Dakota Hotels is a brand of boutique hotels based in Edinburgh and Glasgow, for business and leisure travellers. This year, Dakota Hotels began the next phase of its expansion plans with a new 84 bed Dakota ‘Deluxe’ Hotel which opened in Bond Court, Leeds in spring 2017. Dakota issued a formal tender for a company to provide structured cabling and CCTV for the site which spans nine floors.
Scott Shepherd, Facilities and Systems Director for Dakota Hotels, says: “Ensuring the safety and security of our guests, staff and property are a vital consideration but we also wanted a CCTV system that would match the elegant yet contemporary style of the Dakota experience. Another crucial criteria was a video surveillance platform that offered the highest levels of visual quality and reliability plus remote viewing capability allowing us to ensure that the hotel and our staff are meeting our brand values.”
With a requirement for a reliable, easy to manage yet flexible system, the firm turned to Express Data Ltd, a long-serving technical adviser and installer. Following an evaluation and based on a number of reference site examples, Dakota went for MOBOTIX IP video cameras installed alongside a structured cable network including Allied Telesis active networking equipment.
The installation included MOBOTIX c25 cameras, providing one of the smallest 6MP hemispheric cameras which can be installed in suspended ceilings like a halogen downlight. With a diameter of only 12 centimetres and a weight of about 200 grams, the c25 includes a light-sensitive day or night sensor and a microSD memory card that can keep recording even if the primary network connection fails. The camera software includes MxActivitySensor and the MxAnalytics video analysis tools offering person and object counting and heat map display of high-traffic areas.
The 70-plus MOBOTIX cameras across the site provide coverage of public areas and entrances and include audio for areas such as the reception desk and kitchen pass to help with dispute resolution and management training. The system is monitored using the MOBOTIX MxManagementCenter (MxMC), a video management system. MxMC allows controlled recording access via the camera or directly via the Network Attached Storage. Adaptive bandwidth management supports search even over mobile networks with limited bandwidth the makers add.
Scott Shepherd adds: “We looked at a number of options but MOBOTIX offered us an incredibly reliable solution, with no moving parts and a complete software solution to allow us to quickly access the CCTV network from anywhere without any additional licencing costs of specific hardware. However, it was our selection of Express Data as our installer which gave us both an expert in CCTV systems and a highly regarded infrastructure specialist and this combination allowed us to deploy an advanced CCTV system that meets all our requirements, on time and within budget.”
