Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank (NCB) is having fitted at least 1000 NVRs and over 2500 IP cameras in one of the biggest financial surveillance system upgrades in the region. The bank serves 5.4 million customers and is the second largest in the Arab world. It chose products from the South Korean manufacturer IDIS, seeking to comply with the latest standards from the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) and Ministry of Interior. The project involves an upgrade to full HD IP across 400 branches and more than 2580 ATMs, to be completed ahead of the 2021 deadline.
NCB, also known as AlAhli Bank, sought network recorders that would provide RAID 1 and RAID 5 support, and products for integration of IP and analogue infrastructure, and the ability to store video footage for a full year. Almajal G4S was appointed and after a competitive tender process IDIS products were identified as performing better than alternatives in proof-of-concept testing.
IDIS says its products offer operational benefits at the installation stage as well as in daily operations over the lifetime of a system. Ahmad Said, ESS Director at Almajal G4S, said: “Key advantages for NCB in choosing an IDIS solution is the technology’s robustness, its resilience against data loss, and high level protection against cyber threats. Using IDIS technology is also ensuring a frictionless migration from existing analogue.”
As hybrid products, they allow analogue and IP cameras to be used together, giving the upgrade a staged switch-over, the installer reports. For this mission-critical project, IDIS’s Linux based servers and proprietary protocols also offered resistance to hacking, while zero-configuration eliminates the need to manage IP addresses for every device.
An important consideration for NCB was IDIS Intelligent Codec which, with dual H.264/H.265 compression, delivers up to 90 per cent reduction in bandwidth and storage, according to the manufacturer. This gives the bank significant savings while allowing compliance with video data storage rules.
It also speeds up recording retrieval and helps to make NCB’s new security system easier and more economical to run, says Harry Kwon, General Manager, IDIS Middle East and Africa. “With the upgrade already proving its value the bank’s central monitoring teams now work more efficiently, with their system providing event forwarding, acknowledgements, notifications and live pop-ups.”
The manufacturer adds that the products allow maintenance and simultaneous remote upgrades for multiple devices. The project is due for completion in 2019, and the bank says it will be the first to achieve full compliance with the new SAMA standards.
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