cars protected

Surveillance specialist 2020 Vision has worked with car manufacturer Nissan to install a high-spec security system which protects more than £22.5 worth of vehicle stock.
The new CCTV system monitors over 15,000 vehicles across Nissan's north east 65-acre distribution site. Intelligent Honeywell KD6 dome units have replaced the existing cameras, while the heart of the system is the Maxpro Max1000 CCTV Matrix, which allows for effective system integration with other electronic fire and security systems, with automated cause and effect capability for instant response.

A fibre optic network has been installed around the entire site to enable cost-effective and disruption free future CCTV expansion.

Afghan security

The US State Department has deployed ioimage's video surveillance system at a compound in Kabul, Afghanistan, to protect the facility from security breaches.

The system is part of a complete security solution installed by High-Ground Corp to track activity outside the walls of the security solution to track activity outside the walls of the US compound and to detect any security breaches. Ioimage's intelligent video appliances enable dozens of PTZ and fixed cameras to monitor activity outside the compound and to alert security guards to suspicious events and insurgent attacks.

System Finnish

The Port of Turku, Finland's second largest seaport, has invested in IndigoVision's complete end-to-end IP video solution.

The system, designed by systems integrator Taitotekniikka, includes numerous dome cameras, providing high-quality digital images via a wireless WiMAX LAN. The cameras provide surveillance for the main entrance, car parks, the port's rail network, the docks and the approaching seaways.