Manchester Metropolitan University’s new Business School opens in September 2012. Mark Shutt, Security Manager for Manchester Metropolitan, says: “The teaching rooms and lecture theatres in the new Business School will be equipped with the very latest IT equipment, projection and audio equipment. We will need to detect any would-be thieves who might be tempted to steal the valuable equipment that we have invested in to provide the best possible teaching facilities. Apart from the cost of replacing any items which might be stolen or damaged, the consequential costs in terms of disruption to the teaching process is also something we are determined to avoid. We also intend to have a zero tolerance policy in respect of anti-social behaviour.”
Some 110 Samsung dome cameras have been installed throughout the new building; 95 are SNV-3080 fixed position domes. The rest are SNP-3301 PTZ domes which have a 30x optical zoom facility to allow operators to observe close up detail of faraway objects or people. Both models feature Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) which makes them suitable the makers say for locations where there may be strong contrasting lighting. They also both offer multiple streaming of images with a choice of MJPEG, MPEG-4 and H.264 compression methods, providing the option to simultaneously transmit images to multiple locations at various frame rates up to 25 frames per second, and at different resolutions. This allows different authorised users to monitor live images at the university’s control room while having the option to record and store video evidence at another place. At the same time, images can be saved onto an on-board SD memory card and if required, email notifications of any incidents can be sent to a smartphone.
Mark Shutt said: “We took advice from a number of people, as well as carrying out our own research in order to ensure that we had chosen the correct cameras for what we wished to achieve from the video surveillance system. After considerable analysis of all the options available, (and there was certainly no shortage of other cameras to consider), we came to the conclusion that we could trust the Samsung brand and that their cameras offered us the best price/performance ratio.”
The images from all of the 110 domes are streamed across the network to a secure control room, in the university’s Cambridge Halls South building. Operators in the control room can view live or recorded images of any incident with Samsung’s recording software platform via one of six monitors. The new Business School will be in a £75m building, on the uni’s All Saints campus. 4,000 undergraduate and 1,000 postgraduate students will be able to enjoy the new building whilst pursuing degrees or carrying out research in all the major sub-disciplines of business and management.
